Willer Earns Big 12 Weekly Honor

Lincoln ? On Tuesday, Jan. 20, the Big 12 Conference named Nebraska sophomore Natalie Willer as the Big 12 Indoor Track & Field Female Co-Athlete of the Week, along with Destiny Hooker of Texas. The first honor of her career and the first for Nebraska in 2009, Willer earned the award for her performance on Saturday, Jan. 17, at the Holiday Inn Invitational, where she won the women’s pole vault with an indoor school-record vault of 13-9 3/4.

 

After passing on the first four heights of the event, Willer entered at the 11-5 3/4 bar. Following a miss on her first attempt, Willer bounced back to clear on her second attempt before tearing through the 11-11 3/4, 12-5 1/2 and 12-11 1/2 bars. After a miss on her first attempt at 13-5 1/4, the Elkhorn, Neb., native cleared on her second attempt, setting up a chance to break Jenny Green’s 2004 school-record of 13-9 1/4 and move the new record to 13-9 3/4. With the entire crowd behind her, Willer grazed the bar on her first attempt, but the bar stayed on the standard, breaking the NU school record.

 

Willer now owns indoor and outdoor personal bests of 13-9 3/4. She set her outdoor best last year at the 2008 USATF National Junior Olympics, where she shattered the national youth and meet records. Along with breaking Kira Costa’s 2003 national youth record of 13-5 1/4 by four and one-half inches, Willer demolished the meet record by over a foot, with the previous mark being set by Melissa Gergel, who vaulted 12-9 1/2 in 2007.

 

Along with cementing the sophomore at the top NU’s all-time list, the vault was an NCAA automatic-qualifying mark, securing her a spot at the NCAA Indoor Championships at the McFerrin Athletic Center on the campus of Texas A&M in March. Following the completion of last weekend’s meets, Willer sits No. 3 nationally and No. 1 in the Big 12 Conference in the pole vault.