The Nebraska Kearney cross country teams placed fourth (men) and sixth (women) at the annual Greeno/Dirksen Invitational Saturday at Mahoney G.C. in Lincoln.
In the overall standings, the 18th-ranked Loper women scored 132 points to come in ahead of, among others, Nebraska-Omaha, Air Force, and Sonoma (Calif.) State. The 22-team field was paced by UNL (39) and Iowa State (64). UNK was the second highest non-D1 team, trailing only NAIA number one St. Mary, Kan. (131).
The UNK men scored 143 points to finish ahead of Drake, Northern Colorado, Creighton and Missouri Western in the 26-team field. Iowa Western C.C. went 1-2-3-5 to easily win (45) with UNL the runner up (65) and Air Force third (129). The Lopers were the second best non-D1 squad in the race.
Individually, Blair senior Sam Lueders (24th/25.39.7) and Grand Island sophomore Juan Garcia (25th/25.39.9) were UNK’s top two finishers with David City senior Payton Davis 30th (25:48.9). Finally, UNK’s fourth scorer was Kansas senior Brett Schoenhofer in 35th (25:58.8). IWCC freshman Geofrey Ronoch ran the 8k course in 23:41.0 to win easily.
The women saw Central City junior Ella Buhlke come in 14th overall (18:13.2) with Blair freshman Reece Ewoldt seven spots back (18:31.1). York redshirt sophomore Brynn Hirschfeld (30th/18:45.2), Omaha redshirt sophomore Noelle Abels (35th/18:53.8) and Kansas sophomore Charis Robinson (40th/19:00.) all finished in the Top 40. Northern Colorado’s Regina Mpigachai turned in a 17:01.0 to win the 5k race by 36 seconds.
UNK returns to action Oct. 5 at Missouri Western.
