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Maryville, Mo. -- On Saturday, the Nebraska men's and women's cross country teams each opened their season at the Bearcat Distance Classic, hosted by Northwest Missouri State University. The women's team took home top honors in the 4,000 meter event while the men's team finished second in the 6,000 meter event.
Nebraska claimed the top four spots in the women's competition with junior Jaimie Kruger finishing first in 15:16. Jenna Lucas (2nd, 15:34), Kathryn Handrup (3rd, 15:46) and Deb Osteen (4th, 16:00) rounded out the top four finishers. Nebraska won the women's team competition with a low score of 20 points. Creighton University (Omaha, Neb.) was second in the team competition with 44 points, while Northwest Missouri State finished third with 60 points.
Head Coach Jay Dirksen was pleased with his team's performance despite leaving his top runners at home.
"The first four (runners) ran really well," he said. "When you can hold your top six out and still go 1,2,3,4 in the meet, that shows we have a lot of depth."
Other finishers for Nebraska included Christy Linnell (10th, 16:34), Steph Stewart (18th, 17:07) and Melissa Drozda (32nd, 19:38).
On the men's side, Dirksen said he was very pleased with each runner's performance. Just 29 seconds separated all six NU runners. Freshman Mike Kamm took fourth place in 20:48, followed closely by teammate James DeBruhl, who claimed the fifth-place spot in 20:56. Jared Carlson (8th, 21:09), Todd Tripple (9th, 21:10), Phillip Davis (10th, 21:16) and Hunter Kosman (11th, 21:17) rounded out the scoring. Northwest Missouri State sophomore Bryce Good won the men's competition in 20:26.
NU finished in second place in the team competition with 36 points. Northwest Missouri State, the host school, captured the team title with 29 points, while Creighton finished third (70).
With the first meet completed, Dirksen is looking forward to the rest of the season.
"I was pleased with the opener," he said. "For the people who went, it was a great meet. It will be a good springboard for the rest of the season."
The Nebraska men's and women's cross country teams will host the Woody Greeno/Nebraska Invitational on Saturday, Sept. 18th. The meet, which is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m., will be held at Pioneers Park.