Huskers Sweep Men and Women?s Big 12 Indoor Titles

Lincoln, Neb. ? The Nebraska men and women’s track and field teams both took team titles in the Big 12 Indoor Conference Championships Saturday in front of 4,709 fans at the Bob Devaney Sports Center Track in a total team effort with 51 of 52 athletes scoring for the Huskers.

 

The NU men dominated the meet, scoring nearly double the points of second-place Kansas State. The Huskers won the meet, their fifth consecutive and 15th out of the last 20, with 141.7 points, while Kansas State was second with 77, followed by Baylor (72) and Texas (67).

 

The Husker women claimed their first indoor title over Texas for the first time since 2001 with 171.5 points. The Longhorns were second with 158 points, followed by Kansas State (69) and Missouri (56.5).

 

“It’s always fun when you have a fine program like we have and you have one team that does well and the other team does equally as well,” Head Coach Gary Pepin said. “It’s really special to win both of them. It was really a terrific team effort.”

 

Senior Chris Richardson opened the second day of competition with his first career Big 12 win in the men’s heptathlon, with a personal-best and an NCAA automatic-qualifying mark of 5,565 points that ranks fourth in the nation this season. Teammate Jesse Colburn was valuable as well in the heptathlon, finishing fourth with a career-best 4,966 points.

 

Ineta Radevica claimed her sixth consecutive Big 12 title and her second in two days with her winning leap of 45-0 ? in the triple jump, which was good for a new Nebraska school record, on her final attempt of the competition. Authea Chambers finished behind her in fifth place with a leap of 41-5 ?.

 

“I am always ready to jump my PR and I knew I could do it here or at nationals,” Radevica said. “I knew I could do it, so I just went for it.”

 

Senior Na’Tassia Vice won her first career conference title in the high jump, clearing an NCAA provisional-qualifying mark of 5-11 1/2. Sophomore Ashley Dickinson came up in fourth (5-8) and Sara Jane Baker took fifth (5-8) in the same event.

 

Senior Carl Myerscough improved his nation-leading mark in the shot put with a winning toss of 68-7 ? on his first throw in the finals.

 

“This one is just as satisfying as the first one,” Myerscough said. “I’m sad really. It’s my last one (indoor conference meet). It’s a little emotional. It’s been fun. I was well aware when I was out there that it was my last meet here indoors as a Husker.”

 

Anne Shadle ran a solid race in the women’s 1000 meters to take the conference title and post important points for the team race with her winning time of 2:48.49.

 

“It was a great race,” Shadle said. “I felt really relaxed. I really kind of had to fight back the next girl and pull away to win it. I just thought ?I have to go.’ It felt really good at the end.”

 

Aaron Nasers took silver in the men’s race in his NU school-record time of 2:22.12. The record was Nasers second Husker record of the season after he tied the 800 meters mark at the adidas Classic two weeks ago.

 

Freshman Dmitrijs Milkevics won his first-ever Big 12 title in the men’s 800 meters in a Big 12 meet-record time of 1:48.82.

 

“It was kind of slow for me,” Milkevics said. “I would have liked for it to have been faster, but I didn’t really have anyone to push me. I wanted to win and score points for the team. I liked this meet with us all supporting each other.”

 

Senior Jason Thompson also won his first career conference title in the men’s triple jump with a leap of 50-10 ?. Daniel Roper finished fifth with his leap of 49-3.

 

Junior Becky Breisch won her second Big 12 title in as many days, this time winning the shot put with her throw of 55-4 ?. Teammate Leann Boerema was fourth with an NCAA provisional-qualifying toss of 52-8 ?, while Jennifer Steiner was eighth (48-1 ?).

 

“I think our athletes and our coaches did a marvelous job in preparing for this meet,” Pepin said. “Once we got to the meet, the kids just really performed well. They handled the pressure of the meet well and they were really wrapped up in the team thing, and really wanted to do well.”

 

Sophomore Priscilla Lopes ran the second-fastest time in school history in the women’s 60-meter dash behind only Merlene Ottey, clocking a time of 7.28 for a third-place finish. She also took third place in the women’s 60-meter hurdles in 8.15.

 

The Huskers swept the two through four spots in the men’s 60-meter hurdles, with Nenad Loncar leading the way in his time of 7.90. Courtney Jones followed in third in 7.91 and Richard Davidson Jr. in fourth at 7.98.

 

Junior Dusty Stamer was just edged out of conference title in the 60-meter dash in his first Big 12 Championship meet, crossing the line in 6.68, just a hundredth of a second behind Oklahoma’s DaBryan Blanton.

 

The men’s 4x400-meter relay team put on a stellar performance to finish off the day, running an NCAA provisional-qualifying time of 3:09.66 with a team of Andrew Pearson, Dmitrijs Milkevics, Mark Harrison and Danny Hill, who put together a second-place finish. The women’s team took seventh place in 3:48.11.

 

Ann Gaffigan performed well in the women’s mile run, with her fifth-place finish. She also took fourth place in the women’s 3,000 meters with her time of 9:36.05.Danute Ceika was also big with her sixth-place finish in the women’s 800 meters (2:10.51).

 

Dijana Kojic came up in fourth in the women’s 600-yard run in 1:24.59, while Danny Hill took the same spot in the men’s race in 1:10.15. Mark Harrison was seventh in the 600 in 1:11.02.

 

Freshman Andrew Pearson was one of the biggest surprises of the meet with his fourth-place finish in the men’s 400-meter dash with a time of 47.26.

 

Sophomore Oliver Williams Jr. had a great race in the 200 meters, running the seventh best time in school history with a time of 21.41 for a fourth-place finish. Teammate Isaiah Fluellen took sixth place in the same event in 21.61.

 

The Huskers will return to the track next weekend at the Last Chance Qualifier in Ames, Iowa, to attempt to secure additional qualifying marks for the NCAA Indoor Championships, March 12-13 in Fayetteville, Ark.