Tolen and Eshbach Take Silver at NCAA Track Championships; Husker Men in Second, Women Tied at 11th - Huskers.com - Nebraska Athletics Official Web Site

Fayetteville, Ark. - Frank Tolen and Eric Eshbach captured second-place finishes in the long jump and pole vault, respectively, to throw the Nebraska men's track and field team into second place in the team standings after the first day at the NCAA Championships in Fayetteville, Ark.

 

The Husker men (16) are three points behind Arkansas (19) for a second-place finish after day one. Auburn follows in third place with 14 points.  The NU women are tied at 11th with Kent State, and Brigham Young with eight team points.  LSU is leading the women's race with 23 points, followed by Stanford (22), and Indiana (22). 

 

"Frank had the best meet of his life in the long jump, and Eric had great competition and has really improved a lot after he kind of had a down year last year," head coach Gary Pepin said.  "This morning was a disappointment, but we did real well tonight."

 

Tolen easily rewrote the Nebraska school record in the long jump, leaping 26-6 1/4 on his fifth attempt of the competition for the silver.  He jumped an impressive 26-3 3/4 on his second leap, but had much more to come in the finals.

 

"I'm very elated," Tolen said.  "Going into the competition, I was looking to jump big.  I had no idea I would jump 8.08 (26-6 1/4) for the school record, but I thank God for that. I am looking to PR in both events (Tolen will compete in the triple jump Saturday) and take down both school records and I just feel like this is my year."

 

The junior from Manassas, Va., put on the best performance of his life to extinguish Joe Laster's previous NU record of 26-3 3/4.  Saturday's competition was Tolen's first trip to the NCAA Championships, although he has had a very successful Big 12 career, capturing four conference titles over the past two years.

 

"Frank broke the school record and had a really great series," Pepin said.  "He competed against a lot of really great athletes."

 

Eshbach competed in an exciting pole vault competition, coming out with a silver on a vault of 18-3 3/4.  The Orangefield, Texas, native easily cleared 18-3 3/4 on his first attempt for his second school record of the season, and almost cleared 18-7 3/4 on his first try, but fell short on his final two attempts.

 

"It felt good," Eshbach said.  "This is my fourth year now, and I had a PR so that is good.  I got second and you want to win, but I do feel like I made up for the past two years."

 

Eshbach has been to the NCAA Indoor Championships all four years of his career, with his previous best finish coming his freshman season, where he tied for fifth.  He improved his record mark by two inches.

 

"Prior to the meet I really felt like he had a big jump in him," pole vault coach Rick Attig said. "He competed very well.  He was really inconsistent on his strides.  I still feel like he has a 19-feet jump in him."

 

Junior Ineta Radevica leaped to a fourth-place finish in the long jump for the Huskers.  Radevica went a distance of 20-10 3/4 on her final jumps in the preliminaries and finals for her fourth All-America honor of her career.  The Kraslava, Latvia, native improved on her sixth-place finish at the 2002 Championships where she went 20-6 1/4.

 

"It was good," Radevica said.  "You never know what is going to happen when you come to nationals. I