Cross Country meets run strong
Published 2:35 pm Thursday, October 8, 2026
It was a busy week for the O-C Cross Country team as they competed in both the UNK and the in the South Sioux City meets.
UNK Meet:
The O-C Cross Country team traveled to Kearney to compete in the UNK cross county meet Monday. Coach Unwin said this meet is even larger than the state meet with around 60 schools competing in the Class D division alone. The number of runners was massive with over 350 boys and 250 girls in the class D races.”Even though we know how tough both the course and the competition is, we want to get the team acquainted with the course used for the state meet and well as a chance to improve times with great competition. It was exciting to see the teams showing they are ready to compete!“ Every returning runner improved on last year’s time on this course and we had 5 varsity runners in the top third of their respective races. The boy’s team placed 11th, missing the top ten by a point, while the girls placed 17th as a team. For the girls Jalie Meyer placed 37th, Ellinor Johnson placed 46th, and Ava Johnson placed 160th. Patrick Rayburn turned in an impressive run as he picked up the 20th place medal. Other boys finishers were Tucker Wood 49th, Logan Gramke 92nd, Henry Burwinkel 152nd, and Talmage Hansen 285th.
UNK Results: (out of 355 boy and 250 girl runners)
Boys: Patrick Rayburn -20th – 18:02; Tucker Wood -49th – 19:10; Logan Gramke – 92nd – 20:09; Henry Berwinkel -152nd – 21:29; Talmage Hansen – 284 -24:45
Girls: Jaiie Meyer – 37th – 22:37; Ellinor Johnson- 46th – 22:59; Ava Johnson – 160th – 27:19
South Sioux City meet:
Unfortunately the Stanton meet scheduled for Thursday was cancelled due to rain. Fortunately OC, at the last minute, was able to enter the meet held in South Sioux City. It turned out to be a great day to run. Three of the runners set their personal records while three more ran their season best times. The team also brought home 4 individual medals. In the small school division Jalie Meyer placed 7th and Ellinor Johnson earned the 9th place medal. Both Jalie and Ellinor ran their season best times. In the boys race Patrick Rayburn was runner up while Tucker Wood placed 9th. Both Patrick and Tucker lowered their personal record times as did Henry Berwinkel who placed . Our next meet will be the East Husker Conference meet in West Point on Thursday October 8. Girls run at 4:30 with the boys following at about 5:15.
South Sioux Results: (PR = personal record time; SB = Season best)
Boys: Patrick Rayburn -2nd – 17:16(PR); Tucker Wood – 9th – 18:28(PR);
Henry Berwinkle – – 19:45(PR); Levi Garcia – 29:57(SB)
Girls: Jaiie Meyer – 7th – 22:37(SB); Ellinor Johnson- 9th – 22:20(SB); Ava Johnson – – 27:04
