Pius X Girls and Boys Cross Country Teams Place 1st and 2nd in Class B
The 2014 Pius X High School Girls and Boys Cross Country teams raced to the head of the pack by placing 1st and 2nd place, respectively, in the state Class B Championship meet held on October 24 in Kearney, Neb. This is the second year in a row that the Girls Cross Country team brought home the state title, while the Boys Cross Country team earned runner-up this year after placing third at state the previous season.
Both the girls and boys teams – under long-time Head Coach George O’Boyle and assistant coaches Josh Kramer, Bill Rice and Jamie Burns – won their respective Class B-3 District Championship held on Thursday, Oct. 16.
“Their success was a result of a lot of hard work, really,” O’Boyle said of his back-to-back Girls state championship teams. “They started running July 7th and worked hard all summer. We had good leadership from Willa [Koenig], Ellie [Beiermann] and Ellen [Budell], who were on last year’s team.”
“I really credit Coach O’Boyle,” Beiermann says. “We all love him. He always stays positive for us. Cross Country is a very mental sport, and Coach O’Boyle always helped put into our mind that we could really do this.” Beiermann also expresses appreciation to Thunderbolt fans for their loyalty. “This season during state, it was awesome to see how many people drove two hours to Kearney just to cheer us on for 20 minutes,” she says. “That support really helped us.”
As for the boys’ success, O’Boyle says that earning runner-up at state was a pleasant surprise. “They were almost a brand new team,” he explains. “I was really impressed how they kept improving more and more as the season went on. Again, we had good leadership from our seniors Kade [Kalkowski], Clay [Simpson] and Travis [Ohnoutka].”
“I think we were successful this year because we were very unified as a team,” Kalkowski reflects. “We had team nights, we ran together every day, we pushed each other. We really became like a family.”
Individual Standings:
The Girls Cross Country Team members who placed in the B-3 Districts were:
1st Place Willa Koenig (Jr)
4th Place Ellie Beiermann (Jr)
7th Place Alex Pace (So)
14th Place Elizabeth Boes (Fr)
Alexa Beckman (Jr)
Ellen Budell (So)
Alternate Mary Soden (So)
Thunderbolts taking home the Class B State 1st Place trophy were:
1st Place Willa Koenig (Jr) *
2nd Place Alex Pace (So)
6th Place Ellie Beiermann (Jr) *
32nd Place Ellen Budell (So)
33rd Place Alexa Beckman (Jr)
73rd Place Elizabeth Boes (Fr)
Alternate Mary Soden (So)
* Returning State medal winners
At Districts, the boys’ team earned a rare sweep in which the top five finishers all were from Pius X:
1st Place Jared Yost (Jr)
2nd Place Clay Simpson (Sr)
3rd Place Riley Ward (So)
4th Place Jack Goeden (So)
5th Place Kade Kalkowski (Sr)
7th Place Travis Ohnoutka (Sr)
Alternates Bryce Holcomb (So) & Alex Main (Sr)
Thunderbolts taking home the Boys Class B State 2nd Place trophy were:
5th Place Jared Yost (Jr)
8th Place Jack Goeden (So)
11th Place Riley Ward (So)
13th Place Clay Simpson (Sr)
35th Place Travis Ohnoutka (Sr)
41st Place Kade Kalkowski (Sr)
