Huskers Head to NCAAs

Lincoln -- The Nebraska women’s cross country team qualified for its first NCAA Championships since 1999 by winning the Midwest Region Championships. The Huskers will compete in Waterloo, Iowa, on Monday, Nov. 24.

NU Head Coach Jay Dirksen is optimistic about his team’s chances on the 6,000-meter course.

"Our regional title gives us good momentum heading into the NCAA Championships," Dirksen said. "Our goal is to perform well, which I think we will."

Seniors Ann Gaffigan and Kathryn Handrup are the lone Huskers who have run in the NCAA Championships. Gaffigan finished 98th overall in 2000, while Handrup finished third on the team and 137th overall in 1999, when the championship distance was 5,000-meters.

In 1999, the last time NU qualified for the meet as a full team, the Huskers finished in 16th place. Nebraska is capable of a top-15 performance if everyone runs well, according to Dirksen.

The Huskers will enter the meet with their highest ranking of the year. After falling out of the FinishLynx Women’s Cross Country poll, NU re-entered the poll this week at No. 19, one spot ahead of Missouri, which finished second at the regional championship.

NU Relies on Team Effort
Through seven races this season, the Nebraska women’s cross country team has emphasized a simple formula for success: have as little time as possible separating the top five runners.

That formula has proven highly successful considering only the top five finishers contribute to the team score. NU hopes to continue its successful style of running at the NCAA Championships on Nov. 24.

At the regional championships, only 57 seconds separated the top NU finisher from the fifth. At the Big 12 Championships, Nebraska set a season-best spread of 40 seconds between scoring runners. On the season, the Huskers have averaged a mere

1:20 spread between the top four finishers. On three separate occassions this season, the team has achieved a spread that totaled less than one minute.

Husker Women Continue Strong Season
The 2003 Nebraska cross country season is nearly complete. The men have finished their season, while the women, by virtue of their first-place finish at the NCAA Midwest Region Championships, have only the NCAA Championships remaining.

In the Huskers’ first meet of the season, both the women earned the team title at the Creighton/UNO Invitational. NU took the top two spots in the women’s race, as senior Ann Gaffigan finished first and junior Kayte Tranel finished second.

Nebraska was in Lincoln the following week for its only home meet of the season. At the Woody Greeno/Nebraska Invitational, junior Anne Shadle’s career-best time earned her first place in leading the women to their second consecutive team title. Shadle finished the race just 11 seconds shy of the course record. In addition to Shadle’s first-ever victory, Nebraska also earned four of the top five individual finishers. Gaffigan recorded her fourth top-10 finish at the annual meet by finishing second, while Tranel and senior Kathryn Handrup finished in fourth and fifth, respectively.

For the third meet of the season, NU headed north for the prestigious Roy Griak Invitational. The unranked women finished 12th at the race, which featured 13 ranked teams, finishing ahead of 14th-ranked Boston College and No. 21 Indiana. Shadle again led the Huskers by finishing 20th.

The Sean Earl Lakefront Classic in Chicago, Ill. turned out to be a red letter day for NU. The Husker women, having entered the rankings for the first time at No. 30, finished second at the meet, falling to 16th-ranked Wisconsin by a single point. Shadle again led Nebraska, finishing second on the 6,000-meter course. The women showed their overall team strength and depth, as three other Huskers joined Shadle in the top 10. Handrup, Gaffigan and Tranel finished fifth, seventh and eigth, respectively, as only 36 seconds separated Shadle’s finish from Tranel’s. The idea of "pack running" would serve the team well for the rest of the year.

After a week off, Nebraska returned to competition at the Pre-National meet in Waterloo, Iowa. Running on the same course that would host the NCAA Championships, the Husker women fared well in their first crack at the course, finishing eighth out of 32 teams. Senior Ann Gaffigan led NU with a 30th-place finish out of 210 runners. Nebraska again ran well as a team, with only 28 places and 31 seconds separating the top four Husker runners. In a race that included eight ranked teams, No. 25 Nebraska defeated conference rival and No. 14 Baylor, which finished 10th.

Following another off week, NU had one last race before competing in the NCAA Midwest Region Championships. At the Big 12 Championships, the women finished sixth, improving on the previous year’s 11th-place finish. Shadle led the Huskers once again, finishing 19th. NU again ran well as a team, with only 43 seconds and 19 places separating the top five runners.

The NCAA Midwest Region Championships marked a triumphant victory of the women, and the end of the season for the men. The women, who fell out of the polls following the Big 12 Championships, won their first regional title since 1992, edging No.

20 Missouri for the first time in four tries this season. Four Huskers were named to the All-Region team after finishing in the top 25. Gaffigan and Handrup earned All-Region honors for the fourth time in their careers, while Tranel earned her second consecutive honor and Shadle earned her first selection. Gaffigan led Nebraska with a second-place finish. The four All-Region selections tied a school record that has been accomplished twice, most recently in 1999.

In the classroom, the team has enjoyed a successful season. A total of six Husker women were honored as first-team Academic All-Big 12 selections for maintaining at least a 3.2 G.P.A. while competing in 60 percent of NU’s meets. Gaffigan, Handrup, Shadle, Tranel, sophomore Michaela Lenihan and redshirt freshman Kim Pancoast were named to the women’s first-team.