Six Huskers Named to All-Time Big 12 Track Team

Six current or former Nebraska women’s track and field athletes were named to the Big 12 Conference 10th Anniversary Track and Field team, the league office announced Wednesday. The squad, which was voted on by the conference coaches, was selected from a pool of only those athletes with at least one career individual Big 12 championship.

Husker senior Becky Breisch was joined on the women’s list by former NU athletes Ann Gaffigan, Dahlia Ingram, Melissa Price, Ineta Radevica and Anne Shadle. Combined, the group accounted for 31 individual Big 12 titles, seven NCAA crowns and 32 All-America honors.

Breisch alone owns nine All-America awards, eight conference championships and a pair of national titles in the shot put and discus. She currently ranks as the nation’s leader this season in the discus, while ranking second in the shot. Breisch will attempt to become the first Husker woman in the brief history of the Big 12 Conference to collect three titles in either the shot put or discus this weekend in Waco, Texas.

Radevica, a two-year letterwinner for NU from 2003 to 2004, ranks as one of the most successful horizontal jumpers in school history. She earned three NCAA triple jump titles and swept the long jump and triple jump events at the indoor and outdoor conference meets during both of her years as a Husker. She represented Latvia in the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Greece, and she holds Nebraska’s indoor and outdoor records in the triple jump.

Also a successful jumper for Nebraska, Ingram (1997-2000) amassed an incredible four-year collegiate career that included seven conference titles in the long jump and triple jump. She holds the distinction as one of only four Husker three-time conference champions in the long jump. Ingram was named an NCAA All-American nine times.

Shadle (2002-05) emerged as NU’s all-time best in the mile during a sensational senior campaign in 2005 that saw her claim NCAA titles in the mile indoors and the 1,500-meter run outdoors. She also set school records for both events during her NCAA championship runs. In addition to winning a pair of Big 12 titles in the two events as a senior, she also earned the 1,000-meer run conference championship as a junior.

Price (1998-2001), who won two Big 12 titles each in the weight and hammer throws, still ranks as the top-rated hammer thrower in conference history with her Nebraska school record of 219-2. She was named an All-American six times during her distinguished career.

Another Husker, Ann Gaffigan (2001-2004), ranks as the top all-time conference athlete in the 3,000-meter steeplechase with a time of 9:39.35. The 2004 U.S. Olympic Trials champion also won the 2004 Big 12 title before breaking out a fifth-place finish at the NCAA Championships. Her conference-record time, which she notched at the Olympic Trials, also was the former American record.

Anniversary teams are being chosen for each conference sport during the 2005-06 season in celebration of the Big 12’s 10th Anniversary.