Winning medals at the district meet and qualifying for the state meet were Robert Aschoff (left) and Gavin Geneski

Geneski, Aschoff qualify for state cross country meet

AINSWORTH — On Thursday, Oct. 14, the Osmond cross country teams traveled to the Ainsworth Golf Course for the District D-3 meet. The weather was cool, but perfect for cross country.

The Osmond boys’ team finished in fourth place, just one place away from qualifying as a team, the girls finished tied for seventh place, but Summerland had the tiebreaker, so the Tigers were eighth.

Ainsworth senior Ty Schueter won the race in a time of 16:45.8. Osmond’s Gavin Geneski ran stride for stride with North Central’s Mason Hagan until the third mile, when Hagan pulled ahead and took third place. Gavin was fourth in a good time of 17:56.8.

Robert Aschoff finished in 15th place, holding onto the final qualifying spot and nearly catching Luke Ludwig of Stuart. Robert’s time was his best-ever time for 5K of 18:53.5.

Caleb Miller was the next Tiger to cross the finish line in 19th place, nearly catching Drew Martin of West Holt. Caleb’s time was his fastest ever of 19:26.8.

Karter Johnson was right behind Caleb in 20th place in one of his fastest times of 19:27.3. Dominic True was close to Karter in 22nd place, also in a good time of 19:37.6.

“I was very proud of the effort the boys put out trying to qualify the team for the state meet,” praised Coach Joe Ortmeier. “All five runners in the top 22 is really something special. It was too bad they missed third place by just three points.”

The girls also ran some of the best times of the season. The meet was won by Katherine Kerrigan of Ainsworth in a time of 20:09.1.

Osmond’s top finisher was Keli Aschoff who finished in 17th place. She battled her way up to around 15th place passing runners and runners passing her to the finish line. She missed qualifying for the state meet by two positions and ran her fastest time ever by nearly two minutes. She covered the course in 22:55.2, which is a school record.

Riley Wagner finished in 29th place in her fastest time of the season and again by nearly two minutes. Her time was 25:48.1.

Sydney Peck was the next Tiger to cross the finish line in 41st place in a time of 30:53.0. This was also one of her fastest times.

“The girls also really competed; they ran very tough and their times show that,” Coach Ortmeier noted. “I was really happy with how they improved all season.”

Team Scores

Boys

1st — 21 Elkhorn Valley

2nd — 24 Ainsworth

3rd — 31 West Holt

4th — 34 Osmond

5th — 37 North Central

6th — 86 St. Edward

7th — 88 Riverside

8th — 94 Stuart

9th — 100 Summerland

10th — 101 Niobrara/Verdigre 11th — 122 Boyd County