Milkevics Misses Olympic Semifinal

Beijing ? After reaching the 800-meter semifinals at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, former Husker and 800-meter school-record holder Dmitrijs Milkevics missed out on a return trip the semifinals Wednesday night in Beijing. Milkevics finished fourth in his heat with a time of 1:47.12, just .59 seconds short of claiming the last spot in the semifinals.

A native of Riga, Latvia, Milkevics finished 26th overall after finishing 14th in Athens. In the eight-heat race, Milkevics ran faster than four of the 16 automatic qualifiers. The top two times in each heat automatically qualified for the semifinals, with the next eight-fastest times advancing as well. Milkevics beat out the automatic qualifiers from heat three, Micahel Rimmer (Great Britain ? 1:47.61) and Mbulaeni Mulaudzi (Russia ? 1:47.64) and also heat six, Amine Laalou (Morocco - 1:47.86) and Abraham Chepkirwok (Uganda - 1.47.93).

Milkevics was a star for the Huskers from 2004 to 2006, before signing a professional contract prior to the 2006 NCAA Indoor Championship. He won the 2005 NCAA Outdoor 800-meter championship and was a three-time NCAA All-American. Milkevics won Big 12 titles in the indoor 800 meters at the conference meet in 2004 and 2006. Besides owning the school record in the outdoor 800 meters at 1:44.74, Milkevics also owns the collegiate indoor record in the 600-meters at 1:15.60. He also owns the indoor 600-yard (1:08.67) and 800-meter (1:46.46) records. He set the Latvian national record in the 800 meters in 2006 with a time of 1:43.67.