The West Holt cross country team ended their season at the 2023 class-D state meet on Friday, Oct. 20 at Kearney Country Club.
The day had some complicated weather. While usually the weather adds a factor to the meet, this year was a little different. In late October, athletes in Nebraska are used to dealing with cold weather, rain, wind, and possibly even a little snow. This time around, the weather was almost too nice, with temperatures in the 80’s with little to no wind.
Because of the unusually hot weather, the race saw numerous runners finishing with times way under what they were capable of, shaking up the field immensely.
The Huskies day began with the girls race at 2:30, where the Huskies entered the field of 18 teams looking to make their mark.
The Husky girls runners stayed in close proximity to one-another, with four of the five runners finishing within 32 spots of each other.
Leading the way for the Huskies was the freshman, Felycia Kerkman, who finished the day in 52nd place in the field of 117 runners. Close behind Kerkman was Ava Hoffman, who finished in 65th, Emersyn Mlady in 74th, and Anel Monasterio in 84th.
Unfortunately for the Huskies, their leader of the pack fell victim to the extreme heat and was not able to put in a finished time and place for the Huskies team score. Madison Davis, a senior runner for West Holt, had been the Huskies number one runner all season. Placing top five at every meet the Huskies competed in this season, including a fourth-place finish at the Huskies district meet in Ainsworth.
Davis places fifth at the 2022 cross country championships and 10th at the 2021 championships, finishing her career as a two-time NSAA cross country medalist. While Davis’s final race didn’t end as people expected, Davis was a huge part as to why the West Holt girls squad was able to compete at state in the first place.
With four of the five runners at the state meet being underclassmen, the future looks bright for the Lady Huskies.
At the end of the day, the West Holt girls finished in 12th place as a team in a field of 18 teams.
Following the girls race, Drew Martin represented the West Holt boys at 3:30. Martin entered the race as one of the favorites in class-D, with a good shot at earning a spot in the top 15.
Martin would not disappoint and earned himself the 13th place medal with a time of 17:39.4. Martin finished in 43rd place at the 2022 cross country championships, making this his first NSAA medal earned. Martin is a junior for the Huskies and gave us a glimpse into what could be a promising future for Martin with his performance this season.
Full results for the Huskies are as follows:
Girls Race
Place Name Time
52 Felycia Kerkman 23:23.8
65 Ava Hoffman 23:46.4
74 Emersyn Mlady 24:06.4
84 Anel Monasterio 24:35.2
DNF Madison Davis DNF (Davis finished her race approximately two hours after the race concluded, but was technically counted as DNF as the race was already concluded according to the NSAA)
Team Placings
Place Team Points
- Hemingford 33
- Ainsworth 36
- Crofton 39
- Pender 46
- Mullen 54
- Nebraska Christian 69
- North Central 78
- Wallace 78
- Tri County 95
- Aquinas Catholic 97
- Wisner-Pilger 108
- West Holt 118
- Ravenna 122
- Doniphan-Trumbull 127
- Elm Creek 130
- Brady 141
- Cambridge 172
- Centennial 183
Boys Race
Place Name Time
13 Drew Martin 17:39.4