Huskers Aim for NCAA Qualifiers at Last Chance Meet

Several Nebraska track and field athletes will make the trip to Ames, Iowa, this weekend to compete in the Last Chance Qualifier in hopes of earning or solidifying an NCAA qualifying mark, while a handful of others will travel to the Alex Wilson Invitational at Notre Dame.

 

The Last Chance Qualifier will get underway Saturday, March 6, at 9 a.m. with the women’s pole vault and should conclude around 4 p.m. with the men’s 4x400-meter relay. The running events are slated to begin at 10:30 a.m. with the women’s 5,000 meters.

 

The Huskers are coming off a spectacular weekend after sweeping the men’s and women’s Big 12 Indoor titles for the first time since 2001. Nebraska took 12 individual event titles and had 51 of 52 athletes in the meet score at least one team point. The only person that did not score was Lee Martin, who had to exit the men’s heptathlon after suffering an injury in the long jump.

 

The Huskers are looking forward to the 2004 NCAA Indoor Championships next week, as NU has posted nine automatic-qualifying marks and 21 provisional-qualifying marks through the Big 12 Conference championships. Depending on the outcome this weekend, NU could send one of its largest contingents of competitors in school history to the indoor national championship meet.

 

Huskers Set to Compete at World Championships

Carl Myerscough and Ineta Radevica will both make the trip to Budapest, Hungary, to compete in the 10th annual IAAF World Indoor Championships, March 5-7.

 

Myerscough threw the fourth-best mark in the world in the shot put last weekend with his launch of 68-7 1/4 to win the Big 12 Indoor Championships. While he didn’t face former Missouri rival Christian Cantwell, who is out of eligibility, last weekend, he will see Cantwell at the World Championships. Cantwell currently holds the best throw in the world with his mark of 72-1 set a couple of weeks ago.

 

Radevica will represent Latvia in the women’s long jump at the World Championships. The Kraslava, Latvia, native is the 47th best athlete on the world rankings in the long jump with her leap of 21-0 1/2 in the first week of the season at the Panther Classic.

 

The men’s shot put and the women’s long jump qualification rounds are both set for Saturday, March 6. The women’s long jump will begin at 5 a.m. CST and the men’s shot put will take place at 9 a.m. CST.

 

2004 Big 12 Indoor Champions

The Nebraska track and field team accomplished a feat it had not seen since the 2001 season last weekend when both the men and women’s teams earned Big 12 Conference Indoor championships.

 

The Huskers were led by 12 first-place finishes, including seven on the women’s side and five for the men. The NU women earned 171.5 points to edge Texas by 13.5 points for the conference win. The men dominated the meet, scoring 141.67 points to defeat second-place Kansas State by 64.67 points.

 

With 51 of 52 athletes scoring in the Big 12 Championships, the Huskers put on one of the most well-rounded performances in school history.

 

Becky Breisch and Ineta Radevica led NU with two event titles each. Breisch won championships in the women’s weight throw and shot put to score 20 points for the Huskers. Breisch’s win in the weight throw was a huge boost to Nebraska’s team title hopes after she just began competing in the event two weeks prior to the conference meet.

 

Radevica won back-to-back titles in the long jump and the triple jump for the second-consecutive year, including a school-record leap of 45-0 1/4 in the triple jump.

 

Other event winners for the Huskers included Na’Tassia Vice (High Jump, 5-11 1/2), Jenny Green (Pole Vault, 13-9 1/4), Dmitrijs Milkevics (800-Meter Run, 1:48.82), Artur Abolins (Long Jump, 24-9), Jason Thompson (Triple Jump, 50-10 1/4), Carl Myerscough (Shot Put, 68-7 1/4) and Chris Richardson (Heptathlon, 5,565).

 

Husker Women Third in Latest Ranking

The Nebraska women fell one spot in the current TrackWire Top 25 rankings, dropping into a third-place tie with Texas. The Husker men took a significant jump in the rankings from 19th to 13th in the poll released March 2. The NU men are tied with TCU and Oregon for the No. 13 spot.

 

The TrackWire 25 is a power ranking which projects a hypothetical score for the NCAA meet, factoring injury reports and other variables supported by information gathered from coaches and NCAA-qualifying competitions.

 

The Nebraska women have been projected to score 45 points in the national championship meet,  which is 10 points behind LSU and seven behind second-place Florida. The Husker men have improved their projected points to 17 after a solid showing in the Big 12 Championships.

 

The women have a sizeable lead on LSU in the Team Power Rankings, with a first-place points total of 311.4. LSU is second with 304.61, while Florida is third with 297.96. The Husker men are ranked fourth in the power rankings with 278.88 points. Florida leads the men’s race with 307.45 points, followed by Michigan and Brigham Young.

