Nebraska Takes Home Greeno Title Again

Lincoln-For the fourth consecutive year the Nebraska women’s cross country team successfully defended its home turf, as the Huskers won the 19th annual Woody Greeno/Husker Invitational at Pioneers Park on Saturday. The men were edged by Butler Community College by three points in the overall standings, but NU prevailed in the university division.

 

The Husker women, who have won the meet five of the last six years, were led by sophomore Lara Crofford and her second-place finish. Crofford also finished second last year, but cut nearly a minute off her time this year to finish the 6K course in 21:32. Junior Rachel Carrizales posted a 21:51, her best time ever on the course, to take home fifth, while senior Jen Pancoast ran 22:22 for ninth to help NU put three runners in the top 10. Sophomore Jen Webers took 11th (22:45) and freshman Erica Hamik placed 19th (23:10) to round out NU’s scorers.

 

“With the women, I was really pleased with every person that ran,” Head Coach Jay Dirksen said. “They all ran very intelligently. They didn’t go out too hard, didn’t fade and got themselves up in the race.”

 

On the men’s side, redshirt freshman David Adams paced the Huskers with a time of 25:34 over the 8K course. Nebraska’s top finisher in all three races this season, Adams finished eighth overall. Sophomore Todd Gulizia earned 10th with a time of 25:53, while fellow sophomore Peter Falcon crossed the line in 26:05 for 14th. Junior Bryce Somer cut over two minutes off his time from last year with a 26:16 for a career-best time on the course. NU’s final scorer was sophomore Brad Doering in 29th place (26:32).

 

“I thought David Adams and Todd Gulizia ran very strong races,” Dirksen said. “They weren’t in the category of the first people, but this is only Adams’ third race in college and first 8K.”

 

The NU women finished with 49 points in the overall team race, four ahead of Big 12-foe Kansas State, while Wartburg, Nebraska Wesleyan and Colorado Springs rounded out the top five.

 

“Because of the quality of Kansas State, I think it is pretty significant that we beat them without two of our top people,” Dirksen said, referring to seniors Ari Goldstein and Natalja Zarcenko who did not race.

 

Butler Community College squeaked by the Nebraska men by three points with a 76, but the Huskers won the University division with just 17 points. Colorado School of Mines finished third in the overall team race, while Concordia University earned fourth and Iowa Central Community College took fifth.

 

Nebraska returns to action on Oct. 4 at the South Dakota State University Classic in Brookings, S.D. Races begin at 11 a.m. at the Edgebrook Municipal Golf Course.