It looked as if Blair cross-country coach Carson Norine caught Jade Wickwire a bit off-guard with his enthusiastic congratulations Thursday afternoon.
“Great run! Way to go!” he shouted while on the move at Otte Blair Middle School. “I'm so proud of you, my gosh.”
Wickwire's second-place individual finish led the Bears to a first-place team result ahead of the Treynor (Iowa) girls and third-place Arlington.
“That was phenomenal,” Norine added.
The Fort Calhoun boys, meanwhile, dominated atop the team standings ahead of second-place AHS and BHS in third. The Eagles' Kolby Tighe and Hailey O'Daniel earned the 5-kilometer race wins with their efforts, too.
All of Washington County's top results came on a warm day in Washington County. Multiple runners fell out of the races before their finishes due to the high temperatures.
Even Wickwire said the heat and hills were daunting going in.
“But, once I stepped on the line, I knew it was go time,” the Bear said. “I was like, 'I need to do this for my team.' Every point matters. Every step matters.”
After O'Daniel won the race in 20:44.34, Wickwire finished in 21:18.41 — about 9 seconds ahead of third-place Anne Miller of Treynor.
“I tried to keep the first mile slow and just tried to pace myself,” the silver medalist said. “I kind of knew not everybody's going to be able to keep that pace.”
Once she made it through the first mile, Wickwire thought, “I've got to start hunting down a person, one-by-one.”
Blair's Nadia Davey and Kate Wulf added fourth- and fifth-place finishes, clocking in at 22:09.97 and 22:19.81, respectively. Their teammate, Ryen Anderson, took seventh and Arlington's Corinne May was 11th.
BHS' Emma Himes claimed a top-15 result, too, filling that last spot in 23:37.67.
Fort Calhoun's top finisher in the girls' race was Lauren Lammers, who took 16th. Her teammate, Will Dennis, said the Pioneers were well aware the Blair meet was going to be a tough test.
It was one FCHS met with six top-10 finishers.
“We came out here with good mindsets,” Dennis said. “We just went to work.”
Seth Waters (17:58.16), Dennis (18:08.71), Chris Post-Whiteowl (18:11.67), Merritt Olberding (18:21.06) and Travis Skelton (18:24.48) finished second through sixth behind Tighe, who earned first for Arlington in 17:20.85.
The Pioneers' Matthew Kelly was 10th in 18:51.45, too.
Tighe, meanwhile, was accompanied by two more top-10 AHS finishers. Ashton Vollmer was seventh in 18:33.21, while John Morrison earned eighth in 18:42.99.
Morrison explained how he made it running 5K in such uncomfortable conditions.
“I dump a bunch of water on my head when I run,” he said. “Feels like a second-wind to me.”
The Eagle was motivated by his fellow AHS runners, too.
“It was great to see my teammates up there,” Morrison noted.
Blair's Declan McCabe was the Bears' top finisher in the boys' race, securing ninth in 18:48. Roland Barondeau was 11th in 19:22.32, while Tannon Bellamy and Lane Christensen earned 14th and 15th for medals, too.
“Everybody knows it is a difficult course, and the weather definitely wasn't cooperating like we wanted it to today,” McCabe said. “But it's just nice to run at home in front of people you might not see at away meets.”
The BHS standout said his team ran up hills during the week to prepare, noting how it'll help them in the future as well.
In actuality, runners from all three Washington County schools noted how they were looking ahead by race's end Thursday.
“We've definitely been having a lot of adversity this year. We've had a lot of sickness,” Dennis said, running down the list of illnesses to have afflicted his Pioneers. “But, I think we're all doing our best to stay healthy right now.”
Wickwire added, “We're just going to keep on building.”
BLAIR XC INVITE
Thursday at Otte Blair Middle School
BOYS
Team standings: Fort Calhoun 14, Arlington 33, Blair 49, Council Bluffs Abraham Lincoln, Douglas County West 94, Omaha Roncalli 109, Treynor 133.
Individual medalist: Kolby Tighe, Arlington, 17:20.85.
Arlington results: 1, Tighe, 17:20.85. 7, Ashton Vollmer, 18:33.21. 8, John Morrison, 18:42.99. 17, Ethan Hilgenkamp, 20:05.25. 20, Brayden Fuchs, 20:14.46. 21, Gus Burns, 20:15.69. Top JV finisher: 4, Henry Lancaster, 21:01.67.
Blair results: 9, Declan McCabe, 18:48. 11, Roland Barondeau, 19:22.32. 14, Tannon Bellamy, 19:43.04. 15, Lane Christensen, 19:44.28. 18, Jake Baker, 20:05.52. 25, Michael Amandus, 20:54.08. Top JV: 3, Kieran Flynn, 20:52.94.
Fort Calhoun results: 2, Seth Waters, 17:58.16. 3, Will Dennis, 18:08.71. 4, Chris Post-Whiteowl, 18:11.67. 5, Merritt Olberding, 18:21.06. 6, Travis Skelton, 18:24.48. 10, Matthew Kelly, 18:51.45. Top JV: 1, Sean Waters, 19:40.99.
GIRLS
Team standings: Blair 18, Treynor 36, Arlington 50, Omaha Mercy 54, Omaha Roncalli 87, DC West 90, CB Abraham Lincoln 105.
Individual medalist: Hailey O'Daniel, Arlington, 20:44.34.
Arlington results: 1, O'Daniel, 20:44.34. 11, Corinne May, 23:01.79. 19, Kelise Krivohlavek, 24:14.79. 21, Whitney Wollberg, 24:33.73. 29, Sofie Lewis, 26:14.81. 33, Izzabella Credeur, 26:45.04.
Blair results: 2, Jade Wickwire, 21:18.41. 4, Nadia Davey, 22:09.97. 5, Kate Wulf, 22:19.81. 7, Ryen Anderson, 22:29.89. 15, Emma Himes, 23:37.67. NA, Lainey Bilau. Top JV finisher: 1, Stevie Avila, 25:27.59.
Fort Calhoun results: 16, Lauren Lammers, 23:40.2. 25, Annaleigh McLaughlin, 25:26.61.
