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Omaha - For the second consecutive year, the Nebraska men’s and women’s cross country teams opened up the season by taking home the titles at the Creighton/UNO Classic in Omaha on Saturday morning.
Running without top runners Kim Pancoast and Peter van der Westhuizen, Nebraska sophomores Kyle Custer and Ari Goldstein ran one of the best races of their short careers to take first in the men’s 8K and women’s 5K, respectively. Custer, who finished in 27:55, placed 10 spots higher than in last year's Creighton/UNO Classic to lead the men to a victory in a head-to-head contest over Creighton with 15 points. Goldstein ran a 5K time of 18:33 as the women defeated both Creighton and Nebraska-Omaha with 19 points..
"Both Kyle Custer and Ari Goldstein ran very controlled races," Head Coach Jay Dirksen said. "They ran really well. But both teams as a whole ran very good too. It was a low-key meet, but everyone did a great job."
Not far behind Custer was senior captain Bryce Dickmeyer, who earned runner-up honors in a time of 28:03, his third top-three finish at the meet in four years. Nebraska also had the runner-up finisher in the women’s 5K, as junior captain Betsy Miller shattered her 5K best by nearly half a minute, finishing in 18:56.
Trailing Custer and Dickmeyer were three more NU runners, giving the Huskers all top-five places in the men’s race on a course that Dirksen noted was very wet and sloppy after the morning showers. Two of the three are newcomers to the Nebraska program, as freshman Ethan Luebbe was fourth in 28:11 and junior Vince Sickler, a transfer from Nebraska Wesleyan, was fifth in 28:13. Junior Alec Maduza, who competed for the Huskers in 2003 and 2004, made a strong return to finish third in 28:09. A trio of freshman, Tom Johnson, Bryce Somer and James Laville, were eighth, ninth and 10th respectively for the Big Red.
The Huskers had five of the top seven finishers in the women’s race. Sophomore Natalja Zarcenko (19:03) and junior Joslyn Dalton (19:16) were fourth and fifth, while sophomore Jennifer Pancoast placed seventh in 19:27. Pancoast’s mark was more than two minutes faster than her best in 2005.
The Huskers will now have their first of four off weeks during the 2006 season, as they prepare for the 17th annual Woody Greeno/Nebraska Invitational, which takes place on Saturday, Sept. 16, at Pioneer’s Park in Lincoln.