Tranel Earns All-America Honors

Terre Haute, Ind. - Nebraska senior Kayte Tranel capped one of the most successful seasons by a Husker cross country runner by earning All-America honors with a 28th-place finish at the NCAA Cross Country Championships on Monday in Terre Haute, Ind.

Tranel’s placing in a career-best 6K time of 20:26.20 broke her previous best by 46 seconds and is the highest placing by a Nebraska women’s runner at the national meet since 1993 when Theresa Stelling placed 24th and was named the last Nebraska women’s All-American. The finish is the sixth-best all-time for an NU women’s runner.

"The is by far the best race in her life," Head Coach Jay Dirksen said. "She did everything perfect and was very intelligent and kept good poise. In a field this big, you have to run wisely and she did a great job. She has come a long way from Hampton, Neb., where she didn’t even run cross country in high school."

Tranel, just the fifth All-American in Nebraska women’s cross country history, was tied for 61st-place at the 3K mark before making her move past more than 30 runners. She ran the final half of the race in 10:13 after also being clocked at 10:13 at the halfway point.

"I think it is all about running a smart race," Tranel said. "Some people tend to go out too fast, and you just have to run a very even race pace-wise. It’s all about keeping your head on, especially when there are so many people in the race. You have to be confident and not panic."

Coming off a redshirt season in 2004, Tranel was impressive from the first meet of the 2005 campaign, when she captured the women’s title at the Creighton/UNO Classic to help her earn Big 12 runner-of-the-week honors. The Husker tri-captain went on to earn three more top-10 placings during the year, including a seventh-place finish at the NCAA Midwest Regional to qualify for the national championships. She was also 15th at the Big 12 Championships, which earned her All-Big 12 honors for the first time.