Crofford Heads to NCAA Championships

Husker freshman Lara Crofford will represent the Nebraska women’s cross country team at the NCAA Championships for the 19th time in the past 25 years when she takes the course Monday afternoon in Terre Haute, Ind.

 

Hosted by IndianaStateUniversity, the NCAA Championships will be broadcasted live on CSTV for the first time in history, with the women's 6K race set to begin at 12:55 p.m. Action will also be streamed live on the Internet at www.ustfccca.org.

 

Crofford gained her qualification by finishing ninth at the NCAA Midwest Regional meet Nov. 10 in Peoria, Ill. She will give Nebraska a presence at the national meet for the fourth time in the past seven years. The Huskers' last qualifier was Kayte Tranel in 2005, who finished 28th.

 

A native of Newville, Pa., Crofford has had a spectacular freshman season that has included All-Big 12 and All-Midwest Region honors. She led Nebraska in all six meets this season, including a first-place finish in the season-opening Creighton/UNO Classic on Aug. 31.

 

Crofford ran at the site of the 2007 NCAA Championships (Terre Haute, Ind.) on Oct. 13, finishing 18th at the NCAA Pre-Nationals as the second-highest freshman finisher in the meet. She also had a ninth-place finish at the 2007 Big 12 Championships in Lubbock, Texas on Oct. 26.

 

About Lara Crofford

As a prep, Crofford made a name as one of the top runners in the nation with an impressive career at Big SpringHigh School.

 

The first-team all-state honoree ended her high school running career with the 2007 Pennsylvania Class AAA 3,200-meter title, which carried momentum into June’s prestigious Nike Outdoor Nationals. At the national meet in Greensboro, N.C., Crofford captured runner-up honors in the 5,000-meter run (16:43.46) and finished sixth in the 2-mile (10:28.67) to earn high school All-America status. The 5,000-meter time was the third-fastest time by an American prep in 2007.

 

On the cross country course, Crofford was nearly as impressive, taking back-to-back runner-up finishes at the 2005 and 2006 state meets. She also finished 14th at the 2006 Northeast Footlocker Cross Country Championships.

 

Lara is the daughter of Cliff and Irene Crofford and was born on May 29, 1989 in Fayetteville, N.C. She has a sister Caitlin (20) and a brother Daniel (16). Crofford is majoring in nutrition, health and exercise science at Nebraska.

 

Review: Crofford Finishes Ninth at NCAA Midwest Regional

Peoria, Ill. - Freshman Lara Crofford took ninth place to lead the Husker women’s cross country team to a fourth-place finish with 130 points at the 2007 NCAA Midwest Regional in Peoria, Ill., Nov. 10.

 

Crofford added to one of the most impressive freshman seasons in school history, as she was the Huskers’ high finisher for the sixth time this season. A 2007 All-Big 12 selection, Crofford was named to the All-NCAA Midwest Region team, in addition to junior Natalja Zarcenko, who finished 22nd. Five NU women finished in the top 50.

 

Sophomore Rachel Carrizales was the Huskers' third finish in 33rd, while senior Joslyn Dalton (40th) rounded out the scoring Huskers. Minnesota won the women’s title with 79 points, followed by Illinois (91) and Iowa (111).

 

The Nebraska men had their highest regional placing since 2002 as it finished 12th with 299 points. Senior Peter van der Westhuizen was the top Husker in 43rd place. The captain led a pair of freshmen in Mikel Thomas (51st) and Todd Gulizia (52nd) to the finish line, with Kyle Custer (64th) and freshman Eric Thies (89th) also scoring points for Nebraska. OklahomaState won the men’s title with 47 points.

 

The Last Time at the NCAA Championships: 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 Nov. 21, 2005 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.

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.

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.