Huskers Look Strong on Day One of the NCAA Midwest Regional

College Station, Texas ? The Nebraska track and field team crowned two champions, qualified 12 athletes for the finals of their respective events and earned six automatic qualifying marks for the NCAA Outdoor Championships on the opening day of the NCAA Midwest Regional Friday in College Station, Texas.

 

In the team race, the Nebraska women hold the lead with 35.5 points, ahead of Colorado State with 26. The NU men are in second with 19.25 points and are trailing SMU (32.75).

 

“I thought it was a good first day,” coach Gary Pepin said. “We lost a couple of people in a couple of events we hoped would move on, but overall most of the people we expected to advance to the finals did.”

 

Junior Becky Breisch came out blazing in the discus, recording a school record, Midwest Regional record as well as a personal record mark of 207-1 to win the event by more than 26 feet. Breisch unleashed a throw of 205-1 on her second attempt of the day, which rivaled her best throw of the season. On her final attempt of the evening she uncorked her winning mark of 207-1. Jen Steiner finished 14th in the event with a throw of 159-10.

 

“It was very important for me to do well in this meet,” Breisch said. “It was a good stepping stone. It feels good, but I still have to keep it in perspective. I’m hoping to get another solid performance in the shot put tomorrow.”

 

Carl Myerscough threw identical marks on his first and second throws of the shot put with tosses of 66-9 3/4, to win the regional meet by nearly three feet. All four of his legal throws would have won the meet, with his worse throw of 64-11 ? leading the competition by nearly a foot.

 

Jessie Graff and Jenny Green went 2-3 in the women’s pole vault to clinch automatic bids to the national meet. Graff won silver, with an outstanding day of competition, clearing 13-5 ? before taking three misses at the next height. Green won bronze, clearing 13-1 ?. Alissa Koerner finished eighth with a height of 12-10 after not clearing a height in a jump-off for seventh place, while Christi Lehman cleared 12-4 to finish 17th.

 

Ineta Radevica was defeated for the first time in her career at a post-season meet outside of the NCAA Championships as a Husker, winning silver in the long jump with a season-best leap of 21-8. Baylor’s April Holliness won the meet, leaping a stellar 21-10 ?. Authea Chamber finished seventh with a mark of 20-9 ? that was wind-aided. Angela Die was 13th at 19-11 ?. Arturs Abolins punched his ticket to the NCAA meet in the men’s long jump, leaping 25-6 for a fourth-place showing.

 

Dmitrijs Milkevics ran a solid race in the 800 meters, holding off a competitor from SMU, to clock the best time of the preliminaries with a time of 1:48.89 to earn a trip to Saturday’s final. Aaron Nasers struggled in the second heat, getting forced to the back of the pack to set a time of 1:51.80 for a 12th-place finish. Danute Ceika qualified for the finals of the women’s 800 meters, cruising to a fifth-place finish in a personal-best time of 2:09.99.

 

Priscilla Lopes broke 13 seconds in the 100-meter hurdles for the first time in her career, crossing the line in 12.91 to win the first heat and qualify automatically for Saturday’s final. Lopes’ time surpassed the Olympic “A” Standard and was second on the day only to Texas’ Raassin McIntosh’s time by a thousandth of a second. Both Lopes’ and McIntosh’s 12.91 clockings became NCAA Midwest Regional records.

 

“It was a great mark for Becky, and we felt like she could win and she did,” Pepin said. “Priscilla got off to a good start and Ineta had a good series in the long jump. We had a lot of strong performances today.”

 

Lopes also qualified for the finals of the 100-meter dash in a very strong field, running a time of 11.44 to claim the ninth and last spot in the finals.

 

Dusty Stamer and Oliver Williams Jr. both posted career-best times in the men’s 100-meter dash to qualify for the final round. Stamer clocked a time of 10.27 to finish second in his heat and third overall, while Williams turned in a time of 10.40 to finish seventh overall in the preliminaries. Williams also took a 12th-place finish in the preliminaries of the 200 meters, with a time of 21.03. Nate Probasco finished just ahead of him in 11th place with a 20.96 clocking.

 

The men’s 110-meter hurdles turned out to be a day of heartbreak, as Nenad Loncar won the preliminaries, but teammate Richard Davidson Jr. and Courtney Jones missed making the finals by one and two spots. Loncar posted the fastest time of the day, with a time of 13.80 to qualify for the finals. Davidson finished in 14.19 for 10th place, one place shy of going to the finals, and Jones clocked a time of 14.22 to finish 11th on the day.

 

Freshman Issar Yazhbin fell one place short of claiming an automatic bid to the NCAA Championships, throwing a mark of 202-3 in the hammer throw to finish sixth. Yazhbin will await word from the NCAA on Sunday for an at-large bid.

 

Danny Hill and Andy Nelson ran identical times of 51.75 in separate heats of the 400-meter hurdles to qualify seventh and eighth for the finals. Maggi Escudero ran to an eighth-place finish in the prelims of the women’s 400-meter hurdles with a time of 1:01.28.

 

Travis Baker had the best day of the four Husker high jumpers, clearing 7-1 to tie for 10th place. Kyle Odvody, Yoav Shuster and Aaron Plas all failed to clear a bar at the opening height of 6-9.

 

Tia DeSoto opened the meet, throwing 175-3 in the hammer throw on her second attempt of the day to finish 13th.

 

The  women’s 4x100-meter relay team struggled with their first hand-off, after failing to make the handoff at the Big 12 Championships, running a time of 45.71 to finish 13th. The men’s 4x100-meter relay will not run until Saturday. Since there are only nine teams entered they will only run a final.

 

The Huskers will wrap up the NCAA Midwest Regional Championship Saturday beginning at noon with field events and conclude at 9 p.m. with the men’s 4x400-meter relay.