Fourie Ties School Record with NCAA Season Best in 60-Meter Hurdles

Ames, Iowa – With the cancellation of Saturday’s dual between Nebraska and Texas Tech because of weather in Texas, the Huskers traveled to the Bill Bergan Invitational, hosted by Iowa State. Lehann Fourie starred for the Huskers, as the junior tied David Davis Jr.’s 2003 school record of 7.70 in the 60-meter hurdles.

 

After opening the 2010 season on Jan. 15 with the top 60-meter hurdle time in the NCAA at 7.77, Fourie took back the top spot on Saturday, knocking LSU’s Barrett Nugent (7.74) to second.  Fourie and the rest of the Huskers will run on the same track later in the indoor season at the Big 12 Indoor Championships, where Fourie has finished runner up in the hurdles the past two seasons. Arna Erega then added a win on the women’s side of the hurdles with a season-best time of 8.36, bettering her provisional-qualifying time by one-hundredth of a second.

 

With Fourie running well on the track, Natalie Willer tore up the pole vault with an NCAA automatic-qualifying jump of 13-11 1/4. Willer passed at the first six bars, before entering at 12-9 1/2. The Elkhorn, Neb., native cleared 12-9 1/2 and 13-3 1/2 on her first attempts and then took two attempts at 13-11 1/4. Willer followed by taking the bar up to 14-3 1/2, but was unable to clear. Nate Polacek completed the sweep in the vault for the Huskers, tying his personal best of 17-0 3/4.

 

Back on the track, the men received a strong 800-meter performance from Blaise Rewaka, who won with a time of 1:50.69 to provisionally qualify for the NCAA Indoor Championships. The team of Scott Wims, Cylend Simmons, Dax Danns and Rewaka finished the night with a win in the 4x400-meter relay, as they ran 3:12.44. Danns also added a win in the 200 meters, running 21.39

 

In the field, the Huskers swept the long and triple jumps on both the men’s and women’s sides. Nicholas Gordon pulled double duty with leaps of 25-0 3/4 and 50-3 1/4 in the long jump and triple jump, respectively, with the long jump mark an NCAA provisional-qualifying jump. On the women’s side, Leandra McGruder and Tara Korshoj combined for the sweep, as McGruder won the long jump (19-7 1/2) and Korshoj took the triple jump (40-11 3/4). Epley Bullock and Audrey Svane then went 1-2 in the high jump, with Bullock jumping 6-0 and Svane clearing 5-10 to provisionally qualify for the NCAA meet.

 

The Huskers will now prepare for the 35th Annual Frank Sevigne Husker Invitational, set for Friday, Feb. 5 at 5 p.m. and then starting again on Saturday, Feb. 6 at Noon. One of the most talent-filled meets of the indoor season, the Huskers will welcome fellow Division I teams Ohio State, Arizona, Iowa, Colorado State, Drake, Kansas, Rice, Saint Louis and UTEP.

 

Fans can purchase tickets on Huskers.com, by calling 1-800-8BIGRED or by stopping by the Nebraska Athletic Ticket Office, located directly west of Memorial Stadium. For more information and a complete meet schedule, as well as information about the rest of the 2010 season, log on to Huskers.com.