Huskers Total Four All-Region Performances

Stillwater, Okla. ? The Nebraska women’s cross country team had one of its most memorable races in recent memory Saturday morning at the NCAA Midwest Regional in Stillwater, Okla. The Husker women finished third as a team, with four runners being named to the All-Midwest Region team. With the top-three finish, the women’s team made a strong statement for an at-large bid to the NCAA Championships while running in 40-degree temperatures and winds reaching 20 mph in one of the nation’s toughest regions.

The Big Red was led by two-time All-Midwest Region and All-Big 12 performer, Lara Crofford. Crofford came in seventh with a time of 20:57.60 in the field of 187. Crofford was directly followed by fellow 2008 All-Big 12 performer Rachel Carrizales with a time of 21:06.05. Natalja Callahan repeated as an All-Region performer with her 20th-place finish (21:31.55) and senior Jen Pancoast earned the first All-Region honor of her career with a 23rd-place finish (21:34.25). The top 25 runners are named to the All-Region team.

“My goal going in was to finish in the top 25,” Pancoast said. “The whole time Natalja (Callahan) and I were working together to pass as many people as we could. We run in the wind a lot during our training, so going into today we knew it wasn’t going to bother us.”

 

The Huskers were rounded out by senior Betsy Miller (73rd), sophomore Jen Webers (87th) and redshirt freshman Ashley Miller (91st).

 

In the team race the Husker women finished behind regional champion Minnesota (57 points) and runner-up Illinois (64 points). However, the No. 29 Huskers were able to pull past the Iowa Hawkeyes, who entered the race ranked No. 20 in the USTFCCCA poll. The Huskers edged the Hawkeyes by just two points, 124 to 126.

 

The top two teams from the nine regional meets across the country earn automatic bids to the NCAA. The Big Red will now wait until 6 p.m. (Central) on Sunday night to find out if it will be making the trip to Terre Haute, Ind., for the NCAA Championships on Monday, Nov. 24.

 

The third-place finish is the highest for the women’s squad since 2003, the last time the team ran in Stillwater. The women won the regional behind Ann Gaffigan’s runner-up performance and had four runners earn All-Region honors as well.

 

On the men’s side the Huskers finished 10th as a team behind senior Kyle Custer’s 34th-place finish in the field of 165. Custer’s finish was tops for a Husker since 2002 when James Bowler finished sixth to help the Big Red come in fourth as a team.

“With the windy conditions you need to get in the pack and put yourself in a good position,” Custer said. “I am a much better runner than I was four years ago and that is due to great coaching and wonderful teammates.”

Custer was joined by David Adams (43rd), Mikel Thomas (44th), Peter Falcon (74th), Anthony Oberle (85th) and Bryce Somer (100th).

 

The Big Red were running without two of its top runners in junior Brian Parr and sophomore Todd Gulizia. Parr has been out for the entire year following offseason ankle surgery and Gulizia has been out of action the last two weeks with back problems. The young Husker men’s team will return a strong squad in 2009, with Custer being the only loss from the 2008 team.