Sidney XC Excels in Recent Meets

Sidney's cross country team competed at the McCook Invitational on Thursday, and then at the Alliance Invitational on Saturday.

At McCook, the boy's squad earned top honors, earning first place over second place Holdrege and third place McCook. The girl's squad took third place, behind first place St. Patrick and second place Holdrege.

"It was another incredibly hot day, and McCook is a very hilly and challenging course. We looked forward to racing against Holdrege, which is a very good team and tough to beat. We were excited to compete and it showed as the kids ran great races," said Sidney head coach Donna Weideburg.

Individually, Sidney senior Carlos Lucero earned first place with a time of 17:47, edging out Holdrege senior Tyler Petersen by one second. Five Sidney boys placed in the top 20, with Lucero followed by senior Collin Brauer in 4th place with a time of 18:10, freshman Cameron Brauer in 9th place with a time of 18:42, freshman Daniel Bastovoi in 11th place with a time of 19:06, and senior Alex Jallen in 19th place with a time of 19:29.

Individually for the girls, Sidney junior Taighlor Arnett led the team with a 7th place finish with a time of 22:54, freshman Lydia Peters placed 9th with a time of 24:00, and senior Hannah Kennedy earned 20th place with a time of 25:01.

It was yet another hot day on Saturday, as the team traveled to compete at the Alliance Invitational, and although the was unable to bring home any medals, there were many positives to take away from the individual performances of the team.

"We didn't bring home any medals from Alliance," said Wiedeburg adding, "but we brought home some athletes that were very pleased with their performances and more confident in their ability to achieve their goals."

For the boys, the team managed an 8th place finish with sophomore Jose Hernandez leading the Sidney team individually with a 33rd place finish at 20:33.82.

The girls squad earned 10th place, with freshman Elena Neufeld leading the team individually with an 53rd place finish at 27:44.77.