KEARNEY – Malcolm won its second straight Class D boys state cross country championship on Friday at the Kearney Country Club while junior Rylee Rice of Ainsworth won her third individual title in the girls race.

Malcolm’s depth paid off in the boys race as the Clippers placed four runners in the top 20 to win the team title handily with second-place Norfolk finishing 32 points behind Malcolm’s team total of 46. Senior Devyn Beekman led Malcolm with a sixth-place finish over in 17 minutes, 28 seconds while teammate John Swotek was eighth at 17:43.50.

Dillon Beach finished 12th for Malcolm in 18:10.79 and Ryan Zoucha was 20th with a time of 18:22.65.

Ainsworth senior Benjamin Arens literally ran away with the individual championship with a blistering time of 16:02.31, which was more than a full minute faster than runner-up Treyvin Schlueter, his Ainsworth teammate. A the one-mile mark, Arens only held a slight five-second lead over Creighton Niemeyer of Tri County, but by the two-mile mark Arens had increased his lead to more than 30 seconds.

In the girls race, Rice won her third title in as many years with a time of 19:25.57 while teammate Ceeanna Beel was third at 20:43.73 as the Bulldogs held off North Platte St. Patrick’s by a margin of 63-77 for the team title. Madison Welch was 29th for Ainsworth while Molly Salzman finished 30th.

Paige Steman of Pender, who finished second in the race, was dead even with Rice after one mile but Rice extended was able to take a 12-second lead by the second mile, which wound up being the difference between the two at the finish line.

Class D Boys Team Standings

1.) Malcolm – 46
2.) Norfolk Catholic – 78
3.) West Holt – 79
4.) Thayer Central – 106
5.) Ainsworth – 108
6.) Gibbon – 116
7.) Axtell – 119
8.) Perkins County – 130
9.) Tri County – 137
10.) Shelton – 162
11.) David City Aquinas Catholic – 168
12.) Ravenna – 180
13.) Bridgeport – 182
14.) Wisner-Pilger – 198
15.) Chase County – 198
16.) Doniphan-Trumbull – 235
17.) Cornerstone Christian – 271
18.) Logan View – 271

Class D Boys Top 10 Individual Results

1.) Benjamin Arens SR Ainsworth 16:02.4
2.) Treyvin Schlueter SR Ainsworth 17:11.9
3.) Colby Karr SR Red Cloud/Blue Hill 17:14.5 5:33
4.) Creighton Niemeyer SR Tri County 17:17.1
5. ) Caden Waitley SR Perkins County 17:25.4
6.) Nathan Holcomb JR Gibbon 17:25.5
7.) Devyn Beekman SR Malcolm 17:28.0
8.) Kaleb Pickel SO Gibbon 17:35.5
9.) John Swotek JR Malcolm 17:43.5
10.) Jaden Dietlein SR Perkins County 17:50.1

CLICK HERE FOR FULL LIST OF CLASS D BOYS INDIVIDUAL RESULTS

Class D Girls Team Standings

1.) Ainsworth – 63
2.) North Platte St. Patrick’s – 77
3.) McCool Junction – 91
4.) Bloomfield – 101
5.) Malcolm – 117
6.) Gibbon – 135
7.) Ravenna – 142
8.) Thayer Central – 149
9.) Tri County – 152
10.) West Holt – 158
11.) Bayard – 159
12.) Hastings St. Cecilia – 177
13.) Chase County – 184
14.) Bridgeport – 192
15.) Pender – 199
16.) Humphrey St. Francis – 223
17.) Logan View – 229

Class D Girls Top 10 Individual Results

1.) Rylee Rice JR Ainsworth 19:25.6
2.) Paige Steinman JR Pender 20:03.4
3.) Sable Lambley JR Dundy County 20:17.1
4.) Jade Rickard SR Plainview 20:40.0
5.) Ceeanna Beel SO Ainsworth 20:43.8
6.) Daisy Frick FR North Central 20:46.7
7.) Andie Koch SO Tri County 20:47.7
8.) Molly Paxton JR Mullen 20:48.6
9.) Alexandria Frasher SR Aquinas Catholic 20:56.1
10.) Ashlei McDonald SO Johnson County Central 20:57.4

CLICK HERE FOR FULL LIST OF CLASS D GIRLS INDIVIDUAL RESULTS

Photo credit / Eric Allgood of nebpreps