Huskers Stir Up Record Books at Stanford

PALO ALTO, Calif.?Several Nebraska track and field athletes placed their names alongside the program’s all-time greats Saturday during the conclusion of the Stanford Invitational. Seven Huskers climbed into the top-10 performance lists for their respective events.

                

Senior Anne Shadle, who recently claimed her first national title in the women’s mile at the NCAA Indoor Championships, recorded the second-fastest outdoor 1,500-meter time in NU women’s history when she finished runner-up in a personal-best 4:14.39. The mark smashed her previous-best time of 4:29.96 and easily qualified her for this year’s NCAA Midwest Regional Championships.

 

Another senior All-American, Richard Davidson Jr., moved into the eighth position on Nebraska’s men’s 110-meter hurdles chart by earning second place in 13.87 during Saturday’s final. Davidson’s mark was also a regional qualifier, as were those of senior Nenad Loncar (14.03), who finished fifth, and junior Courtney Jones (14.13), who claimed sixth.

 

Junior Ray Scotten, the runner-up in this year’s NCAA indoor men’s pole vault championship, became the second-best all-time Husker outdoor pole vault performer by winning the event with a height of 17-10 ?. Sophomore Gable Baldwin moved into 10th place on the charts with his bronze-winning vault of 17-0 ?. Both Scotten’s and Baldwin’s performances were regional qualifiers.

 

Sophomore Kayla Wilkinson also rose to No. 2 on the Nebraska women's javelin list while winning the Stanford Invitational championship with a career-long throw of 157-10. Wilkinson bested her previous mark of 150-10 and now trails only former Husker Cassi Morelock, who recorded the school-record mark of 181-0 in the new javelin during the 2000 season.

 

Newcomer Dace Ruskule made her presence felt in her first meet as a Husker by winning the women’s discus with a regional-qualifying heave of 179-9. The 2004 Olympian from Latvia took over third place on Nebraska’s all-time performance list with her effort.

 

Another newcomer in his first outdoor season at NU, sophomore Peter van der Westhuizen, became the seventh-fastest men's 1,500-meter performer in Husker history with a regional-qualifying mark of 3:43.62. 

 

Other fine Husker performances included those of seniors Kyle Doperalski (9:12.41) and Paul Wilson (9:15.37), who each set personal-best times in the men’s 3,000-meter steeplechase.

 

 

Both Nebraska men’s and women’s squads will be idle next week as they prepare for the Texas Relays, held April 7-9 in Austin, Texas.