October 6, 2007

Runners Place 1st, 8th at Hays

12th-ranked Women Impressive Again

       Kearney, Neb. –  The Nebraska-Kearney cross country teams finished in first (women) and eighth (men) at the Fort Hays State Invitational Saturday morning in Kansas.

      The 12^th-ranked Loper women, who just entered the national rankings this week, scored 36 points to easily win the 12-team race. The UNK men scored 208 points to beat out seven other clubs.

      On the women's side, UNK had four of the top 13 finishers, led by Dannebrog junior Kaci Lickteig (18:58.21) and York senior Jacquelyn Dibbern (18:59.76). In the 5k race, Lickteig finished third overall and scored two team points with Dibbern coming in fourth and netting three team points. 

      The top two finishers were Lauren Dunsmoor of Colorado State-Pueblo (18:18.70) and Shanna Sparks of Colorado (18:52.73). This was a "b" team from Colorado so they, along with an Adams State "b" team, didn't factor into the team standings.

      Also finishing in the top 15 were Imperial senior Michelle Dill (5^th/19:05.86) and Grand Island senior Anne McGovern (9^th/19:31.03). Rounding out the UNK top five was Deshler junior Faith Maschmann (17^th/20:06.04).

      Butler County C.C. of Kansas was runner up (74), the host Tigers third (95) and Division I Northern Colorado fourth (99).

      The Loper men saw senior Justin Zahller (Yuma, Colo.) finish 36^th overall and score 31 team points (27:29.90). David Wainaina of Butler was the men's winner in a time of 25:47.91.

      Also  for UNK, Malcolm sophomore Quinn Willet scored 35 points (27:40.72) and Ogallala freshman Tanner Fruit came in 40^th (27:59.50).

      RMAC-member Colorado School of Mines won (56) with Butler second (73) and the Colorado "b" team third (79). The Lopers did beat RMAC-member Colorado Springs and Division I Northern Colorado.

      UNK has next weekend off to prepare for the RMAC Championships Oct. 20^th in Durango, Colo.

Other Finishers

Men

45. Tom Neeman (So., Syracuse)                     28:10.44

57. Dan Dunbar (Fr., Wahoo)                            28:41.83

63. Rylan Little (Jr., Kearney)                            28:54.82

77. Brandon Wissing (Fr., Grand Island)         29:51.47

117. Zach High (Fr., Aurora)                             31:52.32

121. Mark Porter (Jr., Nelson)                           32:05.38

130. Scott Pueppka (Fr., North Platte)             33:06.55

31. Megan McClure (So., Lincoln)                      20:29.43

55. Abby Richter (Fr., Waco)                              22:24.53

93. Brittany Clark (Fr., Las Vegas, Nev.)           24:37.26