Nebraska Men Take Big 12 Championship with Total Team Effort; Women Capture Silver

Lincoln, Neb. - The Nebraska men's track and field team won the Big 12 Championships for the fourth consecutive year in a conference battle that came down to a half a point and one place in the final 4x400-meter relay Saturday night at the Bob Devaney Sports Center.  The Husker women took the silver finishing behind Texas with 142 points in front of 3,677 fans.

 

"I thought it was a tremendous track meet," head coach Gary Pepin said.  "It was two great track teams battling to the end.  That 's the most fitting way to finish the track meet, so I was really proud of our athletes and our coaches.  It was a great competition."

 

Junior Frank Tolen led the charge for NU, as he was named the Big 12 Championship male MVP, with 21.5 points on two wins and a third-place finish as the anchor on the 4x400 relay.  Tolen won the men's triple jump with an NCAA automatic qualifying mark of 53-5 3/4 on Saturday, after capturing the long jump title with a leap of 25-8 1/4 on Friday night.

 

The jumps were just the beginning of Tolen's heroics, however, as he anchored the men's 4x400-meter relay who could only finish one spot behind Texas in order to capture the team title.  Going into the final exchange, Texas led with two teams between them and the Huskers.  Baylor took the lead over Texas and Tolen turned on the speed to take the third-place finish and thus the team championship.

 

"I think the meet went particularly well," Tolen said.  "I had no idea I would provisional in the long and automatic in the triple.  That was probably the biggest surprise.  When it came down to the last event, I was running the anchor, but I had complete faith in the team that they would come through.  I knew that everyone wanted that Big 12 cup and I just saw the challenge present itself and I am just excited overall."

 

Tolen didn't do it alone however as the Huskers were led with event wins by David Davis Jr., Carl Myerscough, and Eric Eshbach.

 

Davis ran one of the most remarkable races of the days, setting a Big 12 Championship meet record and a Nebraska school record in the 60-meter hurdles, clocking a time of 7.70 seconds.  His performance after the race was almost exciting as the one on the track.

 

"I'm speechless," Davis said.  "I was ready to run and I was excited.  To have this many accomplishments in one race is a dream come true.  Now I am sitting at second or third in the nation and that is unbelievable."

 

Carl Myerscough contributed to the team effort once again, taking his third Big 12 shot put title in two years with a nation-leading launch of 68-10 1/2.  Myerscough improved his already NCAA automatic mark by 5 1/2 inches.

 

Eric Eshbach won his third Big 12 pole vault championship with his first NCAA automatic qualifier and a new Nebraska school record vault of 18-1 3/4.  The two-time All-American held the previous school record at 18-1 set in 2002.

 

"I fell like the mat has been lifted of my shoulders," Eshbach said.  "I've been jumping really well in practice and it all came together.  It was an adrenaline rush with the crowd."

 

On the women's side, Ineta Radevica won her second Big 12 title in as many days, winning the triple jump with a leap of 44-4 1/4.  She also won the long jump Friday with a mark of 21-0 1/2.  Radevica was the top Husker finisher, but Krisztina Kovesi and Authea Chambers rounded out the top four finishers, taking third and fourth, respectively, with provisional-qualifying marks.

 

Becky Breisch collected her first Big 12 shot put title, but her second overall championship, with an incredible throw of 56-4 1/2.  Teammate Leann Boerema was not far behind, taking the bronze with a mark of 52-3 1/4.

 

James Bowler put on a phenomenal performance in the men's distance events, capturing the silver in the mile with a time of 4:08.68.  He also finished fifth in the 3,000 meters to score 12 valuable points for the Huskers.

 

 The men's high jumpers had a solid outing, finishing second and fifth.  Junior Kyle Odvody matched his personal best jump for the third time this season, going 7-1 3/4 for the silver.  Freshman Aaron Plas tied for fifth with a leap of 6-11 3/4.

 

"We really had a lot of great performances up and down the line," Pepin said.  "We knew that is was going to take a total team effort for us to win it.  We didn't have many people who didn't perform for us."

 

The men won the title with 132 points, followed by Texas with 131.50 points and Kansas State with 86.  In fourth through 12th was Missouri (81), Texas A&M (57.83), Baylor (57), Texas Tech (50.33), Colorado (38), Kansas (36.33), Oklahoma State (36), Oklahoma (22), and Iowa State (12).

 

On the women's side, Texas ran away with the championship with 167 points.  NU took the silver with 142 points and Kansas State won the bronze with 87.  Following the top three were Kansas (57.5), Baylor (56), Colorado (52), Missouri (50), Iowa State (45), Oklahoma (38), Texas A&M (28.5), Texas Tech (15), Oklahoma State (2).

 

The Huskers will compete in the Last Chance meet in Ames, Iowa, next Saturday before contending for a national title at the NCAA Championships in Fayetteville, Ark., March 14-15.