Huskers End Regular Season in Mahattan

 

Nebraska Track and Field Meet Day Information

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 Concordia Twilight
 Seward, Neb. (Bulldog Stadium)
 Friday, May 8 (2:30 p.m.)
 cune.com | GPACSports.com
 Schedule | Heat Sheets
 Visiting Seward | Seward Weather

 Ward Haylett Invitational
 Manhattan, Kan. (R.V. Christian Track)
 Saturday, May 2 (Noon)
 KStateSports.com | Big12Sports.com
 Schedule | Heat Sheets
 Visiting Manhattan | Manhattan Weather

 - all times Central

Huskers End Regular Season on the Road

The No. 6 men’s and No. 17 women’s Nebraska track and field teams will wrap up the 2009 outdoor regular season this weekend with two meets. First, the Huskers will make the short up highway 34 on Friday, May 8 for the Concordia Twilight in Seward, Neb., scheduled to start at 2:30 p.m. at Bulldog Stadium. The team will then head south to Manhattan, Kan., for the 11 a.m. Ward Haylett Invitational on Saturday, May 9 at R.V. Christian Track.

 

Live results are not expected to be available at either meet, but make sure to check Huskers.com at the conclusion of each day for a full recap.

 

Next week kicks off the postseason for the Huskers as they will travel to Lubbock, Texas, for the 2009 Big 12 Outdoor Championships. The meet is set to start on Friday, May 15 and run through Sunday, May 17. Check Huskers.com next week for more information.

 

NU Out of the Blocks

(USTFCCCA Ranking: Men - No. 6 / Women - No. 17)

2009 NCAA Midwest Regional Qualifiers: 52

  (32-Men / 20-Women)

2009 NCAA Championship Automatic/Provisional Qualifiers: 4 Provisional

  (2-Men / 2-Women)

2009 Division I Outdoor Leaders: 0

  (0-Men / 0-Women)

2009 Division I Outdoor Top 10: 7

  (5-Men / 2-Women)

2009 Big 12 Conference Outdoor Leaders: 7

  (4-Men / 3-Women)

2009 Big 12 Conference Outdoor Top-8 Marks: 67

  (41-Men / 26-Women)

2009 Big 12 Athlete of the Week: 3

(2-Men / 1-Women)

Awesome Adams

David Adams was arguably the top performer for the Huskers on Saturday, May 2 at the Payton Jordan Invitational in Palo Alto, Calif., as the sophomore took nearly four seconds off his previous-best 3,000-meter steeplechase time of 8:47.07 with a time of 8:43.79. Adams finished 15th overall and second among collegiate runners in a section filled with professionals, including two Olympians. The time ranks Adams No. 9 in Division I, as the Big 12 now has three of the top-10 steeplechasers in the country. Texas’ Jake Morse ran the No. 1 time in the county with an 8:34.57 in the same heat as Adams, while Iowa State’s Hillary Bor owns the No. 7 time, with an 8:43.27 on April 16.

 

Busting Out the Broom

The Nebraska track and field teams capped the 2009 home slate on Saturday, May 2 at Ed Weir Stadium with the Nebraska Quad. A team-scored meet, the Huskers battled Kansas State, Wichita State and Northern Iowa, with the Huskers sweeping the team titles. On the men’s side, Nebraska scored 225 points to down Northern Iowa (149), Wichita State (138.5) and Kansas State (126.5). The Husker women battled with Wichita State all afternoon, getting the best of the Shockers 208-196.5, while Kansas State (123.5) finished third and Northern Iowa (85) fourth.

 

Hurdling the Competition

The Nebraska men’s hurdle squad is one of the deepest and most talented in the country, as the group has three hurdlers ranked in the top 20 in both the 110- and 400-meter hurdles nationally. At the conference level, the Huskers hold the top three spots and six of the top eight spots in the 400 hurdles.

 

Senior Kirkland Thornton leads on the way on both lists, ranking No. 3 in the 110 hurdles (13.50) and No. 14 in the 400 hurdles (50.63). Thornton is joined in the 110’s by No. 5 ranked Lehann Fourie (13.57) and Tyrell Ross (13.87), who is tied for the No. 17 spot. In 400’s, Thornton is followed 17th-ranked Adam Dailey (50.82) and 20th-ranked Nick Makukutu (50.99). Overall, the Huskers have seven hurdles regionally qualified the 400-meter hurdles and four qualified in the 110 hurdles.

