<?xml:namespace prefix="st1" ns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"?>Norman, Okla. ? Freshman Issar Yahzbin claimed the Nebraska track and field team’s first individual Big 12 Outdoor title in the men’s hammer throw Thursday in the opening day of the Big 12 Championships in Norman, Okla.<?xml:namespace prefix="o" ns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"?>
Yahzbin won the hammer throw with a personal-best toss of 203-8 to set the third-best mark in Nebraska school history. The Yavne, Israel, native actually won the competition on his first and second throws of the finals after coming into the finals in second place.
“Obviously it is pretty good,” Yahzbin said. “I was hoping to win and the weather was good today. It was good conditions and the field was very nice. I just tried to do my best. My 62-meter throw was obviously a personal best for me. I still feel like I can do better and throw at least one meter better than that.”
Tommy Donlin finished one spot shy of scoring in the men’s hammer throw, with a ninth-place showing and a toss of 177-9.
Senior Tia DeSoto took sixth place in the women’s hammer throw, tossing it 178-2 on her first attempt of the finals. Jamie Senkbile finished 11th, despite setting two personal-best marks. Senkbile’s throw of 169-6 on her second throw put her in 11th place.
Freshman Kayla Wilkinson made a solid comeback effort in the javelin throw to finish seventh with a throw of 144-3 on her final attempt of the competition.
The Nebraska men are in third place after day one with 10 points, behind Kansas State (24) and Oklahoma State (14). The women are in eighth place with five points. Texas A&M leads the women’s race with 40 points through three events, followed by Colorado (18) in second place and Missouri (16) in third.
After the first four events of the women’s heptathlon, Sara Jane Baker is leading the way for the Huskers in fifth place with 3,123 points. Ashley Selig is in sixth place after day one with 3,050 points. Casie Witte is eighth after tallying 2,841 points.
Selig was in fourth place after the 100-meter hurdles, running a time of 14.48 to open the day. Baker improved to third place after clearing 5-9 ? in the high jump. Selig cleared 5-5 ?, while Witte cleared 5-4 ?.
Baker moved into fifth place to wrap up the day after running a time of 25.64 in the 200-meter dash to finish third among the heptathletes. Selig finished sixth in the 200 meters in 26.18.
Chris Richardson led the Huskers through the first day of the men’s decathlon, taking third place with 3,677 points. Kyle Goerl is seventh with 3,464 points after completing the first five events. Richardson and Goerl went 1-2 in the final event of the day, running times of 50.23 and 50.34 in the 400-meter run, respectively.
Goerl started off the day in sixth place with an 11.29 clocking in the 100-meter run after having to rerun the race when the officials started the race at the wrong line and started the race about a 10 meter short.
Richardson had a good day in the long jump, leaping a season-best 22-7 ?. He also threw a mark of 40-2 ? in the shot put.
The Huskers will wrap up the multi-events on Friday at the Big 12 Championships. All running events will be preliminary, while six field events will become final and scored for the meet. Ineta Radevica will compete in the long jump, while Becky Breisch will compete in the discus. On the men’s side, Eric Eshbach will compete in the pole vault and Carl Myerscough will try to win the shot put. Action gets underway at 10 a.m. and is scheduled to conclude at 7:40 p.m.