Huskers Aim High at NCAA Midwest Regional

Coming off one their best conference meets in recent years, the 2005 Nebraska men’s and women’s cross country teams will look to extend their seasons at the NCAA Midwest Regional this Saturday, Nov. 12 in Iowa City, Iowa, at the University of Iowa Cross Country Course.

The men’s 10K will start at 11 a.m., followed by the women’s 6K at Noon.

"We are looking to have our best meet of the season by both our men and women," Head Coach Jay Dirksen said. "The region championship will be much tougher this year than last year, especially for the women’s team."

Nebraska runners will aim to qualify for the NCAA Championships. The top two teams advance to the national meet, as well as the top four individuals who are not on one of the top two qualifying teams. Additionally, 13 at-large teams will be invited after a Division I track and field subcommittee meeting on Sunday, Nov. 13.

The Huskers were absent from the national meet last season for the first time in Dirksen’s 22 years as head coach, but they look to get back in the mix after strong performances throughout this season.

Senior Kayte Tranel and sophomore Peter van der Westhuizen have led their respective squads this season, including a strong conference meet in which Tranel was named to the All-Big 12 women’s team with her 15th-place finish. Van der Westhuizen finished 25th in the men’s race, the highest individual placing for an NU men’s runner since 2002.

The Nebraska women enter this weekend’s meet owning five all-time regional and district titles, with the last regional win coming in 2003 behind Ann Gaffigan’s runner-up finish. They also won four district titles in five years from 1988 to 1992.

"I am excited to see how high our women can finish since we are still improving," Dirksen said. "Kim Pancoast continues to suffer from an injury and her competing on Saturday is still in doubt. We would be considerably stronger if she was healthy, but our other runners did a good job of picking up the slack at the Big 12 Championships and they may have to step up again."

The men recorded one district championship in 1988, while they placed in the top five three years in a row from 2000 to 2002.

"The men are hoping to improve on their 18th-place finish from 2003 (NU did not field a team last year), and I think their chances are good to do that," Dirksen said. "Peter (van der Westhuizen) is a possibility for a high finish individually."

Scouting the Competition

This weekend’s field features 31 men’s and women’s teams, 11 of which are nationally ranked.

The No. 6 Illinois women’s team is the highest-rated squad among the field, ahead of five other ranked women’s teams: No. 11 Minnesota, No. 13 Providence, No. 16 Oklahoma State, No. 28 Missouri and No. 29 Indiana.

On the men’s side, the Huskers will face five nationally ranked teams in No. 12 Kansas, No. 18 Minnesota, No. 20 Iowa, No. 26 Oklahoma State and No. 30 Providence.

Midwest Regional Coverage

From the Iowa Hawkeyes homepage (hawkeyesports.com), the official website of the 2005 NCAA Midwest Regional can be found at http://hawkeyesports.collegesports.com/ot/ncaa-reg-xc-2005.html.

A full recap with complete results will also be posted on Huskers.com following meet.

Review: 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 on Oct. 28 at the Big 12 Cross Country Championships.

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 1998-99 that the women have placed a runner in the top 15 in back-to-back seasons. Anne Shadle finished 15th at last year’s Big 12 meet. 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, helped the Huskers climb two spots in the team standings after back-to-back years of finishing 12th at the Big 12 meet. Van der Westhuizen’s time was more than 40 seconds better than his previous best from this year.

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). Freshman Kyle Custer (89th) also ran a career best of 27:05.