 

Movin’ on Up

Four-time All-American Lukas Hulett improved his season-best and regional ranking in the 400-meter dash with a first-place time of 46.14 at the Nebraska Quad on Saturday, May 2. Saturday marked only the second time in 2009 that Hulett ran the 400 meters, with the first coming at the opening meet of the outdoor season, where he ran 46.87 at the Jim Click Shootout. The Bellevue, Neb., native’s time Saturday moved him from No. 43 in Division I to a tie for the No. 13 spot.

 

Going the Distance

Junior Leandra McGruder continued her quest to return to the NCAA Outdoor Championships at the Nebraska Quad on Saturday, May 2, as she posted the No. 12 triple jump mark in the country with a wind-aided leap of 42-8 1/4. The Jefferson City, Mo., native qualified in the long jump as a true freshman in 2007, but battled injuries in 2008 and was unable to make it back to the national meet. McGruder has been solid all season in ?09, clearing the regional standard of 40-5 at all five meets she has jumped in, clearing no less than 40-11 1/2.

 

Vaulting to the Top

Nebraska sophomore Natalie Willer had a memorable Drake Relays on Friday, April 24, as she broke the American Junior, Drake Relays and NU outdoor school records in the women’s pole vault with a then-nation-leading vault of 14-3 1/2.

 

Willer’s vault snapped Tori Anthony’s (Castilleja HS ? Folsom, Calif.) 2007 American Junior Record of 14-1 1/4, Jennifer Bennett’s (Missouri) 2003 Drake Relays record of 13-5 3/4 and Brysun Stately’s 2007 NU outdoor record of 14-3 1/4.

 

Rewriting the Books at Penn

Tyrell Ross, Lehann Fourie, Eric Lund and Kirkland Thornton combined to set the Big 12 and NU record in the men’s 4x110-shuttle hurdle relay with a time of 54.90 at the Penn Relays on Friday, April 24, finishing second to Florida’s time of 54.30. The four Huskers, who have all regionally qualified in the open 110 hurdles, broke the previous school record of 55.12, set by Richard Davidson Jr., Courtney Jones, Nenad Loncar and Tyrell’s older brother, Aaron, at the Penn Relays in 2005.

 

Thornton then returned less than 30 minutes later to tie a 12-year old school record in the 110-meter hurdles, posting a time of 13.50 in the preliminaries. Thornton’s time placed him runner-up in the prelims to South Carolina’s Jason Richardson, who posted a time of 13.44.

 

At a Higher Level

After struggling early in the outdoor season, Epley Bullock exploded with a personal-best jump of 6-1 1/4 to win the Penn Relays on Friday, April 24, breaking her previous best of 6-0.  The jump moved the Allen, Texas, native to No. 3 on the Husker all-time outdoor charts, trailing school-record holder Cris Hall (6-2 1/4) and Tammy Thurman (6-2). Bullock also leapt from being tied for No. 28 in Division I to holding sole possession of the No. 2 spot. The Big 12 Conference now owns the top-two women’s high jumpers in the nation, with Texas’ Destinee Hooker holding the top jump with a mark of 6-3 1/2 on April, 2 at the Texas Relays.

 

Loaded in the Vault

Sophomore Seth Burney leads five men’s pole vaulters on the regional-qualifying list, with Burney tied for 26th with a vault of 17-0 3/4. Burney is joined by true freshman Nate Polacek, who ranks 50th with a vault of 16-10, as well as seniors Pat Burke and Zac Holoch and redshirt freshman Luke Franssen who are all tied for 54th in the country with vaults of 16-6 3/4.

 

The five Huskers have flooded the Big 12 list, with Burney tied for the No. 2 spot, Polacek ranked No. 4 and the other three tied for sixth.

