Incredible Journey: Road from Arapahoe to Morocco

University of Nebraska Athletics Hall of Fame

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Sometimes, when you’re 45 years old, married, working hard and have a 7-year-old daughter, you hit the pause button. Somehow, life slows down, and for some reason, you realize what an incredible journey you’ve been on.

Ask Fran (ten Bensel) Benne what it’s like to grow up in Arapahoe, Neb. (population 1,028) and you get a positive response about a Southwest Nebraska village that has a shrine, a veterans’ memorial, parks, ballfields, a city pool, a municipal golf course and a movie theater, thanks to the volunteers who work there.

Arapahoe is also the hometown of the only former Husker student-athlete who will be enshrined into the inaugural University of Nebraska Athletics Hall of Fame class despite never competing in high school cross country, the sport that will elevate ten Bensel Benne to elite status during the first weekend in September when BYU visits Lincoln for the Huskers' season-opener.

Ten Bensel Benne is Nebraska's only three-time All-American in women's cross country after competing in 1989-90-91-92. She also became the Huskers' only cross country conference champion and NU's lone district or regional champion…big stuff for a small-town girl who also earned five All-America honors and six Big Eight Conference championships in track and field.

Ten Bensel Benne Competed in Women's World Cross Country Championships

Blessed with half-mile and mile speed in high school, ten Bensel Benne transformed herself into longer distances at Nebraska. Ask her what collegiate highlight sticks out most in her mind, you get a multiple answer. How can she forget leading her team to the Big Eight Conference Cross Country Championship at Rim Rock Farm in Kansas after a blizzard and in a minus 10-degree wind chill? She won the individual title and the Huskers captured the team championship.

That's exciting but no more so than placing seventh in both the 1,500 and 3,000-meter finals at the United States Olympic Track and Field Trials in New Orleans in 1992, posting the fastest times by a collegian that year or ever by a Husker. Her post-collegiate cross country highlight was running for New Balance and making the U.S. Cross Country team that competed in the 1998 IAAF World Cross Country Championships in Marrakech, Moracco, where the American team won a bronze medal.

What a wonderful world cross country turned out to be. Who could have imagined taking that winding road from Arapahoe to Moracco? Did running really enable a sun-soaked visit to North Africa? Steeped in history and mystery, the glamour and glory were the golden beaches, sprawling desserts and sacred ruins, not the two countries that won gold and silver medals. One thing is certain.Ten Bensel Benne had to have known that she wasn't in Arapahoe anymore.

Honored, Grateful and Blessed to Be Selected for Huskers' Inaugural Class

Cross country helped ten Bensel Benne see the world and now it means the world that she and her family will be historically tied to a school and an athletic program she loves. "I'm honored, grateful and blessed to be selected into the first class with such tremendous athletes," she said. "I really don’t feel worthy. To be a part of the Husker athletic family meant a great deal to me and to be selected for this is icing on the cake."

Count ten Bensel Benne as another in a long line of student-athletes who truly realize that there is NO PLACE like Nebraska. "I love the family atmosphere on the cross country and track teams here," she said. "There's a camaraderie between athletes and teammates and those who have come before and after you. It’s special. I’m not sure when I realized that there’s NO PLACE like Nebraska, but I definitely was in awe when I started school as a freshman and just had the best time of my life while at Nebraska."

Ten Bensel Benne's Journalism School experience was great, and many of her professors even supported her athletic endeavors. "I lived on the track, in the training rooms and at the training table," she said. "The travel and competitions were incredible. I met so many other athletes from around the country and some of my teammates became some of my dearest friends."

Coach Jay Dirksen "was like a second father to me," she said. Competing at Nebraska "was just an excellent, all-around, fantastic experience, something I will never forget. I'm just so grateful that I had the opportunity to be a Husker. It was, by far, the most thrilling and incredible experience of my life, next to getting married and having our daughter (Sawyer, below)!"

Academic Culture Enabled Student-Athletes to Achieve at High Levels

Great is a word that never goes out of style for Nebraska student-athletes. "Our facilities were great and the people around us were great," ten Bensel Benne said. "Keith Zimmer (Life Skills) and Dennis Leblanc (Academics) were in place. They made sure you were on-task with your classes and grades. There was this culture of excellence both athletically and academically, and it made you want to succeed in both. A very high standard was set."

