Crofford Makes History at Woody Greeno

Lincoln – The Nebraska cross country teams put on an impressive show for the home crowd at Pioneers Park on Saturday morning for the 21st Annual Woody Greeno/Nebraska Invitational. The Husker women won the university division team crown, while senior Lara Crofford won her second individual title.

                                                                                                 

The women's team win marked the sixth straight year that the Huskers have taken the team title and the 16th time overall in the meet’s 21-year history. 

 

Crofford became the first Husker to win back to back individual crowns since Fran ten Bensel (1990-92). A native of Newville, Pa., Crofford ran a time of 21:01.31, which marked her second individual title in 2010.

 

"Lara is running better than she has ever run, and the whole team did exceptionally well today," Head Coach Jay Dirksen said.

 

David Adams was the men's top finisher with a time of 24:54.1 finishing second behind Jim Walmsley of U.S. Air Force Academy. The York, Neb., native’s time of 24:29.4 is the sixth-best time ever run on the 8K course and the second-best time ever by a Husker, trailing Cleophas Boor’s time of 24:05.3 in 1996, which ranks third overall.

Overall for the women, Crofford led a 1-2 Husker finish with redshirt freshman Martina Barinova placing second. The Huskers placed four more in the top 15, with junior Erica Hamik finishing fifth, Ashley Miller coming in seventh, Jessica Furlan placing eighth and Jen Webers finished ninth. Freshman Sarah Plambeck just missed the top 15 placing 18th and running a time of 22:59.7. The team win was the Huskers sixth straight, their second longest streak at the meet, as they won nine straight from 1990-98.

 

After setting the longest winning streak in school history in 2009 with four team wins, the Husker men fell one point short of the team title. Adams led the Huskers placing second, followed by Jesse Adams placing eighth, Trevor Vidlak finished 10th, Todd Gulizia finished 12th and Anthony Oberle placed 17th. The Husker men earned the runner-up title to Wyoming who finished with 33 points while Nebraska earned 34 points respectively.

 

The Huskers will now be off for two weeks before they travel to Madison, Wisc., for the Wisconsin Inter-Regional Invitational on Saturday, Oct. 2. The men’s 8K race will kick off the meet at 11 a.m., and will be followed by the women’s 5K race a roughly 11:45 a.m. Check back with Huskers.com during race week for more information.