(EDITOR'S NOTE: The story has been corrected to include the top 15 individual state qualifiers.)
PENDER — Ponca and Homer will send their boys cross country teams to state next week as the two area teams led the way in Thursday’s D-1 cross country meet at Twin Creeks Golf Club.
The Indians, ranked sixth in the state, finished 12 points ahead of the seventh-ranked Knights (15-27) and had all three scoring runners finish in the top 10 to lead the 15-team field. Bloomfield/Wausa took the last team state-qualifying spot with 36 points, nine ahead of fourth-place Elkhorn Valley.
Ponca sophomore Kole Krusemark was runner-up to medalist Ty Freeman of Bloomfield/Wausa, finishing seven seconds behind the winner with a time of 17:21.7.
Five of the top 10 individual qualifying spots were either Ponca or Homer runners. Gannon Pfister followed Freeman home in fifth place and Broderick Hogan was eighth for the Indians. Jett Fogarty led Homer with a third-place finish, followed by Tommy Reed in seventh.
Tri County Northeast’s Jude Ridenour also earned a qualifying bid as one of the top 15 individual runners, finishing a second behind Kaden Arens of Crofton in 11th place. Lucas Dendinger of Ponca also finished among the top 15 individual qualifiers, finishing 13th.
In girls, action, Ponca’s Jaelen Templeman was the lone area qualifier, finishing ninth in a time of 21:07.6.
Ponca’s girls finished fifth out of 11 teams in the girls race, while Homer finished ninth.
Homer’s top runner was Alejandra Quezada-Garcia, who finished 19th. Tri County Northeast was led by Chloe Peters, who placed 46th.
The Nebraska State Cross County Championships will be held Friday, Oct. 23 at Kearney Country Club, beginning at 12 p.m.
D-1 District at Pender
Girls Team Scores (Top 3 to state)
Crofton 8, LCC 22, Elkhorn Valley 38, Bloomfield/Wausa 52, Ponca 53, Winside 65, Bancroft-Rosalie 66, Wisner-Pilger 71, Homer 81, Wakefield 83, Plainview 116.
Area Results (Top 15 to state)
HOMER — 19. Alejandra Quezada-Garcia, 22:27.9; 34. Isabelle Pieper, 23:50.5; 36. Avery Kramper, 24:12.9; 41. Sydney Newlon, 24:38.4; 49. Brooklyn Hightree, 26:16.7.
TCNE — 46. Chloe Peters, 25:25.1; 50. Hailey Millard, 26:21.0.
PONCA — 9. Jaelen Templeman, 21:07.6; 23. Laken Pifster, 22:48.0; 26. Klaudi Bruening, 23:00.2.
Boys Team Scores (top 3 to state)
Ponca 15, Homer 27, Bloomfield/Wausa 36, Elkhorn Valley 45, Wakefield 63, Plainview 66, Tri County NE 79, Wisner-Pilger 86, Crofton 111, Pender 114, Osmond 128, Lutheran High NE 133, Winnebago 133, LCC 139, Bancroft-Roaslie 139.
Area Results (Top 15 to state)
HOMER — 3. Jett Fogarty, 17:34.5; 7. Tomy Reed, 17:47.2; 18. Logan Albrecht, 18:47.6; 20. Jessup Snowball, 18:55.3; 21. Triston Owens, 18:57.2.
TCNE — 11. Jude Ridenour, 18:04.7; 34. Tucker Anderson, 20:11.0; 36. Alan Figueroa, 20:14.6; 63. Matt Bousquet, 23:34.0; 70. Timothy Peters. 27:58.6.
PONCA — 2. Kole Krusemark, 17:21.7; 5. Gannon Pfister, 17:39.0; 8. Broderick Hogan, 17:50.6; 13. Lucas Dendinger, 18:11.5; 26. Micah Dendinger 19:23.6.
