Husker Women Bring Big 12 Title Back to Lincoln

Lincoln - The Nebraska women's track and field team capped its final Big 12 Indoor Championships in style with a commanding 115.5-101 win over four-time defending champion Texas A&M. The Huskers produced four individual titles during the two-day meet, including a pair of wins in the long and triple jumps from freshman Mara Griva. The NU women now hold a conference-best six indoor crowns and it is their first team win since 2005 when they won a second straight title.

The win also adds to the historic 31-year resume of Head Coach Gary Pepin, who now holds 67 conference titles dating back to his first Big Eight win at the 1981 indoor meet. As a member of the Big 12 Conference, Pepin's program has captured a league-best 23 track and field titles, which also makes him the second-winningest coach in Big 12 history across all sports. Pepin trails Colorado's Mark Wetmore, who has 24 conference titles as the head coach of the Buffs' men's and women's cross country and track and field programs.

"This was a great effort, it took all our women to win this," Pepin said. "Winning this here at the Devaney Center was special, especially for our seniors."

On the men's side, Bjorn Barrefors and Luke Pinkelman each won their first career Big 12 titles, but it wasn't enough as the Huskers finished third in the team rankings with 99.5 points. Texas A&M won their first ever Big 12 indoor title with 134 points.

After upsetting defending long jump champion Chantel Malone on Friday night, Griva made her first Big 12 Championships even more memorable on Saturday with a win in the women's triple jump.

Griva started the day by nearly matching her previous best of 42-8 ¼ with a leap of 42-8 in the preliminaries. The NU newcomer then made her presence known right away in the finals with a jump of 43-3 ¾ on her first attempt. The mark would hold up over the next two rounds of jumping, earning Griva the Huskers' first sweep of the horizontal jumps since fellow Latvian Ineta Radevica won both titles in 2004.

"I just tried to do my best," Griva said. "These two days have been very lucky for me. That's the interesting things about sports, you just never know, anybody could have won."

Griva's win also marks the second straight win in the triple jump for the Huskers after Leandra McGruder took the title last year at Iowa State with jump of 43-0 ¼.

With three events remaining in the men's heptathlon, Barrefors entered day two in second place, as he trailed Kansas State's Mantas Silkauskas by 22 points, 3,301-3,279. The two started Saturday by going 1-2 in the 60-meter hurdles, with Silkauskas running 7.89 and Barrefors clearing a season best of 8.10. The field then moved to the pole vault with Silkauskas still leading Barrefors, 4,311-4,236.

The Husker junior came up big in the pole vault and took the overall lead with a season-best leap of 16-0 ¾ to score 880 points, while Silkauskas only cleared 14-1 ¼, which netted him 702 points. With just the 1,000 meter remaining, Barrefors led the pack with 5,116 points, while Silkauskas sat second (5,013) and Missouri's Lars Rise was third (4,933).

"After the pole vault, I thought it should be done," Barrefors said. "I wasn't 100% on it. The Big 12 is extremely competitive. There were some great guys there today."

Barrefors was able to do just enough in the 1,000 with a time of 2:56.43, which scored him 700 points to give him an overall score of 5,816 points. The Stockholm, Sweden, native not only won his first Big 12 title, but he also broke his own NU record of 5,795 points. It was Nebraska's first win in the heptathlon since Chris Richardson took the title in 2004 with 5,565 points.

The men's shot put was a loaded field as it contained Kansas' Mason Finely, who held a nation-leading mark of 67-11 ½ entering the meet and won the Big 12 title last season, and Nebraska's Pinkelman, who had not lost in 2011 and ranked third in the country with a throw of 64-0 ¼.

Pinkelman would not let his streak end on his home turf, as he tossed a personal best of 65-10 ¼ on his third throw of the competition. Finley was never able to match Pinkelman, as the Jayhawk sophomore was only able to come up with a mark of 65-5.

"It was a great competition today," Pinkelman said. "Winning this meet has been a life-long goal of mine. We have nationals in two weeks, so I just need to keep my mind right."

