Huskers Sweep Multis at Kansas Relays

Lawrence, Kan. - The Nebraska track and field team returned to Memorial Stadium on Thursday for the second day of the four-day Kansas Relays. The Huskers opened the day with a sweep of the combined events and then added three wins on the track at night.

After starting day two of the women's heptathlon in third place, Rachel Butler gained on the competition over the final three events to become the second straight Husker and the seventh overall to win the heptathlon at the Kansas Relays. Butler scored 3,011 points on day one and quickly added to her total with marks of 18-6 in the long jump and 98-3 in the javelin. The junior then notched her first personal best of the meet during the heptathlon's final event with a time of 2:27.86 in the 800 meters, which improved on her previous best of 2:28.39. Butler ended the meet with a wind-aided score of 4,948 and was followed in the standings by teammate Anne Martin, who scored 4,883 points.

Martin climbed from fifth to second place with a pair of personal best on day two. She first bettered her previous best of 120-11 in the javelin with a toss of 123-4 and then ended the meet by trimming her 800-meter time from 2:31.63 to 2:29.86.

Teran Walford then completed the sweep of the combined events with a winning score of 6,586 points in the men's decathlon after he took second place last season. Walford started the day in second, trailing Iowa State's Jamal Currica by 122 points. After opening day two with a time of 15.38 in the 110 hurdles, Walford posted the top discus throw at 102-2. He then cleared 12-11 ½ in the pole vault and recorded a toss of 140-1 in the javelin. Just like Butler and Martin did on the women's side, Walford ended the decathlon with a personal best as he dropped his PR in the 1,500 meters from 4:35.76 to 4:29.06.

In the throws, Samantha Musil posted the top collegiate throw in the women's hammer throw at 189-10, but finished second in the overall standings to Chandra Andrews' throw of 194-10. The Huskers had three throwers in the top four as Victoria Zimmerman was third (185-10) and Jade Siegel was fourth (185-8) with a pair of season-best marks.

True freshman Ellen Dougherty picked up the Huskers first win on the track with a time of 2:13.90 in the unseeded 800 meters. Fellow freshman Martina Barinova then added a win in the 3,000 meters as her time of 9:42.21 was faster than teammate Lara Crofford's runner-up time of 9:43.05.

Katie White captured the Huskers' third win of the night on the track with a win over 28 other runners in the 5,000 meters. White ran a personal best in the race as she bettered her previous best of 17:22.79 with a time of 17:15.43.

The Huskers will be back at the Kansas Relays starting at 9 a.m. with the women's 100 hurdles. Live results are handled by DeltaTiming.com and a link can be found at Huskers.com.