North Platte’s top runners dominate

The North Platte cross teams’ top runners continue to dominate, with the Panthers sweeping both individual championships at the KCI Conference Championships on Saturday, Oct. 19, at Platte Ridge Park.

Photos from Cameron XC

Juniors Drake Keraus and Chloe Heckman both won their respective races by wide margins. Keraus’s time of 16:53.7 was about 35 seconds faster than the second-place runner from Penney, and Heckman’s time of 19:29.7 was almost 40 seconds faster than her teammate, senior Brianna DeBord, who finished runner-up with a time of 20:09.2. DeBord’s time was more than 90 seconds faster than third place. North Platte freshman Bill Schaffart finished third in the guys’ race with a time of 18:19.2.

The girls only had two other runners in the race, with sophomore Annabell DeBord finishing 10th with a time of 22:44.0 and junior Lily Schaffart who finished 17th with a time of 26:44.2.

Junior Hunter Palmer finished 10th for the boys with a time of 18:49.5, followed by freshman Trey Heckman, who finished 12th with a time of 19:07.8; sophomore Devin Navarro finished 13th with a time of 19:08.3. Freshman Farris French finished with a time of 24:45.3 and junior Galen Christiansen finished with a time of 25:04.1. Up next for the Panthers will be the Class 2 District 4 race also being held at Platte Ridge Park on Nov. 2.