Jarecki finishes seventh at state for medal in Class C meet

KEARNEY - Emily Jarecki wasn't going to let the pain in her stomach bother her.

The Scotus Central Catholic sophomore started off fast and found that she was in pain with about a third of the race left. She still managed to grab a seventh-place finish in the Class C State Cross Country meet Friday afternoon at the Kearney Country Club.

Fort Calhoun edged Broken Bow 32-35 to win the team title. Broken Bow's Katie White won her third consecutive individual state medalist with a time of 15 minutes, 26 seconds. On the boys side, Norfolk Catholic easily claimed the title with 23 points, 42 points less than runner-up Hastings St. Cecilia. Minden's Al Sanabria took the individual medalist with a 16:41.

Jarecki's time after the race was 16:28. Jarecki said she tried not to let her stomach hurt her.

“It started bothering me in the middle of the race somewhere,” Jarecki said. “I just tried to forget about it.”

What helped Jarecki to get a medal was by getting off to a fast start. She was in fifth place after the first mile. She fell back a little bit after the 2-mile mark where she was ninth.

After that, she passed Fort Calhoun's Christine Schroeder and Boys Town Chelsea Shanks and stayed in that spot for the reminder of the race.

“Emily put herself in position early where she hung on,” SCC coach Merlin Lahm said. “She went out fast and had goals to finish in the top 10 and put herself in position from the very beginning, where she stayed between the sixth through eighth spot. The reason she was hurting at the .8 miles mark was because she went out after it and gave herself a chance to do well. She knows how to handle that though.”

Jarecki said she is excited to finish the state meet with a medal.

“I didn't expect to be where I am right now as a runner,” Jarecki said. “This feels awesome. I think this will give me a lot of confidence going into next season. I'm hoping to have a good one next year.”

Jarecki finished 39th last season. Lahm said she worked hard to get into shape as she ran 188 miles over the summer.

“She's had a great year,” Lahm said. “She went out for cross country last year and had a great season and establish herself as the top runner. Nerves got to her at state last year, but she still performed well. She had a great track season and a great summer as well. She came in like a seasoned veteran and competed like she knew what the deal was this year.”

Jarecki's teammate Hannah Schaecher grabbed a 33rd-place finish, clocked at 17:28.

The Boone Central girls didn't have a state medalist, but still finished with a sixth-place finish with 108 points. Ashlynn Bader led the Cardinals with a 21st-place finish at 17:05.

Boone Central coach Tom Dickey said he wasn't disappointed with the finish because of Norfolk Catholic and Pierce, who were in the C-2 district with the Cardinals, finishing in the top five.

“I thought if we finished in the top seven, we'd be doing well,” Dickey said. “I was very pleased and there were a few teams in the meet that I didn't know if we could beat that we did. Our district got third, fourth and sixth, so it was really a good day for us.”

Kevin Carder came close to a medal for the Cardinals as he finished 19th with a 18:05 finish. Lakeview's Josh Maurer grabbed a 23rd-place finish with a 18:13 time, while teammate Otis Seiler took 92nd at 20:45.

Class C State Cross Country

Friday at Kearney Country Club

BOYS

Team Standings - 1. Norfolk Catholic 23, 2. Hastings St. Cecilia 65, 3. Wahoo Neumann 69, 4. Minden 84, 5. Bennington 107, 6. Wayne 107, 7. Syracuse 111, 8. Ord 134, 9. Milford 144, 10. O'Neill 149, 11. Broken Bow 178, 12. Adams Central 181.

Lakeview - 23. Josh Maurer 18:13; 92. Otis Seiler, 20:45.

Boone Central - 19. Kevin Carder, 18:05.

GIRLS

Team Standings - 1. Fort Calhoun 32, 2. Broken Bow 35, 3. Norfolk Catholic 71, 4. Pierce 84, 5. Hastings St. Cecilia 95, 6. Boone Central 108, 7. Gothenburg 117, 8. Valentine 128, 9. Auburn 131, 10. Arlington 158, 11. Milford 172, 12. Adams Central 186.

Scotus - 7. Emily Jarecki, 16:28; 33. Hannah Schaecher, 17:28.

Boone Central - 21. Ashlynn Bader, 17:05; 32. Mary Stark 17:28; 45. Lana Koziol, 17:49; 63. Bobbie Bader, 18:22;66. Jorji McPhillips, 18:26; 89. Halie Smith, 21:15.