Gordon Wins First NCAA Title

College Station, Texas ? After competing at the Big 12 Indoor Championships two weeks ago on Feb. 27-28, the No. 5 men’s and No. 15 women’s Nebraska track and field teams returned to the McFerrin Athletic Center on Friday morning for the first day of the two-day NCAA Indoor Championships. Through day one, 4,315 fans saw one Husker national champion and seven Huskers earn All-American honors, including six first-time honorees. In the team standing the Husker men are tied for third with Arkansas (14 points), while the women sit 12th with 8.5 points.

 

After winning the first Big 12 title of his career two weeks ago, sophomore Nicholas Gordon returned to the same long jump runway to win his first NCAA national championship. A native of Kingston, Jamaica, Gordon won the title on the final jump of the event, clearing eight meters for the first time in his career with a leap of 26-4 1/4. Gordon was in the ?zone’ the entire meet, clearing 25-7 or more on five of his six jumps, including an event opening jump of 25-10 3/4. Entering the final two jumps, Gordon had the lead before Jeremy Hicks of LSU cleared 26-3 1/2 to take the lead, Gordon responded with a jump of 25-9 1/2, leaving him in second-place entering the final round of jumps. After a foul by Hicks and the national title on the line, Gordon rose to the occasion to win just the second men’s indoor long jump title in school history. Gordon joins NU school-record holder and 2006 indoor/outdoor champion Arturs Abolins, who, like Gordon, won the national title on the final jump of the 2006 meet.

 

“It felt great to come out and jump today,” Gordon said. “I really love this venue. I have been jumping really well lately and it really showed today.”

 

“Nicholas (Gordon) has been jumping well lately,” Head Coach and Jumps Coach Gary Pepin said. “As a freshman, I think he was one of the best freshmen I’ve ever been around. This year he has improved his technique, gotten stronger and quicker.”

 

Gordon was joined in the All-America ranks by true freshman Chris Phipps, who finished ninth overall, but seventh among American jumpers with a jump of 25-0 1/2. Senior LeRon Williams came up one spot shy of All-America, finishing 12th overall and as the ninth American jumper with a leap of 24-5 1/2. Gordon and Phipps are the first pair of Husker long jumpers on the men’s side to earn All-America at the same indoor meet, while being the first set overall since 2004 when Angela Dies (7th) and Ineta Radevica (3rd) pulled off the achievement.

 

Multi-event athletes Megan Wheatley and Chantae McMillan were the first Huskers to hit the track, with each earning the first NCAA All-America honor of their career in the women’s pentathlon. Wheatley finished fourth with a personal-best score of 4,267 points, ranking her as the No. 2 performer all-time indoors at NU, while McMillan finished eighth with 4,096 points, with the two combining to score six points for the Husker women. The duo’s pair of top-eight finishes marked the second time in Husker history that two Huskers have earned All-America honors in the pentathlon at the same meet, with Marjan Goedhart (8th) and Nancy Kindig (2nd) being the first teammates to achieve the feat in 1982.

 

On the way to her personal-best score, Wheatley hit PR’s in the 60-meter hurdles (8.62), shot put (43-1 1/2) and long jump (20-3), with her toss in the shot put breaking her previous best of 43-1 1/2 by nearly six inches.

 

“It was really hard to rebound after not jumping well in the high jump,” Wheatley said. “Coach (Kris) Grimes got me going. He got after me and told me there was plenty of meet to go. I came back and responded well. I had the best three throws of my life in the shot.”

 

McMillan also had a record-breaking day, setting personal bests in the first and last events of the day. McMillan started with a personal-best time of 8.77 in the 60-meter hurdles, before running a personal-best time of 2:24.87 in the 800 meters. Later, McMillan competed in the open long jump, placing 13th with a jump of 19-6 1/4.

 

With a fifth-place finish in the men’s pole vault, Seth Burney became the first Husker on the men’s side to earn All-America honors indoors since 2006 when Ray Scotten finished 11th overall and eighth among American vaulter. Burney was clean through the first two heights, 16-10 3/4 and 17-2 3/4, before taking all three attempts to clear 17-6 1/2. With six vaulters left in the field, the bar went up to 17-10 1/2, where Burney was unable to clear. The Beatrice, Neb., native’s fifth-place finish is also the top finish for a Husker in the pole vault since 2005, when Scotten finished second.

 

Junior Epley Bullock earned the third straight All-America honor of her career in the women’s high jump with tie for sixth. Bullock started the meet on fire, flying threw the 5-7, 5-8 3/4, and 5-10 3/4 bars on her first attempts. The bar then went up to 6-0 and the Allen, Texas, native was unable to clear. Bullock joins Cris Hall as the only Husker on the women’s side to earn three straight All-America honors, with Hall finishing in the top eight from 1991-93

 

In the preliminaries of the 60-meter hurdles, senior Kirkland Thornton ran the fifth-fastest time at 7.79 to secure the first NCAA All-America honor of his career with a spot in the eight-hurdler final tomorrow at 5:30 p.m. Lehann Fourie also ran in the prelims, finishing tenth with a time of 7.86.

 

On the men’s side of the multi-events, true freshman Bj?rn Barrefors started his two-day quest to become the first Husker in school history to earn All-America honors in the indoor heptathlon. Barrefors started the day with three straight personal bests, including the 60-meter dash (7.13), long jump (24-2 1/2) and shot put (46-10). The Stockholm, Sweden, native ended day one with a clearance of 6-4 in the high jump. Barrefors will enter day two in second place with 2,487 points, trailing Lars Rise’s score of 2,504.

 

Lukas Hulett’s bid for a third-straight All-America honor in the indoor 400 meters came up just short as the Bellevue, Neb., native posted a preliminary time of 47.44, finishing 14th.

 

The Huskers will now rest up for day two of the national meet. Barrefors will be back in action tomorrow for day two of the heptathlon, starting at Noon with the 60-meter hurdles. On the track, Thornton will compete in the 60-meter hurdle finals, while in the field, Paul Hamilton will compete in the men’s high jump at 4:15 p.m. and Natalie Willer will be in the women’s pole vault at 4 p.m.

 

 

2009 Husker Indoor All-Americans through Day One

Nicholas Gordon: Long Jump ? 1st (1st Career)
Megan Wheatley: Pentathlon ? 4th (1st Career)
Seth Burney: Pole Vault ? 5th (1st Career)

Epley Bullock: High Jump ? t-6th (3rd Career)
Chantae McMillan: Pentathlon ? 8th (1st Career)
Chris Phipps: Long Jump ? 9th overall | 7th American (1st Career)
Kirkland Thornton: 60 Hurdles ? 5th in prelims (1st Career)

 

Huskers Competing on Day Two

Paul Hamilton (high jump)

Natalie Willer (pole vault)

Bj?rn Barrefors (heptathlon)

Kirkland Thornton (60 hurdles)