Huskers Open Big 12 Championships with Two Titles

Lincoln - The Nebraska track and field team came out firing on the first day of the Big 12 Indoor Championships with a pair of individual titles. Chantae McMillan successfully defended her league title in the women's pentathlon, while freshman Mara Griva brought the women's long jump title back to Lincoln for the first time since 2004.

In the team races, the Husker women hold a slim 37-34 lead over Texas Tech, while the Husker men trail defending champion Oklahoma, 40-25.

McMillan started her title defense with the top 60-meter hurdle time in the field at 8.52, which shattered her previous best of 8.63 and netted her 1,013 points. She then matched her personal best in the high jump with a leap of 5-7. The Nebraska senior continued to add to her lead with the top mark in the shot put with a throw of 47-2 ¼ to increase her point total to 2,688 through three events.

The pentathletes then moved to the long jump, arguably McMillan's best event. She entered the meet ranked ninth in the nation with a leap of 20-7 ¾ and once again produced the top mark in the field with a leap of 20-1. Freshman Anne Martin was right behind McMillan with a personal-best leap of 18-10 ¾, which helped her move from eighth in the overall standing to sixth.

McMillan ended the day with time of 2:28.49 in the 800 meters, giving her a total of 4,287 points. She was joined on the award stand by teammates Rachel Butler and Martin, as Butler finished fifth (3,785) and Martin produced a career-best 3,740 points to finish sixth.

"It's a great honor to win today," McMillan said. "This is the last year of the Big 12 and I'm proud to have won it."

With the win, McMillan earned her third career Big 12 title, became the fifth pentathlete in conference history to win back-to-back crowns and solidified Nebraska as the only program in Big 12 history to win three straight women's pentathlon titles after Megan Wheatley won the title in 2008.

Griva got out to a rough start in the long jump with two straight fouls, but then gained her composure on her third try and cleared 19-7 ½, which qualified her for the finals. With a fresh start in the finals, the Ventspils, Latvia, native found her groove and cleared 20-10 on her first attempt. She then followed with a jump of 20-5 ¼, which would prove very important at the end of the competition.

After taking her final attempt, Griva sat in first place with her jump of 20-10, but still had to wait for four other jumpers to take their final attempts. Defending champion Chantel Malone of Texas was the last jumper to go and matched Griva's mark of 20-10, but Griva held onto the title as her second-best jump of 20-5 ¼ bettered Malone's second best of 20-4 ½ by three-quarters of an inch.

"It feels great to win today," Griva said. "I didn't know how this would all go, it was pretty exciting."

Fellow Latvian and three-time national champion Ineta Radevica was the last Husker on the women's side to win the long jump indoors at Nebraska, as she won her second straight indoor title at the 2004 championships.

The Huskers nearly swept the long jump crowns, but Nicholas Gordon had to settle for runner-up honors for the second straight year with a leap of 26-0 ¾. Gordon was never able to overcome Texas' Marquise Goodwin, who cleared his winning mark of 26-7 on his first attempt of the competition. All together the Huskers put three jumpers in the top eight, as Gordon was joined by sixth-place finisher Chris Phipps (24-8 ¼) and eighth-place finisher Bobby Carter (24-1), while freshman Seth Wiedel missed All-Big 12 honors by one place with a ninth-place jump of 24-10.

In the men's pole vault, Nate Polacek captured All-Big 12 honor for the third straight year with a leap of 16-10 ¾. Polacek and Missouri's Brian Hancock both passed at the 17-4 ½ bar and then each failed to clear 17-8 ½.  Kyal Meyers of Texas Tech won the event with his successful make at 17-4 ½.

Carter Wasem and Matt Giesselmann each earned All-Big 12 honors in the weight throw for the second straight year with fourth- and seventh-place finishes, respectively. Wasem tossed 61-4 ½ on his third and fourth attempts of the competition, while Giesselmann produced a personal-best throw of 59-10 ¼. Jade Siegel then produced a fifth-place showing on the women's side with a personal-best toss of 60-2 ½, which broke her previous best of 59-10 ½.

With the first four events of the men's heptathlon complete, Bjorn Barrefors has put himself in position to make a run at the conference title tomorrow. Barrefors opened the day by tying his personal best in the 60 meters with a time of 7.10 and ended day one by adding two inches to his personal best in the high jump with a clearance of 6-9. Already a two-time All-American in the combined events, Barrefors sits in second place with 3,279 points, while Mantas Silkauskas of Kansas State holds the lead with 3,301 points.

The Huskers will be back at the Devaney Center tomorrow for the second and final day of the conference indoor championships. The men's heptathletes will open the day at 10 a.m. with the 60-meter hurdles, while the first field event will be the women's triple jump at 1:30 and the women's 60-meter hurdle final will be the first running event at 3 p.m. Live results and more information can be found at Huskers.com.

Women's Day-Two Qualifiers

60 Hurdles
Arna Erega: 8.49
Karyn LaCour: 8.51

600 Yards
Ellie Grooters: 1:21.45

800 Meters
Brooke Dinsdale: 2:09.08
Blaire Dinsdale: 2:09.92

1,000 Meters
Jessica Furlan: 2:49.16
Erica Hamik: 2:51.43

Mile
Ashley Miller: 4:48.53

Men's Day-Two Qualifiers

200 Meters
Dale Ervin: 21.48

60 Hurdles
Eric Lund: 7.92
Miles Ukaoma: 7.94

400 Meters
Kurt Pauly: 47.74

600 Yards
Blaise Rewaka: 1:09.62
Adam Daily: 1:10.63

800 Meters
Tommy Brinn: 1:50.80