Huskers Conclude Outdoor Regular Season

Two Huskers posted new regional-qualifying marks to go along with NU’s eight event titles Saturday, as the Nebraska track and field team concluded its outdoor regular season at the Ward Haylett Invitational in Manhattan, Kan. Sophomore Demea Carter and junior Justine Roach became the 29th and 30th Huskers to qualify for the NCAA Midwest Regional Championships, which will be held May 25-27 in Austin, Texas, with big performances at Kansas State’s R.V. Christian Track.

Carter recorded a personal-best leap of 24-7 ? to win the men’s long jump and easily surpass the regional standard. The Detroit, Mich., native out-distanced Iowa State’s Tony Douglas by more than four inches while shattering his previous outdoor career best of 23-9, which he notched at the same facility during last year’s Big 12 Outdoor Championships.

Roach broke the regional qualification in the women’s 400-meter hurdles for the second consecutive season with a first-place clocking of 1:00.73. She edged Kansas’ Janiece Gatson by only one one-hundredth of a second to earn her second win of the season in the hurdles.

Junior Gable Baldwin won his first outdoor men’s pole vault competition of 2006 with a season-best clearance of 17-0 ?. The vault marked the first time this season that Baldwin had surpassed the 17-foot barrier.

Sophomore Keith Lloyd had a monster performance in the men’s hammer throw that included his first career mark over 200 meters. Lloyd, who already owned regional marks in both the hammer and shot put, won his first hammer competition of the season Saturday with a spin of 200-9 after notching a third-place finish in the shot (57-6 ?).

Two-time NCAA All-American Nate Probasco registered a lifetime-best 10.67 (non-wind aided) in the men’s 100-meter dash to place third, and first among collegiates, while the junior also took top honors in the 200-meter dash with a time of 21.07. Senior teammate Oliver Williams Jr. (21.43) finished runner-up to Probasco in the 200.

Other Husker event winners Saturday included: junior Kayla Wilkinson in the women’s javelin (165-6), junior Aaron Ross in the men’s 110-meter hurdles (14.52); and junior Daniel Roper in the men’s triple jump (50-6 ?). Freshman Zarinah Suluki-Drakes earned a pair of runner-up finishes in the women’s long jump (19-8 ?) and triple jump (personal best 39-11 ?) events.

Husker throwers Becky Breisch and Dace Ruskule also were in action Saturday in Modesto, Calif., competing against a collection of some of the nation's top collegiate and professional talent at the Modesto Relays. Breisch finished runner-up in the women's discus to Nike's Arthea Thurmond with a top mark of 201-2. Thurmond won the event with a throw of 211-4, while Ruskule earned sixth place (183-4). Breisch added a third-place showing in the shot put (56-1 1/4), which was won by the unattached Jillian Camarena (61-4).

The postseason begins for Nebraska next week, as it travels to Waco, Texas, in search of conference hardware at the 10th annual Big 12 Outdoor Track and Field Championships. The Husker women will aim to defend their 2005 Big 12 outdoor team title, while the men’s squad looks to add its fifth outdoor championship, and first since the 2004 season, beginning on Friday at Baylor’s Hart-Patterson Track and Field Complex.