Kimball’s cross country runners seem almost apologetic about their season.

“I wasn’t quite feeling it,” said Hailey Keller of her performance at the district meet last week. “That was all I could do.”

Mitchell Shields prefers to shy away from discussions of the season or its penultimate event at Grant. Meanwhile, Laura Flores shrugs off questions about her effort at districts. “I think I did what I could,” she explained.

All she did was finish fifth individually, putting an exclamation mark to a sophomore season that has seen her move up to seventh on Kimball High School’s all time cross country list. Keller also cross the line in the top ten, helping secure a trip to the state championship for herself, Flores and the entire girls team. And while the boys fell four points short as a unit, Shields and Ryan Muneio qualified for the big show as individuals. All in all, it was a fantastic year for coach Tiffany Johnson and her harriers.

Perhaps the runners are less apologetic than they are humbled.

“We all worked hard,” Jordain Gawith pointed out. “We wanted it.”

The girls team consists of Flores, Keller, Gawith, Shelby Vogel, Dalton Luppen and Taylor Wismer.

It didn’t take Gawith more than a meet or two to find her stride and begin threatening the top ten. Vogel, who joined the squad at the last minute also picked up the pace quicker than she expected. But Flores and Keller proved to be outstanding in a strong field.

The pair finished second and fourth, respectively, in the WTC at Four Winds on October 7, leading Kimball’s girls to a critical podium finish, just three points behind Gordon-Rushville. In an earlier event on the same course they had crossed in second and seventh, putting the team in the top spot.

The Longhorns boys side, on the other hand, were supposed to be young and inexperienced. Yet Muneio ran well all season. Brian Evertson showed consistency and Enrique Cajero competed in the pack. Shields, for his part, medaled in all but three events on the schedule.

“I was hoping we’d make it as a team,” he said of the invitation to state. “But I was glad at least two of us made it.”

The course set out for districts at Grant was difficult, with a number of up and down spurts. Kearney promises an equally daunting course. Most of the runners will, privately, allow that a top ten finish is within the Longhorns’ reach. Yet this is also a group of athletes fully aware of the task in front of them.

“I’ve watched state before,” Luppen said, recalling visits to see her brothers compete. With Nebraska’s top teams and individuals involved, runners rarely break from the pack. So it’s a large knot, rather than a manageable string, straining over the last 800 meters. In the Class D event on Friday they will face familiar foes, such as Perkins County. But they will also run shoulder to shoulder with the likes of Crofton, who swept four of the top five positions at their district meet, Aquinas Catholic, with girls like Marissa DeWispelare who are fully capable of under 16:00 times on difficult courses, and others.

“It’s a race to the finish,” Luppen points out.

So their excitement is tempered by work ethic—and faith.

“I’m just going to run 150 percent and see what God had planned for me,” Flores said.