NU Women Turn in Strong Effort at Roy Griak Invite

Minneapolis, Minn. -- The NU women competed in a field that totaled 26 teams, including 14 teams ranked or receiving votes in the latest FinishLynx Women's Cross Country poll. The Huskers' team score of 326 was good enough to finsh ahead of 14th-ranked Boston College (14th place, 382 points), 21st-ranked Indiana (15th, 413), and Toledo (13th, 366), who received seven votes in the latest poll. Nebraska also competed against Big 12 competition for the first time this year, finishing third out of the five Big 12 schools present, behind 27th-ranked Baylor (5th, 198) and 17th-ranked Missouri (9th, 232), and ahead of Texas Tech (16th, 428) and Iowa State (26th, 767).

Head coach Jay Dirksen was pleased with the way the women ran.

"The women ran very well," Dirksen said. "Going into the race, I thought a top-15 finish would be a terrific finish, and I knew the team would need to run well to finish that high."

Dirksen was also impressed by the focus the women showed in running their race and not succumbing to the temptation of starting quickly to keep up with some of the top runners in the nation.

"I was pleased with the fact that we didn't go out too fast," Dirksen said. "The team was really patient and moved up a lot as the race progressed. It shows a lot of discipline on their part, and it bodes well for them as the season continues."

Several Huskers set personal bests at the meet. Freshman Farah Jadran ran the fastest 6,000-meter time of her young career, finishing in 23:41, 34 seconds better than her previous best. Senior Kathryn Handrup recorded a personal-best time for the Roy Griak course (22:15), while junior Kayte Tranel (62nd, 22:08) and sophomore Michaela Lenhihan (184th, 23:28) both set personal-best times and finishes for the invitational. Junior Anne Shadle also continued to improve, finishing in her best time and finish in the three years she has ran this race, bettering last year's time (22:43) by 1:17 and finish (75th) by 55 places.

The men were again led by Carne, who finished as the top NU runner for the third time in three races this season. The Huskers recorded a team score of 761 points in the race, which featured nine ranked teams and four teams receiving votes in the latest MONDO Men's Cross Country Poll. Like the women, the men got their first glimpse of Big 12 competition, finishing fifth out of six Big 12 schools, ahead of Texas Tech (30th, 800).

The high level of competition the men faced should pay dividends down the road.

"We're youg and inexperienced," Dirksen said, referring to the four underclassmen that ran for NU. "With our inexperience, this race will serve as a good tool to see where we need to improve in order to compete against the highest level of competition.

The return to the Roy Griak Invitational proved successful for four Huskers. Senior Paul Wilson (161st, 26:10) and sophomore Eric Dall (162nd, 26:10) recorded their best time and finish at the invitational, while junior Tim Williams finished the Roy Griak course in his fastest time (26:33) at the meet and freshman Mike Dorazil set a career-best time, finishing the race in 27:27, two seconds faster than his finish at the Woody Greeno/Nebraska Invitational.

Nebraska returns to action Saturday, Oct. 4, at the Sean Earl Lakefront Invitational in Chicago, Ill. The women run at 11:15 a.m., followed by the men at Noon.