Barrefors, Thornton Power NU to Tie for Fifth

College Station, Texas ? With one national title and seven All-America honors already secured on day one, the Nebraska track and field team returned to the McFerrin Athletic Center on Saturday for the final day of the 2009 NCAA Indoor Championships. The Huskers produced one more All-America performance and one school record, helping the men’s team score 25 points to finish tied for fifth with Arizona State and Baylor, while the women’s team placed 29th with 8.5 points. The men’s finish was their best since 1996, when they came in runner-up to George Mason, 39-31.5. For the Husker women, they posted their top finish since 2005, when they came in fourth.

 

True freshman Bj?rn Barrefors started day two in dramatic fashion for the Big Red by becoming the first Husker in school history since the indoor championships started in 1965 to earn All-America honors in the men’s heptathlon with a school-record score of 5,795, topping Bill Vacek’s 1996 score of 5,766. Barrefors ended the meet in third place, trailing national champion Ashton Eaton (Oregon ? 5,988) and runner-up Gonzalo Barroilhet (FSU ? 5,879). Over the two-day seven-event conquest, Barrefors set four personal bests on his way to a personal-best score, including three straight PR’s on day one in the 60-meter dash (7.13), long jump (24-2 1/2) and shot put (46-10), before ending the heptathlon with a nearly two second personal best in the 1,000-meter run with a time of 2:50.57.   

 

“Finishing in the top five was my goal, I was not going to be satisfied with just being in the top eight,” Barrefors said. “Coming into today, I knew I had a chance at top three, but it was going to be very tough. During the final lap (of the 1,000) I knew I pretty much had it (third place). It was still a huge relief to see it official on the scoreboard.”

 

With All-America honors already wrapped up after finishing fifth in the preliminaries on day one, senior Kirkland Thornton moved up one spot to fourth in the 60-meter hurdle finals with a personal-best time of 7.75. Thornton becomes the first Husker on the men’s side in school history to earn All-America in the 60-meter hurdles, with the NCAA switching from the 55-meter hurdles to the 60-meter hurdles in 1999. The last time a Husker earned All-America honors on the men’s side was in 1996, when Frank Mensah (4th) and Willie Hibler (5th) both finished in the top eight of the 55-meter hurdles.

 

The Huskers now turn their attention to the outdoor season. There will be no rest for the Big Red as they are set to head to Tempe, Ariz., next weekend for the Baldy Castillo Invitational on March 20-21. Check Huskers.com for more information and a full outdoor schedule. Fan will also be able to catch a 90-minute recap of the indoor championships on March 23, at 1:30 p.m. (Central) on ESPN2.

 

2009 Husker Indoor All-Americans

Nicholas Gordon: Long Jump ? 1st (1st Career)

Bj?rn Barrefors: Heptathlon ? 3rd (1st Career)
Megan Wheatley: Pentathlon ? 4th (1st Career)

Kirkland Thornton: 60 Hurdles ? 4th (1st Career)
Seth Burney: Pole Vault ? 5th (1st Career)

Epley Bullock: High Jump ? t-6th (3rd Career)
Chantae McMillan: Pentathlon ? 8th (1st Career)

                            Long Jump - 13th overall / 8th American (2nd Career) 
Chris Phipps: Long Jump ? 9th overall / 7th American (1st Career)