Kearney, Neb. – The 28th-ranked Nebraska Kearney men's cross country team finished 25th and junior Ella Buhlke placed 124th at the 2024 NCAA Division II Championships Saturday in Sacramento.

With heavy rain hitting Northern California all week, and with more rain falling during the races, the Arcade Creek C.C. was soggy and saturated. Temperatures were in the 50's as the men ran a 10k and the women a 6k.

Minus All-MIAA runner Sam Lueders (Blair) due to injury, the Lopers placed ahead of nine teams and were just 32 points behind MIAA rival and 24th-ranked Washburn. UNK was anywhere from 28th-32nd place over the first 7.8k before finishing strong. The Blue & Gold tallied 674 points to finish in the Top 25 once again as the 2021 squad was 25th and the 2022 team an appropriate 22nd.

No. 2 Colorado School of Mines (63) caught top-ranked Wingate, N.C. (66) in the final 1k to win the national title. West Texas A&M senior William Amponsah repeated as the individual national champion in a time of 29:40.8.

Omaha junior Nick Abdalla led the way (121st place; 104 points) as he ran a 31:30.7. Next, Grand Island sophomore Juan Garcia was 145th (31:46.3; 126 points) with David City senior Payton Davis coming in 157th (138 pts.) and Kansas senior Brett Schoenhofer three spots back (141 points). Finally, Cortland senior Zach Van Brocklin finished 184th (165 points), North Platte sophomore Evan Caudy came in 215th with South Sioux City Mesuidi Ejerso unable to finish. Overall, the field consisted of 262 runners.

The third UNK woman to individually qualify for the national meet, Buhlke (Central City) ran the 6k course in 22:21.4 and vaulted up 50 places between the 2k and the 4.8k marks. The field included 261 competitors with Lauren Kelly of Grand Valey (Mich.) State winning the national title thanks to a 20:28.5. In the team race, Adams State (61) easily outpaced runner up WTAMU (127) for the title.

The indoor track and field season begins in early December.