Huskers Head West to Jim Click Shoot-Out

Lincoln -- A large contingent of Nebraska track and field athletes will head to Tucson, Ariz., this weekend to compete in the Jim Click Shoot-out at the University of Arizona. The Huskers will face athletes from Arizona, Oregon, Kansas State, Cal State at Northridge, and California State at Los Angeles.

Nearly 70 Husker athletes will make the trip this week after a few returned from College Station, Texas, last weekend and most athletes took the week off.

The meet will begin at noon central time with the women’s hammer throw and will move quickly, as the last event is slated to begin at 4:20 p.m. with the men’s 4x400-meter relay.

The Huskers are coming off a trip to College Station, Texas, where a small group of athletes competed in the Texas A&M Multis and the Texas A&M Relays. The meet was highlighted by nine NCAA Regional-qualifying performances and two nation-leading marks by junior Becky Breisch.

Breisch won titles in the shot put (56-3 1/4) and the discus (191-6), while the javelin throwers had a tremendous opening week of competition.

All-American Artur Wszelaki threw the javelin 226-9 to take fourth place, ahead of teammate Colin Damas, who finished ninth with a throw of 208-6. Freshman Kayla Wilkinson captured a fourth-place finish as well with a toss of 147-8, as all three qualified for the NCAA Regional Championships in May.

Breisch Named USTCA National Athlete of the Week
Junior Becky Breisch was honored by the United States Track Coaches Association as the Mondo Athlete of the Week along with Pennsylvania’s Brian Chaput. After winning silver in the shot put at the NCAA Indoor Championships a week ago, Breisch opened the outdoor season with nation-leading performances in the shot put and the discus at the College Station Relays last Saturday.

Breisch won the shot put to open the day with a toss of 56-3 ? and followed that up with a throw of 191-6 in the discus to win dual titles in the meet and set the national standard in each. She also set two of Nebraska’s nine NCAA Regional-qualifying marks on the weekend.

Breisch was named the Mondo Midwest Regional Co-Athlete of the Year in 2003 along with teammate Ineta Radevica. Breisch won the 2003 NCAA Outdoor title in the shot put and claimed bronze in the discus.

Texas Relays Next Big Test for the Huskers
The NU track and field team will split up next week for the Texas Relays in Austin, Texas, while another group will compete in the Emporia State Relays in Emporia, Kan.

The 77th annual Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays will begin at noon on Wednesday, March 31, and run through Saturday afternoon.

In the 2003 Texas Relays, Becky Breisch set a new school record in the discus throw with an outstanding toss of 192-7. Several other Huskers had key performances in the Texas Relays last season, and Nebraska will try to utilize its only time on the Texas track before returning to Austin for the NCAA Outdoor Championships, June 9-12.

Huskers Knock Down Nine Regional Qualifiers
The NCAA will embark on its second year of hosting regional championships during the outdoor season in order to advance athletes to the NCAA Championship meet in 2004. The process of qualifying for the outdoor championships is much different than the indoor championships, and nine Husker athletes have already punched their tickets to the Midwest Regional Championships in College Station, Texas, May 28-29.

The one-year old regional system requires athletes in all events other than the 10,000-meter run and the multi-events qualify for the regional meet. The top three athletes in each event at the regional will automatically advance to the NCAA Championships, and the rest of the field will be determined based on the descending order list. Instead of reaching for provisional and automatic qualifying marks like during the indoor season, athletes only have to hit the regional-qualifying mark once during the outdoor season to make the regional team.

Becky Breisch led the regional qualifiers for the Huskers at the Texas A&M Relays. Breisch qualified in both the discus and the shot put and claimed the top spot on the national descending order list in both events.

All three javelin throwers qualified for the regional championships in their first try, including Artur Wszelaki (226-9) and Colin Damas (208-6) on the men’s side, while Kayla Wilkinson qualified for the women’s javelin throw with a mark of 147-8.

Leann Boerema and Jennifer Steiner both joined Breisch on the shot put qualifier list. Alissa Koerner was the first Husker to claim a spot on the pole vault list, clearing 12-3 1/2 to qualify for the regional.

