Line ups set for cross country opener

Eight days before the season opener, the Red Raiders cross country teams tested their legs with an intrasquad meet at Deer Run Park Thursday night.

On the line for many of the Sidney runners was placement for first meet at Gering next Friday. The most coveted spots were the six boys and six girls who would earn a place in the varisty line up.

For the girls, Alli Ehler finished nearly two minutes ahead of the pack as she won the her race in 20.40. The other five that qualified for varsity were Maddie Stafford (22.36), Abby Heller (22.55), Genessa Schilz (23.07), Mia Hernandez (23.17) and Erin Lindeman. Jami Flores crossed just out of the top six in 23.58. Brianna West (26.21) and Ashley Stafford ran eighth and ninth.

One noticeable absence from the boys run was junior Jachob Wiedeburg. He was expected to be the top finisher on the boys team. Unfortunately, Wiedeburg suffered a concussion last weekend.

Since Wiedeburg is expected to be cleared by doctors to resume running shortly, Head Coach Tony Neels will line him up with the varsity boys at Gering. That meant there were only five varsity spots up for grabs last night.

"I had a meeting with the team earlier and they all agreed that Jachob has earned his place," Neels said.

In the boys run, senior Hayden Lienemann put in a strong effort to finish first in 18.47. Rounding out the top five were Jacob Schaub (19.03), Brody McKnight (19.32), Logan Uhlir (19.40) and Ryan Birner 19.44.

Behind the varsity qualifiers was a closely bunched group that could be part of the varisty picture in future meets. Will Castner (20.16), Domingo Blume (20.29), Manjesh Mogallapalli (20.56), Allen Kissack (20.57) and Ryan Aurich (21.00) finished sixth through 10th respectively.

For the girls, it was a good opportunity to run a simulated meet at the 5K distance, which is new to them this year.

"The 5K is a lot different in how you have to run it," said Stafford. "The important thing is to know when to kick it in for the final push."

Said Ehler, "We've trained for it and I've run a lot of 5Ks for fun. I'm ready for it."

As for her run, Ehler didn't approach her best time, but it was a good dry run she thought. Like many, she believes the competitive juices will flow more strongly when the running is for real.

"I wanted to be closer to 20 (minutes), but it was still a pretty good run," she said. "With competition I can get it lower.

As for third-place finisher Heller, she must have had the competitive juices flowing even without enemy competition. She passed several runners in the latter stages of the race to finish third.

"It was one of my better runs but I don't really know why," she said. "I was expecting to come here and get a fifth or sixth. I never thought I would be third. I guess I just put it all together today."

As for the boys, the top finishers didn't quite reach their pre-race goals either. But all seemed satisfied that it was a worthy effort at this point in the season.

"I wanted to get 18.20 or better," Lienemann said. "But when we start the competitive meets I know I'll be able to run faster."

McNight too fell a little short of his pre-race ambition. While he was about 15-20 seconds slower than the 19.15 he was shooting for, he at least got a little taste for the competition he thrives on.

"I want to be one of those runners who runs harder and harder when he sees a someone in front of him," McKnight said. "Then when I get him I want to be able to go get the guy in front of him."

Second-place finisher Schaub seemed satisfied with his run. Most of all he accomplished the goal number one.

"The time was pretty good for me," he said. "But I was really just running to get a varsity spot."

At Gering next Friday Shaub hopes to record a top 15. But his biggest focus next week is a team medal for the Raiders. He feels confindent the team can finish in the top two or three - for both boys and girls.