Huskers Head to Big 12 Championships

Meet: Big 12 Championships (meet schedule - pg. 5 of notes)<?xml:namespace prefix="o" ns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"?>

Where: Columbia, Mo. (Audrey J. Walton Stadium)

When: Friday, May 14-Sunday, May 16 (8:15 a.m./10 a.m./2 p.m.)

Results: www.FlashResults.com

 

Huskers Open 2010 Postseason

The No. 16 men’s and No. 17 women’s Nebraska track and field teams will open the 2010 outdoor postseason on Friday in Columbia, Mo. with the Big 12 Outdoor Track and Field Championships at the Audrey J. Walton Track Complex. The Huskers enter the meet as the defending champion on the men’s side, while the NU women finished third last season to three-time defending champion Texas A&M.

 

At the previous 13 outdoor championships, the Husker men and women have combined to win seven outdoor titles, which ranks second to Texas, who has won 10 combined outdoor crowns. NU’s five outdoor titles on the men’s side are the most in the conference, with Texas ranking second at four men’s championships.

 

The 14th edition of the outdoor championships is set to start at 8:15 on Friday morning, before continuing at 10 a.m. on Saturday and 2 p.m. on Sunday. Live results can be found at www.FlashResults.com and Huskers.com. Fox Sports Net is set to broadcast a recap of the meet on Thursday, May 20. Check back with Huskers.com later for scheduled times of the broadcast.

 

Leader of the Pack

Lehann Fourie, who was named Big 12 Male Track and Field Athlete of the Week on Tuesday, May 11, enters the Big 12 Championships with a target on his back, as the NCAA leader in the 110 hurdles will be up against three other hurdlers in the conference that rank in the NCAA top 10. Fourie ran his wind-aided nation-leading time of 13.41 at the Texas Tech/Nebraska Dual on Saturday, May 1, which secured him the second-fastest performance in school history, trailing Kirkland Thornton’s wind-aided time of 13.36 in 2009. While Fourie looks to become the first Husker to win the 110 hurdles in the Big 12 era, he will have to hold off Oklahoma’s Ronnie Ash, who is the defending NCAA champion and is tied for second on the 2010 NCAA charts with a time of 13.50. Other Big 12 hurdlers who rank among the NCAA top 10 include Texas’ Keiron Stewart (No. 7, 13.60) and Kansas States’ Jeffrey Julmis (t-No. 10, 13.76).

 

Bullock at Another Level

A two-time Big 12 indoor high jump champion, senior Epley Bullock will try to win her first outdoor title this weekend in her final appearance at the Big 12 Championships. A win would give the NU women their fourth Big 12 outdoor high jump title and their second in the past three seasons, as Bullock placed second to teammate Kim Shubert in 2008.

 

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. On Saturday, May 1 at the Texas Tech/Nebraska Dual, Bullock took over the 18-year old record with a winning jump of 6-2 3/4.

 

The jump currently ranks her No. 2 in the NCAA and solidifies her as the top jumper in the Big 12 Conference, as no other jumper has cleared higher than 5-10 3/4.

 

Wheatley’s Chases History

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.

 

Wolkins In the Mix

Adams Wolkins enters the Big 12 Championships ranked No. 3 in the Big 12 Conference and No. 9 in the NCAA. Unlike his Big 12 counterparts, Wolkins is peaking at the right time of the season, as he tossed a personal best of 233-9 on Saturday, May 8 at the Nebraska Open. The winning toss bettered Wolkins’ previous best of 232-5, which he produced in 2008 to win his second straight NJCAA national title while at Cowley Community College. He also came close to breaking fellow Husker Cory Lehman’s 2000 stadium record of 236-8.

 

Ahead of Wolkins on the Big 12 and NCAA lists are Sam Humphreys of Texas A&M and Nick Lyons of Baylor. Humphreys ranks No. 2 in the NCAA with a throw of 251-8 and Lyons Ranks fifth with a toss of 239-7, but both throwers achieved their marks in early April and have not thrown farther since.

 

Wolkins will be looking to become the first Husker on the men’s side to win the javelin crown since Artur Wszelaki won the 2003 title in Austin, Texas, with a throw of 236-10.

 

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).

 

Back for Two

After sweeping the indoor and outdoor pole vault titles last season, Natalie Willer is in search of her first Big 12 title in 2010. Willer missed out on her second straight indoor title earlier in 2010 with a runner-up finish to Texas Tech’s Shade Weygandt.

 

The two vaulters enter this weekend’s competition tied for the top spot in the conference with vaults of 14-1 1/4, and they are the only vaulters in the conference to clear 14 feet. The Husker junior will look for a repeat performance from last year’s Pan-Am Junior Championships, where Willer and Weygandt combined to go 1-2 for Team USA, but will took top honors with a vault 14-1 1/4 and Weygandt jumping 13-11 1/4.

 

With a win, Willer would become the first Husker on the women’s side to win back-to-back outdoor pole vault titles and would join Jenny Green as the only women’s vaulter to win two titles, as Green won in 2004 and 2007.

 

Big Red Sweeps Red Raiders

The then No. 14 women’s and No. 20 men’s Nebraska track and field team swept the No. 12 women’s and No. 6 Texas Tech Red Raiders at the Texas Tech/Nebraska Dual on Saturday, May 1 at the Terry and Linda Fuller Track and Field Complex. An underdog on both sides, the NU women narrowly won 99-98, while the men’s squad escaped Lubbock by a score of 104-98.

 

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.

 

Last season, Pepin passed Frank Sevigne as the longest-tenured head coach in the history of the Nebraska program, and Pepin is still at the top of his game for coaching athletes to the highest levels of competition. He was named 2009 Big 12 Men’s Outdoor Coach of the Year, 2009 USTFCCCA Midwest Regional Men’s Outdoor Head Coach of the Year and was recently named 2010 USTFCCCA Midwest Regional Women’s Indoor Head Coach of the Year.

 

Atop the Conference

After winning 51 Big Eight titles during the conference’s history from 1974-1996, the Huskers have continued to dominate since moving to the Big 12 Conference for the 1997 season. NU has won a league-high 21 team titles during the Big 12’s 14-year history, including the program’s historic 100th conference team title last season at the Big 12 Outdoor Championships, where the men’s team won in dominant fashion with four individual conference champions.