Huskers Take Second in Eugene

Eugene, Ore . - The Nebraska track and field team earned a pair of runner-up finishes in the team race at the Pepsi Invitational on Saturday at Hayward Field on the campus of the University of Oregon. The Ducks defended their home turf, as they scored the Huskers 192-184 on the men's side and 206-192 on the women's side.

Senior Samantha Musil led the women's hammer throwers to a 1-2-3 finish with a personal-best throw of 189-4, marking the second straight meet she has bettered her PR after she threw 188-6 last Saturday in Wichita. Victoria Zimmerman was next with a throw of 179-0 and Jade Siegel took third with a toss of 177-2.

Amanda Latsch and Annie Jackson then went 1-2 in the shot put, with Latsch throwing 49-5 ¾ and Jackson tossing 48-3 ½.

Morgan Wilken produced the Husker women's third victory in the throws with a toss of 164-9 in the discus. Musil followed with a mark of 158-4 and Latsch was third with a throw of 156-0. Senior Chantae McMillan also added over a foot to her personal best in the javelin with her second-place toss of 156-10.

Luke Pinkelman completed the Huskers' sweep of the shot put with his winning throw of 60-9 ½. He was joined in the top four by Tyler Hitchler (3rd, 56-1 ¼) and Chad Wright (4th, 50-2 ¾). Hitchler added another win with a personal-best throw of 191-8 in the discus and was joined in the top three by Wright (176-7). Adam Wolkins nearly earned another win for NU's throwers in the javelin with his throw of 233-10, but it wasn't enough to overtake Kyle Nielsen of Washington, who won with a toss of 233-10.

Nicholas Gordon and Chris Phipps were a two-man scoring crew in the horizontal jumps as they combined for 29 points. Gordon took first in the long jump by one-half inch over Phipps, 24-10 ½ to 24-10, before Phipps took the triple jump with a leap of 50-6, while Gordon finished fifth (48-10 1/4). Senior Paul Hamilton then added nine more points in the high jump with his winning leap of 7-0 ¼.

In the women's triple jump, three Huskers placed in the top five as Tara Korshoj led the way with a second-place leap of 40-8 ¼, while Mara Griva placed third (40-0 ¾) and Arna Erega was fifth (39-7).

Eric Lund was able to hold off teammate Adam Dailey down the stretch of the 400-meter hurdles, 50.92-50.97. Ranked seventh in the country entering the weekend with a time of 50.98, the time was a personal best for Lund.

Staying in the sprints, freshman Kurt Pauly improved on his personal best for the second straight week in the 400 meters with his second-place time of 47.75, bettering his previous best of 47.99. Dale Ervin added another runner-up finish in the sprints with a time of 10.81 in the 100 meters.  Pauly capped the meet as the anchor leg of NU's second-place 4x400-meter relay that ran 3:12.48. Miles Ukaoma, Lund and Tommy Brinn ran the other three legs of the relay.

In the distance events, Lara Crofford was the first NU runner to hit the track and was just under six seconds off her personal best of 16:27.73 in the 5,000 meters with a second-place time of 16:33.53. Martina Barinova then bettered her previous best of 10:17.86 in the 3,000-meter steeplechase with a runner-up time of 10:12.45. Barinova's time ranks third on NU's all-time performance list behind Rachel Carrizales (10:09.69) and Ann Gaffigan (9:39.35).

The Huskers will now turn their focus to next Saturday when the team splits up for the Tom Jones Memorial in Gainesville, Fla., and the Concordia Invitational in Seward, Neb.