Miller Breaks 20-Year Old Husker Invite Record

Lincoln – The No. 6 Nebraska men’s and No. 13 women’s track and field teams capped the 35th Annual Frank Sevigne Husker Invitational on Saturday with 13 NCAA provisional-qualifying marks, 14 wins and a meet record by junior Ashley Miller during the two-day meet.

 

Miller started Saturday on a high note for the Huskers, as she took down a 20-year old meet record in the 1,000 meters. Miller, who led from the gun to the finish, clocked a time of 2:49.56 to break the previous record of 2:50.39, set by Missouri’s Val Sauer in 1990. The time topped Miller’s previous best of 2:51.93.

 

Epley Bullock then started the Huskers’ sweep of the high jump by leading the women’s squad to a 1-2-3 finish, as Bullock won her second straight Husker Invite title in the event with a leap of 6-0. The Allen, Texas, native was followed by Audrey Svane and Lorena Menghia, who both posted provisional-qualifying jumps of 5-10 3/4, with Svane finishing second overall on less attempts. Later, Paul Hamilton completed NU’s sweep of the high jump with a leap of 7-3 1/4, becoming the seventh Husker to win the event. Hamilton’s jump moves him to No. 1 on the 2010 Big 12 list and to the No. 3 spot on the NCAA list.

 

Staying with the jumps, Chris Phipps and Tara Korshoj combined for a sweep of the triple jump. Korshoj became the first Husker on the women’s side to win the event at the Husker Invitational since Ineta Radevica won her second of back-to-back titles in 2004. Korshoj was on top of her game as she provisionally qualified for the NCAA Indoor Championships with a leap of 41-9 1/4, topping her previous best of 41-4 1/2 by nearly five inches. Phipps then provisionally qualified on the men’s side with a leap of 51-11 3/4, beating his previous best of 51-6 1/2 and moving him to No. 10 on the 2010 NCAA list. The men went 1-2 in the event, as Nicholas Gordon placed second with a jump of 50-10 3/4.

 

Karyn LaCour added her second Husker Invite title in the 60-meter hurdles, after also winning the meet as a freshman in 2007. LaCour was the only hurdler in the field to run below the NCAA provisional standard of 8.43, as the Humble, Texas, native won with a time of 8.39. Also in the sprints, Dax Danns provisionally qualified in the 200 meters with a winning time of 21.20, which was a personal best for Danns and tied him with his teammate Scott Wims for the No. 4 performance all-time at NU indoors.

 

In the distance events, David Adams and Blaise Rewaka each produced Nebraska indoor all-time top-10 performances. First, Rewaka ran 1:09.85 to win the 600-yard run, with the time ranking as the seventh-best performance in Husker history and the fourth-best time in the Big 12 this season. Adams then ran a personal best of 4:03.98 to win the mile, moving him to No. 8 on the all-time NU indoor performance list and to No. 2 on the 2010 Big 12 list.

 

The Huskers capped the meet by winning three of the four relay events. Erica Hamik, Alyssa Vierregger, Brooke Dinsdale and Miller started with a winning time of 11:43.36 in the women’s DMR and were followed by Ethan Luebbe, Tommy Brinn, Dani Dapo and Matt Conahan’s winning time of 10:29.10 in the men’s DMR. Adam Dailey, Dan Christensen, Lukas Hulett and Blaise Rewaka then captured the Frank Sevigne Men’s Special Invite 4x400-meter relay with a time of 3:12.55.

 

Over two days at the Devaney Center Indoor Track, 4,069 fans saw three meet records fall. Along with Miller’s record on Saturday in the 1,000 meters, UTEP’s Blessing Okagbare set the 60-meter dash record on Friday night during the prelims with a nation-leading time of 7.22 and Rice’s Jason Colwick defended his meet title in the men’s pole vault with a nation-leading vault of 18-7 1/4.

 

The Huskers will now hit the road next weekend for three different meets. The majority of the Husker throwers, sprinters and distance runners will head to the ISU Classic in Ames, Iowa, while the pole vaulters and jumpers will travel south to Fayetteville, Ark., for the Tyson Invitational and distance runner David Adams will trek west to the Husky Classic in Seattle, Wash. For more information, as well as complete recaps of each meet, visit Huskers.com later in the week.

 

Frank Sevigne Most Valuable Performers
Women: Blessing Okagbare, UTEP (Sprints)

Men: Jason Colwick, Rice (Pole Vault)

 

Saturday Attendance – 2,517

Meet Attendance – 4,069