LINCOLN, Neb. – Kansas totaled 11 personal records en route to a first-place team finish on the men’s side and a fourth-place team finish on the women’s side in the red division at the Woody Greeno/Jay Dirksen Invitational in Lincoln, Nebraska on Saturday.
"I thought they competed well. I was happy for Kenadi (Krueger) and I thought we ran well in the middle. It was a huge step for us continuing to get better. On the men, to win I think is really good. We’re excited that we did that. Coach Whittlesey and Coach Taylor have both done excellent jobs, so I’m excited about it."
Head Coach Stanley Redwine
The men placed first as a team in the 8K race, securing 29 points and defeating Creighton, Drake, Iowa State, Nebraska, Northern Colorado and Wichita State. Sophomore Tanner Newkirk led the way with a third-place finish, while Tanner Talley placed fourth racing to a time of 24:14.01. Peter Walsdorf was right behind, placing fifth with a time of 24:17.92. Rounding out the top-10 was Cale Littrell, who ran a time of 24:19.26 to finish in sixth place.
Newkirk, Talley, Littrell, Quenton Walion and Treyson True all earned new personal records, as Walion finished 11th with a time of 24:35.78 and True finished 21st with a time of 25:21.79, respectively.
"Tanner (Newkirk) closed really well at the end of the race. He and Peter (Walsdorf) did a nice job working up front and well together. That next four ran well as a pack and Tanner (Talley) closed extremely well. That was the main goal for the meet, to get our pack and move together. We have to keep closing that gap more and more. It was a really good race, a good step forward and Peter’s first race of the year. He’s going to continue to get better."
Assistant Coach Michael Whittlesey
Leading the pack for the fourth-place women in the 5K was Kenadi Krueger. Krueger ran an impressive 17:27.08, earning her a fifth-place finish and a new personal record. Along with Krueger’s race, Makenna Anderson, Caroline Burrow, Addie Coppinger, Eden Schwarz and Tori Wingrove all earned new person records, totaling 11 for Kansas.
"I think we had a really positive team performance. Kenadi competed really well and led our team off aggressively. The pack of Tori (Wingrove), Addie (Coppinger) and Abi (Street) worked really well together. Hopefully, we can close that gap between them, close the gap between the second group and keep moving forward."
Assistant Coach Abbie Taylor
UP NEXT
KU will travel to Columbia, Missouri to compete in the Gans Creek Classic on Saturday, Sept. 29.
