Nelson just short of Bruin school record at Greeno/Dirksen Invite
Freshman Madison Nelson was just five seconds from the Bruin school record for five kilometers as she covered the course in 19:41.4, good for 94th place among 206 finishers.
The Bruin women's cross country team took a step forward with a good showing at Nebraska's largest collegiate cross country meet on Saturday in Lincoln. Hosted by both Nebraska-Lincoln and Nebraska Wesleyan, the Greeno/Dirksen Invite featured two dozen teams from all NCAA divisions, the NAIA, in addition to several NJCAA powerhouses. While all runners compete in a single race, for scoring purposes the NCAA Division I teams are separated into the Red Division while the remaining teams make up the Gold Division.
The Bruin women finished in 10th place among 13 Gold division teams. The Gold division was won by NCAA D2 Northwest Missouri State with four runners in the top ten. The Iowa women edged host Nebraska by three points to win the Red Division.
Freshman Madison Nelson was just five seconds from the Bruin school record for five kilometers as she covered the course in 19:41.4, good for 94th place among 206 finishers. She was 25th among non-Division I runners and was 12th among NAIA entrants. The next three Bruin finishers crossed the line in succession as Caroline Feig was 159th in 21:36.0, Sarah Felten 168th in 21:56.3, and Taylor Caba 171st in 22:11.6. The fifth and final scorer for the Bruins was Alisiara Hobbs, running her first race in nearly two years after a series of injuries, running to 181st in 23:11.8.
Coach Craig Christians: "I was very proud of the way the women raced today. I think they may even admit they exceeded their own expectations. Madison showed that she is going to be a top runner in our conference and I think as a team, we took a big step forward. Caroline ran a lifetime best and it was so good to see Ali covering the course after all the injury issues she's seen. Hopefully we can carry this momentum into a good week of practice and another race at Wayne next week. I think we're going to keep getting better and I like the direction we're headed."
The Bruins return to action next Friday, September 24, when they travel to Wayne for the Wildcat Classic.