Natalie Willer was the last Husker to win a Big 12 title on Saturday, as she won the crown in record-setting style. The senior co-captain not only won her second career indoor title, but she broke her own NU record and took back the conference meet record after Texas Tech's Shade Weygandt set the record last year with a vault of 14-2 ¼. Willer had previously set the record in 2009 with her vault of 13-10.

Willer entered the meet at 13-2 ¼ after passing at the first four heights and would clear the bar on her second attempt. She then posted back-to-back first-attempt makes at 13-6 ¼ and 13-10, which then left only Willer and Weygandt in the field going after 14-0. Willer would clear the bar on her third attempt, while Weygandt would fail to defend her title with three misses. Willer then passed at 14-2 and moved the bar up to 14-4. It took the Elkhorn, Neb., native three tries, but she was able to clear the bar and break her own school record for the second time this season.

The Huskers will now try to qualify more athletes for the NCAA Indoor Championships when they travel to the Iowa State Last Chance in Ames, Iowa, and the UW Qualifier in Seattle, Wash., at the end of next week. Check Huskers.com later in the week for more information.

Women's All-Big 12 Honors

60-Meter Hurdles
Karyn LaCour (5th ): 8.45

Arna Erega (7th ): 8.55

600 Yards
Ellie Grooters (3rd ): 1:20.90

800 Meters

Brooke Dinsdale (4th ): 2:10.84

Blaire Dinsdale (6th ): 2:11.20

1,000 Meters

Jessica Furlan (5th ): 2:50.35

Erica Hamik (6th ): 2:55.61

Mile

Ashley Miller (4th ): 4:48.44

3,000 Meters

Martina Barinova (7th ): 9:25.55

4x400 Relay

Mara Weekes, Alyssa Vierregger, Ellie Grooters, Rachel Butler (5th ): 3:39.21

DMR

Ashley Miller, Alyssa Vierregger, Brooke Dinsdale, Blaire Dinsdale (6th ): 11:32.59

High Jump
Audrey Svane (3rd ): 5-8 ½

Jillanna Scanlan (t-6th ): 5-8 ½

Pole Vault

Natalie Willer (1st ): 14-4

Cami Jiskra (3rd ): 13-6 ¼

Breanna Bussel (6th ): 12-10 ¼

Long Jump

Mara Griva (1st ): 20-10

Chantae McMillan (6th ): 19-9

Triple Jump

Mara Griva (1st ): 43-3 ¾

Arna Erega (8th ): 40-7 ¾

Shot Put

Amanda Latsch (7th ): 52-0 ½

Weight Throw

Jade Siegel (5th ): 60-2 ½

Pentathlon
Chantae McMillan (1st ): 4,287

Rachel Butler (5th ): 3,785

Anne Martin (6th ): 3,740

Men's All-Big 12 Honors
60-Meter Hurdles
Eric Lund (6th ): 7.93
Miles Ukaoma (8th ): 8.10

200 Meters
Dale Ervin (6th ): 21.50

400 Meters

Kurt Pauly (5th ): 48.40

600 Yards

Blaise Rewaka (3rd ): 1:09.47

Adam Dailey (7th ): 1:11.62

800 Meters

Tommy Brinn (2nd ): 1:49.76

4x400 Relay

Miles Ukaoma, Blaise Rewaka, Eric Lund, Kurt Pauly (6th ): 3:11.34

High Jump

Paul Hamilton (2nd ): 7-1

Travis Englund (6th ): 6-9

Pole Vault

Nate Polacek (3rd ): 16-10 ¾

Long Jump

Nicholas Gordon (2nd ): 26-0 ¾

Chris Phipps (6th ): 24-8 ½
Bobby Carter (8th ): 24-1

Triple Jump
Chris Phipps (3rd ): 52-4 ¾

Nicholas Gordon (8th ): 50-11 ½

Shot Put

Luke Pinkelman (1st ): 65-10 ¼

Tyler Hitchler (4th ): 59-9

Chad Wright (7th ): 57-4 ¼

Weight Throw

Carter Wasem (4th ): 61-3 ½

Matt Giesselmann (7th ): 59-10 ¼

Heptathlon

Bjorn Barrefors (1st ): 5,816