LCC runners compete well at State meet

KEARNEY — It was the finish the Laurel-Concord-Coleridge cross country program was happy with and with that, they could go into the offseason with good feelings and bigger hopes.

The Bears boys wrapped up the Class D state finals 14th out of 18 teams for the best finish since the NSAA moved to six districts and that number of qualifiers according to LCC head coach Alex Glaubius.

Senior Dillon Olson led the Bears with a 47th overall individual finish (28th in team individual standings) with a time of 18:49.60 while freshman Carter Korth (19:32.34), sophomore Tanner Olson (19:59.81), freshman Preston Rose (20:00.11) and freshman Koby Detlefsen (21:16.26) also providing runs for the team in Kearney.

Glaubius glowed over the representation by Northeast Nebraska entrants at the meet.

“It really showcased the talent that we have in this part of the state,” he said. “Class D boys was also very tight for team scores.

“It was one of the best years we’ve had at LCC. Certainly, this was the best one we’ve had in my time coaching. We gained a lot of experience at the meet. The boys ran well and represented LCC well. They’re hungry to get back to Kearney and improve on the times. We continued to peak at the right times and build off of each week.”

With 80 percent of the lineup coming back in 2022, the future appears to be even brighter for the Bears program.

“We will lose one varsity runner going into next season in Dillon, however, we had one of the youngest squads at the state meet,” Glaubius said. “We gained a lot of experience at state for our underclassmen going into next year. Our junior high girls program has been taking off and we will start to see them transitioning into the high school next fall.”

Dillon Olson said the race was a lot harder than he anticipated despite all the preparation.

“We were overthinking everything because it was the first time for us,” he said. “We were sad when we realized that the season was over and we weren’t going to run together as a team ever again.

“I think my run went good and I was proud of the result that I had. It hasn’t hit me yet that it’s over, but it will. When we started, we had aspirations to go to state and do all of this stuff and I was optimistic about it all. As the season went, we kept on going and getting better and I realized as the season progressed, we had a shot if we really wanted to and that’s what we did. It was the perfect ending.”

Dillon Olson sees the program progressing and building on this year.

“I hope they can do better than what we did this year,” he said.

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