Husker Track Team Set to Play Host to Televised Meet

Lincoln -- The Nebraska track and field team will play host to a scored quadrangular meet this Sunday, May 7, which will air on FOX Sports Midwest on June 3, at 3 p.m. (CDT). Indiana State, Kansas State and Wichita State will all make the trip to the Ed Weir Track for the Huskers' second home meet this season, which will begin at 1 p.m.

"We're looking forward to having another meet at home and competing on our track," Nebraska Head Coach Gary Pepin said. "We're also looking forward to some good competition."

The meet is part of the U.S. Collegiate Track and Field Series, which began in 1998, when the United States Track Coaches Association obtained a three-year grant from the United States Olympic Committee to sponsor a series of scored competitive track meets on American college campuses. This season, the U.S. Collegiate Track and Field Series will play host to 74 meets.

NU women move up a spot to No. 6 in Trackwire top 25
With the help of its fastest time in the 4x400-meter relay this season, the Nebraska women's track and field team jumped a spot to No. 6 in the latest Trackwire top-25, released Tuesday. Trackwire now predicts the NU women will score 37 points at the 2000 NCAA Outdoor Championships, May 31-June 3. In its June issue, Track & Field News has the NU women finishing fifth with 40 points.

The women also remained at No. 2 in the USTCA Team Power Rankings this week, while the men, who have yet to crack the Trackwire top-25 during the outdoor season, sit in eighth.

Several Nebraska athletes rank among the nation's elite
Husker junior Melissa Price defended her nation-leading mark in the hammer throw, winning the event at the Drake Relays on Saturday in a competition that included four of the nation's top eight throwers. Price, who threw 206-11 at Drake, took the nation's lead at the USTCA Team Championships on April 22, with a winning toss of 213-1. The mark tied her personal best - which was the top throw by a collegian in 1999. SMU's Florence Ezeh, who posted a mark of 212-5 at the Texas Relays on April 6, ranks second this season. The winning mark at last year's NCAA Outdoor Championships was 207-2.

The Nebraska women's 4x400-meter relay team (sophomore Cheryl Harmon, sophomore Jelena Stanisavljevic, junior Lesley Owusu and senior Stella Klassen) claimed the Drake Relays title on Saturday, posting the nation's fourth-fastest mark this season (3:33.84). Klassen also ranks 18th in the 400 meters with an NCAA provisional time of 53.42 (April 16).

Jessica Thompson, a Husker junior, and NU senior Carrie Braness are tied for fourth in the high jump. Thompson cleared 6-0 at the Husker Open on April 8, while Braness cleared the mark April 15, at the UTEP Invitational. Texas' Erin Aldrich leads the nation with her mark of 6-4 3/4, recorded at the Texas Relays on April 8. Braness topped Aldrich on April 22, at the USTCA Team Championships, with a winning mark of 5-10 1/2. Aldrich cleared 5-8 1/2 to finish fourth.

In the javelin, senior Cassi Morelock owns the third-best throw this season with an NCAA automatic qualifying heave of 181-0, recorded at the USTCA Team Championships on April 21. UTEP freshman Angeliki Tsiolakoudi, who leads the nation witha mark of 188-3, finished second to Morelock at the meet with a mark of 179-6.

Nebraska junior Chris Chandler currently sits at No. 7 in the nation in the 100 meters with his school-record mark of 10.16. Chandler, who took third at the Penn relays last Saturday in 10.16, also recorded the mark at a quadrangular with LSU, North Carolina and USC in Los Angeles on April 1. In his first outdoor meet of the season, Chandler, who automatically qualified for the NCAA meet, shattered the Husker school record of 10.25, set by Riley Washington in 1994. Chandler also ranks eighth in the nation in the 200 meters with a school-record time of 20.60, recorded Saturday at the USTCA Team Championships in Austin, Texas. The previous record was set by Tom Fish (21.06) in 1997.

Senior jumper Dalhia Ingram remained at No. 5 in the triple jump (43-3 1/4), and No. 12 in the long jump (20-9). Ingram posted a wind-aided mark of 21-6 1/4 on April 22, in Austin.

Other Huskers to crack the top 10 nationally include senior thrower Cory Lehman, who sits in the No. 7 spot in the javelin with a toss of 233-8 (April 1); freshman Eric Eshbach, who ranks ninth in the pole vault with his mark of 17-8 1/2 at the Texas Relays (April 8); and Husker redshirt freshman Leann Boerema, who currently ranks 11th with a mark of 51-5 at the Hastings Invitational last Saturday.