Graff Ties NU Pole Vault Mark

Manhattan, Kan. ? Sophomore Jessie Graff cleared a Nebraska school-record tying height of 13-9 ? in the women’s pole vault to lead the Nebraska track field team in the KSU Open in Manhattan, Kan., Saturday afternoon.

Graff, who transferred from Georgia Tech this season, won the pole vault competition and tied the previous school record, set by freshman teammate Jenny Green in the Pole Vault Summit on Jan. 10, in Reno, Nev.

The Mount Airy, Md., native tied Green in last week’s adidas Classic, clearing a then-career high 13-8 ?, but finished second to her teammate on misses. Green and Graff’s marks last week were tied for the second-best marks in the country. Graff will take over sole possession of the second-best mark in the country with her performance on Saturday since Green’s mark did not count on the national list since it was captured at the Pole Vault Summit.

"I felt like after last week, Jessie has made tremendous progress, even this week," pole vault coach Rick Attig said. "In practice she made it look like she could go really high this week. She cleared 13-9 ? really easily and had two good jumps at 14 feet."

Junior Christi Lehman also jumped a career-best height of 13-5 ? in the pole vault to take second place in the competition and tied the seventh-best mark in the NCAA this season, and provisionally qualified for the NCAA Championships.

"Watching Christi, she has been so close to 13 feet," Attig said. "Her jump at 13-5 ? was an easy jump. She is slowly beginning to realize what she is capable of jumping."

Alissa Koerner and Stephanie Teeple completed a first through fourth Nebraska sweep of the event, as Koerner cleared 12-11 ? and Teeple hit 12-5 ? to run the table for the Huskers.

Sophomore Oliver Williams Jr. won the men’s 60-meter dash preliminary, as well as the finals in times of 6.87 and 6.83, respectively. Shelldon Simpson took third in 6.91 in the finals.

Tim Williams won the men’s 1,000 meters, clocking a season-best time of 2:29.67.

In the men’s pole vault, the Huskers took the third through fifth-place spots, while senior Eric Eshbach won the event competing unattached since he only has an outdoor season of eligibility remaining to compete for NU.

Gable Baldwin took third place, with a height of 16-6 ?, while Brad Teeple cleared the same height, but finished in fourth due to misses and Nic Petersen finished fifth with a height of 16-0 ?.

The Huskers will return to Lincoln to host the Big 12 Indoor Championships Feb. 27-28 in the Bob Devaney Sports Center Track. The NU men will try to defend their 2003 Big 12 Indoor title, while the women will try to reclaim the conference crown from Texas. For ticket information for the Big 12 Championships, call the NU Ticket Office at 1-800-8BIGRED.