Nebraska Pursues NCAA Track and Field Titles in Arkansas

Lincoln -- The Nebraska men’s and women’s track and field teams travel to Fayetteville, Ark., this weekend to compete in the 2004 NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships. The Husker women will try to become the fourth team in school history to win the national title, while the men will try to make history by becoming the first Nebraska team to accomplish such a feat.

One of the largest contingents of Husker competitors of the NCAA Indoor meet in school history, 26 NU athletes will compete in 16 events beginning at 9 a.m. on Friday, March 12, and concluding on Saturday, March 13, with the men’s 4x400-meter relay.

Fourteen Huskers currently rank in the top eight in the NCAA in their events and five of those mark rank among the nation’s top three.

Carl Myerscough headlines the group, as he will try to become only the third athlete in NCAA history to win three consecutive NCAA Indoor shot put titles.

On the women’s side, returning 2003 NCAA outdoor champions Becky Breisch and Ineta Radevica look to claim their first career indoor national crowns. Breisch won the women’s shot put in last season’s national outdoor meet, while Radevica won the triple jump. Radevica will also compete in the long jump and will try to improve on her fourth-place finish in the same event a year ago.

In the sprints, Priscilla Lopes, Oliver Williams Jr. and Dusty Stamer are all ranked in scoring positions entering the meet and will be key to the Huskers’ title run.

In the first year of the multi-events at the NCAA Indoor Championships, Ashley Selig and Chris Richardson are ranked sixth in the pentathlon and heptathlon, respectively. Sara Jane Baker will compete with Selig in the pentathlon.

Aaron Nasers and Dmitrijs Milkevics will pair up in the 800 meters as they compete against each other for only the third time this season. They both ran outstanding times last weekend, with Milkevics moving up to third on the national list and Nasers taking the No. 9 spot.

As in every meet this season, the Huskers are stacked in the women’s pole vault. Newcomers Jenny Green and Jessie Graff are tied for fourth in the NCAA this season and will try to clear the 14-feet mark for the first time in their careers. Christi Lehman isn’t far behind, making her second trip to the NCAA Indoor Championships. She has cleared 13-5 1/4 to rank ninth in the NCAA.

The Huskers will take two relay teams to the national meet for the first time in several years, including the men’s 4x400-meter relay and the women’s distance medley relay. The men’s 4x400 is ranked 10th going into the meet, while the DMR is ranked 12th.

Where to Find NCAA Results
The NCAA Indoor Championship results can be found live at Ladybacks.com under the Championships link. A full set of results and a recap will also be available on Huskers.com after each day of competition.

NU Men Catapult to Seventh in Rankings
The Nebraska women fell one spot in the current TrackWire Top 25 rankings, dropping to fourth place, while the Husker men took another significant jump in the rankings from 13th to seventh in the TrackWire Rankings released March 9. In the last two weeks the Nebraska men have improved from No. 19 to No. 7 in the rankings.

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 43 points in the national championship meet, which is 11 points behind LSU, 10 behind second-place Florida and two behind Texas. The Husker men have improved their projected points to 24 after solid showings in the Big 12 Championships and the last chance meets.

Husker Women Win Team Dual Title
The Nebraska women won the Team Power Rankings with a final score of 313.95 points, finishing ahead of Louisiana State (306.9) and Florida (299.22).

The men’s team finished fourth in the power rankings with 287.4 points, the best finish of any team in the Big 12 Conference. The Florida men captured the dual-meet title with 310.53 points, followed by Michigan (290.34) and Brigham Young (288.58).

The Team Power Ranking is a unique system of ranking teams on the basis of quality of athletic performance, team depth, and dual meet scoring potential. The system rates teams in the same fashion as a decathlete or heptathlete. Points are assigned for two athletes in each event contested in a dual meet and on the basis of the quality of performance. The top person in each event has his/her points doubled to adjust for the value of the number one performer on each team in a dual meet. The points for all events are then totaled for the ranking score.

A Look at the Field
Obviously the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships is filled with the best collegiate athletes in the country. The Huskers have already faced some of the toughest competition in the NCAA this season in the Frank Sevigne Husker Invitational as well as the Big 12 Championships.

For the second time in three weeks, Priscilla Lopes will face the top two 60-meter hurdlers in the nation this season. Texas’ Nichole Denby and Raasin McIntosh had the edge over Lopes at the Big 12 Championships, but Lopes is poised to make a run at the national crown.

The competition in the 60-meter dash isn’t any easier for Lopes, as she will contend with five-time NCAA Champion and 15-time All-American Muna Lee from Louisiana State.

