Combined Eventers Open Kansas Relays

Lawrence, Kan. ? The Nebraska combined event athletes opened the 2010 Kansas Relays on Wednesday afternoon at Memorial Stadium with day one of the men’s decathlon and women’s heptathlon. Two-time defending Big 12 heptathlon champion Megan Wheatley and Lorena Menghia were in competition for the Husker women, while redshirt freshman Teran Walford was the NU’s lone representative in the decathlon.

 

Through the first four events of the heptathlon (100h, high jump, shot put, 200m), Wheatley and Menghia sit in second (3,175) and fourth (2,950), respectively. Wheatley finished in the top five in every event, including the top time in the 100 hurdles at 14.36. Competing in the first heptathlon of her career while at Nebraska, Menghia tied for the top mark in the high jump with a leap of 5-5 3/4.

 

For Walford, he put together a solid day with personal bests in three out of the five first-day events to score a total of 3,484 points. After opening with a wind-aided time of 11.34 in the 100 meters, Walford cleared a PR or 21-1 1/4 in the long jump. Following the shot put, he finished the day with back-to-back PR’s in the high jump and 400 meters, with a leap of 6-2 1/4 and a time of 50.71.

 

While Walford sits fourth in the decathlon, former Husker Skyler Reising holds over a 300-point lead over the next closest competitor with a day-one score of 3,937.

 

While the combined eventers return tomorrow to complete the decathlon and heptathlon, the rest of the Nebraska track and field team will also hit the track and the field throughout the day. Live results and a schedule of events can be found here.