 

A Look at the Field

The Huskers travel to Iowa State for one of eight last chance meets across the United States this weekend. Nebraska will look to solidify some NCAA provisional-qualifying marks, while others will look to earn their first qualifying performance of the season.

 

Since there are only eight other meets across the country this weekend, the Huskers will see several great competitors in the field. The other seven meets this weekend will take place at Notre Dame, Florida, Idaho, Idaho State, Louisiana State, Virginia Tech and Washington.

 

The field will include former Huskers Shelley-Ann Brown and David Davis Jr. in the 60-meter hurdles and Shaun Kologinczak in the high jump.

 

The Best of the Best

The Huskers boast some of the best track and field athletes in the country, and they have the rankings to prove it. Seven NU marks rank in the top five among NCAA Division I performances and 13 marks rank in the top-10 in the country.

 

Carl Myerscough is leading the nation in the men’s shot put with his throw of 68-7 1/4 in the Big 12 Championships.

 

Ineta Radevica’s leads the country with her mark of 45-0 1/4 in the triple jump at the Big 12 Championships. Her leap of 21-0 1/2 in the long jump at the Panther Classic is also third in the nation after she led the country for a few weeks.

 

Sophomore Priscilla Lopes is third on the women’s 60-meter hurdle list with her time of 8.04 that she ran in the Big 12 semifinals. She is third, behind Texas’ Raasin McIntosh and Nichole Denby. Lopes is also seventh on the 60-meter dash list in 7.28.

 

Nebraska’s depth shows in the women’s pole vault, three Huskers rank in the top 10 in the nation and four are in the top 8. Jessie Graff and Jenny Green are tied for second with their leaps of 13-9 1/4. In addition, Christi Lehman is eighth and Alissa Koerner is tied at 18th. In the men’s pole vault, senior Brad Teeple is tied at 10th on the national list with his clearance of 17-6 1/2.

 

Ashley Selig scored a career-high mark of 4,005 points in the women’s pentathlon in the Big 12 Championships, but fell to sixth in the national rankings after a weekend of stellar multi-athlete performances. Teammate Sara Jane Baker is behind her in 13th place with her score of 3,868 points. On the men’s side, Chris Richardson is also ranked sixth with his Big 12 winning score of 5,565 points.

 

Dusty Stamer’s time of 6.65 that he ran at the conference meet improved his positioning to sixth in the NCAA this season.  Aaron Nasers ranks ninth in the men’s 800 meters with his time of 1:48.37. Dmitrijs Milkevics is teetering on making the national championship meet with a No. 14 ranking and a time of 1:48.75.

 

In the shot put, Becky Breisch is fourth on the national descending order list with her throw of 56-10 1/4, while Leann Boerema is tied at 15th with her mark of 53-1 3/4  in the KSU Open. Breisch is also ranked 15th in the women’s weight throw.

 

Lopes Among Big 12 Best, Nation’s Best

Priscilla Lopes set her fourth Nebraska school record this season in the Big 12 Championships semifinals of the 60-meter hurdles, knocking a tenth of a second off her previous season-best time for an 8.04 clocking. The mark equaled the best time in the nation, but Nichole Denby won the heat with a time of 8.01 and Raasin McIntosh won the following heat with a Big 12 record time of 7.95.

 

In the finals, Lopes finished third to Denby and McIntosh with her time of 8.15. The three conference leaders are also the nation’s best three.

 

Lopes also ran a time of 7.28 in the 60-meter dash, which was good for the second-best time in school history, behind only Merlene Ottey’s time of 7.24, in the finals, but once again came in third. Lopes’ time would have been good for a Big 12 Conference Indoor meet record, had two other athletes not finished ahead of her. That time was good for her first NCAA automatic-qualifying mark of the season in the 60 and currently ranks seventh in the nation.

 

Richardson Takes Top Spot in Men’s Heptathlon

Senior Chris Richardson left no room for doubt that he should be at the NCAA Indoor Championships when he scored an NCAA automatic-qualifying mark of 5,565 points to win the Big 12 Heptathlon.

 

The Boulder, Colo., native had career-best marks in five of the seven events en route to setting the second-best mark in NU history and the sixth-best mark in the NCAA this season.

 

Richardson began the event with a PR time of 7.16 in the 60-meter dash, which immediately put him in second place to Texas A&M’s Allen Bulick. The senior again finished second to Bulick in the long jump, where Richardson jumped 22-6 1/4 for 781 points.

