By Marisa Dawson, Courtesy Photos
The Bennington girls cross country team earned a trip to the state meet with a second-place finish at the A1/A2 District Championships October 14 in Lincoln, while senior Thomas Morgan qualified individually for the boys.
The girls finished with 69 points, tying Papillion-La Vista but securing second place behind Omaha Marian, which won the district title with 27 points. Lincoln Southeast placed fourth with 93 points, followed by Lincoln Standing Bear, Omaha South and Omaha Central.
Bennington was led by Selah Carson, who placed fifth individually in 19 minutes, 55 seconds. Maddie Scott followed in seventh at 20:15, while Mazlyn Cornett finished 17th in 21:10.
Jaden Messerly and Lucy Lampe crossed the finish line in 19th and 20th, respectively, both recording times of 21:19. Nicole Huse placed 26th in 21:56, and Brooklyn Reiner finished 28th in 22:06.
Head coach Joe Schumm said the team entered the meet focused on earning a qualifying spot, despite facing some unfamiliar competition.
“What a difference a week makes,” Schumm said, noting that improved conditions gave runners a better opportunity to compete than the previous week. “We came just try to pick up a third-place qualifying place.”
With several teams the Badgers had not faced during the season, Schumm said the team focused on sticking to its established approach rather than changing its strategy.
“We told the girls not to do anything outside of what they’ve done all year and just go compete,” he said.
Carson delivered a solid performance, while Scott finished several places higher than the coaching staff anticipated. Schumm also praised the contributions of Cornett, Messerly and Lampe, whose finishes helped the team secure its state berth.
“Those next three runners really came through for us and ran great races,” Schumm said.
With districts behind them, the girls can now turn their attention to the state competition.
“So excited for these girls,” Schumm said. “Now we have to adjust our goals and decide what we want state results to look like.”
Morgan leads boys at districts
The Bennington boys finished seventh in the team standings with 165 points. Millard West won the district title with 51 points, followed by Millard North with 62 and Omaha Westside with 72.
Omaha Burke finished fourth with 93 points, followed by Papillion-La Vista with 94 and Lincoln Southeast with 149. Bennington placed ahead of Lincoln Northeast and Omaha Bryan.
Morgan led the Badgers, finishing 12th individually in 17:07 to earn a spot at the state meet.
Alex O’Connell placed 32nd in 17:50, followed by Keaton Striffler in 33rd at 18:00 and Carter Boyer in 39th at 18:14. Brayden Kramer finished 49th in 18:57, Tobiah Thorberg placed 54th in 19:19, and Sam Riffner finished 56th in 19:26.
Schumm said the boys had hoped to finish higher in the team standings but recognized the effort they put forth.
“I think the boys were a little disappointed, they were hoping to work up the team race a little further than where they finished,” he said. “I know these guys worked hard and didn’t hold back anything, I can’t ask them to do any more than that.”
The coach said the team was especially pleased to see Morgan qualify for state.
“We were really happy to see Thomas qualify and excited to see what he can do in the state meet,” Schumm said.
While Morgan will represent Bennington individually, Schumm also reflected on the contributions of the senior boys and the experience gained by the team’s younger runners.
“We’re really appreciative of what these senior boys were able to do for the program,” he said. “The younger kids learned a lot and I think they’ll be ready to take over for this group next year.”
Bennington’s qualifiers will head to the state cross country meet later this week, with the girls looking to build on their district runner-up finish and Morgan preparing to compete against the state’s top runners.
