On Monday, September 25, the Hartington-Newcastle Wildcat Cross Country team made the long trek to Kearney to compete in the UNK High School Invitational. This yearly race is open to any team from across the state and is held on the same course that the State Meet will be held on in late October.
The Hartington-Newcastle girls team competed as one of 29 high schools in the Class C race, and they finished in 5th place. The top 5 teams were separated by just 5 points, which was won by Adams Central with 93 points. They were followed by Holdrege (94), Scotus (95), Fort Calhoun (95), and Hartington-Newcastle (98).
Leading the way for the Lady Cats was Allie Rosener, who finished 12th out of 162 runners. Other Lady Cats who scored on the day were Sara Burbach (17th), Sara Reifenrath (27th, and Jayda Bernecker (45th).
The Hartington-Newcastle boys team competed as one of 30 high schools in the Class C race, and they too finished in 5th place. Holdrege won the team race with a score of 38, outdistancing second place Douglas County West (98) by 60 points. The Wildcats were 5th with 136 points.
Wildcat senior Brian Santiago ran a tremendous race, finishing 1st place out of 243 runners. Santiago ran 16:42.98, which just edged out second place runner Aidan Wheelock of Minden (16:44.22). Other Wildcats who scored on the day were Seth Wiebelhaus (15th), Dagen Joachimsen (58th), and Bode Noecker (69th).
The Wildcats are next in action at the Lewis and Clark Conference Meet, which is held in conjunction with the Bloomfield Invitational, next Friday, October 6th.