The Centennial girls’ cross country team earned its second consecutive trip to state, placing third in the District D1 meet at Oakland on a windy Oct. 17.
The Broncos were one point behind runner-up Tri County and three behind champion Freeman.
Grace Schernikau led the girls with a fourth-place finish, breaking 21 minutes (20:51.85) for only the second time this season, Coach Rob Johansen said.
Marley Olson was ninth in 22:16.07, her best time of the season. Josie Turnbull rounded out the team in 18th.
“Josie Turnbull had a fantastic last mile to move from 25th to 18th place and ran 23:00. Another PR for Josie by 49 seconds,” Johansen said. “All three girls peaked at the right time of the year in the race they needed to in order to qualify for state.”
In the boys’ race, of the 21 schools competing, only eight had state qualifiers, Johansen said.
Carter Fritz will run at state meet after placing 14th in 18:11.5, just a few seconds off his PR, Johansen said. It will be the first trip to state for the freshman.
Camden Winkelman will make his third trip to state after a 15th-place finish in a season-best time of 18:16.
Matthew Hoops missed qualifying with a 27th-place finish. The team finished fourth behind Freeman, Cornerstone and Tri County.
The state meet is Friday, Oct. 25, at Kearney Country Club. The Class D boys will run at 2:30 p.m., with the girls to run at 3:30 p.m.
