Wheatley and Shubert Earn Big 12 Titles

Boulder, Colo. ? Senior Kim Shubert and redshirt freshman Megan Wheatley lead the Nebraska women’s track and field team to the top of the women’s standing after day two of the three day Big 12 Outdoor Championships.  Wheatley brought the women’s heptathlon title back to Lincoln for the fourth straight year, while Shubert won her first Big 12 title with a victory in the high jump. After two days of competition the Husker women sit in first place with 79 points while the men are in second place with 25 points.

 

After not competing in the heptathlon for almost two years prior to the Big 12 Outdoor Championships, Wheatley shined during the two-day event with a score of 5,643.  Wheatley was in a class all her own as she won four of the seven events over the two-day grueling schedule, setting personal bests in the shot put (43-5 ?; 13.24), 200 meters (24.75) and long jump (19-5 1/2; 5.93), to destroy her personal best mark in the heptathlon by 320 points this weekend. Wheatley now owns the No. 4 spot all-time outdoor at Nebraska, trailing Cris Hall (5,936; 1992), Ashley Selig (5,794; 2007) and Nancy Kindig (5,704; 1981). She is project to move up to No. 5 in Division I this season.

 

When asked about winning a Big 12 title, Wheatley responded, “Amazing. I’ve had a hard year with injuries, so this is my first heptathlon in two years. For my foot to feel good, to get personal bests and then to win, it’s more than I could have ever asked for. I’m ecstatic.”

 

Over the past two Big 12 outdoor meets, senior Kim Shubert was part of the Husker’s dominating heptathlon performances, scoring in 2006 and 2007. However, with Shubert posting the top mark conference in the high jump entering the meet at 5-10 ? (1.79), the Lincoln native focused solely on the high jump and that strategy paid off as she came away with her first Big 12 championship of her career. She was the only athlete in the field of 12 to clear the 5-10 ? (1.80) bar, improving her national ranking to No. 12 in Division I and No. 2 in the Midwest Region.

 

“It really hasn’t set in yet that I am a Big 12 champion,” said Shubert following the high jump. “I just want to say thank you to my family, coaches and teammates for all the support while I’ve been at Nebraska. It is very cool to be the local girl from Lincoln that wins a title.”

 

With former Huskers Ashley Selig winning the heptathlon title in 2005 and 2007 and Sara Jane Baker winning in 2006, the Nebraska women’s multi-event squad is quickly becoming a force to be reckoned with at the conference meet. Along with Wheatley’s tile, sophomore Chantae McMillan finished second with a new personal best of 5,444 points, freshman Rachel Butler finished fourth with a new personal-best of 4.905 points and sophomore Erin Hannon finished sixth with 4,719 points. McMillan is projected to move into the top 15 of Division with her score. The foursome scored 26 points for the Big Red on the second day of the Big 12 Championships.

 

“It is quite an honor to be number four,” responded Wheatley when asked about winning Nebraska’s forth straight conference heptathlon championships. “It really stamps Nebraska’s dominance in the multi-events. We have a great program.”

 

Just like Wheatley, Shubert led a group of four Huskers that scored in an event. Epley Bullock, the 2008 Big 12 indoor high jump champion, finished second, with freshman Audrey Svane finishing fifth and Hannon scoring more points for the Huskers with a sixth-place finish. Bullock, Svane and Hannon all cleared 5-8 ? (1.75) with Svane and Hannon clearing on more attempts. This is the second straight year that Hannon has scored in both the heptathlon and high jump. Overall the Husker high jumpers added 24 points to Nebraska’s score.

 

In other final action, freshman Nicholas Gordon came within one-quarter of an inch of winning his first Big 12 title. The Kingston, Jamaica, native finished second in the long jump with a new personal-best jump of 25-6 (7.77), just behind Julian Reid of Texas A&M who jumped 25-6 ? (7.78). Gordon is now tied with James Morris (1989) for the sixth-best jump all-time outdoor at Nebraska. The top mark at Nebraska is held by Robert Thomas, who jumped 26-9 (8.15) in Walnut, Calif., in 1993.

 

In a repeat from the Big 12 indoor meet, freshman Natalie Willer finished runner-up in the women’s pole vault to Kate Sultanova of Kansas. Willer cleared 13-1 ? (4.00) while Sultanova vaulted 13-5 ? (4.10). With Sultanova being a senior, expectations are high for Willer to take over the Big 12 in the years to come. Freshman Rachel Birtles joined Willer on the award stand with a sixth-place finish at 12-7 ? (3.85).

 

After finishing fourth in the hammer throw on Friday, senior Keith Lloyd returned to Potts Field on Saturday to earn more points for the Husker men. Lloyd finished third in the shot put with a new personal-best throw of 60-2 ? (18.35). Lloyd was only one-half inch short of a second-place finisher Harrison Benjamin of Texas Tech. Over the two days Lloyd scored 11 points for the Husker men.

 

Seven Huskers moved on past the preliminaries on Saturday to the finals on Sunday. Peter van der Westhuizen and Lukas Hulett posted the top times in their events with van der Westhuizen running a time of 3:47.88 in the 1,500 meters and Hulett posting a 45.69 in the 400 meters. Tyrell Ross (13.88) moved on in the men’s 110-meter hurdles while Nikita Eades (13.52) and Karyn LaCour (13.58) advanced in the women’s 100-meter hurdles. Natalja Zarcenko ran the fourth-fastest time in the women’s 1,500 meters with a time of 4:34.71 and Adam Dailey moved on in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 50.43.

 

On Sunday the Huskers will return for the final day of the 2008 Big 12 Track and Field Championships with more titles in mind. With Kayla Wilkinson’s victory in the women’s javelin on Friday, Austin Braman and Ryan Petrocchi will try to bring the men’s title back to Lincoln as well at 11 a.m. (Central). The running events are scheduled to start at 4 p.m. with the 4x100-meter relay finals.