After finishing as the Class B state runner up the last several years the Lexington Minutemen claimed the state title on Friday afternoon in Kearney. Lexington edged Omaha Skutt 34-38 for the title. Head coach Sam Jilka says Lexington was more hungry this time around “The wolf on top of the mountain is not as hungry as the wolf climbing the mountain.” This quote was the focus and motivation for the motivation for the Minutemen as they prepared
for their State cross country meet. The intent was to focus on the hunger to get better as a team and outwork other teams, namely Omaha Skutt who had won the state title the past four years. In addition, the Minutemen, who had been state-runner up the past four years, were eager to flip the script. Not to disappoint the Minutemen rose to the occasion, packed strongly and slipped by the Omaha Skutt team. Junior Oscar Aguado and Ian Salazar helped lead the Minutemen with their 6th and 7th (team-score) place finishes respectively in times of 16:57.1 and 16.57.56.
Jayden Ureste was right behind in a time of 17:00 placing 10 th and Miguel Cruz placing 12th in
a time of 17:10.
According to Jilka, the Minutemen were solid in their packing through the two thousand
meter mark and began to make their move through the rolling hills. They continued to
purse effectively and set their positions prior to the finishes. Perhaps struggling some on
the final 100 meters, the Minutemen were still able to hold off the Skutt runners. Senior
Garrett Converse, completed his season and career with a 18th place in a time of 17:22 and
Laz Adame was 19 th in a time of 17:28.
The Minutemen had four medalists for the first time in LHS history and earned the fifth team State title in the Lexington Cross Country program.
The Minutemaids aimed to rise to the occasion as they took the course led by seniors
Kennadi Ureste and Kayla Barrios who were running their fourth consecutive State race,
yet their final race of their Lexington Cross Country careers. Both got out to a strong start
and struggled slight mid-race in the hills but then came on strong for their finishes.
Kennadi placed 17 th , just shy of medaling in a time of 21:01 and Kayla in 21 st place in a time
of 21:15. Sophomore Maddy Armstrong ran another solid race placing 21:24 showing her
promise to help lead the Minutemaids in the future. In addition, Susana Calmo got out to a
fast start and ran one her best season races in a time of 21:38 placing 32nd . Gaining
valuable experience were freshmen Yovana Contreras running in a time of 22:10 and
Yarely Simental (56 th ) in a time of 23:23. Collectively the Minutemaids were 6th as a team and only 4 points shy of earning 3rd place. According to coach Jilka It was a solid team effort by the Maids to finish their season.
