Women Finish Fourth and Men Seventh in Big 12 Championships

Columbia, Mo. – The Nebraska cross country team took to A.L. Gustin Golf Course Saturday morning for the 2009 Big 12 Championships. Lara Crofford's 16th-place finish led the Husker women to a fourth-place finish in a 6K race, and David Adams' 22nd-place finish (in 25:42.25) led the men to a seventh-place finish in an 8K race.

 

For the men, Adams’ finish is the best for a Husker since James Bowler placed 19th in 2002. Adams was joined in the top 50 by Brad Doering, who finished 30th with a time of 25:52.58. Anthony Oberle missed the top 50 by one spot, placing 51st with a time of 26:16.84. As a team, the Huskers finished in the top 10 for the second straight year, after also placing seventh last season. It is the first time since 2001-02 that the men have put together back-to-back top-10 finishes at the conference meet, finishing fifth in 2001 and seventh 2002.

 

As a team, the Husker women have finished in the top 10 at the past seven conference meets dating back to 2003. The fourth-place finish also snapped the Huskers’ three-year streak of finishing third at the championships. Overall, the Huskers put two runners in the top 25 and six in the top 50. After Crofford, Rachel Carrizales finished 23rd, while Jessica Furlan and Ari Goldstein finished 31st and 32nd, respectively, and Erica Hamik added a 46th-place finish.

 

Following back-to-back All-Big 12 performances in her first two years at NU, Crofford missed out on becoming the first Husker in school history to earn three All-Big 12 honors in their career by one spot, as the top-15 finishers earn All-Big 12 honors.

 

The Huskers will now have a two-week break before they head back to Missouri for the NCAA Midwest Regional, hosted by Missouri State University in Springfield. A top-two finish at the meet guarantees a trip to the NCAA Championships in Terre Haute, Ind., on Monday, Nov. 23. There are also at-large selections to the national meet, which the Husker women earned last season.