Schwalenberg leads CHS girls to 3rd-place finish at home invite

COLUMBUS �” Once Columbus High’s Jena Schwalenberg reached the first hill at Lutjelusche Course Friday, no one involved in the Columbus Invitational was going to catch her.

The Telegram Super Senior cruised to victory in the girls race with a time of 15 minutes, 23 seconds, 20 seconds faster than runner-up Melissa Parks of Norfolk.

Schwalenberg’s effort helped the Discoverers to a third-place finish with 64 points. Norfolk had four runners in the top 10 to score 31 points, while Fremont was second with 49.

On the boys side, Fremont edged Kearney by two points scoring 48 points. Trevor Urkoski and Jon Powell finished eighth and ninth, respectively, to lead Columbus to a fifth-place finish with 127 points.

Schwalenberg was never really challenged as she started to pull away from the pack, running the hills strong and never letting up.

CHS coach Dave Licari said Schwalenberg has worked hard in running the hills better and felt she had made great improvements.

“She just put it in another gear at that point,” Licari said. “I thought through the course of her career, she has gotten stronger on the hills and it shows. I thought there was some quality individuals in this race. Jena was able to put some distance from those girls.”

Schwalenberg said that’s where she wanted to take off.

“I just basically tried to run the hill strong,” Schwalenberg said. “I kind of pulled ahead of them on the first two hills. I kept hearing people say they are about 15 yards behind you during the course of the race so I had a general idea of where people are at.”

Also medaling for the Columbus girls were Gabby Goc, who finished seventh with a 16:33 time, and Carrie Wiese for a 15th-place finish at 16:49.

Licari said he was happy with the third-place finish for the girls.

“I thought overall the girls ran well,” Licari said. “Our times weren’t bad at this point of the season. We had pretty tough week of training. It showed in our legs a little bit, but they all competed real well.”

Urkoski had an interesting race to earn a medal. During the middle section of the race, he fell down after stepping in a hole, but got right back up and medaled for the Discoverers. Powell stayed right behind Urkoski. Licari said he was also pleased with Alex Markham, who came in 25th at 16:25.

“Both Trevor and Jon ran great races,” Licari said. “I’m not really sure what happened with Trevor. He fell down about a mile and a half left in the race. But he got right back up and it didn’t seem it hampered him too much during the race. I thought Jon did a nice job of staying with Trevor, while Alex probably ran his best race of the season.”

Columbus will compete in the Greater Nebraska Athletic Conference Meet Friday in Lexington, then will compete in the B-3 district Oct. 16 at Concordia University in Seward.

COLUMBUS INVITATIONAL

Friday at Lutjelusche Course

VARSITY

BOYS

# Team Standings �” 1. Fremont 48, 2. Kearney 50, 3. Norfolk 80, 4. Bellevue West 86, 5. Columbus High 127, 6. Omaha Bryan 131, 7. Grand Island 189.

# Individual Top 10 �” 1. David Prater, KEA, 16:01; 2. Jose Nuno, FRE, 16:12; 3. Travis Walker, KEA, 16:15; 4. Jared Lechner, NOR, 16:19; 5. Simon Falcon, BW, 16:22; 6. Cory Poehling, FRE, 16:22; 7. Duvon Perkins, OB, 16:23; 8. Trevor Urkoski, CHS, 16:23; 9. Jon Powell, CHS, 16:25; 10. Britt Jensen, FRE, 16:32.

# Columbus �” 8. Urkoski 16:23; 9. Powell 16:25; 25. Alex Markham 17:27; 40. Breenan Stavem 18:36; 45. Luke Satorie 19:41.

GIRLS

# Team Standings �” 1. Norfolk 31, 2. Fremont 49, 3. Columbus 64, 4. Kearney 100, 5. Bellevue West 147, 6. Grand Island 152.

# Individual Top 10 �” 1. Jena Schwalenberg, 15:23; 2. Melissa Parks, NOR, 15:43; 3. Holly Bussa, FRE, 15:53; 4. Emilee Aschoff, NOR, 16:05; 5. Kelsey Doht, NOR, 16:08; 6. Kayla Fenske, FRE, 16:08; 7. Gabby Goc, CHS, 16:33; 8. Hannah Schroeder, FRE, 16:33; 9. Lauren Albin, NOR, 16:37; 10. Sigornie Pfefferle, GI, 16:39.

# Columbus �” 1. Schwalenberg 15:23; 7. Goc 16:33; 15. Carrie Wiese 16:49; 20. Danielle Archuleta 17:05; 21. Bridgette Schneekloth 17:06; 22. Nicki Green 17:09; 29. Sammi Licari 18:17.

JUNIOR VARSITY

BOYS

Team Standings �” 1. Fremont 36, 2. Kearney 50, 3. Bellevue West 58, 4. Grand Island 101, 5. Columbus High 139, 6. Omaha Bryan

Columbus Results �” 35. Sam Swartz 20:02; 38. Fifa Ueawongari 20:10; 40. Justin Roark 20:15; 41. Blake Beiermann 20:16; 47. Irvins Salazar 20:37; 54. James Trenhaile 20:49; 55. Luis Leon n20:54; 63. Daniel Kuehler 21:31; 68. Marco Baro, 71. Ben Lindquist 21:55; 78. George Giron 22:06; 79. Esmeraldo Nava 22:08; 80. Sam Hickey 22:17; 81. Taylor Strehle 22:19; 82. Matt Dresch 22:22.

GIRLS

Team Standings �” 3. Karo Garcia 17:59; 4. Morgan Mancuso 18:02; 15. Maggie Arlt 18:57; 16. Suzie Huhman 18:58; 20. Emily Trofholz 19:21; 23. Jessica Lutjelusche 19:28; 30. Kristina Pauley 19:47; 31. Crystal Loontjer 19:47; 45. Heather Lyons 21:57; Ashley Flash 23:08.