Husker All-America Total Grows to Five

Des Moines, Iowa - Cool temperatures and rain hit Drake Stadium for the second straight day on Friday, causing a delay that lasted nearly an hour late in the day. The Huskers added their third, fourth and fifth All-America honors of the meet with top-eight finishes from seniors Paul Hamilton and Natalie Willer, as well freshman Mara Griva. NU totaled five All-Americans at the meet as it also produced two All-Americans on Wednesday with a pair of top-eight finishes by Chad Wright and Tyler Hitchler in the men's discus.

Willer opened the pole vault with a first-attempt make at 12-9 ½ and then took 13-1 ½, 13-4 ¼ and 13-9 ¼ on her second tries. With six of the original 24 vaulters left in the field, Willer got back in a groove and conquered 14-1 ¼ on her first attempt. She was then unable to keep the momentum going into the next height as she failed to clear 14-3 ¼ on three tries, ending the meet in fifth place. Willer ends her Husker career as the NU indoor and outdoor record holder, a four-time Big 12 champion and a three-time All-American.

Griva sat in seventh entering the finals of the triple jump with her leap of 42-9 during the prelims, but found more fuel in the tank down the stretch. The freshman cleared 43-9 ¼ on her fourth attempt to move into fourth and went even farther on her sixth attempt with a jump of 44-8 ¼, but was unable to move up in the charts, as Southern Miss' Ganna Demydova took third with a leap of 44-9. Griva had one of the most successful freshman campaigns in recent history at Nebraska with four Big 12 titles and one All-America honor.

Tara Korshoj joined Griva in the top 15 with a 15th-place leap of 41-6. Korshoj, a sophomore from Omaha, was competing at the NCAA Championships for the first time in her career.

Paul Hamilton added his third career All-America honor and second straight outdoor accolade in the high jump with a tie for seventh. Hamilton jumped clean through the first three heights, including 6-8 ¾, 6-10 ¾ and 7-0 ¼, before he ran into the 7-1 ½ bar. The Husker senior, along with Virginia Tech's Ronnie Black and Penn's Maalik Reynolds were all unable to clear and split the seventh-place trophy.

After lightning cut short the finish of the men's decathlon on Thursday night, Bjorn Barrefors and the rest of the field completed the javelin and 1,500 meters on Friday morning. Barrefors fell from sixth to 12th in the standing after his toss of 145-5 in the javelin and then was unable to rebound in the 1,500 with a time of 4:56.70. The sophomore from Stockholm, Sweden, finished 12th in the final standings and broke his previous-best score of 7,648 points by three points with 7,651 points. Barrefors' previous best came at the 2009 NCAA Outdoor Championships, where he became the second Husker in school history to earn All-America honors in the decathlon (Rick Schwieger: 1990, 1991, 1992)  with his sixth-place finish.

Samantha Musil capped her collegiate career on Friday with her second trip to the NCAA Championships and her first in the hammer throw. Musil previously qualified in the discus in 2007 while she was at Georgia Tech, but the DuBois, Neb., native then transferred to Nebraska after one year with the Yellow Jackets. Musil took 15th on Friday with a toss of 190-9 on her second attempt of the competition.

Seniors Adam Dailey and Eric Lund saw their Husker careers come to a close Friday morning in the men's 4x400-meter relay semifinals. Dailey ran the opening leg and Lund was on the anchor, while freshmen Miles Ukaoma and Kurt Pauly ran the second and third legs, respectively. The foursome posted the 18th-best time out of 24 teams at 3:09.86.

The 2011 collegiate season is now complete for the Huskers as they have no athletes competing on the final day of the championships tomorrow. Check the schedule page on Huskers.com after the conclusion of the meet to find out where the Huskers finished in the team standings.