Women's Preview: Huskers Aim for NCAA's in 2007

Fresh off its most successful season since 1997, the Nebraska women’s cross country team returns seven letterwinners from last year’s squad, providing head coach Jay Dirksen an opportunity to make his 25th year a memorable one.

 

In 2006, Nebraska achieved its highest Big 12 Conference finish since 1997, as it took home third place with 110 points behind 12th- and 13th-place finishes from Channing Anseth and Ari Goldstein. The Huskers welcome back the all-conference selections in 2007, whose top-15 finishes gave Nebraska multiple All-Big 12 runners for the first time in school history. As seniors, the duo gives the Huskers a chance to remain atop the Big 12 this season.

 

“They have great talent and are very important to our team’s success,” Dirksen said. “Ari’s had two very successful cross country seasons, and I think she’s going to have another fine year. She’s enthusiastic and her training went really well this summer.”

 

Goldstein opened last season with a notable accomplishment when she won the individual titles at the Creighton/UNO Classic and Woody Greeno/Nebraska Invitational, marking the first women’s runner to win consecutive races since former All-American Fran ten Bensel in 1992. Her first-place finishes also helped the Huskers to two team titles that they hope to defend in 2007, with Goldstein serving as the first solo women’s team captain since Jenna Lucas in 2001.

 

Anseth’s services may be unavailable early in the 2007 season, as her progress has been slowed since last spring due to muscle imbalances. However, Dirksen said the 2006 All-Big 12 selection looks to be in full force by mid-season to help lead the Huskers at the conference and regional meets.

 

“Channing’s done really well for us,” Dirksen said. “She’ll be a big factor later in the year if she stays healthy. She’s really got some talent and is an excellent competitor. We just need her to get back to full strength.”

 

Last fall, Dirksen believed the Huskers had enough talent to make another step up in the conference. However, questions of whether they would achieve that mark were in doubt as the team was limited in experience with just one senior. Nebraska won’t see that problem this year, as former captain Betsy Miller, Josyln Dalton and Val Zajac join Anseth to form the Huskers’ largest senior class since 1996, giving Nebraska an experience advantage after fielding a young squad in 2006.

 

“We had a good year and developed a lot from the beginning to the end,” Dirksen said. “They were fairly young overall, but we had so many underclassmen who made great progress. Now we have great depth, a lot of ability, good experience and a nice blend of some new athletes with the improving ones.”

 

One of the Huskers’ most improved athletes in recent history has been senior Betsy Miller, who joined the Huskers in 2004 from Lodgepole, Neb., where she did not compete in high school cross country. The 2006 co-captain suffered a stress fracture during track and has decided to redshirt this year. In 2006, she produced her best season, finishing as the runner-up at the Creighton/UNO Classic and then reaching 31st at the Big 12 Championships.

 

In Miller’s absence, Nebraska has another major improving runner to fill the role in Rachel Carrizales. The junior redshirted during cross country last fall, before competing in track and making remarkable strides to qualify for the NCAA Outdoor Championships in the 3,000-meter steeplechase.

 

“Rachel has made as much improvement in one year as I’ve ever seen at Nebraska,” Dirksen said. “She’s gone from being an average indoor runner to qualifying for the NCAA Championships in the steeplechase. That’s phenomenal. She’s someone that definitely has the capabilities to jump up this year.”

 

Dirksen also has a steady and improving senior in three-year letterwinner Joslyn Dalton. The Fremont, Neb., native fought through illness her first two years, but  will provide the most experience in 2007. She has improved her finish at the Big 12 Championships each year and is on track to have her best season as a senior. During the outdoor track season, Dalton qualified for the NCAA Midwest Regional in the 3,000-meter steeplechase.

 

“Joslyn is another one that has made significant improvement,” Dirsken said. “She had a pretty good indoor track season and then continued to make progress outdoors. She’s definitely at a much higher level than a year ago.”

 

Despite the experience and talent that the senior class holds, the juniors are equally impressive. In addition to Goldstein and Carrizales, Natalja Zarcenko and Jennifer Pancoast proved to be important contributors during Nebraska’s successful 2006 season.

 

Zarcenko was a top-30 finisher at the NCAA Midwest Regional and Big 12 Championships, and carried that momentum to the track, where she had one of the notable highlights of the outdoor season when she won the 1,500-meter run at the prestigious Drake Relays.

 

“Natalja’s a major part of our team,” Dirksen said. “She’s made a lot of improvement from last year, when she had a great year that was way improved from the season before. She’s a major factor for this team.”

 

Dirksen awarded Pancoast with the 2006 Most Improved Runner award after she was a top-five finisher for Nebraska in five of the seven meets. As a freshman, Pancoast’s highest team finish was seventh. Her top-30 finishes at the conference and regional levels to end 2006 give Dirksen a reason to believe she will play a larger role this year.

 

“She could be one of our best runners,” he said. “She had a good summer of training after redshirting the outdoor track season and has raised her level considerably since a year ago.”

 

Sophomore Sara Prince will be in her third year with the Huskers in 2007 after earning a medical redshirt in 2005, when she suffered a stress fracture after the first meet of the season. Since the setback, Prince has continued to progress and ran in the first four meets of 2006, finishing in the Huskers’ top-seven in three.

 

Elizabeth Marsh joins Prince in the sophomore class after lettering as a freshman in 2006. If Marsh continues a steady transition, she could be a solid contributor for Nebraska this season.

 

“Elizabeth came in last year with a great attitude,” Dirksen said. “She works really hard and has made a lot of improvement. She still has a ways to go, but if she keeps with it her turn will come.”

 

The freshman class includes a notable commit from the early-signing period when Newville, Pa., native Lara Crofford signed with the Huskers. Crofford is a two-time Class AAA runner-up at the Pennsylvania state cross country meet and finished second in the 5,000 meters at the Nike Outdoor Nationals in June. Her time of 16:43.46 would have been a provisional-qualifying mark for the NCAA indoor and outdoor track and field regional.

 

Crofford is one of three incoming freshmen for the Big Red, joining Katie Kelly (Omaha, Neb.) and Jennifer Webers (Conifer, Colo.).

 

For the sixth consecutive year, the Huskers open the season at the Creighton/Nebraska-Omaha Classic on Sept. 1, where NU will aim for its third straight team title. After a week off, the Huskers come home for the 18th annual Woody Greeno/Nebraska Invitational on Sept. 15 at Pioneer’s Park. Goldstein won last year’s meet and led NU to the team championship for the  12th time in 17 years.

 

The Huskers will leave the state for the Roy Griak Invitational in St. Paul, Minn., on Sept. 29, before splitting up to the Chile Pepper Festival (Fayetteville, Ark.) and NCAA Pre-Nationals (Terre Haute, Ind.) on Oct. 13.

 

Postseason competition begins Oct. 26 in Lubbock, Texas with the Big 12 Championships, followed by the NCAA Midwest Regional in Peoria, Ill., on Nov. 10. The NCAA Championships are Nov. 19 in Terre Haute, Ind, the site of Kayte Tranel’s 28th-place All-American performance at the 2005 national meet. The Huskers were absent from the 2006 NCAA Championships, but have their goals refocused on the destination in 2007.

 

“We were very close to making the national meet last year, but I think we’re going to be a better team this season,” Dirksen said. “We’ll be a contender for getting back to the national championships. It’s certainly not a guarantee, but there’s every reason to think we’re good enough to be at that level.”