Carl Myerscough will also face his greatest competitor from the 2003 indoor meet in Ohio State’s Dan Taylor. Taylor threw an incredible mark of 69-11 3/4 on his second toss in the first flight of the day last year. Waiting in the wings for the second flight, Myerscough knew he had a big task ahead of him, but came out in his NCAA meet record mark of 70-6 1/4 on his second attempt of the day.

Myerscough currently leads the nation with his Big 12 winning toss of 68-7 1/4. Taylor is right behind him in second with his season-best throw of 67-1 1/4.

The Husker women pole vaulters will have their work cut out for them, as UCLA’s Chelsea Johnson leads the nation this season with her jump of 14-8.

Ineta Radevica had an outstanding competition at the Big 12 meet with Texas’ Marshevet Hooker in the long jump. She will face her again this week, along with Renee Williams (UCLA) and Hyleas Fountain (Georgia). Radevica will also face off against Kansas State’s Chaytan Hill in the triple jump.

In the women’s shot put, Becky Breisch and Leann Boerema will take on reigning indoor national champion Laura Gerraughty from North Carolina. The two 2003 national champions were set to compete in the Frank Sevigne Husker Invitational, but due to injury Gerraughty was unable to make the trip. The Huskers will also face the girls from Florida for the second time this season, since the Gators competed in the Husker Invite.

Dusty Stamer picked up a new competitor in the 60-meter dash who happens to be his teammate. Oliver Williams Jr. came out of the wood work last weekend to take over the Huskers’ top time of the season and the fourth-best time in the NCAA this season with his 6.61 clocking at the Last Chance Qualifier.

Huskers Have Top Scoring Opportunities
The Huskers have 23 opportunities in 16 events to score at the NCAA Indoor Championships. The only team in the nation to have more opportunities to score is the University of Florida, which has 31.

The women have 14 chances to score in the meet in nine events, and the men have nine opportunities is seven events. There is also not another team besides Florida that has any more opportunities than Nebraska on either the men’s or women’s side.

While those numbers only represent the number of entries in the meet, you have to get there first, and then you have to perform. The Huskers have a large number of opportunities to do well in the meet and score big points towards a national title.

Williams Makes Most Out of Second Chance

Oliver Williams Jr. was ready to run a fast race in the 60-meter dash in the Big 12 Championships, but was called for a false start in the semifinals. Luckily the team didn’t need the points and Williams got his second chance at the Last Chance Qualifier.

The Central Islip, N.Y., native took full advantage of the last chance meet, clocking a time of 6.61 in the 60 to tie the previous Nebraska school record and automatically qualify for the NCAA Indoor Championships.

Williams’ time is tied for fourth in the NCAA this season, and he has teammate Dusty Stamer, who is tied for seventh, right behind him with a time of 6.65.

What Do Michigan and Latvia Have In Common?
Michigan and Latvia have proven to be hotbeds for outstanding track and field athletes for the University of Nebraska. The Huskers will be represented by four Michigan natives and four Latvians.

Those hailing from the Great Lakes state include Becky Breisch, Sara Jane Baker, Brad Teeple and Aaron Nasers.

Ineta Radevica, Dmitrijs Milkevics, Danute Ceika and Arturs Abolins have all come to the Cornhusker state from Latvia.

Boerema Gets NCAA Nod in Sixth Go Around
Sixth-year senior Leann Boerema has been given new life by the NCAA. Boerema was sitting at 17th on the NCAA descending order list with her season-best throw of 53-1 3/4 in the shot put, and the chances of making her final NCAA Indoor meet did not look promising.

But the NCAA came through and allowed 18 entries in the women’s shot put. The veteran will not let the opportunity go to waste.

Boerema finished 10th at the 2003 NCAA Indoor Championships and has competed in five NCAA meets in her career. She was granted an extension of her five-year clock after missing the 2002 season due to elbow surgery and the 1999 season because of a pinched nerve in her back.

The Clinton, Iowa, native is one of the leaders of this Husker team and her presence will be valuable in the national championship meet.

Women’s DMR Makes NCAA Debut
The Nebraska women’s distance medley relay will compete at the national championships for the first time in school history. The event was only added to the national meet in 1994, and the Huskers have never made the cut to compete in that event until this season.

The Husker men’s distance medley relay team won the title in 1996 to lead Nebraska to a second-place team finish.

The women’s team is made up of Maggi Escudero, Anne Shadle, Danute Ceika and Ann Gaffigan. The talented group set a Nebraska school-record time of 11:34.48 to take fourth place in the Big 12 Conference Championships. They diced more than 16 seconds off that time last weekend in the Alex Wilson Invitational to record their qualifying time of 11:17.91. That mark was the sixth best mark regardless of track size in Big 12 Conference history. Unfortunately the time will not stand as a new Nebraska record since it was run on an oversized track.

