Burney Earns Weekly Big 12 Honor

Lincoln ? On Tuesday, Feb. 24, the Big 12 Conference named Nebraska junior Seth Burney as the Big 12 Indoor Track & Field Male Athlete of the Week. The first honor of his career, Burney joins fellow pole vaulter Natalie Willer as the second Husker athlete to be honored with the weekly award in 2009.

 

Burney was picked after his performance at the Nebraska Tune-Up, where he cleared a personal best of 17-7 3/4. After passing at the first four bars, Burney entered at the 16-2 bar. He went on to clear 16-2 and the next bar, 16-8, on his first attempt. Burney then took the bar up to 17-1 3/4, where it took him until his third and final attempt to clear. The Beatrice, Neb., native then went after 17-7 3/4, a height that narrowly escaped him at the Frank Sevigne Husker Invitational. On his final attempt, Burney grazed the bar as he cleared and then had to wait on the mat as the bar bounced, but not fall like it did at the Husker Invite two weeks prior.

 

The vault moved Burney into the No. 6 spot on the all-time Nebraska indoor performance list, while also vaulting him from No. 9 on the Division I list to No. 7. The clearance also cemented Burney as the No. 2 vaulter in the Big 12 Conference entering the indoor conference championships this weekend in College Station, Texas, Jordan Scott of Kansas leads the Big 12 with a vault of 18-0 1/2.