Photo Courtesy of William Feely
Just north and west of Central City, some country gravel roads lead to Nebraska Christian High School. It’s those roads — whether dry or muddy — that have built a cross country winner for the Eagles.
The Eagles have been in the top two at the Class C and D boys state cross country meet in each of the last four seasons. And with a dominating win in their first meet at Boone Central last week, head coach Janet Landigran appears to have another team that could make waves at Kearney Country Club again this October.
For Landigran and her runners, they’ve built a consistent winner with hard work and by celebrating race day.
“We have a saying, ‘Work hard during the week, celebrate at the meet,’” Landigran said. “Our workouts are strenuous, especially with weather and road conditions. The meets each week are the celebration for all that hard work.
“We look forward to competing, striving to improve time from week to week, cheering for our teammates, catching up with friends from other teams and comparing seasons. There is such a festive atmosphere at cross country meets that our families and fans celebrate with us.”
And, they’ve been doing a bunch of celebrating at Nebraska Christian.
The run started in 2010, when the Eagles placed four runners in the top-11 for the school’s first state title. In 2011, NC was second as a team behind three top-16 runners in Kearney.
A dominating performance in 2012 saw Eagle runners Jahn Landrigan, Hans Epp and Warren Dexter finish 1-2-3 as NC won another team title. Last season, NC finished second by two points to Crofton, with Epp taking medalist honors and Dexter again finishing third.
“We have been blessed with very talented runners the past several years,” coach Landrigan said. “We have also had athletes with little natural ability work very hard at this sport and become outstanding runners. That’s part of the beauty of cross country, anyone who wants to become a good runner can with dedication and hard work.”
With Dexter and three senior classmates returning this season, the Eagles are hoping for big things again. They return five of their six runners from last year’s team including seniors Adrian Epp and Jeron Tiemeyer as well as juniors Cameron Langmeier and Matthew Myers.
“This year has been extremely fun and exciting already,” Dexter said of the meet last Friday in Albion. “The team is looking very strong. We have several runners that are showing lots of talent and will be fighting for a varsity spot.
“Our first meet of the year started out great. Although competing against teams that were three to four times our size, we ended up winning the meet and being one of the smallest schools there.”
Competition is fierce, Dexter said. Six runners must be on the final roster for district and state and the Eagles placed seven runners in the top-30 at the Boone Central meet.
For Coach Landigran, the success has been fueled by a willingness of the students at NC to compete and work hard. In addition, the program returns junior Katie Cumpston to who finished seventh at the state girls meet in 2013.
“Cross country training has instilled many character qualities beneficial for these young people as they become adults,” Landigran added. “Perseverance in working toward a long-range goal, positive communication to help unify the team, overcoming difficulty, committing to a seemingly impossible task and seeing it through to completion are just some on those character building qualities.
“The additional aspect that has fueled the program is learning to make hard work fun and finding joy in the journey. That is observed by others and has caused them to give cross country a try.”
With the foundation built and successful trip to Kearney already in the back of his head, Dexter hopes that the 2014 version of NC cross country can continue it success.
“This year having a good performance at the state meet has been on my mind more than ever, Dexter added. “After finishing 4th and 3rd at state my sophomore and junior year, I can only hope to improve on my finish from last year.
“With an individual and team championship within the grasps of this year, we can only wait and see what the Lord has in store for us.”
