It's State week. Just to get you in the mood, here's an awesome video the Nerds created from the 2023 State meet.

We've just passed the 100-meet mark for uploaded albums at facebook.com/PrepRunningNerd…. District meet albums are still being uploaded. Our website at preprunningnerd.com/2022 includes a chronological list of meets uploaded as of 7:00 am this morning.

It’s a balmy 51 degrees with a light breeze for today’s Distrct C-5 XC Meet in Ogallala. The brain trust of officials, from L to R: Head Timer:  Jayson Bishop Starter: Don Softley Scorer:  Tim Colglazier Photo: Science Nerd

In lieu of publishing a Nerdsletter this week, I interviewed 3x Olympian and former world-record holder Jim Ryun and his wife Anne. You can find video and audio versions of the interview at preprunningnerd.com/post/jim…. Jim and Anne are the keynote speakers for the free Fellowship of Christian Athletes XC clinic being held on Saturday, 10/24 from 1:00-4:00 in Bellevue. Registration for the clinic is at fca.regfox.com/2026omahaxccl……. I expected today's interview to last 30 minutes but, to be safe, I sent Jim and Anne a calendar request for an hour; they were so entertaining that the recorded interview lasted almost 75 minutes. We discussed: * Why Jim became a distance runner; * How, after less than nine months of running, Jim's high school coach decided that Jim was capable of running a a sub-four-minute mile before he graduated; * How Jim snubbed Anne the first time she tried to meet him (despite patiently waiting for three hours); * His experiences at the Olympic Trials and Olympics; * His most memorable races and what they taught him; * His brief training partnership with Steve Prefontaine; * His belief in the American experiment; * The Christian-based running camps he's hosted for 52 years; * The freedom and peace he felt once he moved from following the 'rules' of Christianity to letting Jesus in his life. As you might imagine from his appearance at the FCA clinic, Jim's Christian faith has been an important of his life. The cross country clinic will also include presentations by former D2 athlete Aaron Yoder, former UNO runner Lily Jackson, and triathlete Lincoln Murdoch. Admission is free but pre-registration is required so the event has adequate seating. The clinic is open to athletes, coaches and running nerds of any age. My sons ran in college but had never heard of Jim Ryun. He's an American distance running legend, and I encourage you to share the interview with the athletes in your life.

Last week's individual girls' rankings reflected UNK results. With 13 of 22 HS meets on Thursday and Friday cancelled due to rain or wet courses, there aren't many changes in the rankings this week at preprunningnerd.com/week5ran… due to so few head-to-head matchups between ranked runners. In Class A, the only ranked runner competing on Thursday or Friday was Norfolk's Aubrey Anderson, who won the Columbus meet by 53 seconds. Consequently, we have no changes in the rankings this week. Only three girls ranked in Class B competed in the latter half of the week, and no changes came out of those results. Scottsbluff's freshmen Nina Polk and Hannah Wemhoff, ranked #4 and #13, were the top two Class B finishers at their home meet. Annah Perdue of York, ranked #8, won the Battle Creek meet by 25 seconds. In Class C, we had five ranked athletes competing at either West Holt, Battle Creek or Scottsbluff. Second-ranked Tayla Hurner of Wayne won on West Holt's city course in 18:59, while teammate and #14 Hadley Dunklau was the 2nd Class C finisher. Mayla Sukup of Norfolk Catholic moved up one spot to #10 after being the first Class C finisher at Battle Creek. In Scottsbluff, #4 Addison Hauxwell of Chase County and Gracie Calkins of Chadron were the top girls from Class C, and that pushed Calkins from the Nerd watch list into the #15 spot. Finally, in Class D, top-ranked Avery Arens put on a show in South Dakota, winning the Lennox meet by over 90 seconds in 17:06. Delani Runnels of Niobrara-Verdigre was one of six ranked girls at West Holt, and she was the top D finisher by 28 seconds. Reagan Moody of Ainsworth was next, catapulting her from the Nerd watch list to #9 this week. She was followed by #11 Sevyn Russell of Doniphan-Trumbull, #12 Shylee Gonzales of Sandhills/Thedford, and #13 Lena Spencer of Burwell. This week's conference meets should be informative. The top eight girls in Class A (and 12 of out the top 15) may race at Metros on Wednesday, while the HAC meet in Kearney has 3 ranked runners. Metros will also be a rematch of the top three teams from UNK - Elkhorn North, Marian and Papio South. Elkhorn North's win at UNK over Marian was not fully reflected in this week's coaches' rankings, and now they have their first chance to compete against new #1 Millard West in the expanded Metro Conference. The Class A and D coaches released new team rankings this week. You can find the team rankings for all season, plus this week's complete Top 15 and Nerd Watch List, at preprunningnerd.com/rankings.

