Lopes Sets NU Hurdle Mark at Husker Invite

Lincoln ? Sophomore Priscilla Lopes rewrote the Nebraska 60-meter hurdle record on two different occasions in Saturday’s Frank Sevigne Husker Invitational, running the second fastest time in the nation with her clocking of 8.15 to lead the Nebraska track and field team.

The Whitby, Ontario, native ran a time of 8.19 in the semifinals to notch her first school record in the hurdles, and then easily won the finals in 8.15 to set a new mark and automatically qualify for the NCAA Indoor Championships. Lopes also had an outstanding race in the 200 meters, finishing second behind Iowa’s Shellene Williams, with an NCAA provisional-qualifying time of 23.98.

"I was very pleased with my time in the hurdles, getting the automatic qualifier," Lopes said. "I just want to try and beat my personal records and everything seems to be going well, so I am just going to keep training hard."

Dmitrijs Milkevics had a stellar day on the track in the 800 meters, running a Husker Invitational meet record and a solid provisional-qualifying time of 1:48.75 to win the event and set the second fastest mark in the nation this season. He easily outdistanced the competition and came really close to breaking the Nebraska school record in his first year in the event, breaking his own personal record by four seconds.

Sophomore Aaron Nasers was behind Milkevics in sixth place with his time of 1:51.30.

"With any track meet, there are some highs and there are some medium performances and some lows, and certainly the highs outweighed the lows," Head Coach Gary Pepin said. "There were a lot of positives, and at this time of year you need some of those. We had some really special individual performances. Priscilla Lopes proved again how good she is and Dmitrijs had a terrific 800 and of course Carl (Myerscough) threw well. Most all of the places up and down the line, we did well."

Senior Brad Teeple won the men’s pole vault competition, clearing a career-best and NCAA provisional-qualifying mark of 17-6 ? on his first attempt at the height. Teammate Nic Peterson also cleared a career-best mark of 16-4 ? for a fourth-place finish. In the women’s pole vault, freshman Jenny Green won silver with a leap of 13-4 ?. Christi Lehman tied for fifth, clearing 13-0 ?.

Ineta Radevica claimed double titles in the women’s long jump (20-10 ?) and the triple jump with an NCAA automatic-qualifying mark of 43-10 ?. In the men’s triple jump, Jason Thompson leaped 49-9 ? for a third-place finish.

Reigning NCAA shot put champion Carl Myerscough won the men’s shot in his first competition back in the ring this season. He threw an automatic-qualifying mark on his first throw of the day with a heave of 67-10 ?.

In the women’s shot put, junior Becky Breisch won silver, falling to Florida’s Kimberli Barrett, with her season-best mark of 56-1 ?. Leann Boerema was fifth with a season-best mark of 52-10.

The Husker men hurdlers had an outstanding day, with sophomore Courtney Jones winning silver in a personal record and NCAA provisional time of 7.90. Teammate Richard Davidson Jr. took sixth in the finals, but ran an NCAA provisional time of 7.95 in the semifinals earlier in the day. Nenad Loncar was seventh in 8.16 in the finals.

Anne Shadle captured her first NCAA provisional time in the mile run, clocking a personal-record time of 4:47.74 for a fourth-place finish. She improved her previous career-best mark by more than five seconds.

In the men’s 60-meter dash, Dusty Stamer and Oliver Williams Jr. finished third and fourth, respectively, with times of 6.71 and 6.77.

Senior Maggi Escudero finished sixth in the women’s 400-meter run, running a career-best time of 56.50. Danny Hill won silver in the men’s 600-yard run and was the top collegiate finisher with his time of 1:11.38.

In the women’s 800 meters, freshman Danute Ceika finished fifth with a time of 2:10.91. Also in the 800 meters, North Carolina senior Alice Schmidt won the event with a Devaney Center and Husker Invitational record with her 2:05.33 clocking.

The men’s 4x400-meter relay team came extremely close to notching a provisional-qualifying time with their run of 3:10.82 for a third-place finish behind Minnesota and Georgia.

In the men’s heptathlon, Lee Martin made up ground on teammate Chris Richardson when Richardson did not clear a height in the pole vault for no points. Martin was the top collegiate finisher with 4,776 points, while Richardson was fifth with 4,710.

Florida’s Candice Scott was named the women’s Most Valuable Performer for the meet, with her nation-leading launch of 75-5 ? in the women’s weight throw for a new Devaney Center and Husker Invitational record. Scott broke her own previous record set in 2002. She led a Gator 1-2-4-5-6 finish in the women’s weight throw.

Minnesota’s Mitch Potter set one of five meet records on the day, with his impressive run of 46 seconds flat in the 400-meters to set a new Devaney Center and Husker Invitational meet record. His outstanding performance earned him the men’s Most Valuable Performer honor for the 2004 Husker Invitational.

The Huskers will be back in action on Saturday, Feb. 14, at the Bob Devaney Sports Center Track with the adidas Classic, beginning at 10 a.m.