 

He had a career day in the shot put with a throw of 41-10 1/2, and completed the first day with a lifetime-best leap of 6-6 3/4 in the high jump to put him in second place by one point.

 

Richardson got off to a great start on day two, winning the 60-meter hurdles in 8.29, which also marked a career best.  It was the pole vault that made the difference for Richardson, as Bulick did not clear a height and became a non-factor. Richardson tied his personal-best mark of 14-7 1/4 in the pole vault, before clocking a winning time of 2:42.52 to seal the win and his first conference championship title.

 

Nasers, Milkevics Push Each Other in the 800

Sophomore Aaron Nasers and freshman Dmitrijs Milkevics are ranked ninth and 14th, respectively, in the 800 meters on the NCAA descending order list. This weekend, the two will face off for the first time since the Frank Sevigne Husker Invitational on Feb. 7, and will try to push each other in order to assure both a spot on the NCAA team.

 

Nasers has been spectacular in his first season as a Husker, tying the school record in the 800 meters with his time of 1:48.37 and setting a new NU record in the 1,000 meters last weekend with his time of 2:22.12 to take a second-place place finish in the Big 12 Championships.

 

Nasers’ time would have been a Big 12 record if Kansas State’s Christian Smith had not finished ahead of him, setting the record at 2:20.24.

 

Milkevics set a new Big 12 meet record in the 800 meters with his time of 1:48.82, a time he considered much too slow. Milkevics claimed his first career Big 12 Championship, last week and will look to set a better NCAA qualifying time this weekend.

 

Gaffigan, Shadle Set Pace in Distance Events

Ann Gaffigan was valuable for the Huskers in the Big 12 Championships, finishing fifth in the mile run after winning the preliminaries in an NCAA provisional-qualifying time of 4:47.20. Gaffigan became the second Husker to reach a qualifying mark in the mile, as Anne Shadle set a time of 4:47.74 in the Frank Sevigne Husker Invitational on Feb. 7.

 

Gaffigan posted a stellar fourth-place finish in the women’s 3,000 meters with her time of 9:36.05. The Springfield, Ill., native was also a member of the women’s distance medley relay that took fourth place and set a new Nebraska school record time of 11:34.48, which was also good for an NCAA provisional-qualifying time.

 

Shadle won her first career Big 12 title with her win in the women’s 1,000 meters in 2:48.49 as well as setting the fifth-best mark in NU history.  The time was a new career best for Shadle, who qualified for the 2003 NCAA Outdoor Championships in the steeplechase.

 

Gaffigan and Shadle, who rank 35th and 41st overall in the nation, respectively, will both try to improve their NCAA qualifying marks this weekend in the mile at the Alex Wilson Invitational at Notre Dame.

 

Huskers Sweep Horizontal Jumps

Freshman Artur Abolins claimed the men’s long jump title on Friday night in the Big 12 Championships, and senior Jason Thompson followed suit Saturday with a win in the triple jump.

 

Abolins joined the Huskers at the start of the winter semester and has made an immediate impact, leaping 24-9 in his next to last attempt of the competition.

 

Thompson has had his eyes set on a conference championship since joining the Huskers last spring, and the Belton, Mo., native accomplished that feat last weekend with a jump of 50-10 1/4 on his final attempt to defeat Kansas State’s Stelios Kapsalis.

 

On the women’s side, Ineta Radevica won both titles in the long and triple jump events.

 

Women High Jumpers Sky to New Heights

Na’Tassia Vice cleared a career-best height of 5-11 ? to win her first Big 12 Championship title in the high jump last weekend. In the process, Vice also provisionally qualified for the NCAA Championships with a mark that currently that is tied for 12th in the nation and puts her in a good position for qualifying for her second NCAA Indoor meet.

 

Sophomore Ashlee Dickinson also had an impressive performance in the high jump, clearing a personal-best height of 5-8 for a fourth-place finish. The height itself was good for a second-place finish, but she cleared it on her second attempt rather than her first to bump her down in the standings.

 

Fellow sophomore and multi-event athletes Sara Jane Baker also cleared 5-8 in the women’s high jump, but took fifth place behind Dickinson due to a miss on a prior height.

 

In all, the Husker high jumpers contributed 19 points to the women’s team effort.

 

Pole Vaulters Live Up to Hype

The Nebraska women’s pole vaulters were touted as the conference’s best and nation’s deepest crew going into the Big 12 Championships, and they did not disappoint, taking 1-2-4-6 finishes.

