KEARNEY — Both Ponca and Homer cross country teams finished in the top 11 of their respective divisions in Class D during Monday’s UNK Invitational, a precursor to next month’s state championships that will be run on the same course at the Kearney Country Club.
In the boys race, Homer finished eighth and Ponca placed 11th out of 35 schools.
Ponca’s Gannon Pfister was the only area runner to earn a medal for a top-15 finish, placing 12th in a time of 18:12.4. Teammate Broderick Hogan finished 33rd and Zyan Conrad was 122nd. The Ponca boys finished 11th overall.
For Homer, Aayden Harris was 28th in a time of 19:04.7 to lead the Knights. Jessup Snowball followed in 38th place, with Caden Barclay (40th), Triston Owens (47th) and Junius Snowball (54th) rounding out the eighth-place Homer effort.
In the girls competition, Lilly Harris was the fastest of the area runners, finishing sixth among Class D girls runners in a time of 21:02.2. She was followed by Jaedyn Bousquet (25th), Tawny Bolles (59th), Lilyanna Dziurawiec (64th) and Natali Cardasis (92nd). The Lady Knights came home in eighth place.
For Ponca, Ava Brennan was 36th, Addyson Chytka placed 40th and Laken Pfister was 44th. The Lady Indians finished tied for 10th overall.