Our latest batch of girls' rankings is now available on our website at preprunningnerd.com/week3ran…. With many meets canceled last week and a number of teams taking an off week as they shift from late-week races to next Monday's UNK meet, the rankings changes this week are limited. Next week's rankings will be issued after the UNK meet, and we'll rely heavily on head-to-head results at that event. In Class A, 8 of last week's top 15 raced at the Harold Scott meet. While A#1 Emily Hegge of Papio South won the race and retains the top spot, the meet led to a reshuffling in the rankings and added two new faces in the rankings. Caitlyn Olsen of Lincoln Southeast and Riley Kreisling of Elkhorn North join at #12 and #14 after finishing as the 6th and 8th Class A girls. #9 Aubrey Anderson of Norfolk and #11 Selah Carson of Bennington were the top two Class A finishers at Norfolk. Jenna Dahl, a freshman at Fremont, joins the rankings at #15 after being the top Nebraska finisher at the Heartland Classic meet on Saturday. Meredith Marsh of LSW finished behind Dahl but we've kept her at #5; the Pella meet featured a lightning delay, heavy mud and a consolidation of six races into two, and we're not going to penalize Meredith for Tough Mudder conditions. The Harold Scott meet featured 6 ranked runners in Class B. Sophia Reynolds of Hastings affirmed her #1 ranking after finishing as the top Class B girl ahead of #3 Haylen Holliday, #7 Malia Woosley of Pius in Malia's season debut, #12 Sierra Regan of Gretna and #14 Nora Ivanov of Pius. Rinlee Blomstedt of McCook won her home meet to remain at #4, while Natalie Ramirez of Lexington jumped from #15 to #10 after finishing as the 2nd Class B girl at that meet. Jillian Schumacher of Skutt makes her debut at #9 after being the top Class B finisher at Norfolk ahead of #11 Ella Carlson and new #15 Lydia Dominy, both from Norris. With the possible exception of the Pius team, most of the ranked girls should be at the UNK meet next week. In Class C, #1 Scout Bell won the loaded Fillmore Central invite in 19:19 over at least five ranked runners from Class C and D. #2 Tayla Hurner of Wayne won the Wayne and Sergeant Bluff (IA) meets last week, while #3 Mallory Robbins and her Plattsmouth teammates lost their second meet of the season due to weather. Four other ranked girls did not race this week, limiting the changes in rankings. #5 Addison Hauxwell of Chase County was the top C finisher at McCook, #7 Amelia Buhlke of Central City won the O'Neill meet, and #9 Neva Bauer of Arlington won her home road race just ahead of #10 Emma Williams. We have no additions to the rankings this week but we expect wholesale changes next when most of Class C congregates at the UNK meet. In Class D, 4 of the last week's top six girls either did not race or did not finish their race. At the Fillmore Central meet, #3 Leah Dawson was the top D finisher followed by Stella Steele, a freshman at Centennial, who makes her rankings debut at #15. #2 Delani Runnels of Niobrara/Verdigre cruised to an easy victory at Neligh-Oakdale, #7 Aysha Neal of Alma won the Arapahoe title, Shylee Gonzales of Sandhills/Thedford won at Ravenna, and Faith Galvin of LCC won the Pender meet. The graphics below list the top 10 girls in each Class; because most of you can't read microscopic print, our website has the expanded list of the top 15 girls and their schools, along with Nerd Watch List athletes who are just outside of the rankings. You can also find the coaches' team rankings, which were updated yesterday and are available at preprunningnerd.com/rankings. As a reminder, next week's rankings will not be issued until Wednesday to give us ample time to reflect the UNK results and to create our graphics.

