St JOESPH, MO – The nationally-ranked Nebraska Kearney cross country teams both came in first at that inaugural Griffin Twilight Friday night in St. Joseph, Mo.
This was the opening weekend for Division II cross country. The Lopers will run again Sept. 16 at the annual Greeno/Dirksen Invitational in Lincoln.
Both UNK squads finished 22nd at the 2022 NCAA Championships and, despite some graduation losses, rolled to wins Friday against top competition. The women’s race (5k) started the evening with the men’s race following (6k).
On the women’s side, the 24th-ranked women saw Fremont junior Mara Hemmer lead the field of 45 by running an 18:16.49. She was nearly two seconds faster than the runner up with this her first collegiate cross win.
Kearney redshirt junior Grace Bonsall (5th/19:08.00), Kansas freshman CharisRobinson (7th/19:12.66), York sophomore Brynn Hirschfeld (8th/19:16.05) and Albion junior Jordan Soto-Stopak (9th/19:16.49) were UNK’s other scorers. Not to be outdone, Central City sophomore Ella Buhlke (13th/19:35.51) and Kansas sophomore Lexi Liess (22nd/20:16.62) cracked the Top 25.
No. 26 Northwest Missouri (38 points) was the runner up in the competitive five-team field.
The No. 23 men tallied 27 points to also out distance the Bearcats (43). Host MWSU (68) was third in a six-team field that included No. 17 Washburn (125).
Omaha South grad and redshirt sophomore Nick Abdalla paced the Lopers by coming in third (18:29.75). Right behind him were Kansas sophomore Brett Schoenhofer (4th/18:30.47) and Iowa redshirt junior Myles Bach(5th/18:38.80). Northwest’s Drew Atkins took the gold in 18:14.01.
Next, Cortland junior newcomer Zach Van Brocklin was seventh (18:40.29) with Blair redshirt junior Sam Lueders a spot back (18:43.25). Finally, David City junior Payton Davis (11th/18:50.10) and Grand Island redshirt junior Eder Garcia (15th/18:55.13) were close behind.
Both UNK squads also won last year’s inaugural Platte River Rumble in Ashland.
