On Saturday, August 29, the Millard West Cross Country team competed in their first meet of the 2020 season. The Covid Conference meet was held at Walnut Creek park at Papillion-La Vista South High School. Millard West sent four teams to the meet: boys varsity, girls varsity, boys junior varsity and girls junior varsity.

The boys varsity team consisted of 10 total runners and each of them did amazing at the meet. Junior Sam Kirchner came third overall in the meet with a time of 17 minutes and 4.03 seconds. Kirchner was also the highest finisher on the Millard West team. Sophomore Joey Hartnett came in fourth place, with a time of 17 minutes and 4.56 seconds. Hartnett was the second finisher for the Millard West team. Coming in seventh place overall, third for the Wildcats, was senior Austin Goetsche with a time of 17 minutes and 9.09 seconds. Finishing right after Goetsche, was senior Aidan MacLeod with a time of 17 minutes and 9.74 seconds. Coming in tenth place overall, fifth place for the Wildcat’s team, was sophomore Pierce Marshall with a time of 17 minutes and 12.02 seconds. 

Finishing in sixth place for the Wildcats, twelfth place overall, was junior Seth Fey with a time of 17 minutes and 35.09 seconds. A few positions back in eighteenth place overall, seventh place for the Wildcats, was freshmen Porter Bickley with a finishing time 17 minutes and 56.07 seconds. Finishing in eighth place for the Wildcats, twenty-second place overall, was junior Cole Haith with a time of 18 minutes and 5.12 seconds. Coming in twenty-fifth place overall, ninth place for the Wildcats was junior Drew Figura with a time of 18 minutes and 25.85 seconds. Coming in tenth for Millard West, thirty-third overall was junior Christian Naujokaitis with a finishing time of 18 minutes and 56.71 seconds. Overall, the boys varsity team did very well, they got second place overall in the meet which is a good start to the season.

“The team did really well and I was happy with how we all competed,” Kirchner said. “The team can take away how the other teams reacted and what they did, so in state we can use that against them.”

The Millard West team also sent ten girls on the varsity team to the meet, and they did very well, too. Sophomore Isabelle Hartnett came in first place for the Wildcats and sixth place overall with a time of 21 minutes and 15.11 seconds. Coming in second place for Millard West and eleventh place overall was junior Em Gilbert with a time of 21 minutes and 37.03 seconds. Coming in fifteenth place overall, third for the Wildcats, was senior Molly Bies with a time of 21 minutes and 58.42 seconds. Finishing in fourth place for Millard West, eighteenth place overall was freshmen Thea Kutash with a time of 22 minutes and 11.05 seconds. Coming in twentieth place overall, fifth for the Wildcats was junior Sammantha Vojslavek with a time of 22 minutes and 24.81 seconds. 

Finishing in sixth place for the Wildcats and twenty-fourth place overall was sophomore Sammantha Ullman with a time of 22 minutes and 46.67 seconds. Coming in twenty-sixth place overall, seventh for Millard West was sophomore Kate Stoltenberg with a time of 23 minutes and 17.20 seconds. Finishing in eighth place for the Wildcats, thirtieth place overall was senior Meghan Knudson with a time of 23 minutes and 34.66 seconds. Coming in thirty-third place overall, ninth for Millard West was sophomore  Meredith Burklund with a time of 23 minutes and 44.46 seconds. Finishing in tenth place for the Wildcats, forty-seventh place overall was sophomore Kassity Randall with a time of 26 minutes and 23.91 seconds. Overall, the varsity girls team did very well, too. They finished in third place, which is a great start to their season as well.

“The girls did well with running smart and being good competitors,” Gilbert said. “Lots of girls ran faster than they did at time trials. This being the first meet of the season and them doing that is a good sign. I think everyone studied the course well and figured out when good times to surge and good times to lay off would be.”

Other highlights of the meet for Millard West was senior Dainel Nixon finishing in first place overall in the boys junior varsity race with a time of 18 minutes and 18.74 seconds. Also in the boys junior varsity race the Wildcats nabbed six of the top 10 finishing positions. In the end, Millard West took first place in the boys junior varsity race. The first place finisher for the Wildcats in the girls junior varsity race was junior Kiley Haltom with a time of 24 minutes and 11.60 seconds. The girls JV team came in third place. This is a great start to the season for all of the teams and are optimistic about their future this season.

“The first meet gives me confidence for how the team will do this season,” coach Colin Johnston said. “On the varsity boys side, we matched up very well with Fremont, who is the #1 ranked team in the State. We were only separated by a second or two total so are right there with the best team in the state. On the varsity girls side, we saw two of the top teams in the state and competed very hard for our first meet.”

The Millard West team had a great meet overall and were proud to have such a good start to the new season. The Wildcats will be back in action on Saturday, September 12, once again at the Walnut Creek course. The team will look to better their times from this first meet and continue their success throughout the season.