 

Freshman Jenny Green won the event, clearing a Big 12 meet record 13-9 ?. While Green had cleared that height in the first meet of the season for a new Big 12 record, it was not accepted as an NCAA automatic-qualifying mark since it was set at the Pole Vault Summit. Therefore, her conference jump was also her first career automatic-qualifying mark as well.

 

Teammate Jessie Graff finished second with a height of 13-1 ?. Graff passed on the first three heights and cleared the next two on her first attempts, but just hit the bar at the 13-9 ? mark on all three attempts to finish behind Green.

 

Alissa Koerner, Christi Lehman and Stephanie Teeple all cleared 12-7 ?. Koerner and Lehman tied for fourth place, while Teeple tied Oklahoma’s Leslie Dunlap for sixth place.

 

Radevica Perfect in Big 12 Championships

Ineta Radevica has never lost an individual Big 12 Conference Championship. The Kraslava, Latvia, native transferred from Wichita State a year ago, and she has yet to concede a conference title. Radevica now has two indoor crowns in the long jump as well as the triple jump, and has one of each in the outdoor conference championships.

 

Last weekend, Radevica leaped a nation leading and Nebraska school record mark of 45-0 ?. She also won the long jump with a leap of 20-10 ?.

 

In the 2003 NCAA Indoor championships, Radevica was fourth in the long jump and was fifth in the triple jump.

 

Boerema Tries to Qualify for Third NCAA Indoors

Sixth-year senior Leann Boerema has been overshadowed by junior Becky Breisch, but Boerema has been one of the nation’s best shot putters throughout her collegiate career.

 

Boerema threw a mark of 53-1 3/4, which is tied for 15th in the nation at the Kansas State Open. The Clinton, Iowa, native will compete in the Last Chance Qualifier in hopes of solidifying her hopes of making the NCAA Indoor Championships. She also competed at the indoor nation meet in 2003, where she finished 10th, and 2001, where she took 14th place.

 

Williams Gets First Career Provisional Mark

Sophomore Oliver Williams Jr. ran the greatest race of his career in the 60-meter dash preliminaries of the Big 12 Indoor Championships, where he clocked an NCAA provisional-qualifying time of 6.72 for a second-place finish, before being disqualified in the semifinals for a false start.

 

The Central Islip, N.Y., native also had a lifetime-best performance in the 200 meters at the conference meet. Williams clocked a time of 21.41 in the finals for a fourth-place finish.

 

Williams time in the 200 also put him on the NU all-time top 10 list  with the eighth best time in Nebraska school history.

 

Baker Hits Big Mark

Sara Jane Baker finally hit the NCAA provisional-qualifying mark in the women’s pentathlon at the Big 12 Indoor Championships with her score of 3,868 points, good for a fourth-place finish.

 

Baker not only hit the qualifying mark of 3,700 points, but set the 13th best mark in the NCAA this season. The Kalamazoo, Mich., native set personal best marks in three of the five events to catapult her to a career best. 

 

Stamer Makes Strong Stand in the 60 Meters

Junior Dusty Stamer was impressive in his debut on the track early this season, but has been quiet since he ran a time of 6.67 in the finals of the Holiday Inn Invitational in the second week of the season.

 

Stamer got considerably louder with his time of 6.65 in the finals of the Big 12 Championships to win silver in the 60-meter dash. He finished only behind Oklahoma’s DaBryan Blanton, who set the USA Junior record in the 100 meters last season in the NCAA Midwest Regional at the Ed Weir Track Stadium.

 

The Grand Island, Neb., native’s mark is tied with Bradley Perry for the second-best mark in school history and currently is the sixth-best time in the NCAA in 2004.

 

Donlin Comes Up Big in Conference Meet

Sophomore Tommy Donlin was stellar for the Huskers in the men’s weight throw, launching the 35-pound weight a career-best 61-5 3/4.

 

The mark moved Donlin up to eighth place on the all-time Nebraska charts, but more importantly, it secured him a third-place finish and six points for the team.

 

Pearson Pleasant Surprise to Huskers

Head coach Gary Pepin said before the Big 12 Indoor Championships that freshman Andrew Pearson was the biggest surprise of the 2004 season. While he had run well in previous meets, it became blatantly obvious what Pepin was talking about in the Big 12 Championships.

 

Pearson took fourth place in the 400 meters in a time of 47.26 among a field of solid competitors. The Seward, Neb., native took nearly four-hundredths of a second off of his preliminary time in the finals.

 

His time was close to an NCAA provisional-qualifying mark. Pearson also ran the leadoff leg of the men’s 4x400-meter relay that clocked an NCAA provisional-qualifying time of 3:09.66 for a second-place finish.