Newcomer Issar Yahzbin also got his qualifying mark out of the way in the hammer throw with a toss of 200-4 to punch his ticket.

Reviewing the Competition
The Huskers will see great competition from the West Coast this weekend with teams representing Oregon, Arizona, Cal State-Los Angeles, and Cal State-Northridge, as well as Big 12 foe Kansas State.

Ineta Radevica and Angela Dies will face Arizona’s Sharifa Jones, who took 11th place in the women’s long jump at the NCAA Indoor Championships. Priscilla Lopes will also see Jones, as the Wildcat took ninth place in the 60-meter hurdles at the national meet, just shy of making the finals.

Radevica will also see Kansas State’s Chaytan Hill, who won silver at the national meet behind Radevica in the triple jump.

The Husker women’s pole vaulting crew will take on Arizona’s Connie Jerz, who tied NU freshman Jenny Green for third place in the NCAA Indoor Championship.

Senior pole vaulters Eric Eshbach and Brad Teeple will face Oregon’s Tommy Skipper, who won silver at the NCAA Indoor Championships. Skipper cleared 18-4 1/2 to take second place behind Washington’s Brad Walker. Eshbach is the reigning NCAA outdoor national champion in the pole vault, but did not clear a height in his first meet of the season at the College Station Relays.

The Husker men’s 4x400-meter relay team will also see Oregon for the second time this season, with the first time coming at the national meet.

Husker middle-distance runners Aaron Nasers and Dmitrijs Milkevics could see Kansas State’s Christian Smith once again, who won silver in the 800-meter run at the NCAA Championships.

The men’s and women’s high jumpers could also see strong competition from the Wildcats this weekend.

Husker Women Take Home Best National Finish in 20 Years
Behind the efforts of national champions Priscilla Lopes and Ineta Radevica, the Nebraska women took third place in the 2004 NCAA Indoor Championships, marking the best finish since the Huskers won the title in 1984.

The women came within 6.5 points of winning their first national championship since the 1984 season. En route to the third-place finish, the Huskers claimed two individual titles, one silver and two bronzes.

Out of the 15 Husker women that traveled to the NCAA Indoor Championships, 10 claimed All-America honors, and seven scored in the meet.

The men tied for 19th place with 13 points in the national meet. Carl Myerscough led the way with a second-place finish in the shot put with a toss of 66-3, while four other Huskers claimed All-America status.

Lopes, Radevica Claim NCAA Titles
Sophomore Priscilla Lopes and senior Ineta Radevica brought home the gold at the NCAA Indoor Championships. Lopes won her first career title in the 60-meter hurdles with her time of 7.96 to dominate the field. The Whitby, Ontario, native took the top spot after the preliminaries with her time of 8.03, and dropped that time significantly to win the national title. Lopes also took eighth place in the 60-meter dash in 7.45 for her second All-America honor in as many days.

Radevica claimed her first-career indoor title in the triple jump with a leap of 44-10 3/4 on the second day of competition. Radevica was disappointed in her third-place showing in the long jump in day one of the national meet, but came back with a vengeance, leaping to her winning mark on the first attempt of the day in the triple jump.

All-America Honors Galore
The Huskers claimed 14 All-America honors between the men’s and women’s teams at the 2004 NCAA Indoor Championships. The Nebraska women claimed 10 honors, which was the most since the 1996 season when the 4x400-meter relay team finished eighth and claimed four honors alone.

The NU men earned four All-America honors, which is the most in an indoor season since the Huskers claimed six during the 2000 campaign.

The women’s All-Americans included Becky Breisch (Shot Put-2nd), Angela Dies (Long Jump-7th), Jenny Green (Pole Vault-3rd), Christi Lehman (Pole Vault-t9th/8th American), Priscilla Lopes (60m Dash-8th; 60m Hurdles-1st), Ineta Radevica (Long Jump-3rd; Triple Jump-1st); Ashley Selig (Pentathlon-7th), and Na’Tassia Vice (High Jump-8th).

The Husker men earning All-American status included Dmitrijs Milkevics (800m Run-6th); Carl Myerscough (Shot Put-2nd), Aaron Nasers (800m Run-9th/5th American), and Brad Teeple (Pole Vault-8th).

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.