Five Huskers Earn Automatic NCAA Bids

AUSTIN, Texas?Several Nebraska track and field athletes punched tickets to the NCAA Outdoor Championships Friday during day one action of the NCAA Midwest Regional at the University of Texas’ Mike A. Meyers Stadium. While the bulk of the day’s action consisted primarily of preliminary action on the track, five Huskers did manage to earn automatic NCAA bids in field event finals.

 

Both the NU men's (16 points) and women's (18 points) teams currently rank third in the races for the respective Midwest Regional team titles with only five events scored.

  

Senior Becky Breisch recorded her fourth career regional victory with a winning mark of 59-2 ? in the women’s shot put. The nine-time NCAA All-American avenged last week’s loss to Texas’ Michelle Carter at the Big 12 Championships while also breaking the Longhorn’s Midwest Regional record of 57-9 set in 2005. Breisch will attempt to add a second regional title Saturday in the discus. Junoir Jeni Steiner added a seventh-place finish (49-9 ?) in the shot.

 

Another Husker thrower, junior Kayla Wilkinson, added a second NCAA automatic qualification in the women’s javelin with a third-place finish. Wilkinson launched a throw of 168-3 one week after successfully defending her Big 12 championship.

 

A pair of NU men’s athletes reached qualifying status in a solid men’s pole vault battle featuring 13 competitors who cleared at least 17 feet. Junior Gable Baldwin earned second place with a season-best clearance of 17-9, while senior Ray Scotten grabbed the final automatic-qualifying slot by clearing 17-5 to claim fifth place. Baldwin’s performance was especially impressive, as he reached his best height since an 18-2 ? vault that won him the 2005 Big 12 outdoor championship.

 

Junior Nic Petersen and senior Patrick Southern also performed well in the pole vault. Petersen cleared a personal-best 17-1 to finish 13th, while Southen equaled his personal best of 16-7 ? to tie for 14th place.

 

Junior Arturs Abolins notched an automatic bid to his sixth consecutive national meet with a fifth-place finish in a men’s long jump featuring five of the nation’s top six athletes. Abolins recorded a leap of 25-5 ? on his first attempt of the finals to surpass the 25-foot barrier for the 10th straight meet this season while earning the opportunity to defend his 2006 indoor national championship.

 

Sophomore Demea Carter recorded a lifetime-best performance of 25-0 ? in the long jump to finish eighth and place himself in favorable position to earn an at-large bid to the NCAA meet, while fellow sophomore LeRon Williams also dropped his name in the pool of potential at-large athletes by placing 11th (24-4 ?).

 

In preliminary track event competition, four Huskers and an NU relay advanced through qualifying rounds to reach Saturday’s event finals.

 

Senior Mark Harrison, the region’s No. 1 seed in the men’s 400-meter hurdles, won his preliminary heat with a time of 51.61 to advance to Saturday’s final race, while junior Justine Roach added a spot in the women’s final with a seventh-place clocking of 1:00.31, which marked a season best for the Leicester, England, native.

 

Junior Priscilla Lopes breezed to an easy prelim heat victory in the women’s 100-meter hurdles. Lopes, who boasts the world’s top time in the hurdles for this year, dominated Friday’s qualifying rounds with a blazing time of 12.77 (wind aided) to defeat second-place Melaine Walker (Texas) by two-tenths of a second. Senior Oliver Williams Jr. also advanced in a very tough men’s 100-meter dash competition by grabbing the last of the eight qualifying spots. William’s wind-aided mark of 10.31 erased his previous season best by nearly two-tenths of a second.              

 

The NU men’s 4x100-meter relay team of Abolins, Williams Jr., junior Nate Probasco and junior Daniel Roper also advanced with the day’s sixth-best time of 39.79.

 

The NCAA Midwest Regional Championships continue Saturday at Texas’ Mike A. Meyers Stadium, as 21 Huskers look to finish off the weekend with NCAA Championships bids. Field events begin the day’s competition at 1 p.m., while finals action on the track is slated to start at 5:30 p.m.