Huskers Travel to Lawrence for Kansas Relays

Meet: Kansas Relays (meet schedule - pg. 4-5 of notes)
Where: Lawrence, Kan. (Memorial Stadium
When: Wednesday, April 20 - Saturday, April 23
Time: 10 a.m./8:30 a.m./9 a.m./8:40 a.m.
Live Results: www.DeltaTiming.com

Lincoln - The Nebraska track and field team will be in Lawrence, Kan., from Wednesday, April 20 to Saturday, April 23 for the 84th edition of the Kansas Relays.

Along with competition at Memorial Stadium, downtown Lawrence will host an elite shot put and long jump competitions on Wednesday and Thursday nights, respectively.

The men's decathlon will get the meet started on Wednesday at 10 a.m. with the 100 meters and the women's heptathlon will follow at 10:30 with the 100-meter hurdles. The decathlon will resume on Thursday at 8:30 a.m. with the 110-meter hurdles and the heptathlon long jump will start at 9 a.m.

The meet's first field event is set to start at Noon on Thursday with the men's hammer throw, while the women's unseeded 800-meter run is set to kick off the running events at 5 p.m.

The women's 100-meter hurdles will hit the track early on Friday at 9:05 a.m., while the first field event is set for 11:30 a.m. with the women's shot put.

The meet's final day will start at 8:40 a.m. with the women's sprint medley relay and the first field event is scheduled for 10 a.m. with the men's long jump.

The four-day meet is set to finish at 4:45 p.m. on Saturday afternoon with the running of the men's 4x400-meter relay.

Live results of the meet can be found at www.DeltaTiming.com, while meet information can be found at www.kansasrelays.com.

What Else Can She Do?
Chantae McMillan's name is all over the NCAA performance list as the Husker senior ranks in the top 25 in three separate events. A native of Rolla, Mo., McMillan ranks 24th in the javelin (150-5), is tied for 24th in the long jump (20-8) and is third in the heptathlon (5,822). All three marks are personal bests for McMillan.

She jumped onto the long jump and heptathlon lists this past weekend at the California Invitational/Mt. SAC Relays during the heptathlon competition. Her leap of 20-8 in the long jump helped her break her previous-best score of 5,583 points.

Her score of 5,822 points ranks as the second-best performance all-time at Nebraska as she trails Cris Hall's 1992 school record of 5,936 points.

Colligan's Crew
NU Throws Coach Mark Colligan has a wealth of talent in the men's discus and shot put as three of his athletes rank in the top-10 nationally.

Senior Luke Pinkelman leads the way with the third-best mark in the men's shot put at 62-7 1/2. The throw is tops in the Big 12 as Texas' Hayden Baillio sits second in the league and fourth nationally (62-5 1/4).

In the discus, Tyler Hitchler ranks sixth with his personal-best toss of 191-8 and freshman Chad Wright is ninth with his personal-best throw of 189-11.

Nebraska is the only program in the country with two discus throwers in the top 10 and only one other program has two throws in the top 15. Oklahoma's Luke Bryant sits seventh (191-5) and his teammate KP Singh is 15th (185-9).

Over the Pit
Freshman Martina Barinova lived up to her reputation in the steeplechase on Saturday, April 9 at the Pepsi Invitational with a personal-best time of 10:12.45, the third-best performance all-time at Nebraska.

Barinova, who hold the Czech Republic junior record in the steeplechase, ranks sixth in the country this season and holds the top time in the Big 12 this season.

The Huskers own two of the top three times in the Big 12 as sophomore Jessica Furlan ranks 17th nationally and third in the conference with her time of 10:22.29. Kansas State's Martina Tresch is eighth nationally and second in the league with a time of 10:14.96.

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).

Hurdling The Competition
With the departure of two-time All-America hurdle Lehann Fourie, senior Eric Lund has taken over as the leader of the Nebraska hurdlers.

A Milford, Neb., native, Lund currently ranks 11th nationally in the 400 hurdles (50.92) and 30th in the 110 hurdles (13.96w).  Both of his marks in the hurdles are personal bests as he entered the season with a wind-aided PR of 14.14 in the 110's and a PR of 51.04 in the 400's.

Lund will be looking for his first trip to the NCAA Championships, while teammate Adam Dailey is looking to make his fourth straight trip.

After competing in the 400 hurdles in 2008 and 2009, Dailey was a member of the Huskers' 4x400-meter relay in 2010. A Wahoo, Neb., native, Dailey currently sits 12th nationally with a time of 50.97.

Make it 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.

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 cleared 20-10 on Friday night to win the long jump and then posted a 43-3 ¼ in the triple jump on Saturday.