The Central boys and girls cross country teams concluded their seasons on Oct. 23, at the Class 1A state qualifying meet at Starmont.
The boys finished fourth out of 14 complete teams, in what assistant coach Martha Bauder said “was a very solid way to end the season, especially with the point spread they were from the fifth place team.” Their score of 144 trailed only Springville at 41, Beckman Catholic at 51 and Starmont/West Central with 84. After the Warriors, the next closest team was Clayton Ridge at 186.
Jesse Polkinghorn was Central’s top finisher in 21st place, after completing the race in 18:51.8. Carson Ruegnitz and Henry Reimer were a respective 26th and 28th after turning in times of 19:19.3 and 19:24.1, while Declan Finley placed 33rd on a time of 19:36.4, which tied for the second best of his career. Cruz Healy claimed the 36th spot with a 19:45.6, followed by Tyce Zittergruen in 39th at 19:57.6 and Michael White 42nd at 20:11.8.
Blair Scherf led Central’s girls contingent, placing 27th with a time of 22:33.8. Payton Stannard put up a time of 23:28.6, which was good for 34th, and Hannah Friedlein posted a 27:03.8 for 63rd place. Mya Gregerson was 66th with 27:45.1. Those were second best career times for both Stannard and Gregerson.
“While it often feels good to come to the end of a season, it’s actually bittersweet,” Bauder said. “On the one hand, it’s honestly a bit of a relief for the runners to know they don’t have to get themselves pumped up for another grueling 5K race, but on the other hand, their opportunities for achieving that personal best race are over.”
The end of the season also marks the end of cross country careers for Finley, Reimer, Ruegnitz, White and Bryce Heller, who Bauder noted have collectively dedicated over 20 years of extremely hard work to the Central program.
“That hard work has included being part of two conference championships and two top-four finishes in the state qualifying meets,” she said. “It also included them shaving off huge chunks of time over their personal careers.”
Finley shaved off more than nine minutes from his freshman year, Heller just under seven minutes, Reimer over two minutes, Ruegnitz just under four minutes and White just under 10 minutes.
“That doesn’t happen without an incredible amount of gut wrenching work—both physical and mental—testing limits on a daily basis. This group has left the Central program with a high bar to go after next season, and we’re looking forward to our underclassmen coming in next season with renewed enthusiasm and commitment to keep our program strong and reaching for new achievements,” Bauder shared.
Moving forward, the boys will return a strong core including Jesse Polkinghorn, Tyce Zittergruen, Cruz Healy, Breckon Holst, Griffin Koehn, Lukas Friedlein and Corbyn Clark.
“We also should have several newcomers from our highly successful junior high boys team,” according to Bauder.
The Warrior girls should return the whole team of Lilly Becwar, Friedlein, Gregerson, Scherf and Stannard, providing a solid core group.
“We’re also hoping we can encourage a few more girls to want to really test their limits, both physically and mentally, and join the team next season,” Bauder said.