A fresh round of boys' rankings are now available at our website at preprunningnerd.com/week3ran…. With many meets canceled last week and a number of teams taking an off week as they shift from late-week races to next Monday's UNK meet, the rankings changes this week are limited. Next week's rankings will be issued after the UNK meet, and we'll rely heavily on head-to-head results at that event. In Class A, 4 of the top 15 boys did not compete last week, and the top six rankings are unchanged. #1 Aiden Gehring of Papio South was the top Class A finisher in 15:40 at a muddy Pioneer Park course, while #2 Liam Gonzalez of Norfolk won his home (and muggy) meet in 15:41 with #3 J'Shawn Afuh in 2nd place in 16:24. The only addition to this week's rankings is Lincoln East's Dylan Linscott, who returns at #9 after finishing 4th at Harold Scott behind the #1, #4 and #7 boys. LSW and Fremont raced at the Heartland Classic in Pella on Saturday, and the meet featured a lightning delay, considerable mud and the consolidation of six races into two. #12 Mitchell Ripley of LSW was the top Nebraska finisher, followed by Logan Nielsen, Jasper Semrad and Aiden Soto of Fremont. Soto remains #15 in the rankings; we're not going to penalize him for finishing behind two teammates on a Tough Mudder course. Jackson Einspahr of Seward ascends to the #1 spot in Class B after besting last week's A#1 and B#1 boys at Harold Scott; Sam Schlautman of Pius moves to #2. By my count, 7 of the top 15 boys didn't race last week. The Adams Central meet today features 6 ranked boys from Northwest, Beatrice, Lexington and North Platte; I'm particularly interested to see how #4 Carter Ribble, a freshman from Beatrice, performs again his older ranked competitors. We have no new ranked boys in Class B, and Owen Muma of Norris made the biggest gain, improving from #9 to #7 after being the top Class B finisher at Norfolk. Last week's Fillmore Central meet featured 7 boys ranked in Class C and 3 boys ranked in Class D. #2 Bryson Neels of Gothenburg won the meet and the rubber match with his teammate Tyson Hetz, and Bryson takes over the #1 spot. Samuel McQuistan of Holdrege slides into #2 after finishing 4th at Harold Scott behind the A#1, B#1 and B#2 and ahead of at least nine other ranked runners from B, C and D. Trevin Opp of Lincoln Christian came off the injured list to make his season debut, finishing behind Neels and Hetz at Fillmore Central. The boys ranked 6th through 12th did not change positions this week. Emmanuel Gonzalez of Wayne is the only new face this week with his debut at #15 after strong performances at Wayne and Sergeant Bluff. The Ravenna meet last week was a good stress test for our Class D rankings. The top three finishers at that meet - Kaser Johnson of Doniphan-Trumbull, Coltan Ham of NPSP and Dutch Miller of Arcadia-Loup City - continue to be the top three boys in our rankings. Likewise, three ranked boys raced at Fillmore Central, and #8 Sammy Holsing of Tri County, #9 Carter Mierau of McCool Junction and #12 Carter Fritz of Centennial finished in their rankings order. Xander Cardoza of Dundy County-Stratton is the only new boy on the list at #15 after finishing as the top Class D at McCook. The graphics below list the top 10 boys in each Class; because most of you can't read microscopic print, our website has the expanded list of the top 15 boys and their schools, along with Nerd Watch List athletes who are just outside of the rankings. You can also find the coaches' team rankings, which were updated yesterday and are available at preprunningnerd.com/rankings. As a reminder, next week's rankings will not be issued until Wednesday to give us ample time to reflect the UNK results and to create our graphics.

The coaches have issued rankings for all four Classes in the past two days. The top ranked teams are as follows, with new # 1 teams in Class B: A boys - Creighton Prep A girls - Omaha Marian B boys - Seward, up from #2 B girls - Lincoln Pius, up from #2 C boys - Holdrege C girls - Adams Central D boys - Doniphan-Trumbull D girls - Crofton The next team rankings will be issued after the huge UNK meet on Monday, 9/28. Individual rankings are posted every Tuesday, although the post-UNK rankings may be issued on Wednesday of next week. You can find team and individual rankings on our website at preprunningnerd.com/rankings.

We have new individual rankings for the girls. A few notes: In Class A, Emily Hegge at Papio South won her 5k season debut on her home course in 18:24; conditions were brutal despite the early start. Maya Freyer of Marian won the Thorell meet in Seward in 18:25. Madison Scott, a freshman from Millard West, jumps from 7th to 4th after winning at Burke in 19:28, her first HS win. In Class B, the top four spots are unchanged. Jordyn Samuels of Seward moves from the Watch List to #5 after being the 2nd-fastest Class B finisher at Thorell behind her teammate, third-ranked Haylen Holliday. Seward has three girls ranked int he top 7 and should challenge Gretna for the top spot in the coaches' poll. Rinlee Blomstedt, a McCook freshman, improves from #8 to #6 after posting the fastest Class B time at Minden. Our Class C girls graphic has a major error and can't be fixed until Nerd Junior gets off work tonight, but the links below show the top 15. Defending champ Scout Bell of Gothenburg holds onto the top spot after winning the Minden meet. Tayla Hurner of Wayne won her second title of the season, this time at Boone Central, and remains #2. Cassidy Reiman, a freshman at Gothenburg, makes the biggest move of the week, jumping 5 spots to #10 after finishing behind Bell and #4 Jaelyn Witter of Kearney Catholic at the Minden meet. The top 4 in Class D are also unchanged, led by Avery Arens and her sub-18:00 performance at the Augie Twilight. Lily Daly of Hastings St. Cecilia jumps from #15 to #5 after winning the brutal Superior meet on Tuesday and being the first Class D girl at Saturday's Minden meet. Shylee Gonzales of Sandhills/Thedford debuts at #7 after winning the Ainsworth meet, a week after finishing 2nd at the Burwell 4k. Our website at preprunningnerd.com/rankings… includes more detail (including team names) on the top 10 listed below, the top 15 rankings, and the Nerd watch list. We update these individual rankings every Tuesday. The coaches' team rankings were updated yesterday and are available at preprunningnerd.com/rankings.

It's Middle School Monday! Carter Ribble (Beatrice), Kamden Cupples (Omaha St. Wenceslaus) and Madison Scott (Millard Russell) dropped incredible 1600 times last week. Post a comment below which other middle school athletes that rocked it last week.

The latest Nerdsletter is at preprunningnerd.com/post/051… and should get you ready for District week: ▪️ No room for fear or doubt ▪️ How to qualify for State ▪️ Summer camps ▪️ Cool odds and ends ▪️ State records! ▪️ Season rankings ▪️ Big Ten awesomeness ▪️ Speedy 8th graders ▪️ Photos!