By Jake Hasenauer - NPHS XC Head Coach
It was a great day for the Bulldogs! Today we traveled to Lincoln, Nebraska for the district meet. We were blessed with beautiful running weather and all our athletes were ready to compete. Our word of the week was “team”. The acronym we used was Together, Effort, Attitude, and Mentality. Each Bulldog showed that team mantra today and competed well for their team!
The girls led off the day in the girls A-2 district. The girls went into today having won 7 meets out of 8 this season. The girls competed at a high level and finished district runner-up. They were tough and battled for each other today. This is a tough course against some very good teams, and they showed that they are a good team as well. The girls were led by medalists Zarah Blaesi (2nd), Marissa Holm (3rd), and Evelyn Blaesi (11th), Jada Hothan just missed medaling finishing in 16th. I was proud of the girls, they have come so far over the last couple years! They get along well, work hard, and it was fun to see there hard work pay off.
The boys closed the day in the A-4 district. The boys have continued to get better each week and we’re ready to go to battle today. On paper, we were not seeded in the top 3, but we knew we had a chance if we all worked together. The boys battled amazing and finished third as a team and qualified for state for the third year in a row! This team has come so far this year. They have had some tough times along the way, but they showed grit and determination today and knocked off some big schools to earn a trip to state next week! The boys were led by district champion Evan Caudy and Rian Teets finishing 13th.
It was a good day to be a Bulldog and I was proud of all of their efforts today. We’ve been blessed with some great kids and they used the talents they’ve been blessed with to compete at a high level today. This is the third out of four years the girls have qualified for state as a team and the third year in a row for boys. Next Friday we will compete in Kearney at state cross country. Girls will race at 3 PM and Boys at 4 PM.
Results below: https://live.athletic.