Peer Shines at Big Ten Championship

Iowa City, Iowa— Sophomore Anna Peer finished 14th in cool and blustery conditions to lead the Nebraska cross country team at the Big Ten Championship in Iowa City, Iowa on Sunday.

The Husker men finished 11th among 12 teams, while the women took 13th in the 14-team field. Wisconsin won the men's race, while Michigan State claimed the women's crown.

Peer, a native of Bettendorf, Iowa was thrilled with her performance in her home state, as she set a new personal best in a 6k race with a time of 20:27.4, in front on numerous family and friends. Peer’s old personal best time was 21:32, which she ran earlier this season at the Bradley Classic.

“It is such a great feeling knowing that all of my hard work from the summer and this entire season has paid off,” Peer said. “I am beyond pleased with how today went.”

Nebraska Head Coach David Harris was ecstatic with Peer’s performance, noting that the Second Team All-Big Ten performer has worked tremendously hard this season, and is very deserving.

“That was the performance of the day for Nebraska cross country, I am so proud of her—all the hard work that Anna put in is paying off tremendously for her,” Harris said. “This is not an easy conference, we felt like she could be a top-30 runner, and she just went out and earned Second Team All-Big Ten, and I am really-really proud of her effort for our program.”

Harris added, “This can certainly help us, to have such a talented Big Ten performer, it is a shining moment for our program, a shining moment for our program in the Big Ten.” 

Overall Harris felt like both teams were better than their place they finished, especially on the men’s side.

“I feel like we are better than our places, but that is why you run the races and see where you are and evidently we are not,” he said. “We beat a team on the men’s side for the first time, which is a plus, but it is still not where we want to be.

Also performing well for the women’s team was freshman Bonnie Smith, and senior Shawnice Williams. Smith, an Omaha native placed 83rd with a time of 22:04.3, while Williams was the third Husker to finish, placing 99th with a time of 22:33.9.

On the men’s side, sophomore standout Joe Harter was the first NU runner to cross the finish line, placing 59th with a time of 25:02.8 in the 8k race. Junior Lincoln native Nolan Border also ran well for the Huskers, as he placed 67th with a time of 25:13.3.

 Harris was a little disappointed in how the NU men performed today, but with numerous injuries nagging the Huskers, Harris hopes the week off of competition will help the Huskers rejuvenate.

“The guys did not run up to their capabilities unfortunately today, they feel like they could have performed a lot better, so we will have to get back to training this next week and come out strong at the NCAA Regional,” Harris said.

The Nebraska cross country team will take two weeks off of competition before returning to the course at the NCAA Midwest Regional on Friday, Nov. 14. The meet will take place in Peoria, Ill., and will begin with the women’s race starting at 11 am (CT).