Willer and Wolkins Win Drake Relays Titles

Des Moines, Iowa ? The Nebraska track and field team battled through rainy conditions on Friday at Drake Stadium for the third day of the 101st Drake Relays. The Huskers captured two wins on Friday, with Natalie Willer winning the pole vault and Adam Wolkins winning the javelin.

 

The women’s pole vault was set to be the first collegiate field event at Drake Stadium on Friday, but due to the rain and wind, the event was moved indoors to the Drake Fieldhouse. Willer, who entered as the defending champion and event-record holder, did not let the facility change affect her. The Husker junior cleared 13-5 1/4 to win her second straight Drake Relays title after setting the meet record last season with a clearance at 14-3 1/2.

 

Willer started by passing on the first two bars of the competition and then cleared 12-7 1/2, 13-1 1/2 and 13-5 1/4 on her first attempts. As the only vaulter still jumping, Willer tried for 13-9 1/4, but was unable to clear. She was joined in top three by teammate Rachel Birtles, who finished third with a season-best vault of 12-7 1/2.

 

Wolkins added another Drake Relays win for the Huskers with a toss of 219-0 in the javelin. Georgia’s Brian Moore held the lead through the preliminaries after throwing 215-1 on his first throw of the meet, but Wolkins responded in the finals by posting the eventual event-winning throw on his first attempt of the finals. Considering the conditions, Wolkins was happy with his performance.

 

“I’ve been throwing farther than I did today, but the wind conditions made it a little tough,” Wolkins said. “I managed to pull one out at the right time.”

 

The Huskers top performance on the track came at the end of the night when the women’s 4x800-meter relay placed second with the fourth-best time in school history. Ashley Miller, Blaire Dinsdale, Suzanne Higgins and Brooke Dinsdale teamed to run 8:43.11, which trailed Minnesota winning time of 8:33.98.

 

Also in the throws, Veronica Grizzle and Samantha Musil combined for a pair of top-10 finishes in the shot put, as Grizzle toss a personal best of 48-0 3/4 to finish seventh and Musil placed ninth at 47-4 1/4.

 

Back on the track, NU’s distance squad started the afternoon with a 10th-place time in the men’s 4x1,600 meters, with Kyle Custer, David Adams, Tommy Brinn and Ethan Luebbe combining to run 17:19.14. The women’s relay team of Erica Hamik, Blaire Dinsdale, Suzanne Higgins and Jen Pancoast followed with a ninth-place time of 11:42.09 in the distance-medley relay.

 

The Huskers will be back at Drake Stadium tomorrow for the final day of the Drake Relays. The women’s hammer throwers and long jumpers will start the action at 9:30 a.m., while the women’s 4x1,600-meter team of Jen Pancoast, Brooke Dinsdale, Erica Hamik and Jen Webers will be the first Huskers to hit the track at 11:20 a.m. Live results of the meet can be found at Huskers.com.