Bullock and Svane Capture All-America Honors

Fayetteville, Ark. ? The No. 11 men’s and No. 14 women’s Nebraska track and field teams opened the 2010 NCAA Indoor Championships on Friday at the Randal Tyson Track Center with high jumpers Epley Bullock and Audrey Svane each earning All-America honors, while Lehann Fourie broke his own school record in the 60-meter hurdles. <?xml:namespace prefix="o" ns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"?>

 

Starting with a field of 18 in the women’s high jump, Bullock and Svane were nearly identical through the first three heights, 5-7, 5-8 3/4 and 5-10, as Bullock was clean and Svane only had one miss at 5-8 3/4. The two Texas natives then conquered the 5-11 1/4 bar on their second attempts to move on with the final seven jumpers to 6-0 1/2.

 

While Svane finished sixth after not being able to clear 6-0 1/2, Bullock produced a first-attempt clearance to move on with four jumpers to 6-1 1/2. Bullock took three solid tries at 6-1 1/2, but the senior was unable to clear, leaving her tied for third with Brigetta Barrett of Arizona.

 

The third-place finish marked the top finish of Bullock’s career at the NCAA meet and earned the Allen, Texas, native her fourth straight indoor All-America honor, which marked the first time in school history that a female high jumper has achieved the feat. For Svane, who was competing at her first NCAA Championships meet, the sixth-place finish secured the Tioga, Texas, native the first All-America honor of her career.

 

Head Coach Gary Pepin has now coached at least one female jumper to All-America status in six of the last seven seasons. Bullock and Svane are the second pair of female high jumpers in NU history to each earn All-America honors on the at the same indoor meet on the women’s side, joining  the 2000 duo of Carrie Braness and Jessica Thompson.

 

Lehann Fourie then followed with the fifth-best preliminary time at 7.67, which broke his own school record of 7.68 that he set at the Big 12 Indoor Championships two weeks ago in Ames, Iowa. Fourie will now look to improve the time even more tomorrow when he runs in the finals at 6:35 p.m. Fourie was joined in the hurdles by Tyrell Ross, who was making his first appearance at the indoor championships after being a two-time NCAA outdoor qualifier in the 110 hurdles. Ross finished 17th in the prelims with a time of 7.90.

 

In the men’s heptathlon, Bjorn Barrefors sits third after completing four of the seven events on day one. A returning All-American in the event, Barrefors started the day by breaking his previous best of 7.12 in the 60 meters with at time of 7.10. He then climbed to fifth in the standing with a long jump of 23-3 1/4, before dropping back to seventh after tossing 45-6 1/4 in the shot put. The Stockholm, Sweden, native ended the day on a high note with a personal-best leap of 6-6 1/4 in the high jump, which shot him to third in the overall standing with 3,196 points, which is two points ahead of Missouri’s Lars Rise and four points behind Minnesota’s R.J. McGinnis. Oregon’s Ashton Eaton holds the overall lead with 3,561 points.

 

Moving to the men’s long jump, Bobby Carter and Nicholas Gordon each failed to reach the finals. A true freshman from Lee’s Summit, Mo., Carter placed 12th with a jump of 24-8 1/2. Gordon, who entered the meet as the defending long jump champion, fouled on his first two attempts of the prelims and was then only able to post a leap of 24-3 on his third attempt to finish 14th.

 

Ashley Miller made her first NCAA Championships appearance on Friday in the women’s mile. A junior from Tipton, Iowa, Miller finished 17th with a time of 4:54.47.

 

The Huskers will be back for the second and final day of the NCAA Indoor Championships tomorrow at 11 a.m. when Barrefors continues the heptathlon with the 60-meter hurdles. Chantae McMillan and Megan Wheatley will be the first NU women on the track when they open the pentathlon at 11:30 with the 60-meter hurdles. Live results can be found at www.flashresults.com, while a live feed can be accessed at NCAA.com until 6:10 p.m., when the feed will switch to www.ESPN360.com.