Stander, Bishop Qualify For State (10-13-11)

Due to a strong showing at the Class D-1 District Meet, a pair of senior aces will represent Louisville HIgh School at next week’s Class D Nebraska State Cross Country Meet at the Kearney Country Club.

Sydney Stander placed eighth in field of 59 runners from 20 schools in a time of 17:25.34 while classmate Jeff Bishop ran the Branched Oak Lake Course in 18:53.42, good for the eleventh place medal.

Each ran their season best times while knocking off a considerable number of seconds off their times from three weeks ago on the same course. Stander lowered her time by 43 seconds at the Malcolm Invitational with Bishop dropping his time by over 1:30.

“I’m really excited about going back to state,” said Stander, who will be participating in her third state meet.

Bishop has now qualified for four state meets. “I was really worried this week about this meet since I haven’t medaled as much this season. But I felt very strong at the end of this meet.” Bishop emerged from a pack of three runners, out-kicking the others from 150 meters away to secure his ticket to state.

But the duo wasn’t the only LHS runners who saw their hard work throughout the season pay off at the final meet of the year.

“Everyone improved their times from earlier in the year when we ran this course,” said Louisville coach, Matt Hammer. “A few of the kids posted their season bests.”

Senior Dani Gennaro finished one spot out of medal contention and a trip to state, placing 16th in a time of 19:12. Freshman Andrew Sjogren ran a season best 21:30 to place 52nd, just behind Chris Van Horn who was timed in 21:29. Lane Sladky ran the 5000 meters in 21:31 while Vinny Smejkal placed 64th in a time of 22:17.

Both LHS runners will run next Friday, October 21 with Stander running at 2:00 and Bishop taking off one hour later.

District D-1 Meet
Girls Team scoring:
1. Malcolm, 29; 2. McCool Junction, 51; 3. Weeping Water, 52; 4. Tri County, 55; 5. Hastings St. Cecilia, 72; 6. Palmyra, 84; 7. Superior, 111; 8. Centennial, 112
Individual Results: 1. Emily Locke, Malcolm 16:02.45; 2. Mariah Bolte, Malcolm 16:14.91; 3. Lexi Hoffman, Doniphan-Trumbull 16:27.37; 4. Kayte Rohe, Tri County 16:36.53; 5. Paige Baier, Weeping Water 16:40.11; 6. Brooklyn Swantek, McCool Junction 16:49.33; 7. Bailey Linton , Thayer Central 16:55.62; 8. Sydney Stander, Louisville 17:25.34; 9. Kathleen O'Toole, Wilber-Clatonia 17:49.64; 10. Michaela Horn, Weeping Water 18:00.37; 11. Alyssa Brown, Elmwood-Murdock 18:09.73; 12. Megan Royal, Palmyra 18:20.91; 13. Tess Wahlmeier, Hastings St. Cecilia 18:33.79; 14. Tiffany Ebke, Tri County 18:37.70; 15. Payton Baier, Weeping Water 18:50.20

Boys Team scoring:1. Malcolm, 50; 2. McCool Junction, 53; 3. Tri County, 55; 4. Hastings St. Cecilia, 58; 5. Kenesaw, 100; 6. Thayer Central, 107; 7. College View Academy, 128; 8. Johnson County Central, 157; 9. Louisville, 159; 10. Elmwood-Murdock, 179; 11. Wilber-Clatonia, 188; 12. Centennial, 188; 13. Blue Hill, 194; 14. Doniphan-Trumbull, 220
Individual Results: 1. Jordan Potrzeba, Hastings St. Cecilia 17:23.11; 2. Garrett Kowalski, Tri County 17:37.17; 3. Kellan Willet, Malcolm 17:45.58; 4. Coleman Cogswell, McCool Junction 18:02.49; 5. Ryan Larson, Malcolm 18:12.66; 6. Lucas Paswaters, Tri County 18:20.91; 7. David Meier, College View Academy 18:31.46; 8. Jake McCain, Tri County 18:34.53; 9. Caleb Stutzman, McCool Junction 18:51.63; 10. Lane Tibbs ; Kenesaw 18:52.35; 11. Jeffrey Bishop, Louisville 18:53.42; 12. Edward Hardy, College View Academy 18:53.74; 13. Dakota Pariset , Centennial 18:54.16; 14. Jace Kranau, Blue Hill 18:56.44; 15. Niles Uerling, Hastings St. Cecilia 19:07.32