The Nebraska cross country team will be competing in its
first Big Ten Championship under first-year Head Coach David Harris Sunday in
East Lancing, Mich. Harris believes his team has responded well to adversity
after struggling at the Wisconsin adidas Invitational two weeks ago.
“I was not as happy with the Wisconsin adidas Invite,”
Harris said. “Our team placing was not good but when I analyzed it further
that is kind of where we are as a team right now – very
inexperienced. I also know that we did have several individuals who
ran personal bests so I do feel good as a coach for them.”
Following the Wisconsin adidas Invite, Harris believes his
team has worked hard in the bye week to get ready for the conference
championship.
“We have been tapering our mileage in workouts and
increasing some intensity,” Harris said. “Basically we want to be well
recovered from hard training and ready to run faster.”
Harris acknowledged that as a whole, the Big Ten Conference
is full of some of the top talent in the country, which will make this meet
difficult for the young Huskers.
“All the Big Ten teams are excellent cross country
programs,” he said. “It is one of the toughest cross country conferences in the
nation. We are just trying to run our best and represent NU well.”
After sitting out of the Wisconsin adidas Invite, junior
co-captain Jarren Heng is expected to return to the course for the conference
championship on the men’s side.
“Jarren is planning on running. He has been slowly
recovering from a calf injury, but he looks like he could be close to 100
percent,” Harris said. “We need him to lead our young freshmen.”
Overall, Harris hopes the young group of NU runners perform
at a high level against the best competition in the country.
“I just want to see them have their best individual races of
the year, and we will just put those individual performances together for our
best team placing possible.”
Check back here at Huskers.com for race results Sunday
afternoon. The women’s race starts at 10:45a.m. with the men’s race following
at 11:45a.m.
