The post-season for the Sandy Creek Girls Cross Country team proved to be a strong effort by the sophomore duo of Madison Shaw and Paige Stengel, as the two punched their second straight ticket to the state meet Friday afternoon in Kearney.
Action at the D-4 meet, held at Camp Kateri, south of McCool Junction, Thursday, Oct. 16, earned Shaw the third-place spot behind a pair of McCool Junction runners, Kayleigh Betka and Leah Dawson.
Betka won the girls 5000-meter race with a time of 19 minutes, 55.76 seconds, while Dawson finished second with a time of 20:32.83.
Shaw’s day was complete with a third-place time of 20:44.6.
Stengel earned her trip to Kearney with a ninth-place finish overall with her time of 21:51.1.
Ava Hubl helped to add to the Cougars’ team scoring, placing 20th with a time of 24:43.37. Hubl, however, just fell short of a trip to Kearney with her district effort.
Sandy Creek, as a team, tied with Hastings St. Cecilia for third place, as both teams tallied 29 points.
McCool Junction won the district title over Nebraska Christian, 13-22.
Embry Frazier, for the Cougar boys, was the lone runner for Sandy Creek. He finished in 51st place overall with a time of 22:00.52 The state cross country meet will once again be in Kearney Friday, Oct. 24, with the girls Class D race set to start at noon at the Kearney Country Club.
