Huskers Host Woody Greeno/Nebraska Invitational

Lincoln – The Nebraska men’s and women’s cross country teams are set to hit the course of the 26th annual Woody Greeno/Nebraska Invitational at Pioneers Park on Saturday, Sept. 19. The Huskers will co-host the meet with Nebraska Wesleyan.

The women's 6K race opens the competition at 10 a.m., followed by the men's 8K event. More than 40 men’s and women’s teams will compete with more than 500 student-athletes participating.

Both the Husker men’s and women’s teams will look to capitalize on their first-place team finishes at the Augustana Twilight two weeks ago in Sioux Falls, S.D. The Nebraska men most recently won the 2013 Woody Greeno University Division title, while the women won seven straight titles from 2005 to 2011 and are looking to climb back on top. The Husker women have won 17 titles, while the men have captured 12 since the meet began in 1990.

Last week's Big Ten Co-Athlete of the Week Peter Spinks hopes to build on his overall runner-up finish at the season-opening meet. Spinks led the Husker men with a time of 18:57.95 to finish first in the University Division and second overall in the four-mile race. The junior from Layton, N.J., ran "the best race of his life," according to head coach David Harris.

"Hopefully I can carry that momentum onto the next race," Spinks said. "I'll just try not to go too fast out in the race and try to maintain the pace I had last time.”

Spinks has improved his times significantly in the past year and believes that the team as a whole is also making big strides.

“We’re very confident. We have a lot of depth to the team this year. A lot of guys last year were injured and redshirting, so this year we have a lot of guys coming back, and it should look pretty good for the later races this season,” Spinks said.

Saturday's Woody Greeno/Nebraska Invitational will be Spinks' third time running the course at Pioneers Park.

Sophomore Haley Harsin will look to help lead the Husker women after finishing as NU's No. 3 finisher at last year's Woody Greeno/Nebraska Invitational as a freshman. Harsin was the second-best Husker finisher at the Augustana Twilight two weeks ago with a time of 17:27.60 to finish fourth in the University Division three-mile race.

"I’d like to better my time from last year and stay physically and mentally strong during the race," Harsin said. "As a team, everyone just wants to improve their times as well.”

The women’s cross country team took first place at the Augustana Twilight, but top runner Anna Peer - who won last year's Woody Greeno/Nebraska Invitational title - did not run and will redshirt the 2015 season with an injury.

“Since we don’t have Anna, we know that we all need to step up,” Harsin said.