Bison teams shine at Lex run meet

COZAD -- McCook High School's cross-country teams enjoyed a strong effort at the season-opening Cozad Invitational meet Sept. 2.

Both Bison teams had better showings at the Cozad meet than they had the previous year.

The McCook girls scored two points less than they did in 2009 at Cozad. The Bison girls finished second with 32 points, six behind champion Kearney High with 26. The Bison boys were seventh with 128 points after finishing ninth at Cozad a year ago.

In high school cross country, the places of the fastest four individuals are added for a team score, with the low score winning the meet. (for example, a team that had individuals place first, 10th, 20th and 30th would have a team score of 61 points).

Tom Sughroue, Bison head cross-country coach, was very pleased with both his teams. Sughroue said last year McCook had two girls under 17 minutes at Cozad, and this year five Bison girls ran under 17 minutes.

"That was a great thing to see," Sughroue said.

The McCook boys scored 40 points less than they did in 2009 and also had an individual medalist, with sophomore Trevor Pate finishing 20th with a career-best time of 18 minutes, 4 seconds over the 5K (3.1-mile) course.

"That's a great way for him to start the year. We're very pleased with that," Sughroue said.

The Bison coach said the last time one of his boys earned an individual medal at the competitive Cozad meet was 2004.

Bison girls strong

The McCook girls had six runners finish in the top 21 individual standings, led by senior Jessa Sughroue with a fifth-place effort in her time of 16 minutes, 11 seconds over the 4K (2.6-mile) course. Freshman Molly Sughroue was seventh at 16:35, followed by senior Kelsea Geschwentner in ninth (16:39) and sophomore Veronica Bair in 11th (16:48).

Junior Emilyne Nichols was close behind in 12th (16:58) and junior Emily Tolliver ran 21st (17:30).

Last season, McCook beat the Class A Kearney squad by two points for the team title at Cozad, and this year Kearney returned the favor.

"I was very pleased with the way the girls ran," Coach Sughroue said. "We had some very good performances, I thought, on the girls side."

McCook senior Jonathan Solorzano finished 29th in the boys division with a time of 18:58. Senior Rusty Sullivant was 39th at 19:47, with junior Kyle Gaston 40th and junior Jesus Guana 41st both with a time of 19:48. Nathan Priebe, a senior, ran 57th (20:54).

Chase County, Broken Bow meets

The McCook runners have a pair of meets this week. The Bison visit Imperial Thursday, Sept. 9, for the Chase County Invitational starting at 3:30 p.m. at the Imperial Country Club on the west edge of the city. McCook's teams will also enter the Broken Bow Invite Saturday, Sept. 11, starting at 10 a.m.