Lincoln (July 16, 2024)— The opening weekend of the 2024 Cornhusker State Games wrapped up Sunday, with 36 sports taking place at venues in and around Columbus, Fremont, Grand Island, Lincoln, North Platte, Omaha, and several other communities.
A memorable performance Saturday came from Sun Valley Lanes & Games where 17 year-old bowler Brennan Heck rolled a 300 game followed by a 298. His 779 series powered his team to a gold medal in adult-youth doubles. Heck, a senior-to-be at Papillion La Vista South High School, is the reigning Nebraska state high school individual champion.
Weeping Water Gun club played host to five-time Olympian John McNally and 23 other competitors in CSG Pistol Shooting Saturday. McNally, 68, who currently resides in Dallas, masterfully showcased his skills, winning gold medals in Standard Pistol, Centerfire Pistol, and his specialty, Olympic Rapidfire Pistol. McNally’s Olympic run ran from 1984 (Los Angeles) to 2000 (Sidney). His highest finish was 5th in 1992 (Atlanta).
Several youth swimmers amassed high medal counts in the CSG Swimming competition at the Dillon Family Aquatics Center inside the Fremont Family YMCA. Ten year-olds Elise Schnee of Lincoln and James Reed of Omaha each won eight gold medals. Reed also collected two silvers. Cady Spence, 12, of Omaha won seven gold medals, to go with one silver and one bronze. With 313 swimmers, including 250 youths and 63 masters, this was the CSG’s largest swim meet in 10 years.
Mitzi Filips and Scott Stopak took the coed gold medal in Adventure Race, which was held in Grand Island for the first time. The Omaha duo were also the overall winners, finding 39 checkpoints in 3:53:35. Former Lincoln Police Chief Jeff Bliemeister and current Lancaster County Deputy Sheriff Ben Houchin, long-time Adventure Race teammates, found 33 checkpoints in just over four hours, good enough for the male two-person bronze medal.
Pickleball, held at Woods Tennis Center, attracted a record 398 players, including Micah Ward from Lawrence, KS, who took the gold medal in men’s 4.5/5.0 singles and teamed up with Hunter Nelson, Lincoln, to win another gold in the top men’s doubles division. Not to be outdone, Laurel Derry of Blair also won two golds, one in women’s 4.0 with Shawn Hamilton from South Bend, and one in mixed doubles 4.5/5.0 with Mattew Reinig of Omaha. Meredith Starr of Omaha took the gold in the top women’s singles division.
Anthony McDill, 30, of Omaha, was the overall champion of the CSG Triathlon, with a time of 55:34. Samantha Scheffler, 42, of Hancock, IA, the top female overall, came in at 1:10:55. The Triathlon, which took place at Mallard Landing in Valley, attracted 173 participants, its largest turnout since 2019.
The second and final weekend of the Games features competition in 27 sports, beginning Friday with Golf, Hockey, Tennis and Volleyball. Several events remain open for registration at CornhuskerStateGames.com. Complete results, and the composite schedule of events for the final weekend, can be found at the same site under the Sports Info tab.
The Cornhusker State Games is conducted by the Nebraska Sports Council. Platinum partners include the Nebraska Medical Association, Pepsi-Cola of Lincoln, Nebraska Orthopaedic Center and Farmers Mutual of Nebraska. Learn more at NebraskaSportsCouncil.com.