AINSWORTH — The Wolfpack cross country team’s dynamic duo of Samantha Stuhr and Matthew Kerkman brought home some hardware last week.
Competing at the Niobrara Valley Conference cross country championships Thursday afternoon, October 8, both runners brought home medals.
Altogether, runners from seven of the eight schools in the conference, participated in the competition which got underway at 4 p.m.
The girls race was first and Niobrara/Verdigre senior Delani Runnels continued her dominance this season. Runnels completed the 5K race in a conference record time of 20:02.7, nearly 13 seconds faster than last year when she set the conference record of 20:15.25.
Stuhr, a senior, finished sixth with a time of 24:02.9 in her final race before the district meet to be held tomorrow, October 15, at the Antelope Country Club.
Altogether, 18 runners competed in the girls race.
Next up was the boys 5K race.
North Central junior Nate Frick set a new meet record winning in a time of 17:47.2. He broke the mark of 18:00.88 set last year by Boyd County’s Will Nelson.
Wolfpack junior Matthew Kerkman finished in the top ten, coming in seventh place with a time of 20:29.9.
Both he and Stuhr will be seeking to qualify Thursday afternoon as the first-ever EPPJ cross country runners to compete at the State Meet. At the Antelope Country Club, the girls 5K race is scheduled to begin at 3 p.m. The boys race will start at approximately 3:45 p.m.
Schools competing at the district meet will be Ainsworth, Ansley-Litchfield, Arcadia/Loup City, Boyd County, Burwell, Central Valley, Centura, Chambers-Wheeler Central (CWC), Creighton, Elgin Public-Pope John, Neligh-Oakdale, Niobrara-Verdigre, North Central, Ord, Riverside, Sandhills Valley, Sandhills/Thedford, South Loup (Callaway/Arnold), Stuart, Summerland, Twin Loup and West Holt.
