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PAGE 16: FALL SPORTS 2017 PRESS & DAKOTAN n PLAIN TALK

Volleyball(N-Niobrara, V-Verdigre)

8/31............................Creighton/Osmond (V)9/5...at Ewing/Elgin Public-Pope John/Stuart9/7.......................................at Elkhorn Valley9/12....................at O’Neill St. Mary’s/Santee9/14...................... at Neligh-Oakdale/Santee9/15..............Chambers-Wheeler Central (V)9/21................ at Ewing/Clearwater-Orchard/

Spalding Academy9/26......................................at Boyd County/

Clearwater-Orchard (Spencer)9/28................at Wausa/Clearwater-Orchard10/3...............................................at Winside10/5...........................at Stuart/North Central/

O’Neill St. Mary’s10/10............. Clearwater-Orchard/Stuart (N)10/12.................. Elgin Public-Pope John (N)10/16-17 ...............Knox Co. Tourn. (Crofton)10-23-27 ......................Niobrara Valley Conf.

(Top Seeds/Elgin/O’Neill)

Football(All Home Games In Verdigre)

8/25.........Chambers-Wheeler Central-Ewing9/1........................ at Boyd County (Spencer)9/8..................................................West Holt9/22.................. at Laurel-Concord-Coleridge9/29................................................Creighton10/7............................................ at Plainview10/13....................... at Hartington-Newcastle10/19..............................................Wakefield

Cross Country8/31.............................Niobrara-Verdigre Inv.9/7...................................... Boyd County Inv.9/11 ................................ Neligh-Oakdale Inv.9/15.............................................. O’Neill Inv.9/21......................................... Creighton Inv.9/28..........................................West Holt Inv.10/6........... Niobrara Valley Conf. (Butte GC)10/12.................................................Districts

NIOBRARA-VERDIGRE COUGARS

Bloomfield-WausaCOACH: Duane WilkenVITALS: Class DRETURNING: Dawson

French (Sr.); Travis Doerr (Sr.)

NEWCOMER: Cory Schumacher (Fr.)

CreightonCOACH: Jay FuchtmanVITALS: Class DRETURNING: Tegan

Mclean (Sr.); Jimmy Johnson (Sr.); Carson Lilly (So.); Alex Homan (So.); Anthony Morrill (Fr.); Jace Hoferer (Fr.); Brax-ton Brockhaus (Fr.)

CroftonCOACH: Jayne ArensASSISTANT: Jason ArensVITALS: Class D, Mid-State

ConferenceLAST YEAR: The Warriors

finished sixth as a team at the state meet.

RETURNING: Max Boecker (Sr.); Tanner Arens (Jr., state qualifier); Tyler Janssen (Jr.,

state qualifier); Gabriel Potts (So., state qualifier)

NEWCOMERS: Thomas Honeywell (So.); Connor Arens (Fr.); Colby Zuhlke (Fr.)

Hartington-Newcastle

COACH: Mandy Hoch-stein

ASSISTANT: Laura No-ecker

VITALS: Class C, Lewis & Clark Conference

ROSTER: Brian Santiago (Sr., 3rd at state); Seth Wie-belhaus (Sr., 15th at state); Danny Fischer (Sr.); Cole Schmidt (Sr.); Sam Harms (So.); Jaron Kleinschmit (Jr.); Bode Noecker (So.); Brayden Kathol (So.); Cole Noecker (So.); Cruz Dyar (So.); Dagen Jochimson (Fr.); Riley Kheun (Fr.); Isaac Bruning (Fr.)

Laurel-Concord-Coleridge

COACH: Susan BrandewVITALS: Class D, Lewis &

Clark ConferenceRETURNING: Logan Han-

sen (Sr.), Ryan Bathke (Jr.), Karsen Klooz (Jr.), Landen Boysen (So.)

NEWCOMERS: Michael Kurtzhals (Sr.), Sean Aschoff (Fr.), Trace Naeve (Fr.)

Niobrara-VerdigreCOACH: Dana KonopasekASSISTANT: Nepthys

JustoVITALS: Class DRETURNING: Isaac Cook

(Sr.); Toby Ives (Jr.); Alex Bustamante (Sr.); Christian Swalley (Sr.); Ethan Pickin-paugh (Jr.)

NEWCOMERS: Gunner Vargas (Fr.); Kenny Justo (So.)

Bloomfield-WausaCOACH: Duane WilkenASSISTANT: Jackie FreemanVITALS: Class DRETURNING: Bree Eisenhauer (So., 13th at

state); Ann Woockman (So., state qualifier)NEWCOMERS: Hannah Hubers (So.); Kate

Bruns (Fr.); Ella McFarland (Fr.)

