As high school runners prepare for district and state competition, seventh and eighth graders across Nebraska participated in Junior High state cross country.
From Papillion La Vista South High School on Saturday, Wayne High sent six girls and six boys runners.
In the open division, the Wayne Junior High girls secured a first place team finish with 65 points while the Blue Devil Junior High boys took 14th with 390 points.
The Junior High girls field consisted of 266 runners and 22 teams while there were also 374 boys representing 31 teams.
In the girls open division, Wayne JH won the team standings with 65 points, followed by West Omaha Track Club in runner-up with 84 points as 402 XC/Track Club earned a third place finish with 100 points.
Wayne Junior High was led by a runner-up finish from eighth grader Tayla Hurner in a time of 12:01.74. Seventh grader Hadley Dunklau also medaled in sixth during a time of 12:35.72.
Other Wayne results came from eighth grader Elizabeth Hix (27th -13:24.73), seventh grader Sarah Kuchta (45th – 14:04.29), seventh grader Rose Kaup (56th – 14:29.17) and seventh grader Alyssa Bargholz (69th – 14:39.89).
Kiarra Kennedy from O’Neill won the girls 3,000-meter open race in a time of 11:48.63.
During the boys open division, West Omaha Track won the team standings with 50 points ahead of O’Neill in runner-up (97).
The Wayne Junior High boys were led by seventh grader Benjamin Patefield placing 34th in a time of 12:11.69 followed by eighth grader Jacob Fehringer in 42nd place during a time of 12:27.33.
Other Wayne results came from eighth grader Daniel Kuchta (106th – 13:23.56), eighth grader Isaiah Zarate (200th – 14:46.66), seventh grader Tristen Klinetobe (213th – 15:01.55) and seventh grader Owen Wynia (239th – 15:27.37).
Levi Bowen from Fort Calhoun won the boys 3,000-meter open race in a time of 10:57.75.
