Breisch and Radevica Bring NU's National Title Count to Four

Sacramento, Calif. - Sophomore Becky Breisch won the gold in the women's shot put and junior Ineta Radevica won the triple jump for the Nebraska track and field team on the final day of the 2003 NCAA Championships at Hornet Stadium in Sacramento, Calif.

The Nebraska men and women both took home fifth-place finishes, with each team scoring 33 points. Arkansas won the men's title with 59 points and Louisiana State women captured the women's crown with 64 points.

"This is one of the greatest performances ever for Nebraska track and field," head coach Gary Pepin said.  "This is the most national champions that we have had in one national meet since I have been coaching.  We had an overall superb meet.  There were a lot of other people besides the champions that did really well that made the meet even more exciting. It's exciting that we are bringing more people to nationals who are competing at such a high level."

Breisch had an outstanding day, throwing her lifetime best mark of 58-3 1/4 on her fifth attempt of the day. Breisch came back and beat North Carolina's Laura Gerraughty, after falling to her during the NCAA Indoor Championships. The Edwardsburg, Mich., native finished third in the discus competition Friday, and her All-America honors now stand at five.

"This is totally unexpected," Breisch said. "I didn't expect to come out and be the champion in the shot, but I'm enthused. The discus didn't go as well as I wanted, but there is always next year. I am ecstatic about winning the shot put right now."

Radevica won the women's triple jump on her final jump of the competition, going a school-record and personal-record distance of 45-8 1/2. Minnesota's Shani Marks set the pace for the competition, jumping 45-0 1/2 on her very first leap of the meet. Radevica's performance fluctuated throughout the competition, but jumped her biggest when the pressure was on.

Ineta Radevica took first in the NCAA triple jump Saturday evening.

"It feels good," Radevica said. "Last year 44 feet was enough to win, and this year the competition was much stronger, so it makes it even more exciting to win. I knew I could jump well, but I just needed to relax. I was tired, but it was a nice ending to four hard days."

Teammate Krisztina Kovesi also scored for Nebraska in the triple jump, finishing seventh with a jump of 43-4 1/4.  That marked Kovesi's second All-America honors for her career.

Senior Shaun Kologinczak won the silver in the men's high jump. He led throughout the competition, clearing 6-10 3/4, 7-0 1/4, 7-1 3/4 and 7-3 1/4 on his first attempt to put him in the lead. David Jaworski and Cedric Norman cleared 7-4 1/2 to put the pressure on the Houston, Texas, native, but he came through calm and collected and cleared on his second attempt to hold the lead. The bar went up to 7-5 3/4 and Jaworski cleared on his second attempt, but Kologinczak failed to make it until his third attempt. The bar increased to 7-7, where both would miss all three attempts, after Kologinczak had a hard time getting his footing. The win went to Jaworski by virtue of the number of misses at 7-5 3/4.

The leap by Kologinzak was the second best in Nebraska school history and was by far the senior's career-best effort. He ends his NU career with three All-America honors to his name.

"It's very disappointing," Kologinczak said. "I came here to win a national championship and I cam up short. It is kind of all a blur. I got the crowd into it and I felt good when I cleared 7-5 3/4. I slipped on my first attempt at 7-7 and then it was in the back of my mind. It wasn't my goal to win a conference championship, but to win the national championship and to go out on misses is really hard to swallow."

Junior James Bowler fought it out in a very physical 1,500-meter race, finishing in sixth place and earning his first career NCAA All-America honors with a season-best time of 3:43.07. The Alcester, Warwickshire, England, native stayed towards the back of the pack for the first portion of the race, but started making a move with about 400 meters remaining.

"I felt tired after the preliminaries and my hamstrings were sore," Bowler said. "It was a physical race, and I just tried to stay clear of it. I tried to gauge my effort because I knew we would finish into the wind, and at the end there were three of us that were neck-and-neck for fourth, fifth and sixth. It feels good to contribute to the team. This year I wanted to do something and really contribute."

Senior David Davis Jr.had one of the best weeks of his racing career, running a career-best time of 13.71 in the 110-meter hurdles for a seventh-place finish and his first career All-America honors. Davis ran a clean race, getting a good start and staying with it all the way through. The senior ran the fourth-best time in school history and ends his career with a lifetime-best performance.

"It feels really good," Davis said. "I had a really good series this week. I got faster each race. This is a world-class field, and it definitely feels great. I knew I had the ability to be an All-American, but it was just a matter of going out and doing it. This is a great capstone and it feels good, but I am worn out."

Junior Na'Tassia Vicecleared 5-10 1/2 for 10th place in the women's high jump. Vice cleared 5-10 1/2 on her second attempt, and missed all three tries at 6-0.

Freshman Ashley Seligcontinued to struggle on the final day of the heptathlon, finishing 17th with 5,022 points. Selig started the day in the long jump, leaping 17 feet on her first attempt of the day. In the javelin throw, Selig threw a mark of 106-2 and was in 24th place overall. On her final event, the 800-meter run, Selig bounced back to run a solid time of 2:16.59 and improved her final standing to 17th.

Senior Amanda Moreleyhad a disappointing day, fouling all three attempts in the hammer throw. Moreley came into the competition ranked 11th with a mark of 193-9 in the qualifying round.