Huskers Repeat at Big 12 Championships

Columbia, Mo. ? The No. 16 Nebraska men’s track and field team won the men’s team title at the Big 12 Outdoor Championships for the second straight year on Sunday, adding to the Huskers’ dominance at the conference meet. The Huskers entered the 4x400-meter relay with a narrow five-point lead over the Oklahoma Sooners, and unlike the 2010 indoor meet where the Sooners came out on top, the Huskers prevailed with a 118-114 win. NU reeled off a season-best time of 3:08.36 in the relay to finish fifth and put the pressure on the Sooners, who where then only able to gain one point on the Huskers with a fourth-place time of 3:06.60.

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Head Coach Gary Pepin’s men and women have now combined for a conference-high 22 team titles during the Big 12 era and have won 101 conference titles dating back to the men’s first team title at the 1921 Missouri Valley Outdoor Championships. No men’s team in conference history has ever repeated at the outdoor meet, and the back-to-back wins are the first for the Husker men outdoors since they won the final two Big Eight Outdoor Championships in 1995 and 1996.

 

The Husker men have now captured a Big 12 high 15 team titles both indoors and outdoors, and are also the head of the class outdoors in the Big 12 with six titles.

 

In the women’s race, the No. 17 Husker women finished second for the third time in the past four seasons, as Texas A&M won the team title for the fourth straight year, 157-102.

 

Paul Hamilton led the way for the men as he continued to add to his trophy case on Sunday with his third career Big 12 title and second straight outdoor high jump crown. The Sidney, Neb., native did not let the cold and rain affect him, as he cleared every bar of the competition on his first attempt. After starting at 6-6 3/4, Hamilton stayed on fire with clearances at 6-8 3/4, 6-10 3/4 and 7-0 1/4, leaving only Hamilton and Kansas State’s Erik Kynard left in the field. Hamilton put the pressure on the Wildcat jumper with a first-attempt make at 7-1 3/4, and Kynard would not respond, as he missed on all three attempts. Hamilton was joined on the award stand by teammates Sam Haase and Brandon Sheppard, who placed seventh and eighth, respectively, as each cleared 6-6 3/4.

 

After also winning the 2010 Big 12 indoor high jump title, Hamilton became the third Husker in the Big 12 era to sweep the indoor and outdoor high jump titles, joining Shane Lavy (1997) and Na’Tassia Vice (2004). As a group, Gary Pepin’s men’s high jumpers have now won the past three outdoor high jump titles, the longest run for any program in the conference.

 

Lehann Fourie blazed a school-record time of 13.44 in the 110-meter hurdles, but was unable to capture his first Big 12 title, as Oklahoma’s Ronnie Ash ran a NCAA-leading time of 13.31 to take top honors. Fourie and Ash ran neck and neck until Ash broke free with two hurdles to go. Fourie, who has now finished second in the 110 hurdles in back-to-back seasons, broke Willie Hibler’s (1997) and Kirkland Thornton’s (2009) previous school record of 13.50.

 

Fourie returned later with Adam Dailey and Eric Lund to produce three All-Big 12 performances in the 400-meter hurdles. The defending champion in the event, Dailey ran 50.44, but the effort was only good enough for fourth place. Lund was next in seventh (51.34), followed by Fourie in eighth (51.97).

 

Prior to the 4x400-meter relay, the men’s squad received a boost from triple jumpers Chris Phipps and Nicholas Gordon. Phipps got out to a quick start, as he shattered his previous best of 52-1 3/4 with a third-place leap of 52-6 on his first attempt, marking the first time in the sophomore’s career that he has cleared 16 meters outdoors. After placing second in the long jump yesterday, Gordon added a seventh-place finish in the triple jump with a leap of 50-8 3/4.

 

Dax Danns had a busy final day for the men, as he scored in the 100 meters, 200 meters and 4x100 relay. Danns started by teaming with Scott Wims, Lukas Hulett and Dan Christensen to finish fourth in the 4x100 relay with a time of 40.31. He then earned his third career All-Big 12 honor in the 100 meters with a personal-best finish of sixth (10.39), before placing fifth in the 200 with a personal best of 20.93. Overall, Danns scored 8.25 points for the men’s team.

 

On the women’s side, Natalie Willer did her best to repeat as the Big 12 champion in the women’s pole vault, but it wasn’t meant to be as she fell to Texas Tech’s Shade Weygandt, who also got the best of Willer during the indoor season. Willer led four Huskers in the top four, with Willer finishing second at 13-11. Rachel Birtles was right behind her in third with a personal best of 13-3, while Breanna Bussel finished sixth (12-11) and Lindsey Maher placed seventh (12-11).

 

Arna Erega showed her versatility on Sunday by winning Big 12 medals in both the triple jump and 100-meter hurdles. Competing in the triple jump for just the second time this season, Erega blasted a personal-best leap of 41-7 3/4 on her fourth jump of the meet to finish fourth. The NU junior then bounced back less than an hour later to take sixth in the hurdles with a wind-aided time of 13.57.

 

In the distance events, David Adams scored in the 3,000-meter steeplechase for the third straight year with a third-place finish. Adams clocked a season best of 8:55.74, while Kyle Custer added another point to the men’s total with an eighth-place showing of 9:08.19. Ashley Miller then improved on her fifth-place finish from last season in the 1,500 meters with a fourth-place time of 4:23.85.

 

Blaire Dinsdale and Tommy Brinn added a pair of top-eight finishes in the 800 meters, with Dinsdale finishing third and Brinn fifth. Dinsdale ran 2:08.66 to improve on her sixth place finish from last season’s conference meet, while Brinn ran 1:49.79 in his first career outdoor conference championships.

 

Along with winning the heptathlon yesterday, Chantae McMillan added an eighth-place finish in the javelin (150-4), while teammate Roxi Grizzle finished seventh (137-0). On the track, the women’s 4x100-meter relay squad of Sammy Hansen, Karyn LaCour, Allison Jorgensen and Alyssa Vierregger placed seventh at 47.46.

 

The Huskers will turn their attention toward the NCAA West Preliminary Round in Austin, Texas, on Thursday, May 27 ? Saturday, May 29. The top-48 competitors in each event in the West Region will compete for a spot at the NCAA Outdoor Championships in Eugene, Ore.