Huskers Compete for Big 12 Titles

Lincoln - The Nebraska men’s and women’s cross country teams head south to Spicewood, Texas, on Friday, Oct. 31, for the Big 12 Cross Country Championships.

Hosted by Texas, the men’s 8,000-meter race will begin at 9 a.m., followed by the women’s 6,000-meter race at 10 a.m.

At the championships, the men will be looking to better last year’s seventh-place team finish, while the women will look to improve on an 11th-place finish from last season’s race.

The meet should provide NU with a good test before the Midwest Region Championships on Nov. 15.

The women’s race features four teams ranked in the Oct. 20 FinishLynx Women’s Cross Country poll. No. 20 Nebraska will face ninth-ranked Colorado, No. 17 Missouri and 24th-ranked Baylor. Missouri will also compete in the Midwest Region Championships with Nebraska.

Seniors Ann Gaffigan and Kathryn Handrup, juniors Anne Shadle and Kayte Tranel, sophomore Michaela Lenihan and redshirt freshman Kim Pancoast will compete for NU. Freshman Farah Jadran will also compete this weekend after missing the last two races.

Husker Head Coach Jay Dirksen looks forward to the challenges his teams will face this Friday.

"We definitely want to improve on last year’s finish on the women’s side," Dirksen said. "We’d like to be in the top half of the conference."

In the men’s race, the Huskers will face three ranked teams in No. 4 Colorado, 25th-ranked Texas A&M and No. 28 Kansas. Kansas will also compete aginst NU in the Midwest Region Championships, Nov. 15.

Seniors Dana Carne and Paul Wilson, sophomore Eric Dall and freshmen Alec Maduza, Bryce Dickmeyer and Mike Dorazil will compete for NU. Junior Tim Williams will also compete after missing the team’s last race, due to injury.

Dirksen is hopeful that the bye week Nebraska enjoyed will prove beneficial this weekend.

"We’ll be more ready to run this week," Dirksen said. "We’re as close to 100 percent as we have been all year."

-NU-