Carter and Willer Capture Husker Invite Titles

Lincoln ? The Nebraska track and field team opened the 35th Annual Frank Sevigne Husker Invitational on Friday night at the Devaney Center Indoor Track, with Natalie Willer and Bobby Carter each capturing wins for the Huskers.

 

Willer successfully defended her women’s pole vault title from a year ago, matching her winning vault of 13-9 1/4 from last season. Willer is just the third Husker in meet history to win the event and the first Husker to win back-to-back titles. Kim Stewart (1998) and Christi Lehman (2003) also captured wins for the Huskers.

 

Bobby Carter led a 1-2 Husker finish in the men’s long jump with a leap of 24-6 1/2, as he out leapt his teammate Chris Phipps, who jumped 24-0 3/4. Carter’s win marked the third straight year that a Husker has won the event, after Nicholas Gordon won back-to-back titles in 2008 and 2009.

 

On the track, the Huskers saw five athletes advance to finals on Saturday, including Lehann Fourie (60h), Karyn LaCour (60h), Dax Danns (60m and 200m), Lukas Hulett (400m) and Scott Wims (200m).

 

Husker fans were also treated to a meet record in the women’s 60-meter dash, as UTEP’s Blessing Okagbare ran the top prelim time at 7.22. The record was previously held by Peta-Gaye Dowdie of LSU, who ran 7.24 at the 2000 Husker Invitational.

 

The Frank Sevigne Husker Invitational to set to resume tomorrow morning at Noon with the women’s shot put and women’s mile run. The men’s special invitational 4x400-meter relay will cap that meet at 5:25 p.m.

 

Attendance ? 1,552