Centennial’s cross country runners were in action Sept. 30 at one of the biggest meets in the state – the UNK Invite.
Carter Fritz finished 17th out of 292 runners in Class D with a time of 18:25. Coach Rob Johansen said that was good enough to crack the Top 10 of state meet times.
Camden Winkelman was 41st and Matthew Hoops was 56th, putting the Broncos 10th of 51 in the team standings.
Inthe girls’ race, Marley Olsen improved her time by about a minute and finished 31st. Josie Turnbull finished 87th.
The Broncos ran their second meet of the week Oct. 3 at Branched Oak Lake in the Raymond Central Invite. After missing the UNK meet, Grace Schernikau won her first ever cross country race with a time of 20:46, a CHS course record.
“She had been second many times before, but has never won a race before today,” Johansen said. “I am really happy to see her respond this way after having a setback last week. This win will go a long way for Grace getting her confidence back.”
Olsen cut 13 seconds of her time and was sixth, and Turnbull improved 25 seconds for 12th.
Fritz improved his time by 50 seconds and finished fourth. He was in a group of the top three at 4,000 meters and had a shot to win, Johansen said.
Winkelman also improved his time, as did Hoops. Winkelman placed 12th, and Hoops was just out of the medals at 16th.
“It’s good to see the progress and improvement in the past two weeks before going into the conference and district meet,” Johansen said.
Conference is Thursday, Oct. 10, in Geneva. Races start at 5 p.m.
