Huskers win 12 events at Nebraska Open on Saturday

LINCOLN, Neb. - Eleven Huskers claimed a total of 12 individual titles Saturday as NU played host to the 10th-annual Nebraska Open before 3,395 at the Bob Devaney Sports Center Track. Among the winners, NCAA provisional qualifying marks were recorded by junior Melissa Price in the 20-pound weight throw (62-5 1/4), senior Jeff Armitage in the 35-pound weight throw (65-0 1/2), junior Carrie Braness in the high jump (5-11 1/2) and junior Daniel Johnson in the triple jump (51-9).

Price, who tossed a provisional mark of 59-0 1/4 in NU's season opener Jan. 15, won Saturday's event on her last throw of the day, recording a new personal best.

"It was not a surprise relative to the ability that she has," Nebraska Throws Coach Mark Colligan said of Price, a 1999 hammer throw

All-American. "It was more a relief than anything else. It's cliche to say someone tries too hard, but she really tries too hard. Finally, a mark that matches her talent and ability."

Braness also recorded her second provisional qualifying mark of the season with an indoor personal-best mark in the high jump. Former Husker Shane Lavy, competing unattached, set a Bob Devaney Sports Center high jump record with a personal-best leap of 7-7. The establishment's previous best mark was set by Iowa State's Brian Tietjens in 1985.

"That's a wonderful mark," Nebraska Coach Gary Pepin said. "That record held up for all these years. That's a big-time indoor high jump. It's world-class."

Other ex-Huskers that won events included: long jumper Chris Wright (25-0), shot putter Tressa Thompson (57-1), distance runner Fran ten Bensel in the 3,000 meters (9:28.75), and sprinter Travis Grant in the 60 meters (6.703).

Competing in his first race as a Husker, junior college transfer Chris Chandler took third in the 60 meters (6.75) behind ex-Huskers Grant (6.703) and Vince Brown (6.705). Chandler, last year's junior college indoor champion in the 55 meters, also claimed the 200-meter title Saturday with a time of 21.94.

For the second consecutive week, senior Dalhia Ingram won both the long jump (19-5 1/2) and the triple jump (41-1 1/2). Ingram claimed both individual titles Jan. 15, in Nebraska's season-opening triangular against Kansas and Tulsa.

Also winning events for Nebraska on Saturday were freshman Mike Kamm in the 1,000 meters (2:33.24); Liz Biehl in the 1,000 meters (3:00.92); and freshman Emily Waibel, who set a Nebraska Open record in the 60-meter hurdles (8.49). A true freshman from Tulsa, Okla., Waibel bettered her Kansas/Tulsa triangular-winning time of 8.60 in the 60-meter hurdles. Waibel, who also won the 60-meter dash on Jan. 15, placed third in the event with a time of 7.69 on Saturday.

Yelena Stanisavljevic and Vesna Kostic, both January roster additions from Yugoslavia, also fared well in their second week at Nebraska.

Kostic, a freshman, placed first in the 60 meters (7.66) and took third in the long jump (18-9), while Stanisavljevic, a sophomore, set a Nebraska Open record with the eighth-best 600-yard time in school history (1:20.64). Kostic took second in the 60 meters at the Kansas/Tulsa triangular (7.68) - Stanisavljevic did not compete Jan. 15.

Freshman thrower Carl Myerscough, who qualified for the NCAA Indoor Championships on Jan. 15, did not compete Saturday.

NOTE:
Nebraska sophomore Katherine Livesey placed third in the pentathlon (3,570) at the Wildcat Pentathlon in Manhattan, Kan., on Saturday, while senior Lani McLane took eighth (2,552). In the Wildcat Heptathlon, NU junior Guy Emry finished second (5,083) behind Jeff Sander (5,497), who was competing unattached.