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Meet: Drake Relays (meet schedule - pg. 4 of notes)
Where: Des Moines, Iowa (Drake Stadium)
When: Thursday, April 22 - Saturday, April 24
Meet: Penn Relays (available at ThePennRelays.com)
Where: Philadelphia, Pa. (Franklin Field)
When: Friday, April 23 - Saturday, April 24
Drake and Penn Relays Await Huskers
The No. 13 men’s and No. 16 women’s Nebraska track and field teams will compete at two of the most prestigious meets of the outdoor season this weekend when they travel to Des Moines, Iowa, for the Drake Relays and to Philadelphia, Pa., for the Penn Relays. The Huskers will open the Drake Relays on Thursday afternoon, while they will not compete at the Penn Relays until Friday. Each year, some of the top collegiate and professional athletes can be found at each meet.
Live results from both meets will be available at Huskers.com, as well as a full recap at the completion of each day’s events.
Willer’s Winning Ways
Natalie Willer snagged not one, but two, wins in the pole vault on Saturday, April 17, at the Kansas Relays in Lawrence, Kan. After winning the collegiate division of the vault with a leap of 13-1 1/2, Willer then took down the field in the invitational division with a season-best vault of 14-1 1/4. Willer is currently tied with seven other vaulters for fourth in the NCAA and is tied for the top vault in the Big 12 this season with Texas Tech’s Shade Weygandt. She will now prepare for the Drake Relays, where she shined last year by breaking the American Junior, Drake Relays and NU outdoor record in the vault with a mark of 14-3 1/2.
Jumping Up Javelin Chart
Adam Wolkins produced a strong NU debut at the Stanford Invitational with a toss of 223-4 in the javelin, the ninth-best performance in NU history. Wolkins, who transferred to Nebraska from Cowley College prior to the 2008-09 school year, was competing in his first meet as a Huskers after redshirting last season. Now with a few meets under his belt, Wolkins showed what he is capable of at the Kansas Relays on Friday, April 16, with a throw of 230-10, the fourth-best performance all-time at NU and the 10th-best throw in the NCAA this season.
Suckstorf Continues to Climb
The distance just keeps going growing for hammer thrower Brett Suckstorf, as the senior set another personal best in the hammer throw with a toss of 203-5 at the Mt. SAC Relays on Friday, April 16, after previously breaking his personal best at his first two meets of the 2010 outdoor season. Starting the season with a PR of 193-2, Suckstorf first broke his PR at the Stanford Invitational with a toss of 197-4. The Pierce, Neb., native then became the fifth hammer throw in NU history to pass 200 feet with a throw of 201-9 at the Jim Click Shootout. His latest throw of 203-5 ranks him 31st in the NCAA this season.
Bullock Bounces to New Heights
Senior Epley Bullock started the 2010 outdoor season on fire with a school-record tying leap of 6-2 1/4 in the high jump at the Jim Click Shootout in Tucson, Ariz., on Saturday, April 3. The mark tied the Allen, Texas, native with Cris Hall for the NU record, with Hall posting the jump in 1992. Bullock cleared the bar on her first attempt and then tried for 6-3 1/2.
Fast Fourie
After being honored as an All-America 60-meter hurdler at the NCAA Indoor Championships with a seventh-place finish, NU’s Lehann Fourie has hit the ground running in the outdoor 110-meter hurdles. One week after the indoor championships, Fourie clocked a time of 13.80 to take first place at the Baldy Castillo Invitational in Tempe, Ariz. Fourie then improved the time at the Spec Towns National Team Invitational in Athens, Ga., with a winning time of 13.67. The Husker senior is tied for sixth in the NCAA with LSU’s Barrett Nugent and rank second in the Big 12 behind Oklahoma’s Ronnie Ash, who leads the NCAA at 13.50.
Wheatley’s Winning Ways
Nebraska’s Megan Wheatley will look to not only make NU history this year, but also Big 12 Conference history if she can win her third straight conference title in the women’s heptathlon. The two-time defending champion in the event, Wheatley is just the third combined event athlete in Big 12 history to win the heptathlon twice and only the second heptathlete to win titles in consecutive years. Kansas’ Candy Mason won back-to-back titles in 1998-99 and NU’s Ashley Selig won her two titles in 2005 and 2007.
While Wheatley and Selig are the only NU women to win two conference titles in the heptathlon, Nancy Kindig won the pentathlon in 1980 and then was the first women’s athlete to win the heptathlon at the 1981 Big Eight Outdoor Championships when the conference switched from the pentathlon to the heptathlon at the outdoor conference meet.
Home for Heptathletes
The Nebraska women’s heptathletes will be in search of their sixth straight Big 12 heptathlon title this season. Ashley Selig started the run in 2005 and won a second title in 2007, while Sara Jane Baker took top honors in 2006 and Megan Wheatley has been the latest to win with back-to-back titles in 2008 and 2009. The Huskers’ current run in the heptathlon is unmatched by any other women’s team in the conference, as only Kansas (1998-99) and Missouri (2003-04) have earned consecutive titles, with each winning back-to-back crowns.
Overall on the women’s side, only Texas has won more consecutive championships in a single event, including the 100 meters (2002-06), 4x400m (1999-2005), 400 hurdles (1999-2006) and 4x100m (1997-2006).
Adams Opens with Top-Five 5K Time
Following a breakout indoor season, David Adams has continued his success into the outdoor season with a season-opening time of 14:06.38 in the 5,000 meters at the Stanford Invitational. Adams, who opened the 2010 indoor season with a school-record time of 14:12.47 in the 5K at the Holiday Inn Invitational, now ranks fourth on NU’s all-time outdoor list in the 5K. Joe Kirby set the outdoor school record in 1990 with a time of 13:51.35.
Pepin back for 30th Season
The all-time winningest track and field coach in the history of the Big 12 and the former Big Eight Conference, Nebraska Head Coach Gary Pepin is coaching his historic 30th season at NU. The longest tenured active coach in Cornhusker athletics, Pepin is in his 27th season as head coach of both the Husker men’s and women’s teams.