Nebraska cross country runners Erika Freyhof and George Kusche will represent the Huskers at the 2020 NCAA Championships on Monday, March 15 in Stillwater, Okla. The championships will be raced on the Oklahoma State Cross Country Course, starting with the women’s 6K at 11:50 a.m. (CT) followed by the men’s 10K at 12:40 p.m. (CT).
For the first time since 2010, Nebraska has qualified at least one runner from both the men’s and women’s side for the national championship meet.
Kusche is set to race in his third career NCAA Championships after winning Nebraska’s first Big Ten cross country championship earlier this year. His latest bid makes him just the second Husker male to qualify for the NCAA Championships three times, joining Jean Verster (1985-87). His career-best finish at nationals was 55th in 2018.
Earning her first national championship bid, Freyhof is the first Husker on the women’s side to qualify for the NCAA Championships since Lara Crofford in 2010. She finished sixth at the Big Ten Championships with a personal-best time of 20:41.2, garnering first-team All-Big Ten honors. The Hamilton, Mich. native’s finish marked the best individual result on the women’s side by Nebraska at the Big Ten Championships and the best Husker conference championship result since Crofford finished sixth at the 2008 Big 12 Championships.
Live coverage of the NCAA Championships will be provided by ESPNU. Live results will also be provided by Prime Time Timing. Complete results will be posted on Huskers.com at the conclusion of the event.
Numbers to know
3 – Number of times George Kusche has qualified for the NCAA Championship meet
14 – Total Nebraska cross country All-Americans (nine men and five women)
165 – George Kusche’s 2019 NCAA Championships finish
2005 – Kayte Tranel earned Nebraska’s most recent All-America honor with a 28th-place finish at the national championship meet
2010 – The last time Nebraska qualified a runner from both the men’s and women’s side for the NCAA Championships
Big Ten Championships Recap
The Nebraska distance squad continued its climb in the standings at the conference championship meet on Jan. 30 as the men finished fifth and the women finished ninth. George Kusche earned the Huskers’ first Big Ten title and first conference title since 1992. Erika Freyhof finished sixth for the team’s best finish on the women’s side at a conference championship meet since 2008. Overall, the men’s squad recorded 117 points as Dais Malebana joined Kusche in the top-20 finishers. The women finished with 228 poinys as Grace Pagone was the next highest finisher behind Freyhof with a 53rd-place result.
Simultaneous Success on the Track
With the postponement of the 2020 cross country season to the spring, George Kusche and Erika Freyhof, along with the rest of the distance squad, have been competing in indoor track meets as well as competing in cross country championship events. On Saturday, Kusche finished 10th at the 2021 Indoor NCAA Championships in the mile with a time of 4:03.23 after running the fastest time in school history on a standard 200-meter track to qualify for the final. He finished third in the mile at the Big Ten Indoor Championships meet on Feb. 27. Freyhof ran a time of 16:34.08 for a seventh-place finish at the indoor conference championships. She finished second at the Husker Triangular in the 5,000 meters with a standard-track PR of 16:27.29, good for the third-fastest time in school history on a 200-meter track.
2020 NCAA Cross Country Championships
Monday, March 15, 2021
Course: Oklahoma State Cross Country Course
Starting times:
11:50 a.m. (CT) – Women’s 6K
12:40 p.m. (CT) – Men’s 10K
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