Kearney, Neb. – The Nebraska Kearney cross country teams finished seventh (women) and 17th (men) at the 32nd annual Greeno/Dirksen Invitational Saturday in Lincoln.

The meet, co-hosted by Nebraska and Nebraska Wesleyan, was held at Mahoney Park Golf Course and featured a men's 8k and a women's 5k. The 20th-ranked Loper men rested its top runners this weekend.

On the women's side, UNK did bring the varsity and they tallied 205 points to trail only five Division I's and MIAA foe Northwest Missouri (5th/122). Kansas State won (54) with the Lopers ahead of four D1's including Nebraska-Omaha and Creighton. The field consisted of 29 teams.

Kearney redshirt sophomore Grace Bonsall was 11th overall in 18:01.2 and the second D2 finisher. UNL's Alea Hardie was well ahead of the field in 16:57.9 with a total of 307 runners crossing the line.  

Also scoring for UNK was Hooper redshirt sophomore Elizabeth Polk (32nd overall; 18:33.0), Funk redshirt senior Baylee Alstrom (42nd; 18:47.5), Albion sophomore Jordan Soto-Stopak (68th; 19:11.0) and Kansas freshman Lexi Liess (73rd; 19:16.7) with Kearney freshman Emma Bonsall a close sixth (75th; 19:18.6).

A total of 323 men reached the finish line with Hastings redshirt freshman Landon Eckhardt leading the Lopers (26:20.6) by placing 94th overall. He was followed by York redshirt sophomore Dean Erdkamp (108th; 26:37.8), Grand Island redshirt sophomore Eder Garcia (120th; 26:50.6), Fremont redshirt senior Jake Weston (154; 27:27.1) and Lincoln redshirt sophomore Daniel Pierce (168th; 27:37.1).

Sanele Masondo of Colby (Kan.) C.C was the winner in a time of 23:31.0 with the Trojans winning the team race as well (55). Kansas was a distant second (98) with NW Missouri sixth (227).

UNK will head to either the Gans Creek Classic (Columbia, Mo.) or the Chile Pepper Invitational (Fayetteville, Ark.) on Sept. 30.