Huskers Win 15 at NWU Invite

Lincoln ? Following the Big 12 vs. Mountain West ? Conference Challenge, the Nebraska track and field team competed in the NWU Invitational, winning 15 of 31 events. With the Huskers only able to enter two athletes in each event at the Conference Challenge, the NWU Invitational, hosted by Nebraska Wesleyan University, gave a slew of other Husker athletes the opportunity to compete on Saturday.

 

Freshmen Bj?rn Barrefors led a Husker trio to a 1-2-3 finish in the men’s long jump with a leap of 22-9. Skyler Reising finished runner-up with a jump of 22-5 1/4, with Paul Hamilton third at 21-10. The Big Red also went 1-2-3 in the men’s pole vault. True freshman Erik Sutterfield led the way with a vault of 16-0 3/4, while Nate Polacek and Rob Babcock finished second and third with vaults of 14-11.

 

In the women’s pole vault Cami Jiskra posted a new indoor personal-best of 12-0 on her way to victory. The Lincoln, Neb., native cleared the height on her first attempt, betting her previous best of 11-7 3/4.

 

Dax Danns won his first 60-meter dash of the indoor season with a time of 6.91, as he was the only athlete in the field to run below seven seconds. Danns came back to finish runner-up in the 200 meters with a time of 22.20, just behind teammate Lehann Fourie’s time of 22.02.

 

In the first meet of their collegiate careers, Matt Shipp and Matt Schilling finished 1-2 in the 600-meter run with times of 1:22.44 and 1:24.24, respectively. The Huskers then swept the 400-meter dash with wins by Nikita Eades (59.00) and Nick Makukutu (49.29).

 

In the throws, the Huskers won the men’s shot put and swept the weight throw. In the weight throw, senior Keith Lloyd (62-0 1/2) took the men’s title, with redshirt freshman Jade Hodson taking the women’s title (50-3 1/2). Sam Siegel improved his personal-best in the indoor shot put with a toss of 51-5 3/4, bettering his previous mark of 50-2 3/4.

 

Following a win in the 60-meter hurdles at the Conference Challenge, sophomore Arna Erega came back to win the long jump with a leap of 18-7 3/4. Another multi-meet winner on Saturday was true freshman Chris Phipps, who posted a win in the triple jump earlier in the day at the Conference Challenge before winning the high jump at the NWU Invitational with a leap of 6-5 1/2. Chris Nuttelman finished the Huskers’ night in the jumps with a winning leap of 44-4 3/4 in the men’s triple jump.

 

In other Husker action, former Husker and 2008 Beijing Olympic bronze medalist Priscilla Lopes-Schliep won the 60-meter dash and 60-meter hurdles. Lopes-Schliep ran a 7.58 in the 60 meters and 8.36 in the 60 hurdles.

 

The Huskers will now prepare for next weekend’s adidas Classic at the Devaney Center Indoor Track. The Huskers will host Kansas, Wichita State, Alabama (women), Illinois (men) and Florida State in a team-scored meet. The one-day meet is scheduled to start at 11 a.m. Tickets can be purchased online at Huskers.com, by calling 1-800-8BIGRED, in person at the Nebraska Athletic Ticket Office or at the door. A reserved ticket is $7, while an adult general admission ticket is $5 and a youth general admission ticket is $3. Live results will be provided at Huskers.com.