Panthers make history at state

Published 5:47 pm Friday, October 30, 2026

History was made for the Bancroft-Rosalie cross country program with both freshman Barrett Beutler and junior Hayden Bridges at the Class D NSAA State Championships on October 23 at Kearney.

Beutler became the first girl state qualifier in B-R school history. Bridges was the first boy that qualified for state as just B-R. (They had one previous qualifier during their co-op with LDNE).

Bridges finished 49th overall with a time of 18:36.3, while Beutler was 53rd with a time of 22:31.5.

“I thought both Hayden and Barrett performed really well at the state meet. It was easily the most challenging course we ran all season, and they both took on the challenge head on. I’m really proud of how they competed and represented our school,” Panther head coach Caleb Hansen said.

“The exciting thing is that they are both still young, and with continued hard work and dedication, they have the opportunity to make it back to state in the future and see just how much more they can accomplish.”