Husker Track & Field Honors its Student-Athletes

LINCOLN?The Nebraska track and field program honored several of its student-athletes Sunday for outstanding efforts in 2006 both on the playing field and in the classroom at its annual Relay Club Appreciation Banquet held at the Embassy Suites hotel.<?xml:namespace prefix="o" ns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"?>

 

The annual Husker track and field awards were headlined by Men’s and Women’s Outstanding Athletes Arturs Abolins and Priscilla Lopes. Abolins earned the men’s award, named for Sam Waugh, after becoming the first <?xml:namespace prefix="st1" ns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"?>Nebraska men’s athlete to win NCAA titles in the indoor and outdoor long jump events during the 2006 season. Lopes claimed the women’s honor, sponsored by Henderson State Bank, as she recently completed her distinguished career with a pair of NCAA silver-medal finishes in the 60- (indoor) and 100-meter (outdoor) hurdles.

 

Lopes also garnered Most Valuable Women’s Team Performer accolades, while Nate Probasco was recognized for the NU men’s squad. Probasco earned All-Big 12 status in five different events during the 2006 season, including the outdoor 200-meter dash, in which he won his second career conference championship.

 

Mark Harrison and Kayte Tranel were named Most Improved Track Athletes. Harrison finished his career during the outdoor season with his first career Big 12 title in the men’s 400-meter hurdles, while Tranel earned All-American honors in cross country in addition to her first NCAA Outdoor Championships appearance in the women’s 10,000-meter run during her final season as a Husker.

 

Both Most Improved Athlete Awards were shared, with Lee Martin and Ben Schutter being recognized for the men’s team and Dace Ruskule and Kayla Wilkinson splitting the women’s honor. Martin and Schutter each claimed All-Big 12 status in the decathlon during the outdoor season, while Ruskule and Wilkinson both experienced lofty finishes at the NCAA outdoor meet. Ruskule won only NU’s second national title in the women’s discus, while Wilkinson finished second in the NCAA women’s javelin competition.

 

Keith Lloyd (shot put, hammer throw) and Channing Anseth (5,000 meters) were named Outstanding Newcomers for the men and women, respectively, for their contributions to Nebraska’s Big 12 squads that finished no lower than third in four team competitions at the indoor and outdoor conference championship meets. Patrick Southern, who added his first career All-Big 12 honor in 2006 in the men’s pole vault, was named the winner of the Russ White Spirit Award.

 

Several other Husker student-athletes were also recognized for their outstanding academic achievements. In all, 34 Huskers (19 women, 15 men) finished the year with a grade-point average above 3.5, while 21 others (11 women, 10 men) fell somewhere between the 3.49 and 3.0 marks.