Nebraskans Test Course With Victories Midwestern Stars Become Winners In Division Iii Cross Country Preview

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Whitworth College offered a first look Friday at the course for the NCAA Division III cross country championships in November - but for Thor Esbensen and Courtney Clinard, it was just like old times.

It isn’t enough that the winners of the men’s and women’s races at the NCAA Preview Meet at Wandermere Golf Course are both seniors at Nebraska Wesleyan. They come from the same high school, as well - Southeast of Lincoln, about 3 miles from the Wesleyan campus.

“How cool is that?” grinned Esbensen.

Well, it was especially cool for Clinard, who made up a 150-yard gap on Puget Sound’s Dana Boyle over the last mile to win the 5,000-meter women’s run and give the Nebraska school a sweep of the individual titles.

“I’m scared of starting out too fast - I hate not feeling good at the end,” said Clinard. “In track, I’m an 800- and 1,500-meter runner, so I love the sprint at the end.”

Esbensen took a different tack altogether - inching away from a lead pack of six runners after the first mile and easing to a 4-second victory over Jeremy Borling of North Central College in the 8,000-meter men’s race.

“It’s a great course,” he said. “Nothing especially tough about it, but it’s so beautiful up here - I can’t get over it. I’m looking forward to nationals.”

The national meet is scheduled for Nov. 18, and the NCAA encourages host schools to run these preview meets to allow contenders to familiarize themselves with the course. But at the Division III level, travel budgets don’t allow many schools to take advantage of the opportunity.

“We’re fortunate to get to come out here,” said Esbensen, who was fourth in last year’s national meet. “It’s a different feeling for a pre-nationals without many teams here. When you have it on the East Coast, there’s like 400 (Division III) schools within 2 hours. Last year in Wisconsin, you have all the Wisconsin state schools. Here, it’s quite the trip from pretty much anywhere.”

Still, three-time defending men’s team champion North Central of Illinois made it here and eked out a 55-65 victory over Nebraska Wesleyan, even without top runner Tim McCoskey. Lewis & Clark of Portland was third, ahead of MIT and Grinnell, Iowa.

St. Olaf (Minn.), fourth in last year’s NCAA meet, won the women’s team event by a 41-64 count over Nebraska Wesleyan, followed by Pacific Lutheran and host Whitworth, which got a ninth-place finish from senior Julia Lucas.