Husker Vaulters Stately, Burney Soar in Arkansas

Freshman Seth Burney and sophomore Brysun Stately kicked off a successful opening weekend on the road for the Nebraska track and field team Friday with standout performances in the pole vault at the Tyson Invitational in Fayetteville, Ark. Several other Huskers also competed at the Iowa State Classic in Ames, Iowa.

 

Burney won the College division of the men’s pole vault Friday afternoon with a personal-best clearance of 17-4 ?. The Nebraska prep record holder in the event from Beatrice, Neb., Burney made the winning height on his first attempt to hold off a group of three other athletes?UCLA’s David Murphy, Indiana’s Jeffrey Coover and Florida State’s Matt Hurley?each of who fell out of the competition at 17-0 ?.

 

Burney’s new season best ranks tied for second in the Big 12 Conference this season and improves his standing in an attempt to reach next month’s NCAA Indoor Championships. He also moved into a tie for seventh on Nebraska’s all-time indoor performance list.

 

Not to be outdone, Stately set a personal-best height of her own with a 13-8 ? clearance that earned her fifth place in the very competitive Championship division of the women’s pole vault. The mark, which currently ranks tied for third among all NCAA athletes this season, was less than an inch off the NCAA’s automatic-qualifying standard.

 

Stately also moved into third place on the Huskers’ career performance chart while breaking her previous best of 13-5 ?, set last year in Seattle, Wash., while she was competing for USC.

 

In other action, senior Kim Pancoast earned sixth place in the women’s mileCollege division with a time of 4:54.69. Junior Daniel Roper advanced through the prelims of the men’s College division long jump with a leap of 23-1 ?, but he passed on each of his three finals attempts.

 

Nebraska’s largest group of athletes began its weekend of competition at the Iowa State Classic.

 

Sophomore Ari Goldstein notched a career-best effort to claim ninth place in the women’s 5,000-meter run with a time of 17:04.49. Goldstein cut nearly 27 seconds off her previous best time of 17:31.22 set earlier this year during her victory at the Conference Challenge meet in Lincoln.

 

A pair of Husker men finished among the top-six competitors in the 200-meter dash. Freshman Scott Wims posted a time of 21.43 to earn fifth place, while senior All-American Nate Probasco followed right behind with a sixth-place clocking of 21.44.

 

Senior Issar Yazhbin continued his solid indoor season by earning fifth place in the men’s weight throw with a mark of 63-9 ?, while junior Bryan Bell claimed 10th place (60-8 ?). Sophomore Robert Rands notched a leap of 23-10 to place seventh in the men’s long jump.

 

In preliminary action on the track, freshman Nikita Eades advanced to Saturday’s semifinals of the women’s 60-meter hurdles with a clocking of 7.95 that earned her the final of 24 qualifying spots. Redshirt freshman Tyrell Ross also advanced in the men’s competition with a time of 8.03 that ranked 13th overall.

                                                                                                              

Nebraska concludes its weekend of competition at the Tyson Invite and IowaState Saturday.