Huskers Head West for Stanford Invitational

Meet: Stanford Invitational (meet schedule - pg. 5 of notes)
Where: Palo Alto, Calif. (Cobb Track and Angell Field)
When: Friday, March 25 (11 a.m.) - Saturday, March 26 (11 a.m.)
Live Results: GoStanford.com

Lincoln - The Nebraska track and field team will be in Palo Alto, Calif., on Friday, March 25 and Saturday, March 26 for the Stanford Invitational at Cobb Track and Angell Field. NU's distance, middle distance and throws groups will make the trip, while the rest of the team will continue to prepare for next weekend's Wichita State Triangular, which is a scored meet between Nebraska, Wichita State and Northern Iowa.

The Stanford Invitational is set to start at 11 a.m. (CT) on both Friday and Saturday, as the men's javelin kicks off Friday's events.

The first action for NU on Friday will come at Noon when Matt Giesselmann, Cole Ingram and Carter Wasem compete in the men's hammer throw.  The Huskers' 1,500-meter runners will then hit the track at 3:05 p.m. The final NU event on Friday will be at 11 p.m., when Lara Crofford runs the 10,000 meters.

On Saturday, Annie Jackson and Mary Morales start the day at 11 a.m. with the women's hammer throw and the 800-meter runners will be the first NU athletes on the track at 3:35 p.m. The women's 4x400-meter relay will wrap up the meet for the Huskers at 6 p.m.

Live results as well as other information about the meet can be found at GoStanford.com.

NU Men Debut in Top 10
With the release of the USTFCCCA outdoor preseason rankings on Wednesday, March 23, the Nebraska men's track and field team debuted as the No. 9 team in the country.

The Huskers are one of three Big 12 teams in the top 10, as Texas A&M is No. 2 and Texas Tech is ranked No. 3.

Welcome Back Wheatley
Senior Megan Wheatley is ready to wear a Husker uniform again after competing as an unattached athlete during the indoor season.

Wheatley entered 2011 with no indoor eligibility left and one outdoor season remaining. A three time Big 12 champion, Wheatley has been training hard throughout the indoor season and is primed to cap her Husker career on a high note.

Wheatley  won back-to-back Big 12 heptathlon titles in 2008 and 2009 before teammate Chantae McMillan took the crown last season.

Already an All-American in the indoor pentathlon, Wheatley is after her first outdoor All-America honor. She has competed at the previous three NCAA Outdoor Championships in the heptathlon, but has only been able to produce a 10th and two ninth-place finishes.

Make in 103
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 was their first team win since 2005 when they won a second straight title.

As an overall program, the Huskers won 51 Big Eight titles during the conference's history from 1974-1996 and Nebraska has continued to dominate the conference since moving to the Big 12 in 1997. NU has now won a league-high 23 team titles, including the program's historic 100th conference team title in 2007.

The Huskers added their 101st and 102nd titles during the 2009 and 2010 outdoor seasons when the men's squad became the first men's team in Big 12 history to win back-to-back team titles at the outdoor conference meet.

Indoors, the NU men have won a conference-best nine conference titles, including six straight from 2000 to 2005, while Texas has won four and Oklahoma has one championship.

Awards Keep Coming
Nebraska Head Coach Gary Pepin was named Midwest Region Women's Indoor Head Coach of the Year for the second straight year by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) on Monday, March 7.

The coaching association has now named Pepin coach of the year nine times overall, including the region's indoor women's coach of the year in 2005, 2010 and now 2011.

Pepin was honored after leading his women's team to an upset victory of four-time defending champion Texas A&M at the 2011 Big 12 Indoor Championships at the Devaney Center. Along with winning their conference-leading sixth indoor women's title, the Huskers won four individual titles in the pole vault, triple jump, long jump and pentathlon.

Pepin was also named Big 12 Indoor Women's Coach of the Year, marking the  22nd time in his career at Nebraska that he has earned the honor.

Huskers Produce Solid Indoor Season
The Nebraska track and field team finished the 2011 NCAA Indoor Championships on Saturday, March 12 with a total of five All-America awards during the two-day meet.

In the team standing the women finished 17th with 13 points and the men tied Auburn for 20th with 11 points each. The women's top-20 finish was their first since 2006 when they tied for 13th and it marked the men's eighth top-20 finish in the past ten seasons.

2011 Indoor All-Americans
Chantae McMillan - Pentathlon (t-2nd)
Natalie Willer - Pole Vault (3rd)
Nate Polacek - Pole Vault (4th)
Luke Pinkelman - Shot Put (6th)
Chris Phipps - Long Jump (6th)

Fantastic Freshman
Mara Griva was voted Big 12 Women's Outstanding Indoor Freshman of the Year after becoming the first jumper to sweep the long and triple jump titles at the conference meet since fellow Latvian and Husker Ineta Radevica achieved the feat in 2004.

A native of Ventspils, Latvia, Griva entered the meet ranked third in the conference in both events, but a pair of personal-best jumps were too much for the competition. She first cleared 20-10 on Friday night to win the long jump and then posted a 43-3 ¼ mark in the triple jump on Saturday.

Home for Heptathletes
The Nebraska women's heptathletes will be in search of their seventh straight Big 12 heptathlon title this season. Ashley Selig started the run in 2005 and won a second title in 2007, while Sara Jane Baker took top honors in 2006, Megan Wheatley was the latest to win with back-to-back titles in 2008 and 2009 before Chantae McMillan took the crown in 2010. The Huskers' current run in the heptathlon is unmatched by any other women's team in the conference, as only Kansas (1998-99) and Missouri (2003-04) have earned consecutive titles, with each winning back-to-back crowns.

Overall on the women's side, only Texas has won more consecutive championships in a single event, including the seven in the 4x400m (1999-2005), eight in the 400 hurdles (1999-2006) and 10 in 4x100m (1997-2006).