Uljas Approaches NU 800-Meter Record

<?xml:namespace prefix="st1" ns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"?>Lausanne, Switzerland?Two Nebraska track and field athletes were featured among the world’s finest athletes Tuesday at the Athletissima 2005 IAAF Super Grand Prix meet. Egle Uljas and Dmitrijs Milkevics each posted outstanding times to claim high placings in their respective women’s and men’s 800-meter races.<?xml:namespace prefix="o" ns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"?>

 

Uljas, who is entering her sophomore sea­­­son at NU, approached Sharon Powell’s 1988 Husker women’s record of 2:01.26 when she finished fifth in Race 2 with a personal-best time of 2:02.92. The Tallinn, Estonia, native, who competed in the 400 meters at the 2004 Olympics, has been running the 800 for only a few months and most recently reached the event finals at the NCAA Outdoor Championships. Uljas must reach the “A” standard time of 2:00.00 in order to qualify for the women’s competition at next month’s World Championships in Helsinki, Finland.

 

Milkevics, who will be a junior during the 2005-06 season, earned third place in Race 1 of the men’s 800 meters with a time of 1:45.84. The 2005 NCAA outdoor champion is in the process of preparing for the World Championships where he will compete for Latvia. He reached the “A” standard qualification with his school-record performance of 1:44.74 at last month’s NCAA outdoor meet.