Elizabeth Gokie, left, and Tayvah Straub of Seward run near each other at the B-3 district cross country meet Oct. 17.
Ethan Ideus of Seward pushes through the middle part of the race at Oct. 17's B-3 district cross country meet at Norris.
The Seward cross country teams have one week left in their seasons, thanks to a district championship and runner-up finish at districts.
“It was a lot of fun,” Coach Kurt Holliday said. “You don’t get it all the time. It was fun how everyone stepped up and competed hard.”
The boys’ team scored 22 points to win the district title Oct. 17 at Norris.
“We knew we would be one of the top teams,” Holliday said.
Nathan Nottingham was third in 17:29.03, and Ethan Ideus was fourth in 17:31.68. Isaac Rolf and Brennan Taylor also finished in the top 10 in seventh and eighth, respectively.
“Our top four scorers ran smart,” Holliday said. “I’m pretty proud of how well they ran.”
The girls had three runners in the top 10. Keegan Beisel was the runner-up in 20:38.81, and Karnie Gottschalk was third in 21:36.66. Elizabeth Gokie earned ninth place.
Holliday said Gokie ran a breakthrough race, which was nice to see. She’d been trying to get back to this point since the Aurora meet, he said.
Tayvah Straub was the team’s fourth runner and ran a gutsy race, Holliday said.
The Bluejays will compete in the Class B state meet Friday, Oct. 25, at Kearney Country Club. Class B girls run at 2:30 p.m., with the boys to run at 3:30 p.m.
Holliday said the boys could place as high as third at state. Omaha Skutt and Lexington have the top two teams in Class B. The girls could be in the top eight, he said.
“We’ll see how it all plays out,” he said.
