Hirsch wins first title, leads Millard West

By Doug Binder, DyeStat Editor

Seth Hirsch waited a long time to win a Nebraska state championship but he finally got it done on Friday. 

The junior from Millard West came into high school with some fanfare and finished second at the state cross country meet as a freshman. He followed that up with second place in the state's Class A 3,200 meters final. 

But as a sophomore, Hirsch ran into trouble. He suffered a stress fracture in his left fibula, and then had another one on the right side. 

Hirsch, who stands 5-foot-4, is growing into his own big dreams. He hopes to try to qualify for either NXN or Foot Locker this fall. On Friday in Kearney he ran 15:29, which is about seven seconds from the recognized state meet coure record. 

"It feels amazing," Hirsch said. "I've been working for it the whole year. My whole plan was to get ready for state and we also won the team title, which made it a ton better."

Millard West scored 48 points to win comfortably, but there were also some nervous moments when fifth man Daniel Zavadil fell 100 meters from the finish line. He still managed to get 39th (33 for scoring purposes). 

Millard West finished fifth at the Roy Griak Invitational -- Hirsch was fourth individually -- and the group is holding out some hope for a strong performance at NXN Heartland.

Junior Taylor Somers of Millard South won the Class A title for girls with 18:34.9. She won by more than 45 seconds. 

Papillion-La Vista won a close team battle with Millard West thanks to big advantages with runners 4, 5 and 6. Papillion-La Vista scored 78 points to Millard West's 85. 

In Class B, sophomores Jackson Larsen of Omaha Gross Catholic (16:16.9) and Mazie Larsen of Gretna (18:44.3) won individual titles. Despite having the same last name the two are not related. Mazie Larsen beat two-time champ Erin Lee to win the title. 

The Elkhorn South girls and Mount Michael Benedictine boys won team crowns. 

In Class C, which scores just four, the Boone Central/Newman Grove girls  and Milford boys prevailed. Milford senior Tylin Masco won the boys race (16:39.4) and freshman Taya Skelton of Calhoun (19:55) won the girls race.

In Class D, Crofton sophomore Haley Arens won the girls race in 19:29.4 to lead her team to the title. Malcolm broke a 41-41 tie with Yutan with it's fifth runner to win boys title. Elijah Frasher, a sophomore from Aquinas Catholic, ran 16:54 to win the race.