CroftonCOACH: Jayne ArensASSISTANT: Jason ArensVITALS: Class D, Mid-State ConferenceLAST YEAR: The Warriors finished sev-

enth as a team at the state meet.RETURNING: Haley Arens (Sr., 3rd at state,

conference and district champion); Hannah Steffen (Sr.); Marissa Schmidt (Sr.); Jessica Lange (Jr., state qualifier); Mariah Dather (Jr.); Mikenna Stevens (Jr.); Bailey Neuhalfen (Jr.); Sidney Tramp (Jr.); Keirra Vornhagen (So., state qualifier); Kelsey Schieffer (Fr.)

Hartington-NewcastleCOACH: Mandy HochsteinASSISTANT: Laura NoeckerVITALS: Class C, Lewis & Clark ConferenceROSTER: Allie Rosener (Sr.); Karli McCain

(Sr.); Willa Scoville (Jr.); Sara Reifenrath (So.); Jayda Bernecker (So.); Sara Burbach (Fr.); Melissa Ammon (Sr.)

Laurel-Concord-ColeridgeCOACH: Susan BrandewVITALS: Class D, Lewis & Clark ConferenceRETURNING: Kayli Naeve (Jr.), Vanessa

Vance (So.)

Niobrara-VerdigreCOACH: Dana KonopasekASSISTANT: Nepthys JustoVITALS: Class DRETURNING: Genesis Saul (Sr.)NEWCOMER: Rachel Pavelka (So.)

BY DYLAN HUGGINSsports@yankton.net

CROFTON, Neb. — Haley Arens has finished in the top three at the Nebraska State Cross Country meet the past three seasons, but as the senior from Crofton heads into her final season, she is focused on improving from a year ago and being a leader for her teammates.

“One of my goals is to simply just be better than I have been in the past, and I do not want to limit myself to a certain time because I want to see how I can go,” she said.

Arens finished third (19:35) last year at the state meet, she won the state cross country meet in 2015 (19:29) and finished second as a freshman in 2014 (20:04).

Haley is coached by her mother Jayne and her father Jason. Jayne said that it has been great watching their daughter succeed. While they have been there to support her and coach her, she acknowledges that her daughter deserves most of the credit.

“It has been an awesome and fun experience. She is very motivated. I wish I could say that her dad and I could take a lot of credit for her success, but it is a lot of work that she put in to it,” Jayne said.

“We kind of guide her and say these are the options with what you can do and she picked a sport that she has done well in and has excelled in and it is always neat to see your own kid PR, do their best, make their goals and then make more goals.”

Jason said that the fact that Haley really enjoys the sport has contributed to her success in cross country.

“When something is fun for you and you enjoy doing it, it no longer becomes work,” he said. “I think she has gotten to the point where she just enjoys getting better and having fun with it and she can bring a really good approach to her training that a lot of other kids struggle with.”

Haley said she is not only focused on her own goals, but she is excited to take on a leadership role with her team.

“I want to be able to lead my team to become better. I am really excited as a senior that I am put into that leader-ship role on the team where I get to help my teammates become better,” she said.

Crofton returns junior Jes-sica Lange who finished 53rd (23:13.91) at the state meet, sophomore Keirra Vorhagen who finished 89th (26:17.31) and senior Hannah Steffen who finished 92nd (26:41.75).

“This year, I think it will be more about growing and watching my teammates becoming stronger and being standout athletes,” Haley said. “I am really excited to see how much they can ac-complish.”

Crofton will kick off its season with the Augustana Twilight Cross Country Meet at Yankton Trail Park in Sioux Falls on Sept. 1.

Follow@dhugg23 on Twit-ter.

Crofton’s Haley Arens races to the finish in the Class D girls’ race at the 2016 Nebraska State Cross Country meet. Arens, the 2015 champion, placed third, helping Crofton to a seventh place team finish. Arens, who finished second as a freshman, will look to add to her impressive resume as a senior this year.

‘Just Be Better’2015 State

Champ Arens Has Simple

Goals For Final Prep Season

Crofton’s Haley Arens, 35, pulls away from Dundy County-Stratton’s Madison Lambley to win the Class D girls’ race at the Nebraska State Cross Country Meet in 2015.

NEBRASKA BOYS’ CROSS COUNTRY

NEBRASKA GIRLS’ CROSS COUNTRY

Brian Santiago returns for Hartington-Newcastle, looking to add to the three state tourna-ment medals on his resume. He finished third in 2016, ninth in 2015 and 13th as a fresh-man in 2014.

Allie Rosener returns for her senior season at Hartington-Newcastle after leading her squad to a ninth place finish at state. She placed 21st in the Class C race.