Huskers Set to Compete in Drake Relays

The Nebraska track and field team will send a small group of athletes to the Drake Relays in Des Moines, Iowa, while some will compete at Nebraska Wesleyan on Friday night in preparation for the Big 12 Outdoor Championships April 29-May 1 in Norman, Okla.

The Huskers put on a strong performance in their only home meet of the outdoor season last weekend at the Nebraska Quadrangular. Nebraska claimed 22 wins in 38 events in the meet and notched 29 regional-qualifying performances.

The Drake Relays open at 1:30 p.m. on Thursday with the Olympic Preview 100-meter hurdles. The meet begins at 8 a.m. on Friday and Saturday and is scheduled to conclude by 6 p.m. each day.

Priscilla Lopes will compete in the special section of the women’s 100-meter hurdles. All of the NU women’s pole vaulters will compete at the Drake Relays, while four of the women’s throwers, including Becky Breisch and Leann Boerema, will make the trip to Des Moines. On the men’s side, NU will take a 4x400-meter relay team as well as a shuttle hurdle relay team. Aaron Nasers will run the 800 meters and Brad Teeple and Gable Baldwin will compete in the pole vault.The Nebraska Wesleyan Twilight begins at 3 p.m. on Friday afternoon with the throwing events. Running events get underway at 5 p.m. with the 3,000-meter steeplechase and are scheduled to conclude at 9:15 p.m. with the men’s 4x400-meter relay. Several athletes will compete in the meet in one last attempt to make the Huskers’ conference teams.

Nebraska will travel to Norman, Okla., to compete in the Big 12 Outdoor Championships the following weekend.

Nebraska Soars in Only Home Meet

The Huskers had a solid showing up and down the roster last Saturday in the Nebraska Quadrangular at Ed Weir Stadium.

Eric Eshbach and Becky Breisch highlighted the day with phenomenal performances in the pole vault and discus and shot put, respectively. Both set school and stadium records and recorded "A" qualifying standards for the U.S. Olympic Trials.

Eshbach cleared 18-8 1/4 to win the men’s pole vault, while Breisch threw an astounding 204-7 to claim the win in the discus.

Carl Myerscough competed in his first meet of the outdoor season, winning both the shot put (67-10 3/4) and the discus (203-4). With his toss in the shot, he took over the top spot in the NCAA this season.

Jessie Graff led a 1-2-3 NU finish in the women’s pole vault, as she cleared 13-8 1/4 to take the victory. Senior Na’Tassia Vice had her biggest meet of the season, clearing 6-0 to win the high jump. That jump marked the first time this season Vice has reached the NCAA Regional Qualifying standard.

Overall, Nebraska claimed 22 event victories and 29 regional-qualifying performances.

Husker Men Move Up One Spot in Rankings

The Nebraska men regained a sixth-place ranking in the most recent TrackWire Rankings released Tuesday, April 20. The Husker women remained ranked fourth for the third week the rankings have been released for the outdoor season.

After claiming the 2003 outdoor and the 2004 indoor national titles, Louisiana State has claimed the top spot in the women’s polls. UCLA and Texas are second and third, respectively, ahead of Nebraska in the women’s poll. Arkansas took the lead in the men’s rankings after Louisiana State held the top spot last week.

The Husker women retained their lead in the Team Power Rankings, ranking first by more than six points. They are followed by South Carolina and Brigham Young, respectively. The men improved from eighth to sixth in the most recent Team Power Rankings. Louisiana State leads the men’s rankings, followed by Wisconsin and Arizona State.

Gaffigan Named Nebraska Student-Athlete of the Year

Ann Gaffigan was honored at the 2004 Student-Athlete Banquet on Sunday when she was named the Nebraska Female Student-Athlete of the Year.

Gaffigan competes for both the cross country and track teams, and carries a 3.88 GPA in computer science as a member of the J.D. Edwards Honors Program.

A three-time academic All-Big 12 selection, she has claimed a spot on the Big 12 Commissioner’s Honor Roll five times as well as being named to the NCAA Division I Track Coaches Association All-Academic Team in 2003. She has been recognized as a WICCCA Academic All-American in 2001, 2002 and 2003.

During the 2004 indoor season, Gaffigan earned her first trip to the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships. She ran the 1,600-meter leg on the Husker distance medley relay squad that broke the Nebraska school record with a time of 11:34.38, and scored in three events for NU at the 2004 Big 12 Indoor Championships.

During the cross country season, Gaffigan led the Huskers to an NCAA Midwest Championship with her second-place finish to garner All-Midwest Region honors. A four-time All-Midwest Region selection, she led Nebraska to a 30th-place finish at the NCAA Cross Country Championships in 2003 - the Huskers’ first trip to nationals since 1999. Gaffigan is the fifth track athlete to earn the honor, but only the second in the last eight years. Janet Dutton won the award in 2000.

