By Jake Hasenauer - NPHS cross country
Today was a great day to be a Bulldog! In a tough Class A district, both teams finish third and qualify for the state meet next! Both teams battled and competed hard for their teams.
The boys led off the day with a great start! Evan Caudy led the way for the Bulldogs finishing in first place individually. Also medaling for the Bulldogs and qualifying individually was Jonah San Miguel in 12th and Rian Teets in 15th. The boys have now qualified back to back years, becoming the first North Platte team to do so since 2009 and 2020.
The girls followed suit with a great performance. Zarah Blaesi finished 4th qualifying individually for the state meet. She was the only girl for North Platte in the top 15, but the rest of our top 5 girls all finished in the top 25, helping lead the Bulldogs to a third place finish and earning a trip to the state meet. The Bulldog girls qualified for state two years ago in class B, but this was the first time the girls have qualified for state in class A since 2006.
We always talk about how we are one big team both girls and guys. This makes us unique and strong. We run as a team and finish as a family. Although we have had many teams qualify over the years, this is the first time since 1984 that BOTH teams qualified on the SAME year! These kids have shown a lot of grit and toughness throughout the year and I’m very happy they have both earned the trip to compete at the state, they’ve earned it!