North Platte’s leading runners Drake Keraus (#720) and Noah Heckman (#718) helped the Panthers claim fourth place at the Class 2 State Meet at Gans Creek on Nov. 3.
COLUMBIA – Before last season, the North Platte boys’ cross-country team had never finished all-state, but the Panthers ended in fourth place in the Class 2 State Race to earn a banner for the second straight year on Nov. 3.
Coming off a fourth-place finish in 2022, North Platte repeated in 2023 despite having 17 more points. The Panthers ended with 175 points, trailing third-place New Covenant Academy by seven points and six points better than fifth-place Elsberry.
“They knew at the beginning of the season that it’s one of those things that we want to be able to do and not just to do for ourselves but for each other,” North Platte head cross-country coach Brendan Cary said. “The crucial part of it was just that they came to practice every day, worked, did their jobs and did the things they were supposed to do.”
The North Platte girls had a chance to repeat as champions but fell short with a seventh-place finish. After losing a talented 2022 senior class, the Lady Panthers ended with 154 points – 20 more than fourth-place Stockton.
“We knew it was going to be tight in that pack of essentially one through eight. We knew we could compete and that we had to show up, and we did. We can be sad for a moment about not picking up a trophy this year, but I’m so proud of what they did in what was a year of transition for us,” Cary said.
North Platte’s Jackson Cassity (#716) and Brenden Matt (#721) run alongside each other en route to helping the Panthers take fourth place at the Class 2 State Meet.
Leading the North Platte boys to another state banner, senior Noah Heckman cracked the top-10 for the first time and earned all-state for the third time. Heckman finished in eighth place with a time of 17:03.3, the second-best state time in program history.
Drake Keraus improved his state time by well over a minute and went from 68th place as a freshman to 18th place as a sophomore, reaching all-state status. He crossed the finish line in 17:18.3, trailing nine seniors.
“I’m excited for Drake as a sophomore to pick it up his first all-state. He has put in a tremendous amount of work, and we’ve got some other talented younger guys, so the future is there too,” Cary said.
There were 35 more runners who finished before the next Panther, which was Mark Humes in 54th place with a time of 18:08.6. Hunter Palmer was four spots and six seconds behind Humes.
Devin Navarro ended his freshman campaign as the fifth North Platte runner, crossing the finish line in 20:03.8. Brenden Matt and Jackson Cassity finished back-to-back in less than 21 minutes.
North Platte sophomore Chloe Heckman is now a 2-time all-state runner after taking third place with a time of 19:35.5 at Gans Creek in Columbia, MO.
“After getting some of the rankings and stuff we figured out we had a chance to be anywhere from first to about six or seven. I told the guys to control what they can control, and we’ll see where it comes out of that and they were successful,” Cary said.
Chloe Heckman was the first North Platte girl to cross the finish line at state, shedding half a minute from last year. The 2-time all-stater ended her sophomore campaign in third place in 19:35.5.
Brianna DeBord was the only other Lady Panther all-state runner – her third time reaching that feat – earning 13th place in 20:30.6. Her sister, freshman Annabell DeBord, ran third for North Platte and took 50th place with a time of 22:12.3.
“I’m proud of Chloe for competing in front of the pack and Bri(Anna) picking up her third all-state metal and getting a chance next year to pick up four, which has been done one other time. I’m excited for those two to keep being at that high level of competitiveness,” Cary said.
Senior Caitlyn Cummings ended her career under 24 minutes at state, followed by Lily Schaffart in 24:27.3. Allyson Smith ran in 26:21.6 and senior dual-sporter Kylee Sipes ended in under 29 minutes.
“As for my two senior girls, I have one that’s a dual supporter and I have one that’s been a part of the program for four years but hasn’t raced since her freshman year here. They stepped up and got their part of it here,” Cary said.