Gaffigan, Shadle Look Strong at Mt. SAC

Ann Gaffigan and Anne Shadle were the only two Huskers who traveled to the Mt. SAC Relays last weekend in Walnut, Calif., and both made the most out of the trip.

The pair finished second and third in the women’s 3,000-meter steeplechase. Gaffigan set a Nebraska school record with her second-place time of 10:24.68. Shadle won bronze in 10:34.52.

Gaffigan also led the way in the 1,500-meter run, clocking an NCAA Regional-qualifying time of 4:28.92 to finish 30th overall. Shadle crossed the line in 4:32.80 to finish 48th.

Stamer Blazing in 100 Meters

After an extremely successful indoor season, Dusty Stamer has wasted no time getting comfortable on the outdoor track as well. In the first meet of the outdoor season, Stamer clocked a time of 10.37 at the Jim Click Shoot-Out in Tucson, Ariz.

The Grand Island, Neb., native shaved nearly a tenth of a second off of that time last weekend at the Nebraska Quadrangular when he ran a time of 10.28 to move up to the fourth spot on the all-time NU charts. Stamer also ran the anchor of the men’s 4x100-meter relay team that set a season-best time of 39.93 on Saturday.

Shuttle-Hurdle Relay Team Makes Debut

One of the strengths of the 2004 Nebraska track and field team has been its depth in the hurdles. Now the Huskers will try to prove the quality of that depth is outstanding as well at the Drake Relays.

Nenad Loncar, Courtney Jones, Richard Davidson Jr. and Aaron Ross will run the 4x110-meter shuttle hurdle relay for the first time this season.

The Husker squad that competed at the 2003 Drake Relays set the school record in a time of 56.32. Andy Nelson and former All-American hurdler David Davis Jr. were members of that team as well as Loncar and Jones.

Big 12 Championships Up Next

The Big 12 Outdoor Championships were moved up by two weeks this season in order to accommodate each school’s final exam schedule. The Huskers travel to Norman, Okla., to try to finish the sweep of the 2004 titles next weekend, April 29-May 1.

The Nebraska men and women claimed team titles at the indoor conference meet for the first time since the 2001 season. If the Huskers could take home all four trophies during the 2004 season, it would be the first time since 2000 that they have accomplished such a feat and only the second time in Big 12 history that one university has claimed all four titles.

Back in Action

Defending national champion Carl Myerscough competed for the first time during the 2004 outdoor season last weekend at the Nebraska Quadrangular. Myerscough won both the shot put and the discus in that meet.

It took no time for Myerscough to reclaim the NCAA lead in the shot put, with a toss of 67-10 3/4. The Hambleton, England, native finished second in the indoor national championships to Dan Taylor.

Myerscough also won the discus with a throw of 203-4 at the Nebraska Quadrangular.

Huskers Claim Big 12 Athlete of the Week Honors

Eric Eshbach and Becky Breisch earned Big 12 Athlete of the Week honors for the second time during the outdoor track and field season for their outstanding performances Saturday, April 17, at the Nebraska Quadrangular.

Eshbach set the second-best mark in the world this year in the men’s pole vault in his final home meet as a Husker. Eshbach cleared 18-8 1/4 on his second attempt at that height. He was perfect on the day at every other height he attempted.

The mark broke the Nebraska and Ed Weir Track Stadium records and met the automatic qualifying standard for the U.S. Olympic Trials. Eshbach won the meet when he cleared 18-1, and decided to move the bar to 18-8 1/4. After clearing that bar, he decided to call it a day and go out on a positive note.

The defending NCAA outdoor champion now leads the NCAA field by three and 3/4 inches. He was also honored as the athlete of the week on April 5 after winning the Texas Relays with a then-school record leap of 18-4 ?.

Breisch continued her unbelievable streak in the discus ring again at the Nebraska Quadrangular. Breisch set Nebraska, Big 12 and Ed Weir Track Stadium records in the discus with her throw of 204-7.

The junior also had a mark of 199-10 on her third throw of the day which would have broken each of those records as well. Breisch automatically qualified for the U.S. Olympic Trials and holds the fourth-best mark in the world this year. Her winning throw of 204-7 would have also won the men’s section of the discus throw at the Nebraska Quadrangular and would rank third on the men’s NCAA descending order list.

The Edwardsburg, Mich., native now leads the nation by 14 feet and five inches. Breisch also won gold in the shot put with her throw of 56-10 1/4.

Track Manager Competes in Boston Marathon

Sophomore Dusty Hanson has served as a manager for the cross country team as well as working with the distance squad on the track and field team. He got his chance to run one of the biggest meets of all on Monday when he competed in the 108th annual Boston Marathon.

Hanson ran a fantastic race, completing the 26-mile course in 3:38.39. He finished 2,627th overall among 17,950 competitors who started the race.

He also was 1,441st among the 4,294 men between the ages of 18 and 39 who began the race.