Huskers Ranked in Preseason Top 25

Lincoln ? On Thursday, Jan. 8, the USTFCCCA (United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association) released its 2009 indoor track and field preseason rankings. The Nebraska men’s team enters the season ranked No. 15 while the women’s squad is ranked No. 24. Both are improvements from the 2008 indoor season as the men finished the year ranked tied for 17th with Georgetown while the women were unranked in the final rankings.

Overall, the Big 12 Conference once again showed why it is one of the premier conferences for track and field in the country with 11 teams ranked in the top 25. The women had four teams in the top 25, including No. 1 ranked Texas A&M. On the men’s side, the conference had the most teams ranked in the top 25 of any conference with seven, including top-15 ranked Texas A&M (6th), Texas (7th), Texas Tech (12th) and Nebraska (15th).

The No. 15 Nebraska men’s team returns a wealth of talent in 2009. The squad will be led by NCAA All-Americans Lukas Hulett, Scott Wims and Dan Christensen, as well as NCAA Championship qualifiers Keith Lloyd, Paul Hamilton, Nicholas Gordon, LeRon Williams, Austin Braman, Adam Dailey, Lehann Fourie, Tyrell Ross and Skyler Reising.

Of the 17 individual events indoors, the Huskers return their top two performers in nine of the events. NU returns either its No. 1 or No. 2 performer in every event except the 35-pound weight throw.

The men’s team will be in search of its 14th conference team title during the Big 12 era in 2009. The men’s 13 team titles lead the conference, five more than Texas, which ranks second with eight team titles.

The No. 24 Husker women’s team returns a strong all-around squad in 2009 that posted runner-up finishes at the indoor and outdoor Big 12 Championships in 2008. Leading the 2009 team are Big 12 Champions Epley Bullock (indoor high jump) and Megan Wheatley (heptathlon). The Huskers return even more talent across the board with seven NCAA Championship qualifiers, including Bullock, Wheatley, Lara Crofford, Erin Hannon, Chantae McMillan, Natalie Willer and Natalja Callahan. 

The Huskers return their top three performers in 11 of 17 individual indoor events, including top performers in all but three events. In the relays the Huskers return three of four spots on the 4x400-meter relay and the DMR.

The women’s team will be in search of its eighth conference team title during the Big 12 era in 2009. The Huskers’ five indoor team titles are tied for the most in the conference with Texas, and three ahead of third-place Texas A&M’s two. NU also had two outdoor titles, tied for second in the conference with Texas A&M.

The Huskers are set to open the 2009 indoor season at home on Friday, Jan. 16, with the Holiday Inn Invitational. Action on Friday will start at 4 p.m. and will start again on Saturday at noon. For more information and a full schedule of events checkout the “Home Meet Information” link of the left side of the track and field page at Huskers.com.