Huskers Sweep adidas Classic Team Titles

Lincoln - The Nebraska track and field team swept the meet titles at the adidas Classic for the third straight year on Saturday at the Devaney Center Indoor Track. The Husker women dominated the field with 190 points, while Wichita State finished second with 115.5 points. The men's race was a bit tighter, but held off Houston, 180-133.

Luke Pinkelman put on a display in the men's shot put for the second straight week with a winning throw of 62-7 ¾. The Cozad, Neb., native secured his spot at the national meet last week with a personal best of 63-6 ¼, which ranked No. 3 in the country entering the weekend.

The women's team enforced its will in the field events with wins in all six events. Freshman Mara Griva got the scoring going with her second straight victory in the long jump. Griva was the only jumper in the field to clear 20 feet with her winning leap of 20-0 ½. Natalie Willer also stayed perfect on the year with her second win in the pole vault. After automatically qualifying for the NCAA Championship in the pole vault last weekend, Willer led a 1-2-3 finish for NU with a clearance at 13-9 ¼, while Cami Jiskra was second (13-1 ½) and Breanna Bussel finished third (12-9 ½).

Staying in the jumps, senior Audrey Svane added a win in the high jump with a season best of 5-7. Arna Erega and Anna Weigandt then went 1-2 in the triple jump with marks of 40-10 ½ and 38-6 ¾, respectively.

In the throws, junior Victoria Zimmerman set a personal best in the weight throw for the second straight meet, as she won with a toss of 61-7 after throwing 59-4 ¼ last weekend. A native of Arlington Heights, Ill., Zimmerman is seventh thrower in NU history to top the 60-foot mark. Amanda Latsch ended the Huskers' sweep of the field events with a personal-best toss of 51-10 in the shot put, as she topped her previous best of 50-7 ½.

Senior jumpers Nicholas Gordon and Paul Hamilton each broke into the NCAA top 10 in their events with a pair of victories. Gordon cleared 25-6 in the long jump to move to No. 7 on the NCAA charts, while Hamilton took over the No.10 spot in the high jump with a leap of 7-2 ¼. Nate Polacek then came close to winning the men's pole vault with a personal best of 17-2 ¾, but lost due to more misses to Missouri's Brian Hancock.

After earning three wins in the sprints last weekend, freshman Mara Weekes continued her winning ways with a victory in the 400 meters. Weekes trailed Alabama's Dacia Mays until the final 100 meters, when the Weekes took over to win in 55.69, while May finished second at 57.24. Fellow freshman Miles Ukaoma completed the sweep for NU in the event with a winning time of 47.80 on the men's side.

In the middle distance events the Huskers produced six winners, including David Adams, who was the first Husker on the men's side to win a meet crown on the day with his winning time of 4:08.30 in the mile. The Huskers then added a pair of meet titles in the 600 yards and 1,000 meters. Freshman Ellie Grooters beat the rest of the 600 field by over two seconds with a time of 1:23.54, while Eric Lund (1:12.03) won the men's race over teammate Adam Dailey (1:12.10). Ashley Miller took the women's 1,000 in 2:50.80 before Blaise Rewaka won the men's race in 2:25.84. Brooke Dinsdale was also tops in the 800 meters with a 2:11.81.

After competing at home during the first two weeks of the season, the Huskers will hit the road next week for the Razorback Invitational in Fayetteville, Ark. The two-day meets starts at 11 a.m. on both Friday, Jan. 28 and Saturday, Jan. 29.