The Huskers are also the only Big 12 conference team with a women’s distance medley relay team in the national meet.

Ten Year Reunion
The Huskers have not taken a 4x400-meter relay team to the NCAA Indoor Championships since the 1994 season. In that season the Huskers finished eighth for All-America honors with a team made up of Mark Graham, Marlon Jones, Rod Marshall and Pat Trainor.

The 2004 version of the 4x400-relay team is made up of Danny Hill, Mark Harrison, Dmitrijs Milkevics and Andrew Pearson. The team took silver at the Big 12 Championships, and a week later clocked a time of 3:07.10 at the Last Chance Qualifier to get into the national championship meet.

The time would have been a new school record, but will not be counted due to the oversize track it was run on. The Huskers will try to make the third try a charm and record a new record as well as become the first team to earn All-America honors in 10 years.

Freshmen Phenoms
Six Nebraska freshmen will compete in the NCAA Indoor Championships this weekend in Fayetteville, Ark.

Angela Dies (long jump), Jenny Green (pole vault), Danute Ceika (DMR), Arturs Abolins (long jump), Dmitrijs Milkevics (800 meters, 4x400-meter relay) and Andrew Pearson (4x400-meter relay) will make an appearance at the national meet in their first season.

Green and Milkevics rank in the top four nationally in their events and will be key pieces to the NCAA puzzle for Nebraska.

If you count Priscilla Lopes, the Huskers have seven frosh competing in the national meet. Lopes was a partial qualifier last season and is technically a sophomore, but is on track to graduate in four years, giving her three more seasons of eligibility remaining.

Myerscough Eyes Record, Not Just Win
If there is one person on the Nebraska roster that could teach the rest something about winning a national title, it is Carl Myerscough. The Hambleton, England, native has won three national titles in his career, including the last two NCAA Indoor crowns in the shot put.

Myerscough has had his eyes set on the NCAA record in the men’s shot put since he came up just one centimeter short of the record in last year’s NCAA Championships.

The senior set the NCAA meet record with his throw of 70-6 1/4 last season and will aim for the bigger record this season.

Myerscough will have to get by Ohio State’s Dan Taylor first, however. Taylor proved to be stellar competition for Myerscough in last season’s meet and is ranked second behind him currently. Myerscough has a comfortable lead, however, with a six-inch advantage in season-best throws.

Pulling Double Duty
Priscilla Lopes, Ineta Radevica and Dmitrijs Milkevics will all compete in two events each at the NCAA Championships.

Lopes will compete in the 60-meter dash and the 60-meter hurdles for the Huskers. The Whitby, Ontario, native is ranked in scoring position in both events and has proven that she runs well under pressure, which should serve her well this weekend.

Radevica is the reigning NCAA outdoor triple jump champion and has been chosen by the TrackWire Dandy Dozen to win both titles in the long jump and triple jump at the NCAA Indoor Championships. Radevica has not claimed an indoor title in her career and this is her last opportunity to do so, although she has claimed four indoor All-America honors.

Milkevics is the only men’s 4x400-meter relay member to be entered in an individual event as well as the relay. Milkevics ranks third nationally in the 800 meters, and will play an important role in the 4x400.

When Is a Record Not a Record?
The Huskers clocked four record times last weekend and only one of them counted in the record books. Oliver Williams’ time of 6.61 in the 60 meters is the only standing time.

The women’s distance medley relay, the men’s 4x400-meter relay and Dmitrijs’ Milkevics’ time in the 800 are all null and void because they were run on oversized tracks.

The Huskers have one last chance to record a school best this weekend at the NCAA Championships.

Spring Into Outdoor Action
The NCAA Indoor Championships are a sign of one thing ... the beginning of the outdoor season. The Huskers will take no time off before hitting the track outdoors as the multi-event athletes will travel to College Station, Texas, next weekend, March 18-19, to compete in the Texas A&M Multis.

While the outdoor season is just on the horizon, it will not be quick in coming to a close. The Huskers will host their only outdoor meet of the season on April 17 when they play host to the Nebraska Quadrangular.

The Big Red will travel to the Big 12 Outdoor Championships in Norman, Okla., from April 29-May 1. Texas A&M will host the NCAA regional championships May 28-29, and Texas will play host to the NCAA Outdoor Championships to close the season June 9-12.

Freshmen Long Jumpers Procrastinate
Arturs Abolins and Angela Dies have learned the art of procrastination early in their careers. Neither one of them even had an NCAA provisional-qualifying mark in the long jump going into the Last Chance Qualifier, and yet each of them escaped the meet with a ticket to the NCAA Indoor Championships.

