Breisch Provides Bright Spot at Texas Relays

Austin, Texas ? Junior Becky Breisch picked up her second consecutive Texas Relays title in the discus throw on a rainy and dreary Friday afternoon for the Nebraska track and field team in Austin, Texas.

Breisch nearly missed making the finals, as she was in 10th place going into her final throw of the preliminaries before launching a throw of 176-4 to qualify for the finals. She tossed her winning throw of 185-4 on her second attempt in the finals to clinch the win.

"I was happy with the way I threw, especially in the conditions we were throwing in," Breisch said. "The competition was really good and it is always good to get a win here."

Junior Nenad Loncar ran one of his best hurdle races of the season, crossing the line in 13.90 to win the first heat of the 110-meter hurdles and finish fourth overall in the preliminaries to qualify for the finals on Saturday.

Sophomore Courtney Jones also qualified for the finals in the high hurdles, winning the sixth heat and finishing eighth in the preliminaries with a wind-aided time of 14.05. Richard Davidson Jr. tied for 15th overall with his time of 14.34 and Aaron Ross turned in a time of 14.82.

Junior Dusty Stamer took second place behind Oklahoma’s DaBryan Blanton in the sixth heat of the 100-meter dash in a time of 10.48 to qualify for the finals of the event. Shelldon Simpson was fourth in his heat in 10.77, while Oliver Williams Jr. turned in a time of 10.64. Simpson and Williams failed to qualify for the finals, as the 100-meter dash went off in a steady downpour of rain.

The Nebraska men’s 4x100-meter relay team opened the day for the Huskers in the first heat with an early 9:30 a.m start, and got off to a sluggish start, clocking a time of 40.55. The relay team did not make the finals of the event, but will compete in the consolation race just following the final on Saturday.

The 4x400-meter relay team had a much better day, winning the third heat in an NCAA regional-qualifying time of 3:09.42 and qualifying for the finals on Saturday. Redshirt freshman Dmitrijs Milkevics sealed the win with his solid 400-meter split time of 46.7, to take control of the lead on the final leg of the relay.

The men's sprint-medley relay team took an 11th-place finish with a time of 3:21.85 in the last event of the evening for the Huskers.

The women’s 4x400-relay team did not fair as well as the men, finishing fourth in the first heat of the event with a time of 3:46.86.

After finishing fifth in the heptathlon on Friday, sophomore Sara Jane Baker tied for 11th place in the B section of the women’s high jump, clearing 5-6 on her second attempt of the day, before missing all three tries at 5-8. Senior Na’Tassia Vice also cleared 5-6 on her second attempt, but tied for 12th place in the A section of the women’s high jump.

Authea Chambers picked up a third-place finish in the B section of the women’s triple jump with her leap of 40-8 ? on her second attempt of the day before passing on her final three chances. Jason Thompson did not register a legal jump in the men’s B section of the triple jump.

The Huskers struggled in the long jump, during the hardest rain of the day, as Angela Dies failed to set a legal mark and Arturs Abolins finished in 17th place with a mark of 22-1 on his first leap of the meet.

Several Huskers will compete on the final day of the Texas Relays on Saturday, while several others will travel to Emporia, Kan., to compete in the Emporia State Relays.