With just a couple regular season races, conference and districts leading up to the NSAA State Cross Country Championships, Wayne high school runners were able to get a preview of the course layout in late September.
From the Kearney Country Club, the Blue Devils joined nearly 540 Class C runners during the UNK High School Invite on Sept. 29.
The Wayne High girls finished ninth (among 31 teams) with 163 points while the Blue Devils boys took 10th (among 37 teams) with 184 points.
Complete results: https://www.athletic.net/CrossCountry/meet/257658/info
In the girls division, freshman Tayla Hurner earned an eighth place medal in a time of 21:01.45 to lead the Wayne girls.
Next was senior Lilyan Hurner in 41st (23:20.63), freshman Elizabeth Hix took 50th (23:42.68), sophomore Mariana Nexticapan Hernandez crossed the line in 72nd (24:29.38), senior Josie Ley placed 77th (24:47.61) and senior Kennasyn Blecke finished 98th (25:42.45).
Sophomore Scout Bell from Gothenburg ran the fastest Class C girls 5k in 19:47.32 among the 198 runners.
Columbus Scotus ran away with the girls Class C UNK Invite title with 54 points well ahead of Chase County (74).
During the boys division, junior Emmanuel Gonzalez was the top finisher for Wayne in 32nd (18:30.21) followed by junior Alvaro Archundia in 49th (19:13.07).
Other top six runners included junior Camden Hall (52nd - 19:14.6), junior Landen Claussen (57th - 19:20.66), sophomore Grady Maas (65th - 19:31.78) and junior Thomas Raymundo (98th - 20:07.68).
Additional Blue Devil results were posted by junior Lance Brink (105th - 20:11.58), junior Gabriel Armstrong (109th - 20:15.74), freshman Colston Starzl (119th - 22:44), senior Boden Dobbins (165th - 21:31.33), freshman Jacob Fehringer (182nd - 21:51.59), senior Aidan Bohnert (199th - 22:03.6), freshman Daniel Kuchta (203rd - 22:10.66), freshman Gerson Torrez (212th - 22:34.19), sophomore Ethan Samuelson (247th - 23:23.12), junior Cale Eischeid (255th - 23:30.21), sophomore Hudson Rubendall (274th - 24:01.12), junior Julian Garcia (279th - 24:09.25), freshman Isaiah Zarate (286th - 24:26.25) and senior Jaxon Lindner (298th - 25:05.89).
Junior Trevin Opp from Lincoln Christian won the boys Class C 5k in 16:35.48 among the 340 runners at the UNK Invite.
Lincoln Christian dominated the Class C boys field with 26 points. Holdrege, Syracuse and Gothenburg all scored 110 points during the UNK Invite.
Runners who completed their respective 5k totaled 1,937 girls and boys among the four classes.
The Wayne High cross country program is back in action on Thursday, October 2 at Pioneers Park during the Lincoln Lutheran Invite starting at 4:30 p.m. for JV and varsity runners.
Wayne seventh and eighth graders are back on the course during the Pierce Junior High Invite on Tuesday, October 7 under the lights starting at 7:15 p.m. from the Pierce Community Golf Course.
