Selig Steals Show at Husker Invitational

Junior Ashley Selig helped the Nebraska track and field team kick off the 30th annual Frank Sevigne Husker Invitational in style Friday. Husker athletes, including Selig, set or improved upon two NCAA automatic- and three provisional-qualifying marks at the Bob Devaney Sports Center Track.

Selig, a two-time NCAA All-American last year in the indoor pentathlon and outdoor heptathlon, shattered her previous personal record in the women’s pentathlon when she collected 4,171 points to win the event. The total eclipsed the automatic-qualifying standard and broke the meet record of 4,026 set in 2004 by Michelle Moran. Her score also places her No. 1 on this year’s NCAA performance list, comfortably ahead of Miami’s (Fla.) Amber Williams (4,088), while she now ranks 11th overall on the world charts. The high jump and shot put events made the day memorable for Selig, as she set respective personal-best marks of 5-7 ? and 38-5.

Junior Sara Jane Baker also performed well in the pentathlon, setting a season-best score of 3,843 to finish second. Baker’s best effort came in the 800-meter run, which she won with a career-best time of 2:13.98 to end her evening. After barely missing out on All-America honors in the heptathlon at last year’s NCAA Outdoor meet, Baker now sits at 10th in the NCAA for the pentathlon.

“Ashley and Sara did really well in the pentathlon,” Head Coach Gary Pepin said. “Ashley showed her potential today. Sara really didn’t do well in her two jumping events, but it was still a good performance overall by her.”

Sophomore Priscilla Lopes continued her dominance of the women’s 60-meter hurdles by improving her automatic-qualifying mark to 8.09 in winning her preliminary heat. The time moved her from No. 16 up to No. 8 on the world rankings, while creating even more of a cushion among the college ranks for the NCAA’s No. 1-ranked hurdler. The 2004 NCAA champion also lowered her provisional-qualifying time in the 60-meter dash to 7.37. She will compete in both events’ rounds of semifinals tomorrow.

The men’s heptathlon competition, which will conclude Saturday afternoon, was highlighted by Husker junior Jesse Colburn. Colburn currently sits in third place, and first amongst collegiate athletes, with 2,884 points. His total ranks ahead of former NU All-Americans Chris Richardson and Casey Thom, who place fourth and fifth.

Events with final-round action completed on Friday included the women’s long jump, which was won by junior Kwonya Ferguson with a leap of 19-9 ?. Ferguson’s jump smashed her previous best of 19-0. Sophomore Arturs Abolins improved his provisional-qualifying mark by one inch to 24-11 while claiming the men’s long jump title.

Senior Paul Wilson finished the evening’s action with a rout of the men’s 5,000-meter run in a career-best 14:34.85. Kansas’ D.J. Hilding finished a distance second to Wilson in 14:53.23, while senior Kyle Doperalski set his career best of 14:55.09 to claim third.

Sophomore Issar Yazhbin, who earlier this year set the Israeli National Record in the men’s weight throw with a toss of 60-1, upped that mark to 61-3 while finishing eighth among a very talented field.

Several Huskers made noise in the sprint preliminaries, including sophomore Nate Probasco, who set a personal-best mark of 21.31 in claiming the fastest time among 200-meter dash competitors, while junior Courtney Jones did the same in the men’s 60-meter hurdles by running a season-low provisional-qualifying time of 7.86. Senior Dusty Stamer moved on to tomorrow’s men’s 60-meter dash semifinals after claiming a time of 6.72, the second-fastest mark of the day.

“This meet, in some of the events, is kind of like a mid-semester exam for us,” Pepin said. “It’s time for us to start choosing who our conference meet team is going to be, but it’s still up in the air in some events. Overall, it looked like we had a very good first day here.”

The Frank Sevigne Husker Invitational will continue Saturday with a full slate of competition. The day begins at 10 a.m. with the conclusion of the men’s heptathlon and field events following directly thereafter. Action on the oval starts at 1:15 p.m. with the women’s 60-meter hurdles semis.