Ballhagen clinches state XC spot

NASHUA – North Butler senior Jerod Ballhagen had to make a mad sprint for the finish line alongside Starmont’s Mitchell Hayes to just secure the final Class 1A individual spot for the state cross country meet.

It was going to be close with the two battling side-by-side the last 100 meters to the finish, but Hayes fell down just before the finish line, allowing Ballhagen to advance from the state qualifying meet at Nashua on Thursday, Oct. 23.

“I wasn’t going to give up,” Ballhagen said. “I needed 10th, so I wasn’t going to let him have it.”

More on this story is available in the Oct. 30 print edition of the Butler County Tribune-Journal.