Huskers Defend Home Turf with 19 Wins

Lincoln - The Nebraska track and field team ended a busy week on Sunday by hosting its lone home meet of the outdoor season, the Nebraska Open. After already competing at the Penn Relays and Drake Relays, the Huskers produced 19 wins on their home track at Ed Weir Stadium.

After taking over the national lead in the long jump last weekend at the Kansas Relays with a wind-aided leap of 21-7 ¼, freshman Mara Griva cleared a personal-best non-wind aided mark of 21-5 ½. Griva posted the jump on her final attempt of the competition and she now owns the top two jumps in the nation this season. Arna Erega and Tara Korshoj were next in the standing with leaps of 19-9 ½ and 19-5 ½, respectively.

One day after setting a personal best in the hammer throw with a toss of 197-2 at the Drake Relays, Jade Siegel led a 1-2-3 finish for NU on Sunday. Siegel won with a throw of 193-9, while Samantha Musil was two inches behind Siegel with a toss of 193-7 and Victoria Zimmerman finished third with a throw of 182-3. On the men's site, Matt Giesselmann finished third with a personal-best throw of 184-11.

The wins kept coming in the shot put and discus as the Huskers swept both events. Amanda Latsch took top honors in the shot put with a personal-best toss of 51-0 ¾, which improved her previous mark of 50-8. Luke Pinkelman finished the sweep in the shot with his winning throw of 60-1 ¾. Latsch would then come back later to win the discus with a throw of 163-9 and Chad Wright won the men's discus with a throw of 186-5. Also in the throws, Austin Braman secured the men's first win of the day with a victory in the javelin. Braman was in a class all his own with his throw of 211-7, while the next closest competitor was Tyler Maxwell of South Dakota with his throw of 178-1.

The Huskers came away four other wins in the field events. Lorena Menghia and Patrick Raedler combined to sweep the triple jump as Menghia improved on her previous best of 40-6 ¾ with a leap of 41-7 and Raedler cleared 49-9 ¼. Brandon Sheppard added another in in the men's high jump with a leap of 6-10 ¼ and Breanna Bussel won the pole vault with a clearance at 13-1 ½.

On the track, freshman Sarah Plambeck picked up the Huskers' first win in the 1,500 meters. Plambeck broke her previous best of 4:50.90 with a time of 4:49.65. Karyn LaCour followed with a winning time of 13.70 in the 100-meter hurdles, while teammate Erega was second in 13.78.

The wins kept coming for the Husker women in the sprint as Alyssa Vierregger broke her previous best of 55.42 with a time of 55.38 in the 400 meters. Vierregger was the only sprinter in the field to run below 57 seconds. Mara Weekes then took the 200 meters in 24.01 (+2.6 m/s).

NU later swept two events on track in the 800 meters and 400 hurdles. Ellen Dougherty clocked a time of 2:13.50 in the women's 800 race and Brett Gooden followed with a personal-best time of 1:54.05 in the men's race. Ellie Grooters then held off teammate Rachel Butler in the 400 hurdles, 1:01.37 to 1:02.25, before freshman Miles Ukaoma ran a personal best of 51.72 to win the men's race.

Isabel Andrade was the last Husker to win on the track with a personal-best time in the 5,000 meters. Andrade cut nearly 40 seconds off her previous time of 18:42.58 with her winning time of 18:02.88.

The Huskers will finish the 2011 regular season next Saturday when they travel to Manhattan, Kan., for the one-day Ward Haylett Invitational.