Huskers Capture Three Big 12 Crowns; Women Lead After First Day

Lincoln, Neb. - Christi Lehman, Ineta Radevica and Frank Tolen all turned in outstanding performances to win Big 12 titles in the opening day of the Big 12 Championships at the Bob Devaney Sports Center in front of 1,573 fans.

 

After day one of the conference meet, the Nebraska women are leading the way with 72.50 points.  Following the Huskers in second is Missouri and Colorado tied at 25 points each.  In fourth through 12th place are Texas (24), Baylor (20), Kansas State (16), Iowa State (16), Kansas (13.50), Texas A&M (11), Oklahoma (8), Texas Tech (3), and Oklahoma State (0). 

 

On the men's side, the Huskers are currently in fifth place with 14 team points.  Colorado is leading the men's race with 28 points, followed by Missouri (22), Kansas State (20), and Texas (19).  NU is followed by Oklahoma State (11), Baylor (10), Oklahoma (5), Kansas (5), Iowa State (4), and Texas Tech (0).

 

"The field events had to be strong for us and we have a lot of veteran athletes and people who came in here with high rankings, and they have done what they needed to, so we have done well," head coach Gary Pepin said.

 

Lehman set her third school record of the season in the pole vault with a solid winning mark of 13-3 1/2.  She set the bar at 13-7 before she was done, but would end the meet with a great NCAA provisional-qualifying mark.

 

"It feels great," Lehman said. "I'm glad that I could score points for the team. I think I am more excited about possibly getting a championship for the team."

 

Teammate Kelly Bowen had a breakout performance after transferring from Nebraska Wesleyan for one last indoor season, vaulting her first NCAA provisional mark of 12-10 to take the silver in the event.  Alissa Koerner also did well for Nebraska, tying for sixth place with a vault of 12-4.

 

"The pole vault was a big event for us," Pepin said.  "The field events have gone really well for us to this point."

 

Radevica led another one-two punch for the Huskers, as she took the long jump title with an outstanding 21-0 1/2 leap for her second NCAA automatic bid in a second event.  Radevica automatically qualified for the NCAA triple jump earlier this season.  Her leap lands her third on the Husker all-time record books.

 

"I felt good," Radevica said. "I have been preparing for this meet and I accomplished my goal.  I scored what I could and I think we all did a good job.  I was really excited and sort of nervous, but I think that is what makes the perfect condition for a personal record and that is what I did."

 

Vesna Kostic was not far behind, leaping a personal-best distance of 20-9 1/4 for the silver.  The mark is the fifth best in the nation currently and is a solid mark to qualify for the NCAA Championships.  To round out the NU jumpers, Krisztina Kovesi and Authea Chambers finished fifth and sixth, respectively, to score a total 25 points for the Huskers in the long jump alone.

 

"That was a really good event for us," Pepin said.  "That is an event that we thought we could do well in, we knew we could do well in, and we did well there."

 

Frank Tolen collected his third Big 12 crown of his career and his second in the long jump with a lifetime best mark of 25-8 1/4.  The mark is only an inch off of the NCAA automatic standard and currently ranks fourth in the country.

 

Freshman Ashley Selig put on one of the gutsiest performances of the day to win the silver in the women's pentathlon.  Selig was down 212 points going into the final event, the 800 meters.  She ran a blistering 2:11.78, beating everyone by more than five seconds, to come within eight points of the title.

 

"Ashley Selig was really impressive," Pepin said.  "She had a great effort and had she had a little better long jump, she probably had a gold medal, but that was a senior she went up against and for her to run the time she did in the 800, was a really impressive performance."

 

Freshman Sara Jane Baker also scored for the Huskers in the pentathlon with a score of 3,718 points.  In the men's heptathlon, Casey Thom is in sixth place with four events remaining.

 

Nebraska's throwers brought in some points for the Big Red as well, with Amanda Moreley finishing third in the weight throw with a mark of 58-7 1/4, followed by Tia DeSoto in fourth with a throw of 58-3 3/4.  On the men's side, Adam Patrick finished in sixth with a mark of 60-6 1/2.

 

Both of Nebraska's distance-medley relay crews finished in scoring position with the women taking fourth in 11:48.69 and the men finishing eighth in 9:57.26.

 

Senior Shelley-Ann Brown will take momentum from a solid first day into the finals Saturday.  Brown qualified for the finals in the 60-meter dash and hurdles with times of 7.49 and 8.33, respectively.  Kostic will also see action in the 60-meter dash finals, after running 7.48 in the preliminaries.

 

Several other Huskers will be in finals action Saturday, including Renee Wageman (800 meters), Ali Jones (800-meters), Anne Shadle (1,000 meters), Ann Gaffigan (mile), David Davis Jr. (60-meter hurdles), Nenad Loncar (60-meter hurdles), Courtney Jones (60-meter hurdles), Josh Leonard (400 meters), Danny Hill (600 yards), Mark Harrison (600 yards), Tim Williams (1,000 meters), Mike Kamm (mile), and James Bowler (mile).

 

Nebraska will continue to fight for both the men and the women's Big 12 trophies Saturday at the Bob Devaney Sports Center.  The men's heptathlon picks back up at 10 a.m. and the field events get underway at 1:30 p.m.   The running finals begin at 3 p.m. and the last event is scheduled to begin at 6:45 p.m.