Warrior Runners Win Team Championship; Girls 3rd

It was a record-breaking day for the Warrior cross country runners at Niobrara on Thursday.

Neligh-Oakdale's Cole Belitz and Emma Bixler both shattered the school's previous course records to lead their teams.

"Cole broke his own course record by 47 seconds, and Emma broke Kasi's (Grosserode) record by 58 seconds," Coach Rick Eickholt said.

Belitz ran a speedy 18:34 for a fourth place finish at the meet, and Bixler ran a 21:55 to claim third place in the girls race. 

Their teammates put up some impressive times as well. In fact, Eickholt said all of the top five boys on the team ran fast enough times to make the previous top 10 list for Neligh-Oakdale. Those five each earned a medal at the meet.

Behind Belitz, Christian Carothers was the next Warrior to cross the finish line to earn the 9th place medal in 19:54. They were followed by Griffin Clausen in 10th, 19:58; Cameron Wilkinson, 12th, 20:40; Logan McConnell, 19th, 21:32; and Jose Luna, 25th, 22:07. JV runners were Eric Claussen 25:17 and Dominque Wright, 27:23.

The Warrior boys won the team championship at the Niobrara Invitational with 26 points, followed by Osmond with 29.

"It's the first meet championship for the boys since winning the NENAC championship in 2010," Eickholt said.

Following Bixler's third place finish for the girls, the Neligh-Oakdale girls had three additional medalists. Madi Grosserode was 12th in 25:30, followed by Rachel Higgins in 14th with a 25:52, and Hailey Bixler in 17th with a 27:20. The girls team earned third place with 39 points. Bloomfield/Wausa won with 24, followed by Stanton with 33.
 
The junior high boys team had two top-10 finishers who picked up medals as well. Ashton Higgins earned 5th place in 5:50, followed by Thomas Johnson in 6th with a 5:51. Rounding out the junior high were Vance Chance in 15th (6:38) and Ethan Gregory in 22nd (8:07).