Three Huskers Win Big 12 Indoor Titles

LINCOLN?Three members of the Nebraska men’s and women’s track and field team were crowned Big 12 champions Friday during the first day of the Big 12 Indoor Track and Field Championships, hosted by NU at the Bob Devaney Sports Center Indoor Track. Senior Ashley Selig, junior Arturs Abolins and sophomore Jenny Green each earned conference titles in front of a Devaney Center crowd of 2,333.

Selig broke her own school record in the pentathlon with a personal-best score of 4,336 to finish ahead of senior teammate Sara Jane Baker in the race for the Big 12 title. The reigning NCAA champion for the event, Selig’s previous record total of 4,327 helped her win her first national title last season. She set individual event bests of 8.51 in the 60-meter hurdles and 5-10 in the high jump to start the day before recording marks of 36-9 1/2 in the shot put, 19-4 3/4 in the long jump and 2:11.92 in the 800-meter run.

"It’s really good to compete at home, and I really had the support of my team today," Selig said. "We’ve just been trying to do everything right so far this season and it all just fell together. There are still some areas for improvement, but I’m happy with how we did today."

While Selig registered the nation’s No. 1 score for the pentathlon this season, Baker put together a career day of her own to notch the second-best NCAA total of 4,203. Baker notched personal bests in four of the five events (8.97 - 60-meter hurdles, 5-11 1/4 - high jump, 39-3 - shot put and 2:12.66 - 800 meters) to set her career-best point total and move up to No. 3 on the Huskers’ all-time pentathlon list. The Kalamazoo, Mich., native also recorded a leap of 18-2 1/4 in the long jump.

"Today I just felt really rested, we took a lot of this week pretty easy," Baker said. "I (got a) personal record in four of my five events, so I just felt like a lot things came together today. We’re looking to defend our Big 12 championship, so that was definitely in my mind. For all three of (the pentathlon participants) to score, that will really help the team.

"We started up with the heptathlon, and those women just set the tone for the rest of the day," Head Coach Gary Pepin said. "It appears as if we had an awfully good first day. The (women’s) pole vaulters just did a tremendous job for us, and Channing Anseth did great in the 5,000 meters. I thought we had a really fine first day."

Green took another giant step in her comeback from a back injury that forced her to redshirt last season by winning her third career championship in the women’s pole vault. The two-time NCAA All-American cleared a season-best height of 13-5 1/4 to lead a 1-2-3 Husker finish for the event. Senior Jenna Blubaugh finshed runner-up after clearing a career-best 13-1 1/2, while senior Jessie Graff tied for third place (12-7 1/2).

"I’ve been excited for (the Big 12 Championships) all week," Green said. "I spent the entire week focusing and visualizing, knowing that it’s going to come down to the last couple jumps. I hadn’t broken the 13-foot barrier all year, so when I did that, I’ve never felt so much emotion going over a bar. Today meant the most to me, to see that I’m getting back on top and that my hard work in coming back is paying off."

Abolins outdueled Texas A&M’s Fabrice Lapierre, the top-ranked NCAA athlete, to win his second career Big 12 men’s indoor long jump title with a leap of 25-8 1/4. Abolins, who also won the 2004 conference indoor championship, posted his best mark on his next-to-last attempt of the competition, and he has now surpassed the 25-foot barrier in each of his five meets during the 2006 season.

"Arturs was very consistent," Pepin said. "I think he was confident and fresh going into the meet. He felt that if he had a good day he could win the meet. He was jumping against the leading athlete in the United States, so that was a big win for us, and a huge win for our entire team."

Four of the first seven sections of the men’s heptathlon were held Saturday, as redshirt freshman Skyler Reising positioned himself for a high finish with a fourth-place total of 2,989. Sophomore Ben Schutter, who already owns an NCAA provisional-qualifying mark, ranks 12th after the first day of competition (2,837).

"In track and field, you always have some highs, some lows and some in-betweens, but it appears that we had a lot of men’s performances on the upper side," Pepin said. "The long jump was a great event for us. I’m hoping that our multi-eventers can pick up the pace for us some in the second day. It was a good day up and down the line."

Sophomore Channing Anseth earned her first provisional qualification with a career-best time of 16:38.54 that placed her fifth in the women’s 5,000 meters. Senior teammate Kayte Tranel finished seventh (16:53.85). Sophomore Tamara Solari also added team points for the NU women by finishing sixth in the weight throw (61-4).

While several event finals were held on Friday, preliminary action on the track dominated the day’s schedule. In all, 11 Huskers advanced through the prelims to grab 13 spots (five women, eight men) in Saturday’s championship races.

As expected, junior Priscilla Lopes breezed through prelims for her three events (60-meter dash, 200-meter dash and 60-meter hurdles). Lopes lowered her NCAA-leading time to 8.00 by winning her hurdles heat, while she posted marks of 7.35 (season best) in the 60 meters and 23.62 (lifetime best) in the 200 meters.

Qualifiers for the Nebraska men included Courtney Jones (7.87) and Aaron Ross (personal best 7.90) in the 60-meter hurdles; Nate Probasco (21.38) in the 200-meter dash; redshirt freshman Nathan Kumm (personal best 1:11.19) in the 600-yard run; Andrew Pearson (48.01) in the 400-meter dash; Peter van der Westhuizen (2:25.68) in the 1,000 meters; and Dmitrijs Milkevics (1:54.45) in the 800 meters. Juniors Sheryl Morgan (55.87) and Danute Ceika (2:55.69) also advanced for the NU women in the 400 and 1,000 meters, respectively.

Nebraska aims for its third straight sweep of the Big 12 Indoor Track and Field Championships team titles Saturday, as the 10th annual competition wraps up at the Devaney Center Indoor Track. The Husker women lead their respective team race with 55.50 points, while the men's team is tied for fourth (17 points) with the bulk of their athletes still to compete. The day begins with the conclusion of the men’s heptathlon at 9:30 a.m.

Women's Team Scores:
1. Nebraska - 55.50
2. Kansas State - 28.50
3. Texas Tech - 28
4. Missouri - 24
5. Kansas - 21
6. Oklahoma - 16
7 (tie). Colorado - 15
7 (tie). Texas - 15
9. Oklahoma State - 13
10 (tie). Baylor - 9
10 (tie). Iowa State - 9

Men's Team Scores:
1. Kansas - 29
2 (tie). Colorado - 21
2 (tie). Texas - 21
4 (tie). Missouri - 17
4 (tie). Nebraska - 17
6 (tie). Baylor - 15
6 (tie). Oklahoma State - 15
8. Texas A&M - 9
9. Kansas State - 7
10. Iowa State - 4
11. Oklahoma - 1