Ten Bensel Benne remembers taking advantage of tutors when she needed help with a subject she struggled with. She spent many evenings in the study area at the training table getting her work done. "Our schedules were very structured," she said. "As a student-athlete, there’s not a lot of extra time to goof off. I was up at, or before, 7 a.m. to run, then to class until 3 p.m. and then to practice until supper-time."

After dinner, ten Bensel Benne studied from 7 to 10 p.m. in the study area at the training table. "I usually studied more at home until midnight to get my school work done," she said. "You were expected to have good grades and be a role model. That schedule and structure taught me how to study in college. I had limited time and had to be efficient."

Leaders surrounded ten Bensel Benne in a collective pursuit of excellence, including Gary Pepin, Jay Dirksen, Barbara Hibner and Bill Bryne. "I had a lot of respect for all of them," she said. "They treated me so well and were always asking how I was doing. They showed an interest in me, and I knew they cared about me."

Back: Fran ten Bensel Benne, Katie Fletcher, Kelly Loos, Yvonne van der Kolk, Sylvia Veit; Front: Michele Marthaler and Juliet Prowse

Nebraska's 'Small-Town' Girls Unite with Ultra-Competitive Mindsets

Talk aboout motivation. Nearly a quarter century after ten Bensel Benne competed at Nebraska, she marvels when she realizes how competitive some of her best friends and teammates were. "Competing for Nebraska definitely motivated me!" she said. "I did not want to let down my family, hometown or state. It made me want to work harder. Having teammates who were already successful made a big impact on me."

Sammie Resh Gdowski, a native of Shelton, Neb. (population: 1,070) was one. Lisa Graham and Juliet Prowse were also teammates already on the team when ten Bensel Benne arrived as a freshman. "Their work ethic and positive attitude motivated me," she said. "Sammie became a close friend and mentor. I competed against her in high school and that made a big impression on me. Because of her, I learned what it meant to compete at the Division I level quickly. She challenged me to be better and to shoot for a higher level."

Ten Bensel Benne, in turn, did the same for her friend and teammate, Theresa Stelling Gosnell, another small-town Nebraska girl from Auburn (population: 3,385). In high school, Ten Bensel Benne competed against Stelling Gosnell, who joined the Huskers in 1990.

The glue that held everyone together was Dirksen. "He was instrumental in molding me into the athlete that could compete with the best in the United States," ten Bensel Benne said. "His training philosophy worked for me, and I trusted him to help me become the runner that I believed I could be. He believed in me when I wasn’t so sure about myself. My coach and my teammates were my family while I was at Nebraska."

From left: Lisa Graham, Sammie Gdowski, Coach Jay Dirksen, Dani Vicanovic, Fran ten Bensel, Theresa Stelling and Julianne Campbell.

Varied Experiences Lay the Groundwork for Memorable Life Lessons

Ten Bensel Benne coached cross country for four years (2002-05) at Lincoln (Neb.) Lutheran High School. She also coachd boys distance runners at Norwood High School in Massachusetts while she was living in Boston and training with the New Balance Team.

Today, she's a design and communications specialist in the University of Nebraska-Lincoln's Department of Agronomy and Horticulture. She approaches the Hall of Fame with humility and appreciation and can't help but reflect on how her varied experiences at Nebraska have laid the groundwork for memorable life lessons.

"Running taught me perseverance, how to work hard and patience," she said. "Running gave me confidence, taught me how to process failure and disappointment and how to be thankful for what I have, plus the gifts that God has given me, and how to dream."

Fran: The Journey's All About Friendships and Living Your Dream

The journey "taught me that it's not always the outcome, but the process it takes to get there. That makes it all worth it," ten Bensel Benne said. "I never made an Olympic team, and I was out-kicked in the last 100 meters to get runnerup at the NCAA championships. My ultimate goals did not happen, but I sure had fun along the way trying to make those dreams a reality!

"I think God gives all of us gifts," she added. "If we can use them to the best of our ability, great. If we can glorify Him with those gifts and give Him honor, even better. I hope that I can give back to others and my community and make a difference just like my coach and my teammates did for me. In the end, all the awards and accolades don't really matter because it's all about the friendships, the people and the opportunities that I wouldn't have had otherwise. That's what made my whole running experience worthwhile."

Editor's note: Huskers.com appreciates permission to publish photos from Victah Sailer/Photo Run.

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Voices from Husker Nation

What a wonderful way to start the day reading Fran's story. Brought a tear to my eye. She epitomizes Husker athletics and academics, and that keeps my Husker motor revved. Thank you and keep stories like this coming! Jerry Pelfrey, Cannon Air Force Base, New Mexico.