Peer Dominates Women's Race at Woody Greeno

Lincoln, Neb.- The Nebraska cross country team hosted its annual Nebraska/Woody Greeno Invitational Saturday morning at Pioneers Park in Lincoln. The Huskers performed well on a soggy course, seeing both individual and team success in the competition.

The men's team placed second in the 21-team field and the women's team placed fifth (22 teams). Wichita State won both the men's and women's competition.

Sophomore Anna Peer continued her dominating stretch of races dating back to the regular season finale last season, as she won the women's 6k race in a time of 21:45.30. Peer was ecstatic in her performance, mentioning that she got into her groove around 3000 meters into the race.

“I am really excited how things went, my goal was to stay up there at the beginning and relax and see how the pace went,” Peer said. “After around the 3k I kind of had a little bit of a lead and no one was coming with me so I just took off a little and it worked out.”

Head Coach David Harris was also impressed with Peer's race, mentioning the conditions were not ideal, with muddy areas scattered throughout the course.

“First of all you have to hand it to Anna, she went out and won a Woody Greeno title and that has not happened very often on the women's side,” Harris said. “It is soggy and wet today, I am really pleased with her performance today.”

Peer was the first NU women's runner to win the individual title since Lara Crofford won it in both the 2010 and 2009 seasons.

Freshmen Bonnie Smith and Haley Harsin also performed valiantly. Smith placed 16th with a time of 23:07.20, with Harsin placing 29th,, running a time of 23:45.40.

Sophomore Joe Harter led the men's distance squad, finishing second overall (first in university division) with a time of 25:50.20 in the men's 8k race. Harter's performance was his second consecutive second-place finish, after his performance at the season opening Augustana Twilight.

Harter was satisfied with his performance today, noting that he did not have enough to pass the meet champion Frankline Tonui of Iowa Central CC.

“Well he (Tonui) won it last year and I just wanted to stay with him at the end and hopefully I would have enough speed to get him, but it was a tough day today,” Harter said. “The course was really muddy and I am not used to that really, but I am not making any excuses, he beat me today.”

Freshman Austin Post also ran a tremendous race, placing third in the university division, with a time of 26:16.00. Junior Nolan Border was the third Husker to cross the finish line, finishing 15th with a time of 26:56.00.

The Nebraska cross country team will be back in action at the Roy Griak Invite in Minneapolis Saturday Sept. 27. Check back at Huskers.com for updates.

Recent Training Key to Harter and Peer's success

NU Coach Dave Harris was exuberant after the races Saturday morning, mentioning that both Peer and Harter have been training at a high level leading into the Woody Greeno.

“I am most pleased with the training she did is coming out, everything comes from training,” Harris said. “You don't come out here and wish to win, you have to train and she has trained.”

Harris added, “The same goes for Joe, both him and Peer have been leaders in practice and have been working extremely hard since last season to get to this point.”

He hopes that the team will continue to improve leading into the Roy Griak next Saturday in Minneapolis, as the Griak boasts one of the most talent-rich fields in all of NCAA cross country.

“We have to move on from today and continue to train hard as a team, because the Griak is one of the best meets in the nation so you have to be ready for that,” Harris said.