The 2025 Cross Country State Championship took place in Kearney on Oct. 24. Last year, the Gretna High School cross country team qualified in both the girls’ and boys’ varsity teams, along with four boys and four girls individually. This big representation wasn’t always self-evident for the GHS team and was hard-earned.
Three years ago, none of the girls and only two boys, Caleb Larson and Gavin Luthi, qualified for State. Since last year, though, things have turned around. Through hard work and consistency, the varsity girls earned fouth place and the varsity boys earned fifth place at state in 2024. This year, they raised the bar again for themselves, and the girls placed as runner-up at State.
The biggest difference between two years ago and today is the separation of the schools. In 2020, GHS was classified as a Class A school, even though the separation had already taken place, and the number of students was actually Class B in size. Since 2022, GHS has been in the right category, which makes it easier as well as fairer to place at competitions.
According to Head Coach Bryce Brunswig, a big advantage compared to last year is that the team now has a strong senior group. Strong seniors are important, especially for the younger grades, to have motivation and leaders for the whole team. This year’s seniors on the varsity team were Kelsey Van Waart, Talya Arend, Caleb Larsen and Miles Cradduck.
“We were already pretty big leaders last year, but this year has definitely been even more of a leadership role, so it has been really fun,” Arend said.
But not only has the competition changed, but also the mindset. Since the runners saw results in their sport last year, they were motivated to invest even more in it this season. Things like nutrition, as well as mental practice, were focus area. The coaching team supported them as they started to journal this year with their group.
“Once a week we do a journal where there is a chance for us to think and reflect on how training is going and maybe how other things in our life is going on and also thinking about how this sport is helping us to grow as a person,” Brunswig said.
Cross country lets the runners challenge their body as well as their minds.
“I think that cross country is a great sport for everyone because everybody can run, and it’s all something that we can get better at, and I think it’s great for developing physical fitness, but also great for developing confidence and mental toughness. And it’s just a good kind of lifelong activity to get into,“ Brunswig said.
