Huskers Begin Rain-Soaked NCAA Meet

SACRAMENTO, Calif. ? The Nebraska men’s and women’s track and field teams struggled to advance athletes through qualifying rounds of the NCAA Outdoor Championships at Sacramento State’s Alex G. Spanos Sports Complex Wednesday as rain plagued the site through much of the meet’s first day. Five Huskers managed to overcome the elements and will see another day of competition.

 

“It was a mixed bag of things for us today,” Head Coach Gary Pepin said. “There were some areas that we did well. Priscilla (Lopes), Arturs (Abolins), Dmitrijs (Milkevics) and Egle (Uljas) all performed well. It was disappointing that we couldn’t advance anyone in the short sprints and (women’s) discus.”

                       

Arturs Abolins came up big for the men’s team as he tied for fourth in the long jump qualifying round with Texas State’s Brian Veal. Abolins reached 24-9 3/4 on his first leap of the day and will compete for the NCAA title Thursday evening.

                       

Two Huskers advanced to Thursday’s 800-meter semifinals by winning their qualifying round heats. Dmitrijs Milkevics cruised to the third-fastest overall time in Round 1 of the men’s competition with his time of 1:48.21. Egle Uljas also won her qualifying heat in the women’s competition in 2:05.49 for the third-fastest overall clocking.

                       

Priscilla Lopes also advanced through round 1, as well as the semifinals, of the women’s 100-meter hurdles by posting the second-fastest mark in each round. Lopes won her Round 1 heat with a time of 13.11, while her semifinal clocking of 12.85 tied her season low. The five-time NCAA All-American will have the opportunity to avenge the runner-up finish she suffered to Virginia Powell (USC) in the 60-meter hurdles at the NCAA Indoor Championships back in March on Friday.

 

“Today I felt pretty easy and relaxed,” Lopes said. “I just ran through, when the gun went off I reacted. (Dawn Harper, UCLA) came beside me and she was pushing me, so it was good to get that out of the way.”

 

Ray Scotten reached Friday’s men’s pole vault final by lasting through Wednesday’s qualifying round. Scotten only had to clear two heights as the field whittled down to 13 competitors.

 

One of the competitors eliminated early was Gable Baldwin, who along with Scotten, ranked in a tie for second nationally in the pole vault entering the NCAA meet. Baldwin was unable to clear the bar at 16-4 3/4 after slipping on his final two attempts, which occurred during the day’s heaviest period of rain.

 

Among the other Huskers eliminated Wednesday were three seniors?Richard Davidson Jr., Nenad Loncar and Dusty Stamer. Davidson Jr. and junior Courtney Jones were eliminated from the men’s 110-meter hurdles competition after reaching the semifinals earlier in the day, while Loncar was unable to make it out of Round 1. Stamer and junior Oliver Williams Jr. both were eliminated from the men’s 100-meter dash following Round 1.

 

Early in the day, the relay team of Abolins, Williams Jr., Nate Probasco and Stamer put together a good effort in the men’s 4x100-meter prelims, but finished 10th overall to fall two places shy of reaching the finals for the second straight year. The squad’s performance (39.40) was still good enough to notch the second-fastest mark in Nebraska school history.

 

Other Huskers competing Wednesday, but failing to reach event finals, were Dace Ruskule (133-9, 27th) and Laura Wortmann (153-00, 21st) in the women’s discus, Issar Yazhbin (200-1, 15th) in the men’s hammer throw, Frances Keating (13.86, 23rd) in the women’s 110-meter hurdles and Kayla Wilkinson (152-3, 14th) in the women’s javelin.

 

The NCAA Outdoor Championships continue Thursday with qualifying rounds for all remaining field and running events. Action begins at 11:45 a.m. PT with the conclusion of the men’s decathlon.