York dominates Central Conference Cross Country Championships

The York boys smothered the field in Thursday’s Central Conference Cross Country Championships and the Duke girls weren’t far behind.
York came home from Holdrege with the team championship for boys and individual titles for Chris Mauer and Jessica Driewer.
Incredibly, the York boys took five of top eight placements. That put them in the champion’s seat with a landslide 14-44 win over runner-up Seward.
On top of the team win, York got the medalist award when Chris Mauer ran first in 17:09.12. Ditto in the girls race where Jessica Driewer won in 14:28.50.
Alex Adams was third for the boys in 17:11.01 a few steps ahead of teammate and fourth-place finisher Dylan Obermier, whose time was 17:16.92. Josh Stephens was sixth in 17:23.90 with Brett Grieb eighth in 17:31.74.
Brandon Lambert rounded out the York boys day with 18:50.34 and 28th place.
Coach Eric Rasmussen said this was the best meet of the year so far for both the boys and girls from York.
“We were hoping we could medal five” boys, he said, “but we didn’t anticipate our top five would be that close together.”
He said Mauer’s win is the fifth year in succession for a York boy to be league champion. It’s also at least four years in succession for the Dukes to win the boys team title.
It was Mauer’s first win of the year and third different individual champion “on the guys’ side,” said the coach. “They were really motivated” and “went into the race with the attitude of not only winning the championship, but doing so with a very low score.”
In cross country, York’s score of 14 is very low.
“With 200 meters left we were sitting 1-2-3-5,” said the coach, “and at one point in the race we had five of the top six.
“Josh Stephens really had a breakout performance,” said Rasmussen. His finish of sixth was the first time Stephens scored points for the Dukes, reported the coach.
On the girls side, “Jess (Driewer) won her second straight conference title against some really tough competition,” said Rasmussen. “She led pretty much from the beginning to the end,” as has been Driewer’s habit this year.
Chasing Driewer to the tape were teammates Bekah Spader in 15:17.29 and Taylor Wiens, who posted a 15:35.83. Spader was sixth and Wiens eighth.
“We had two freshmen (Spader and Wiens) run by far the best races of their careers. Taylor had a great performance,” he said.
Erin Hotovy ran 16th in 16:57.29, falling one agonizing place short of getting a top-15 medal. Jamie Huber stopped time in 18:01.96, good for 24th. Leigh Todd landed 28th after covering the course in 18:20.87.
The girls missed making it a four-way sweep of both team and individual championships by 14 points after Seward scored 14 to York’s 27.
In the JV portion of the meet, Matthew Martin was third (18:59.26) and Derek Dauel seventh (19:52.08). Dan Jordan ran 21:08.25, good for 29th.
The Dukes’ run the district trophy Thursday at Concordia University. The meet will include two of the top three teams in the state with No. 1 Seward and No. 3 Columbus High.
York is ranked fourth in Class B boys and 11th in the standings for girls.
• Boys team scores — 1. York 14, 2. Seward 44, 3. Aurora 59, 4. Central City 75, 5. Grand Island Northwest 84, 6. Crete 117, 7. Holdrege 124, 8. Columbus Lakeview 126, 9. Fairbury 131, 10. Schuyler 177.
• Girls team scores — 1. Seward 14, 2, York 27, 3. Grand Island Northwest 49, 4. Crete 64, 5. Aurora 95, 6. Columbus Lakeview 107.