University of Minnesota Athletics
Griak Hall of Fame Feature: Fran ten Bensel
9/10/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Cross Country
The University of Minnesota will celebrate the 30th annual Roy Griak Invitational as part of Homecoming festivities on Saturday, Sept. 26 at Les Bolstad Golf Course in Falcon Heights, Minn.
As part of the celebration, Gopher Athletics has announced the formation of the Roy Griak Invitational Hall of Fame with eight inductees slated to be honored in the inaugural class. As the Griak Invitational approaches, GopherSports.com will highlight each of the honorees including today's feature on Nebraska's Fran ten Bensel.
Growing up on a farm in southwest Nebraska, Fran ten Bensel showed athletic prowess even at an early age. In the end, she proved to be among the best distance runners in the history of the Big 8 Conference.
She also made history by becoming the first person to ever win two individual championships at the Roy Griak Invitational. The Nebraska standout captured her first championship at the prestigious meet in 1991 as she covered the course in a time of 17:12 to finish nine seconds ahead of Colorado State's Sandy Ham, who finished in 17:21. Nebraska placed two other runners among the top 20 to finish third in the team standings with 102 points. Lisa Graham (17:50) and Theresa Stelling (18:09) placed 10th and 19th, respectively, to join ten Bensel on the awards stand. Virginia won the team title with 87 points and Big 8 rival Kansas (98) also finished ahead of the Huskers.
The following year, ten Bensel repeated her winning ways by outdueling Cornell standout Pam Hunt, who had not lost a race that season entering the meet.
"I was aware of (Hunt) and the fact she was undefeated," ten Bensel recalled. "On the way to the meet that morning everyone was telling me they thought I had a chance to beat her."
She did just that, outkicking the Cornell star and winning by 13 seconds. Her time of 16:43 was the second-best winning time in the history of the meet. Former Villanova star Vicki Huber set the standard in 1989 when she won in a time of 16:13.
Behind ten Bensel's first-place finish and Stelling's 14th-place finish (17:50), the Huskers placed fifth in the team standings with 174 points. Wisconsin won the meet with 62 points.
Her place in the Roy Griak Invitational Hall of Fame humbled the former Husker great.
"I think (Minnesota) was my favorite place to run," ten Bensel said. "The course was challenging, but was also always so beautiful and it was such a well-run meet.
"Being inducted into the first class of the Roy Griak Invitational Hall of Fame does have special meaning to me," the 2015 inductee said, "because the meet itself has always held good memories of my time as a cross country runner in college.
"I so enjoyed competing in (the Griak) and to me the meet epitomizes what cross country is all about," she added. "I am honored and humbled to be among such great athletes, coaches and officials, let alone a legend like Roy Griak himself."
The Nebraska standout grew up in Arapahoe, Neb, a tiny community of less than 1,000 people, and watched as her older sister, Regan, competed in cross country at Doane College.
"I guess you could say I came from a running family," the personable ten Bensel said.
The local school of her youth did not have a cross country program, so the pride of Arapahoe was left to compete in volleyball, basketball and track. Her summers were packed with competitions in the Junior Olympics as she continued to hone her running skills.
Those talents culminated with a state high school championship in the 800-meters in 1988.
After considering offers from Wyoming, Kansas and Kansas State, ten Bensel opted to remain close to home and enrolled at Nebraska and compete for the Huskers.
The start of her collegiate career was far from what she expected.
"It was tough. I was so scared and really clueless," she said of her first months on the Lincoln campus. "I didn't have the mileage bank that many of the others had and I finished dead last in each practice."
So then-coach Jay Dirksen opted to redshirt the young freshman.
"I think he saw me as kind of a sleeper," ten Bensel said of her coach. "I slowly got better."
"The thing I noticed when watching her compete while in high school was the fact she was so tough-minded," said Dirksen, who retired from coaching in 2011 after nearly three decades at Nebraska. "She was a great competitor and she had outstanding speed."
The speed played a big part in the race strategy between coach and athlete.
"Our approach was for her to always run behind the leader," Dirksen explained, "and to not take the lead until she knew she could take it to the finish line."
For the next four years following the redshirt season, ten Bensel was a regular near the top of the field as runners crossed the finish line.
She won the Big 8 championship in 1991 on a cold, blustery day at Rim Rock Farm that saw her become the first Nebraska women ever to win a conference title. Nearly 24 years later, she maintains that distinction.
Her bid for a second conference championship slipped away the following year as Colorado's Brooke Baughman defeated ten Bensel by 16 seconds as the duo finished 1-2 in the race in Boulder, Colo.
"I couldn't handle the elevation," ten Bensel said of her finish that day.
Just weeks later, she placed ninth at the NCAA meet in Indiana. It is the second-best finish in school history behind only Sammie Resh's seventh-place finish in 1988.
Resh, who won the Griak Invitational in 1988, with ten Bensel redshirting that season, became a mentor for the young Husker.
"She was so important in my development as a runner," ten Bensel said of Resh's role. "She helped me realize what it took to run at a high level and has had a huge impact on my life."
ten Bensel and Resh have remained close friends since their careers in Lincoln came to a close.
"(ten Bensel) was a few years younger than me," said Resh, who went on to run as a professional. "She and I both come from small-town Nebraska and the thing I remember about her when she became a part of our team was that she was a fierce competitor and hated to lose."
With her former teammate preparing to be inducted into the Roy Griak Invitational Hall of Fame, Resh continued to the praise.
"I am really happy for (ten Bensel)," Resh said. "Runners spend a lot of time pounding the road and the pavement and sometimes our sport does not get the glory it deserves. To see her achieve the kind of honor the Roy Griak Invitational represents is something very rewarding for her."
ten Bensel, Nebraska's only three-time All-American in cross country, was also a standout in track for the Huskers. She earned six conference championships in track, including back-to-back indoor titles (1991-92) in the mile and earned All-America honors five times. She still holds four school records.
Following her graduation from Nebraska ten Bensel ran professionally after signing with New Balance and competed in the 1992 Olympic Trials. She placed seven in both the 1,500- and 3,000-meter runs that year and placed 10th in both events four years later. Her post-collegiate career was capped with a bronze medal at the IAAF world championship in 1998.
ten Bensel, spent four years coaching cross country at Lincoln Lutheran High School and has not ruled out the possibility of returning to coaching in the future.
Whether she does or not, the running legend has advice for youngsters taking up the sport.
"Life has many seasons and they change," she said. "Take every opportunity given and don't squander it. Have fun with the gifts you've been given and work hard to do the best you can in this moment in time.
"Every moment and experience builds you into the person you are today," she adds. "Life has lessons and opportunities … grab those moments and without fear and have fun."
Story by Ray Maloney
Griak Invitational Historian
