Gautier claims district title

Aurora's headband bandit put on a heck of a show at Thursday's C-4 district meet at Elks Country Club in Hastings. 

Lucas Gautier, sporting a special pink headband in October, won the individual district crown by just over one second, helping the Huskies to a runner-up finish as a team to qualify for next week's state cross country meet. 

Gautier won the event with a time of 17:20.55, edging South Central Unified #5 sophomore Rowan Jarosik, who finished at 17:21.94 battling through tough, windy conditions. 

The Aurora boys had three in the top nine as Jalen Daugherty finished 8th, just ahead of Charlie Evans in 9th. Gabe Peterson was just outside the top 15 in 16th. The Huskies were second in the team race, behind Holdrege as the Dusters edged Aurora, 29-31. 

There was plenty of success on the girls side, too, as Aurora's freshmen standouts finished second and third. 

Alexis Ericksen was the runner-up finisher with a time of 20:48.64 while Ella Eggleston was third at 21:21.38. Kaitlyn Oswald added a 9th place effort while Makenna Oswald finished 15th. 

The Lady Huskies also took runner-up in the team race, finishing behind Minden, 23 to 28. 

Aurora will compete at next week's state cross country championships in Kearney. 

For live updates from the sidelines follow us on Twitter @SportsANR and see next week's News-Register for full coverage.