While Abolins won the men’s Big 12 title in the long jump, he only leaped 24-9 to win it. The Riga, Latvia, native jumped a stellar 25-6 1/4 in the Last Chance Qualifier to set the eighth-best mark in the NCAA this season.

Dies has had a solid mentor this season in Ineta Radevica, but she didn’t quite master how to get the national-qualifying mark out of the way. The Heidelberg, Germany, native took sixth place in the conference championship with her leap of 19-10 1/4.

The next week Dies won the Last Chance Qualifier with a mark of 20-7, which ranks 13th in the NCAA this season and earned her a trip to Fayetteville to compete in the national meet as a freshman.

Green, Pepin Honored by Big 12
Jenny Green was named the Big 12 Indoor Freshman of the Year, while Head Coach Gary Pepin garnered the Men’s and Women’s Coach-of-the-Year honors for the Nebraska track and field team.

Green has been stellar in her first indoor season as a Husker pole vaulter. Green took no time resetting the Big 12 Conference and Nebraska school records, clearing a height of 13-9 1/4 in her first meet of the season on Jan. 10 at the Pole Vault Summit in Reno, Nev. Her mark crushed the previous conference and school records by 5 1/2 inches.

The Grand Island, Neb., native didn’t stop with that record, as she cleared 13-7 1/4 to win the Tiger Classic in the fourth week of the season to set a new Hearnes Field House record at Missouri.

Green’s biggest accomplishment this season, however, was winning the Big 12 Conference title in the pole vault, once again clearing 13-9 1/4 to set new Bob Devaney Sports Center and Big 12 Conference meet records.

Pepin, in his 24th season overall and his 21st as the head coach for both the women and men’s track teams, led the Nebraska men to their seventh Big 12 Conference Indoor title (1997-98, 2000-04) and the women’s team to their fourth Big 12 indoor crown last weekend.

The Pittsburgh, Kan., native has been selected as the Big 12 Indoor Coach of the Year 11 times (six for the men and five for the women) over the past eight years. His selection as both the men’s and women’s indoor coach of the year this season marks the fourth time he has won both honors in the same year.

Pepin has guided his teams to 59 indoor and outdoor titles in 24 seasons dating back to the Big Eight Conference, which makes him the all-time winningest track and field coach in the history of the Big 12 Conference and the former Big Eight Conference.

From the World Championship to the NCAAs
Three-time NCAA shot put champion Carl Myerscough took a seventh-place finish last Sunday in the 2004 IAAF Indoor World Championships with a throw of 67-2 in Budapest, Hungary.

Competing for Great Britain, Myerscough improved on every throw of the finals, with the exception of fouls on his second and fifth attempts.

Former Big 12 rival Christian Cantwell won the World Championship title with a toss of 70-6 ? for the United States.

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, because she had just begun 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 Anne Shadle (1,000 meters), 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), Arturs 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).

Lopes Among Big 12’s 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 in the event.

Lopes also ran a time of 7.28 in the 60-meter dash finals, which was good for the second-best time in school history behind only Merlene Ottey’s time of 7.24, 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.

The Whitby, Ontario, native will get the chance to square off against both Denby and McIntosh this weekend at the NCAA Championships.

If times fall as fast as they did between the three at the conference meet, the NCAA 60-meter hurdle record of 7.90 is not safe.

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 and Milkevics Go Head-to-Head
Sophomore Aaron Nasers and freshman Dmitrijs Milkevics will face off for only the third time this season at the NCAA Championships in the 800 meters. While Nasers holds the school record, Milkevics has won both times the two have gone head-to-head.

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 improved his time to 1:48.10 last weekend at the Last Chance Qualifier to rank ninth in the NCAA and automatically qualify for the NCAA Championships. His 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 cruised to a time of 1:47.09 in the 800 meters at the Last Chance Qualifier to take the third spot in the NCAA this season and automatically qualify for the national meet. Unfortunately it was not good for a new school record because it was run on an oversized track.

He did, however, 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.

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. In the process, Vice also provisionally qualified for the NCAA Championships with a mark that is currently tied for 12th in the nation. She is making her second appearance at the 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.

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 16th 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.

Baker slipped in as the final competitor allowed in the women’s pentathlon and will compete next to teammate Ashley Selig in the first national championship of her career.

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 is tied for the seventh-best time in the NCAA in 2004.

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.

Pearson is one of six freshmen to make the NCAA squad for the Huskers as a member of the men’s 4x400-meter relay team.

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 eight school records go down this season. Oliver Williams Jr. was the latest to join the trend with his school-record tying run of 6.61 in the 60-meter dash in the semifinals of the Last Chance Qualifier last weekend.

Ineta Radevica set the 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 with an 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.

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 Arturs Wszelaki (javelin) in addition to the four national champions.