 

Hitting the 60-Foot Mark

Husker junior Trey Jordan surpassed 60 feet in the shot put at the John McDonnell Invitational for the first time in his career on Saturday, April 18, winning the meet with a toss of 60-0 1/4. The Troy, Texas, native is now ranked 19th in Division I and No. 2 in the Big 12, as he  and conference leader Benjamin Harrison of Texas Tech (60-1 3/4) are the only throwers in the Big 12 to break the 60-foot plateau. A two-time All-Big 12 performer, Jordan will be looking for his first honor outdoors this season, as well as his first trip to the NCAA Championships.

 

Wims Getting Back on Track

Junior sprinter Scott Wims is looking to regain his 2007 form when he earned NCAA All-America honors outdoors in the 200 meters. Wims, who was plagued by injuries throughout the 2008 indoor and outdoor seasons, has already posted regional-qualifying times in the 100- and 200-meter dashes this season. At the Nebraska Invitational, Wims finished runner-up in the 200 with a time of 20.77, tying him for 23rd in Division I this season. Wims also ran the anchor leg of the regional-qualifying 4x100-meter relay team at the Jim Click Shootout that posted a time of 39.80, the 13th-best time nationally.

 

Finding Thornton Everywhere

Some may think the Nebraska track and field team has two athletes with the name Kirkland Thornton. This is because Thornton has become one of the most diverse track athletes in the nation this season, as he has qualified for the NCAA Midwest Regional meet in an unheard of six events. Thornton has not only qualified in the events, but had put up impressive times, ranking in the top 20 in three individual events, while also running the second leg of the No. 11-ranked 4x100-meter relay and the second leg of the No. 13 4x400-meter relay.

Thornton’s 2009 Regional Times and National Rank

100-Meter Dash (10.51 | t-63rd)

200-Meter Dash (20.84 | t-28th)

110-Meter Hurdles (13.50 | 3rd)

400-Meter Hurdles (50.78 | 14th)

4x100-Meter Relay (39.80 | 13th)

4x400-Meter Relay (3:06.74 | 13th)

 

NCAA First Timers

Of the 52 Huskers that have qualified for the NCAA Midwest Regional meet in Norman, Okla., on May 29-30, 18 are first-time qualifiers.

 

Women

Arna Erega (So. - 100-Meter Hurdles: 13.82)

Jessica Furlan (Fr. - 3,000m SC: 10:34.68)

Erica Hamik (Fr. - 800-Meter Run: 2:09.63)

Tara Korshoj (Fr. - Triple Jump: 41-6 1/2)

Lisa Minnick (Jr. - Hammer Throw: 182-3)

Jen Webers (So. - 3,000m SC: 10:47.19)

Men

Pat Burke (Sr. - Pole Vault: 16-6 3/4)

Kyle Custer (Jr. - 3,000m SC: 9:04.90)

Dale Ervin (Fr. - 200-Meter Dash: 21.27 & 4x400-Meter Relay: 3:07.70)

Luke Franssen (Fr. - Pole Vault: 16-6 3/4)

Tyler Hitchler (Fr. - Discus: 177-1)

Scott Jorgenson (RFr. - Long Jump: 25-2 3/4w)

Nick Makukutu (So. - 400-Meter Hurdles: 50.99)

Eric Petersen (Jr. - Hammer Throw: 186-11)

Ryan Petrocchi (Jr. - Javelin: 209-3)

Chris Phipps (Fr. - Long Jump: 25-0 3/4 & Triple Jump: 49-6 1/4)

Nate Polacek (Fr. - Pole Vault: 16-10)

Brett Suckstorf (Jr. - Hammer Throw: 191-1)

 

Tops in the Big 12

Six Nebraska track and field athletes currently hold the top mark in their event on the Big 12 outdoor performance list. Four Husker men hold No. 1 spots, while the women have two conference leaders.

 

Women

Rachel Carrizales (Sr. - 3,000-Meter Run: 9:52.93)

Megan Wheatley (So. - Heptathlon: 5,360)

Natalie Willer (So. - Pole Vault: 14-3 1/2)

Men

Bj?rn Barrefors (Fr. - Decathlon: 7.448)

Kyle Custer (Jr. - 3,000-Meter Run: 8:21.62)

Nicholas Gordon (So. - Long Jump: 25-6 3/4)

Kirkland Thornton (Sr. - 400-Meter Hurdles: 50.63)