Tranel Leads Huskers at Big 12 Championships

Waco, Texas - Senior tri-captain Kayte Tranel led all Nebraska runners with a 15th-place individual finish to earn All-Big 12 status and lead the women to a fifth-place team finish, while sophomore Peter van der Westhuizen placed 25th to lead the men to a 10th-place finish as a team on Friday at the Big 12 Cross Country Championships.

"I was very pleased with our total team performance at the Big 12 Cross-Country Championships," Head Coach Jay Dirksen said.  "We met our expectations, and while those are not where we want to be in the future, this program took a major step ahead from where we were at this time a year ago.  With so many young, inexperienced runners we are proud to have made so much progress this fall." 

Tranel’s time of 21:25 in the women’s 6K edged out Eva Tomakova of Oklahoma State for the final spot on the All-Big 12 team, marking the first time since 1998 and 1999 that the women have placed a runner in the top 15 in back-to-back seasons, after Anne Shadle’s 15th-place finish at last year’s Big 12 Championships. The top-five team placing is also the Husker women’s highest since 1999, when they placed fourth.

The men’s 10th-place team finish, behind van der Westhuizen’s career-best 8K time of 24:29, which was more than 40 seconds better than his previous best from this year, helped the Huskers climb two spots in the team standings after back-to-back years of finishing 12th at the Big 12 meet.

The Husker women used a total team effort as freshman Ari Goldstein was just behind Tranel in 17th in a career-best time of 21:31. Sophomore Channing Anseth (28th, 22:00), freshman Natalja Zarcenko (32nd, 22:21) and sophomore Betsy Miller (38th, 22:42) made it five top-40 finishes for the Big Red. Zarcenko and Miller’s times were career bests.

"Kayte Tranel, although battling some respiratory problems, finished very well," Dirksen said.  "Ari Goldstein was in the top 12 with 1,000 meters to go and although she faded a little bit, she managed a very respectable 17th place as a true freshman.  Channing Anseth looked like a veteran in her second race of the season, and Natalja Zarcenko ran her best race of the season by far.  Betsy Miller really stepped it up a notch this weekend also. Her performance had a great deal to do with us overcoming the problems Kim Pancoast experienced due to her injury." 

Sophomore Joslyn Dalton (23:02) and junior tri-captain Kim Pancoast (23:16) were the final scoring finishers for Nebraska in 52nd- and 58th-place, respectively.

The Fremont, Neb., duo of freshman Brian Parr and junior co-captain Bryce Dickmeyer were the second and third NU men’s runners to finish, as Parr was 66th in a career-best time of 26:05 and Dickmeyer was 74th in a season-best 26:20. Freshman Chris Clymer ran his best race of the year and placed 81st in a career-best 26:33, just ahead of junior co-captain Aaron Nasers in 86th (26:55) and freshman Kyle Custer (89th) ran a career-best 27:05.

"Peter ran his best 8K race of the season," Dirksen said. "He has been trying to overcome an injury that he suffered in practice over a week ago, so his effort was even better than it might look.  The rest of the men were solid also, and Parr and Clymer ran very well, especially in the last half of the race."

The Huskers continue their post-season stretch at the NCAA Midwest Region Championhips in Iowa City, Iowa, on Nov. 12. Action takes place at the University of Iowa Cross Country Course with the men’s 10K starting at 11 a.m., followed by the women’s 6K at Noon.