2002 Men's Cross Country Season in Review

The Nebraska men's cross country team returned to Lincoln in the fall of 2002 with the hope of a third consecutive national championship appearance. Consisting of 11 men, the team was full of upperclass talent and leadership found in seniors James Bowler, Ian Gray and Mike Kamm and juniors Dana Carne, Marc Clinard, Eric Rasmussen, Paul Wilson, Kyle Wyatt and newcomer Kyle Doperalski. Sophomore Tim Williams returned for his second season on the team, while Eric Dall was the lone freshman to join the squad.

The season looked promising as the Huskers returned their top five runners from 2001, when they qualified for the NCAA meet. Before the season got underway, the Huskers lost Carne and Gray to injuries. Both were forced to stand on the sidelines as their team went through a season of highs and lows. Beginning the season without two runners who figured to be among the top five, NU ended the campaign with a disappointing fourth-place finish at the NCAA Regional Championship, and advanced only one individual to the NCAA Championships.

"The season was really an interesting one," Coach Jay Dirksen said. "We started out strong but after injuries plagued our top runner, things slowed down a bit. The men were disappointed in how 2002 eventually ended."

Opening the season with a partial squad on Sept. 7, at the Creighton/UNO Invitational in Omaha, Doperalski took first with a time of 27:50. Following closely in second on the long 8,000-meter course was Williams in a time of 28:06. Clinard and Dall rounded out the Huskers' four-man team, but without a fifth man, NU failed to earn team points. Creighton took the team title with 15 points.

Two weeks later, the Huskers' appeared in their only home meet of the season, the Woody Greeno/Nebraska Invitational. Held at Pioneer's Park on Sept. 21, the 8,000-meter course was the home of the Huskers' only team win. Totaling 17 points, two Huskers finished among the top-five finishers. Bowler claimed his only victory of the season with his 24:42.70, while Kamm finished fifth in 25:17.99. Making their first appearance of the season, Wyatt finished in eighth and Rasmussen claimed 15th. Approximately three minutes separated the first NU runner from the sixth.

"At that point in time we needed to close the gap between our first and fifth runner," Dirksen said. "We were leaving too big of a space between each runner, and it was time we should have been able to make up."

The following weekend, the Huskers traveled to Minnesota for their 12th consecutive Roy Griak Invitational appearance on Sept. 28. The Nebraska men faced fierce competition as they went head-to-head with some of the nation's strongest teams. The Huskers finished 15th (372 points), ahead of teams from Big 12 schools Texas A&M, Kansas State and Iowa State as well as Midwest Regional competitor Illinois. Texas was the only league school to finish ahead of Nebraska, placing 10th, while Midwest Region teams Minnesota and Iowa took fifth and 11th place, respectively. Bowler led Nebraska, and finished ninth overall (24:43.1). Wyatt was the second Husker to cross the finish line in 67th (25:21.1). For the first time since the first meet of the season, the Huskers slid out of the MONDO national rankings, marking Nebraska's only absence from the poll all season.

Previewing the national course, the Huskers traveled to the Indiana State Invitational to compete at the Wabash Valley Family Sports Center in Terre Haute, Ind. The Huskers reeled off a strong showing, beating sixth-ranked Villanova, 26th-ranked Alabama, and tied 12th-ranked Butler for third-place. Bowler again led NU, finishing in sixth with a time of 24:42.6, followed again by Wyatt and Kamm. Rasmussen rounded out the top 20 runners with his 19th-place finish. The victories helped Nebraska get back into the MONDO national rankings.

After a week of rest, the Huskers returned to competition at the Chile Pepper Cross Country Festival in Fayetteville, Ark. Their only 10,000-meter race of the regular season, the Huskers were without Bowler, while he recovered from a staph infection in his foot. The team finished eighth with 233 points while Arkansas claimed the title.

With Bowler gone, Wyatt was the first Husker to cross the finish line at the meet in 17th place with a career-best time of 30:26.4 on a 10K course. Rasmussen followed in 34th with his highest Husker finish of the season, while Kamm fell behind Doperalski and Wilson. The Chile Pepper Cross Country Festival was Wilson's first appearance of the season after sitting out the first four meets due to illness.

With Bowler back in the lineup, Nebraska looked to run well at the Big 12 Championships in Columbia, Mo. Two days before the race, Kyle Wyatt came down with a virus that forced him to stay home. Without their No. 2 runner, the Huskers finished in the middle of the pack, struggling to a substandard seventh-place finish. After missing almost two weeks due to the staph infection, Bowler was Nebraska's top finisher in 19th place, with teammate Kamm following in 20th.

"The men were not at their best at the Big 12 Championships," Dirksen said. "Without Wyatt and a subpar Bowler, we were really at a disadvantage. Earlier in the season, they beat Texas A&M and Iowa State. I think they were really disappointed in their finish because they knew they could have finished higher if everyone was healthy."

Putting the conference championships behind them, the Huskers prepared for the NCAA Midwest Regional Championships in Normal, Ill. The Nov. 16 meet would determine whether Nebraska would advance to the national championships on Nov. 25. For the first time since the Indiana State Invitational, the top seven were together. Seven determined NU men entered the meet prepared to finish among the top two teams. Feeling rejuvenated, Bowler finished sixth on the 10K course with a career-best time of 30:13.34, followed closely by Rasmussen (14th, 30:26.91). Wyatt was not able to fully recover from his sickness, as he finished as Nebraska's No. 5 runner in 31:15.78. As a team, the Huskers finished fourth with 154 points, while Iowa and Minnesota were given automatic bids to the NCAA Championships by way of their top two finishes. Both Bowler and Rasmussen received All-Midwest Region honors with their top-25 finishes.

Bowler received an automatic bid as an individual to nationals while the rest of the team hoped it would be awarded an at-large bid. When it came down to selecting the final at-large teams, Nebraska was next to be selected based on criteria, but was left out because it finished fourth at regionals, just one point behind Illinois. Because Illinois had no victories during the season over NCAA qualified teams, it was not considered for an at-large berth and blocked Nebraska from selection.

"The selection criteria was applied correctly even though it allowed a team behind us to get into the meet," Dirksen said. "The disappointing part of it for our athletes was that we were so close, one point made all the difference."

In his final meet as a Husker, Bowler returned to Indiana State University for his second consecutive appearance at the NCAA Championships. One of 255 individuals that competed at the meet, Bowler finished 84th in a time of 31:00.2.

"The race went out incredibly quick," Bowler said. "I couldn't believe how much better the strength and depth of the race was this year compared to the meet last year."

The 2002 men's cross country season was underlined with disapointment as there was not to be a trip to the NCAA meet, but there was injury and illness. When Nebraska was totally healthy, like it was at Indiana State, it was one of the strongest in the country.