Five Huskers Punch NCAA Championships Ticket

Austin, Texas ? The Nebraska track and field team started the trek towards the NCAA Outdoor Championships on Thursday afternoon at Mike A. Myers Stadium on the campus of the University of Texas. During the first day of the three-day NCAA West Regional Preliminary Round, five Huskers punched their ticket to Eugene, Ore., for the national championships in June, while three other Huskers advanced to quarterfinal rounds on Friday.

 

Adam Wolkins was the first Husker to earn a trip to the NCAA Outdoor Championships with a seventh-place finish in the men’s javelin. The Husker junior recorded his best throw on his final attempt of the preliminaries, as he tossed 225-8. The mark then held up in the finals, as no one passed him. After winning back-to-back NJCAA national titles in the javelin at Cowley Community College, Wolkins will be making his first trip to the NCAA Championships.

 

Natalie Willer then secured her third straight trip to the outdoor championships with a seventh-place finish in the women’s pole vault. After clearing her first two bars on her first attempts, Willer struggled with the 13-3 1/2 and 13-5 1/4 bars, as she took all three attempts at each. The two-time Big 12 champion then got back in a rhythm to clear 13-7 1/4 and her second try. Willer ended the competition as one of nine vaulters to surpass 13-9 1/4, which was the last bar needed to narrow the qualifying field.

 

Trey Jordan extended his senior season by snagging the final NCAA-qualifying spot in the men’s shot put with a 12th-place throw of 57-9 3/4. A native of Troy, Texas, Jordan entered the finals with the 12th-best preliminary throw at 56-11 3/4 and solidified his position by tossing his best throw on his first attempt in the finals. Jordan will be making his second straight trip to the NCAA Outdoor Championships.

 

Chris Phipps and Nicholas Gordon capped the Huskers day with a pair of top-five finishes in the men’s long jump. Phipps got his work done quick, as the sophomore cleared eight meters for the first time in his career when he blasted a personal best of 26-3 1/2 on his first attempt of the meet and then passed on his next five jumps to finish third. Gordon followed Phipps in the standings with a jump of 26-0 and will now compete at the NCAA Outdoor Championships for the third time in his career. Both Phipps and Gordon will return to the track on Saturday to try to also qualify in the triple jump

 

The men’s 400-meter hurdles were the first Huskers to hit the track on Thursday, as Eric Lund and Adam Dailey advanced to Friday’s 7 p.m. quarterfinal. Lund and Dailey were each automatic qualifiers, as they ran the third-best times in their heats at 51.05 and 52.06, respectively. The two Husker juniors will now look to finish in the top 12 tomorrow and earn a spot in Eugene.

 

Dax Danns started a busy three days in the 100 meters, where he advanced to the quarterfinals with a 23rd-place time of 10.57. Danns will now try to move into the top 12 tomorrow at 6 p.m., while later in the day he will run in the first round of the 200 meters. The senior from Lemon Grove, Calif., is also a possible leg in both the 4x100 and 4x400 relays.

 

True freshman Veronica Grizzle missed out on extending her season by two spots, as she placed 14th in the women’s shot put. After shattering her previous best of 48-4 with a mark of 50-9 1/2 on her second attempt of the preliminaries to sit tied for 13th after three throws, Grizzle was unable to better the mark in the finals and move into the top 12.

 

The Huskers will return to Mike A. Myers Stadium tomorrow for the second day of the NCAA West Regional Preliminary Round. NU’s women’s discus throwers will be the first athletes in competition at Noon, while action on the track will start at 4:30 p.m. with the first round of the men’s 110-meter hurdles.