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LINCOLN?The University of Nebraska will host the sixth annual NCAA Division I Men’s and Women’s Outdoor Track and Field Midwest Regional Championships during the 2008 season, NCAA officials have announced. The meet, which will be held May 30-31, will be the second such event that NU has hosted at Ed Weir Track Stadium in the last six years.
Nestled between Memorial Stadium and the NU Coliseum, the Huskers’ outdoor track is in the very heart of Nebraska’s athletic complex. Ed Weir Stadium is surrounded by vine-covered columns and provides a beautiful setting for home meets. During the 31-year existence of the stadium, the Huskers have played host to eight National Junior Olympics, a USA-USSR Junior Dual Meet, six Big Eight Outdoor Championships and the 2003 NCAA Midwest Regional. The stadium celebrated its 25th anniversary with a $2 million track replacement in the spring of 2000.
Completed construction of the Tom and Nancy Osborne Complex, located on the west side of the track, and the Hawks Championship Center, situated to the northwest, will leave NU with one of the nation’s finest outdoor track and field facilities next season. The Hawks Championship Center will add several amenities to complement the track facility, including new locker rooms and restrooms, as well as a concession area. Th?e indoor facility also will be an ideal warm-up area for athletes.
NCAA outdoor track and field experienced a format change prior to the 2003 season that now requires athletes to advance through a regional meet in order to qualify for the NCAA Outdoor Championships in most events. The lone exceptions are the men’s and women’s 10,000-meter run and combined events (decathlon, heptathlon), which utilize the previous provisional and automatic-qualifying standards still used during the indoor track and field season.
NU has experienced success since the change to the regional format in 2003, when it played host to the first-ever NCAA Midwest Regional at Ed Weir Track Stadium. The Husker women claimed their first regional team title that season, while adding their second Midwest Region Championship last year in Norman, Okla. The Husker men won their first regional crown during the 2004 season in College Station, Texas. This year’s Regional Championships are scheduled for May 26-27 in Austin, Texas, while the 2007 meet will be hosted by Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa.