Heng Leads Huskers at Bradley Classic

The Nebraska cross country team competed at the Bradley Pink Classic Friday afternoon in Peoria, Ill. The Huskers competed well in the talent-rich field, with the men finishing second in the 27-team-field, while the women finished 13th out of 32 teams.

Illinois State took home the men's team title with 119 total points. On the women's side, Illinois scored 90 total points winning the team championship.

Head Coach Dave Harris was impressed with the depth shown by the men's team, as the Huskers placed seven runners in the top-52.

“The men ran very solid today, it was our best performance we have had in a very long time,” Harris said. “Placing second was great, but I want to challenge these guys because some of the teams that we beat today did not run some of their top runners.”

Leading the way for the men's team was Jonah Heng, as the junior placed 12th overall with a time of 24:59.7 in the 8k competition.

Also performing well for the Huskers was sophomore Joe Harter, who placed 16th overall 25:03.00, adding another tremendous performance in his sophomore campaign. True freshman Austin Post was the third Husker to cross the finish line, placing 35th with a time of 25:30.7.

On the women's side, Harris was ecstatic with how the top three runners ran together, but mentioned there was too far of a gap between the third and fourth NU runner in the race.

Sophomore Anna Peer again led the women's team, placing 12th overall with a time of 21:32.8 in the 6k competition. Peer continued her dominating stretch of performances in the 2014 season, as Harris was happy with how she raced.

“Anna is probably not happy with her race today because she has beaten some of the athletes that beat her today,” Harris said. “That does not sit well with her, but she did very-very well today.”

Freshman Bonnie Smith was the second NU women's runner to cross the finish line, placing 42nd with a time of 22:13.3. Grace Geiger also had a tremendous race, as the freshman placed 67th with a time of 22:32.0.

The Nebraska cross country team will begin its championship season at the Big Ten Championships in Iowa City, Iowa on Nov. 2.