The South Loup Bobcat cross country team was off to a strong start to the season with a hot race day in Burwell last Thursday.

The start time, originally slated for 4 p.m., was moved up to 9 a.m. due to the extreme heat the area had been under most of the week. But this change in plans did not seem to impact the Bobcats, setting new personal course records and bringing home a slew of hardware.

The girls' team finished in second place behind West Holt. The boys' team also finished second behind West Holt.

Bringing home medals were Ella Cool, 3rd; Logan Recoy, 3rd; Josiah Coleman, 4th; Ivy Tullis, 7th; and Walter Bierman, 12th.

A handful of runners also improved their times from last year on this course. Senior Gracie Neth had the biggest improvement by more than six minutes from last year’s time. Cool saw a 30-second improvement; Tullis shaved 20 seconds off her time; and Recoy cut 10 seconds from last year. Caleb McFate was nearly 60 seconds faster; and Coleman was nearly 90 seconds faster. This is the first meet for newcomers Walter Bierman and Caden Pandorf.

The Bobcats will hit the course at Cozad on Saturday morning, along with the junior high runners. Start time is set for 9 a.m.

Results

Walter Bierman - 16:41.56 12th.

Josiah Coleman - 15:23.88, 4th.

Ella Cool - 18:11.51, 3rd.

Caleb McFate - 18:40.59, 24th.

Gracie Neth - 24:55.92, 24th.

Caden Pandorf - 23:20.75, 32nd. Logan Recoy - 14:49.17, 3rd.

Ivy Tullis - 19:23.24, 7th