Huskers Open Big 12 Championships

Columbia, Mo. ? The No. 16 men’s and No. 17 women’s Nebraska track and field teams opened the 2010 postseason on Friday at the Big 12 Track and Field Championships in Columbia, Mo. The NU men entered the meet as the defending team champions, while the Husker women are looking to improve on their third-place finish from last year. With three events scored on the men’s side and two events in the books on the women’s side, the Husker men sit first (25 points) and the women are third (13 points) after day one of the three-day meet.

 

The men’s and women’s throws squad scored NU’s first points of the meet, with a total of eight throwers earning All-Big 12 honors in the hammer throw and javelin.

 

The men’s hammer throwers got the day started as senior Brett Suckstorf led the way with a runner-up finish. The Pierce, Neb., native bettered his previous best of 203-5 with a toss of 203-8. Fellow senior Eric Petersen added his second straight All-Big 12 honor in the event with a fifth-place throw of 193-4, which matched his fourth-place throw from last season’s conference meet. Carter Wasem rounded out the group, as the sophomore added his second career All-Big 12 honor and first outdoor award with a seventh-place throw of 183-6, which improved on his previous best of 182-11.

 

Adam Wolkins and Ryan Petrocchi followed with second- and sixth-place finishes, respectively in the javelin. Entering the meet ranked third in the conference, Wolkins gave conference leader Sam Humphreys of Texas A&M all he could handle, but fell short of Humphreys’ winning throw of 243-9 by just over three feet.

 

After tossing a personal best of 233-9 at last weekend’s Nebraska Open, Wolkins shattered the mark on his second throw of the competition with a monster throw of 240-6, the third-best performance in school history. The NU junior held the lead until the fifth round of throws, when Humphreys tossed the winning throw. Petrocchi contributed his top finish at the conference meet with a throw of 204-7, improving on his seventh-place finish from 2008.

 

In the women’s hammer throw, sophomore Jade Hodson continued to show improvement in the event with a third-place throw of 193-9, securing All-Big 12 honors in the event for the second straight year. Hodson has now increased her personal best at her past three meets with throws of 184-8, 191-11 and now 193-9. At last weekend’s Nebraska Open, she became the first hammer thrower on the women’s side to toss over 190 feet since Amanda Moreley in 2003.

 

Hodson was followed in the top eight by teammates Samantha Musil and Victoria Zimmerman, who finished fifth and sixth, respectively. Musil came through with her best throw of the competition at 181-6 on her final throw, while Zimmerman produced her best throw of 175-0 on her first throw of the meet.

 

Moving to the combined events, the women’s heptathlon trio of Chantae McMillan, Megan Wheatley and Lorena Menghia put themselves in position to continue Nebraska’s dominance in the event, as the Huskers have won the meet title five straight years and six times overall in the Big 12 era.

 

The 2010 indoor champion in the pentathlon, McMillan leads the heptathlon after four events with 3,388 points. A native of Rolla, Mo., McMillan started with a third-place finish in the 100 hurdles, before she tied for the top mark in the high jump and produced the best throw in the shot put. McMillan received a big boost in the high jump, as she bettered her previous best of 5-5 1/4 by over three inches with a leap of 5-8 3/4.

 

Wheatley sits third after day one, as the two-time defending champion in the event scored 3,207 points. The senior started with a time of 14.32 in the 100 hurdles and then finished fifth in the high jump with a leap of 5-4 1/2. She responded in a big way in the shot put with a toss of 40-9 1/2, before running 25.83 in the 200 meters.

 

Menghia made the biggest move on the day for NU, as she sat in 10th after the 100 hurdles. A specialist in the high jump, Menghia cleared 5-8 3/4 to shoot all the way to fourth after two events. She then slipped one spot to fifth after a throw of 34-11 1/4 in the shot put, but followed with a personal-best time of 25.82 in the 200 meters to stay in fifth after day one with 3,075 points.

 

The NU trio will finish the heptathlon tomorrow with the long jump, javelin and 800 meters starting at 11 a.m.

 

Competing at the Big 12 Championships for the first time in his career, redshirt freshman Teran Walford will enter day two of the men’s decathlon tomorrow in ninth place. Walford started the day with a personal-best time of 11.53 in the 100 meters, but the time was only good enough for 11th. After finishing ninth and tenth in the long jump and shot put, respectively, Walford tied his personal best in the high jump with a leap of 6-2 1/4 to finish fifth in the event. Entering the final event of day one in 10th place overall, the York, Neb., native cranked out a personal best of 50.19 in the 400 meters to finish sixth in the event and slide up to ninth place overall with 3,455 points. The decathlon will resume tomorrow at 10 a.m. with the 110-meter hurdles.

 

The Huskers will return to Audrey J. Walton Track Complex tomorrow at 10 a.m. for day two of Big 12 Championships. Fans will be able to watch a live stream of tomorrow’s action here - http://www.big12sports.com/mediaPortal/player.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=10410&catid=0, while live results will be available here - http://www.flashresults.com/2010_Meets/outdoor/Big12/.