 

Husker Pole Vaulting Corps Sets NCAA First

Three Nebraska women pole vaulters have cleared 13-5 1/4 this season, becoming the first team in NCAA history to accomplish such a feat. Jessie Graff and Jenny Green have both cleared 13-9 1/4, while Christi Lehman has cleared 13-5 1/4 this season.

 

The only other team to put three pole vaulters over the 13-5 mark is the University of Arkansas, which had three vaulters make it to the 2003 NCAA Championships qualifying height of 13-5 or better.

 

The Huskers are not stopping there, however, as they try to become just the second team in NCAA history to ever have two or more vaulters clear 14 feet in one season. Green and Graff have both come close to clearing the 14 feet mark, and Lehman is capable of accomplishing that height as well. The only other team to accomplish that feat is Oregon, who had two vaulters clear 14 feet during the 2003 season.

 

School Records Falling Like Rain

The Huskers have already seen seven school records go down this season. Ineta Radevica set the latest record in the women’s triple jump, with her nation-leading leap of 45-0 1/4.

 

Priscilla Lopes has led the way in the women’s 60-meter hurdles, setting a new record on four occasions, most recently setting it at 8.04 in the Big 12 semifinals.

 

Two newcomers have made more than a dent in the women’s pole vault record. Freshman Jenny Green broke the NU record as well as the Big 12 record in her very first meet, clearing 13-9 1/4 at the Pole Vault Summit and again at the Big 12 Championships. Sophomore transfer Jessie Graff cleared that same height at the Kansas State Open on Feb. 21 to tie the record.

 

Aaron Nasers tied the school record in the men’s 800-meter run in the Prairie Wolf Invitational, clocking a time of 1:48.37, and then rewrote the 1,000 meter record at the conference meet with his time of 2:22.12.

 

Teammate Dmitrijs Milkevics would not be outdone, setting the school record in the 600-yard run in the adidas Classic. Milkevics ran a time of 1:48.75 to break the eight-year old record. The time was also good for a new conference record as well.

 

Count On It

The Huskers will take no less than seven athletes to the NCAA Indoor Championships next month, as NU has clinched seven automatic berths in nine events already this season.

 

The women greatly outnumber the men, as five females have already booked their tickets to the national championships. Becky Breisch (shot put), Jessie Graff (pole vault), Jenny Green (pole vault), Priscilla Lopes (60-meter dash, 60-meter hurdles) and Ineta Radevica (long jump, triple jump) have all met automatic-qualifying standards.

 

On the men’s side, only Carl Myerscough has met the automatic qualifying mark in the shot put and Chris Richardson is qualified in the heptathlon.

 

Several other Huskers have strong provisional-qualifying marks and look to be a lock for the national championship meet, but the only sure way to make the trip to Fayetteville is by securing an automatic mark.

 

DevaneyCenter Standards Raised

Eight Bob Devaney Sports Center records have fallen this season.

 

Texas’ Sanya Richards set a new standard in the women’s 200 meters with her time of 22.86 in the Big 12 Championships.

 

On the men’s side, four Devaney Center records fell at the conference meet, including the 200 meters, the 400 meters, the 1,000 meters and the 4x400-meter relay mark.

 

Kansas’ Leo Bookman clocked a new time of 20.58 in the 200 meters, while Baylor’s Jeremy Wariner reset the 400-meter time at 45.78. Kansas State’s Christian Smith now holds the Devaney Center 1,000 meter record with his time of 1:20.24, while Baylor’s 4x400-meter relay team set the new standard at 3:05.98.

 

In the Frank Sevigne Husker Invitational, Florida’s Candice Scott reset her own Devaney Center record in the women’s weight throw with a launch of 75-5 1/2.

 

Minnesota’s Mitch Potter ran a fantastic race in the men’s 400 meters, setting a new standard of 46 seconds flat.

 

North Carolina’s Alice Schmidt, an Elkhorn, Neb., native also set a new Devaney record time in the 800 meters, with her run of 2:05.33.

 

NU Returns Four National Champs in 2004

Nebraska is the only Division I university that returns four 2003 NCAA individual national champions to its 2004 squad. The Huskers return Carl Myerscough (indoor and outdoor shot put), Eric Eshbach (outdoor pole vault), Ineta Radevica (outdoor triple jump) and Becky Breisch (outdoor shot put).

 

North Carolina comes the closest to Nebraska, returning three individual national champs from the 2003 season.

 

The Huskers also return the services of seven All-Americans, including Kyle Odvody (high jump), Na’Tassia Vice (high jump) and Artur Wszelaki (javelin) in addition to the four national champions.