Story by UNK Athletic Communications
Kearney, Neb. – The Nebraska Kearney men's cross country team is headed back to the NCAA Championships for the fourth time in five years.
The Lopers placed sixth at the NCAA Central Regional meet this past Saturday (Nov. 8) in Missouri; the top three teams in each of eight regional meets around the country automatically qualified for nationals Nov. 22 in Kenosha, Wisc. An additional 10 teams received at-large bids today (Nov. 10) with a squad's "body of work" throughout the regular season and at the regional meet the criteria. The 19th-ranked UNK women were third at regionals to earn their second-ever NCAA trip.
The University of Wisconsin Parkside will host nationals at the Wayne E. Dannehl National C.C. Course with the women's race at 10 a.m. Central and the men following at 11:15 am. Central.
UNK has been regionally ranked in the tough Central all season and was 6th out of 30 teams at regionals and 5th out of 12 at the MIAA Championships. They also faced top competition in four regular season meets.
Omaha redshirt senior Nick Abdalla (2-time All-Region, 3-time All-MIAA) leads the Lopers cause with juniors Juan Garcia (Grand Island Senior H.S.), Nathan Johnson (Lincoln SE) and Conner Wells (St. Paul), sophomores Mesuidi Ejerso (South Sioux City) and Carter Hohlen (Lincoln Christian) and freshman Drew Elliott (Abilene, Kan.) the other scorers at conference and regionals.
The Lopers have placed 22nd (2022) and 25th (2021 and 2024) at recent NCAA Championships. The women were 22nd in 2022 in their first nationals’ trip.