Relay Club Newsletter - Spring 2009

Gordon Wins Long Jump Title

After winning the first Big 12 title of his career on Feb. 27 at the Big 12 indoor Championships, 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.”

Wheatley, McMillan Earn All-America

Multi-event athletes Megan Wheatley and Chantae McMillan each earned the first NCAA All-America honor of their careers in the women's pentathlon at the NCAA Indoor Championships.

 

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.

 

McMillan would return later to earn the second All-America honor of her career in the long jump. McMillan finished 13th overall and eighth among American jumpers with a leap of 19-6 1/4.

 

Hurdling History

South Holland, Ill., native Kirkland Thornton made history at the NCAA Indoor Championships as he became 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 in the indoor hurdles 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.

Björn Breaks Out in Big Way

True freshman Björn Barrefors started day two of the NCAA Indoor Championships 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.

 

All-America Honors Continue to Rise

The Nebraska men's and women's track and field teams had eight athletes combine to earn nine All-America honors at the NCAA Indoor Championships, the most since 2005 when the two combined to earn 10 honors. Overall, the two squads have now combined to earn 253 indoor All-America honors since the men's indoor championships began in 1965 and women's championships began in 1980.

 

For the men's team, its five honors were the most at the indoor championships since 2005, when it earned seven. On the women's side, the team's four honors tied the 2006 squad. 

 

Three-Peat Performance

Junior Epley Bullock earned the third straight All-America honor of her career in the women's high jump with tie for sixth at the NCAA Indoor Championships. Bullock joined 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.

 

Burney Vaults to Another Level

At the NCAA Indoor Championships 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 vaulters. 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.

 

Tops Since ‘96

At the NCAA Indoor Championships, the Nebraska men's track and field team scored 25 points to finish tied for fifth with Arizona State and Baylor. The men's finish was their best since 1996, when they finished runner-up to George Mason, 39-31.5. For the Husker women, they placed 29th with 8.5 points, marking their top finish since 2005, when they came in fourth.

 

Dalton Earns Scholarship

Joslyn Dalton was recently selected as one of 13 winners of the NCAA's Women's Enhancement Postgraduate Scholarship, joining fellow Husker Amanda Gates (volleyball). Nebraska was the only school on the list to be represented twice, while the Big 12 Conference had four student-athletes honored.

 

A 2009 team co-captain that excels both on the track and in the classroom, Dalton has been a four-time All-Big 12 performer on the track, while ranking in the top-25 in four different events on the NU all-time performance list.

 

A communication studies major, Dalton has been named to the First-Team Academic All-Big 12 team the past three seasons, the USTFCCCA All-Academic team the past two seasons and the Big 12 Commissioner's Honor roll the last eight semesters, carrying a GPA of 3.771.

 

Huskers Bring Four Big 12 Titles Back to Lincoln

The Nebraska track and field team came up short of winning the conference team titles with the men finishing second and the women finishing third, but the teams were able to bring four individual titles back to Lincoln.

 

Megan Wheatley (pentathlon), Natalie Willer (pole vault), Nicholas Gordon (long jump) and Keith Lloyd (shot put) all won the first Big 12 indoor championship of their careers in College Station, with Wheatley earning her second conference title of her career after a win in the heptathlon as last season's outdoor championships.

 

The two titles on the women's side mark the second straight year that the women have won two individual titles at the indoor championships, with Epley Bullock (high jump) and Sheryl Morgan (600 yards) winning titles in 2008. On the men's side, Lloyd and Gordon became the first individual winners at the indoor meet since 2006, when the men won five indoor titles.

 

Grimes Honored by USTFCCCA

During the recent NCAA Indoor Championships, the United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) released its regional coach, assistant coach and athlete of the year awards. In the Midwest Region, Multi-Event and Pole Vault Coach Kris Grimes was selected as Women's Assistant Coach of the Year.

 

The fourth such honor of his career and third at Nebraska, Grimes coached two women and two men to five All-America honors at the recent indoor championships, including one school record.

 

In his fourth season at Nebraska, Grimes has coached athletes that have earned a total of 13 All-America honors, while also coaching 10 Big 12 Champions.

 

McGruder Honored as Community Champion

On Thursday, Feb. 5, the Big 12 Conference named Nebraska track and field junior Leandra McGruder to its Winter Chick-fil-A Community of Champions team. The honor is the second of McGruder's career, as she was also named to the 2008 spring team.

 

A native of Jefferson City, Mo., McGruder was selected for the team based on her combination of academic success, community service and leadership/sportsmanship. One student-athlete from each of the 12 conference schools were selected, and the winter team is the second of three seasonal teams during the year, with Husker volleyball player Amanda Gates named to the fall team.