Husker Throwers Power NU to Team Titles

Wichita, Kan. - The Nebraska track and field team swept the team titles at the WSU Classic on Saturday at Cessna Stadium. The Huskers outscored Wichita State and Northern Iowa on both sides, as the NU men scored 184 points to Wichita States' 102 points and Northern Iowa's 101 points, while on the women's side Nebraska totaled 164 points with Wichita State second at 128 points and Northern Iowa third with 69 points.

Overall, the Huskers won 23 events on the day, including sweeps of the 5,000 meters, 400-meter hurdles, long jump, triple jump, shot put, discus and javelin.

The men's throwers were on fire Saturday with three top-ten national performances. Luke Pinkelman continued his momentum from the indoor season in the shot put with a throw of 62-7 ¼, the top mark in the country this season. The throw was two inches shy of his personal best in Pinkelman's first outdoor competition of 2011. Freshman Chad Wright topped his previous best of 184-4 in the discus with a winning throw of 187-7 and now ranks seventh in the country. The group was rounded out by senior Adam Wolkins, who moved to 10th in the country in the javelin with his winning toss of 232-10.

NU's women's throwers were just as impressive with a clean sweep of the four events. Senior Samantha Musil led the way with a pair of personal-best and top-25 performances in the discus and hammer throw.  Musil topped her previous best of 167-5 in the discus with a throw of 171-8 and bettered her previous best of 185-10 in the hammer with a mark of 188-6. Her mark in the discus ranks 15th nationally and she ranks 25th in the hammer. Amanda Latsch also took the shot put with a throw of 50-1 1/4, while Chantae McMillan shattered her previous best of 139-8 in the javelin with a throw of 155-1, the No. 22 mark in the country this season.

The women's squad also posted three other top-30 national marks on Saturday, led by Natalie Willer's vault of 13-9 ¼ in the pole vault, which ties her for seventh in the country. Tara Korshoj got back on the long jump runway after redshirting the indoor season with a wind-aided winning leap of 19-10 3/4, which ranks 17th nationally, and Mara Weekes ran a wind-aided time of 23.77 to win the 200 meters and tie her for 28th on the NCAA list.

On the men's side, Eric Lund swept the hurdles with a pair of top-15 national times. Lund broke his previous best of 51.04 in the 400 hurdles with the sixth-best time in the country this season at 50.98 and took the 110 hurdles with a wind-aided time of 13.96, which ties him for the No. 15 spot. Paul Hamilton then debuted on the high jump chart in a tie for eighth place with his winning leap of 7-0 ½. Hamilton's jump is second in the Big 12 this season behind Erik Kynard of Kansas State, who leads the nation with a jump of 7-5 ¾.

The Huskers will compete in a scored meet again next weekend in Eugene, Ore., at the Pepsi Invitational. Nebraska will battle Oregon, Stanford and Washington on Saturday, April 9, with the women's javelin set to start the meet at 1:30 p.m. (CT), while the women's 5,000 meters will be the first track event at 1:45 p.m. The meet will be shown live on Comcast Sport Net from 2:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. (CT), check with your local provider for coverage in your area.