Barker state cross country metal winner

Kimball High senior, Brandon Barker closed out a fantastic cross county season with a 5th place finish in the Nebraska State Class D Cross Country Meet held at the Kearney Country Club Golf Course this past Friday. The hard working and talented young runner went into the state meet with the 5th fastest time from all six districts and emerged from the state meet with the 5th fastest time! Barker ran 17 minutes 21 seconds at the District meet held at Bayard, and ran 17 minutes 20.76 seconds at the much hillier and much tougher state course.

Unlike other years when the runners have had to battle adverse weather conditions, including running through snow banks, this year the weather was a light wind, but overall a good day according to coach Tiffany Johnson. When I asked Brandon if this meet was the highlight of his cross country career he said, "I consider every meet I ran in a highlight. It was great to win both the conference races, and district and of course to medal at state." I also asked him if the Kearney course is the toughest course to run and his response was, "Grant is always tough because it seems like the wind is always howling when we run there. Kearney is very hilly." He ran his career best time at Gothenburg and coach Johnson said it seems like all of the runners get their season best times at that course.

As a team, Kimball finished 14th out of the 18 teams, but as reported last week they were without two of their top runners as Zachery Wagner, a state qualifier last year as a freshman, and senior Joel Evertson, both of whom had elected prior to the start of the season to attend the National FFA Convention. From the field of 148 runners, sophomore Tommy Lenzen ran 84th in 19:05, junior Kaden Adrian ran 104th at 19:39, junior Garrett Pedersen ran 118th in 20:20, and junior Nicholas Thomas-Lewis ran 123rd in 20:25. The majority of the team returns next year with the exception of seniors Brandon Barker and Joel Evertson.

Coach Johnson said, "I am so proud of all of our runners. Brandon told me in his pre-season goals that he wanted to win the conference meets, win District, and medal at state, and he met all of those goals. At the state meet, Tommy (Lenzen) ran a personal best time bettering his previous best time by 30 seconds. All of our other runners ran their fastest times also with the exception of the Gothenburg meet. What is even more important, at least to coach Janicek and myself, they said they had fun, and they all worked so hard during the season." Anyone who has followed the Longhorns will acknowledge that coach Johnson and Janicek worked hard at keeping things lively and fun while still getting the work done that is needed to excel in the sport.

As to Barker's future, he said, "I am not sure about college and contenting my running. I want to enjoy basketball now, and then track, and I plan on keeping up a running schedule along with my basketball workouts to be ready for track this spring. I know I am glad I got to have coach Johnson and coach Janicek for my senior year. They are great coaches." From all of Western Nebraska, congrats to all of the Kimball High Cross Country Team.