Huskers Represented at U23 European Championships

Ostrava, Czech Republic - Current and future Nebraska track and field athletes were in competition on Friday at the European Under-23 Championships inside City Stadium. Four-time Big 12 champion Mara Griva was in the triple jump finals, while 2012 signee Emir Bekric advanced in the 400-meter hurdles.

Griva had one of the best freshman campaigns in Husker history in 2011, as she swept the horizontal jump titles both indoors and outdoors at conference meets. A native of Ventspils, Latvia, Griva placed ninth in the triple jump on Friday with a leap of 43-5. Griva will now focus on advancing past the prelims of the long jump tomorrow and then onto the finals on Sunday.

Bekric is set the join the Huskers for the 2012 season from Belgrade, Serbia, after signing a national letter of intent in March. He ran the second-best time in the prelims of the 400 hurdles on Thursday at 50.96 and clocked the sixth-best time in the semifinals today with a 50.41. Bekric will be part of the eight-hurdler final tomorrow at 9:15 a.m. (CT).

Martina Barinova is also scheduled to compete on Sunday at 9:35 a.m. (CT) in the 5,000 meters. After competing half-way around the globe as a redshirt-freshman in 2011, the meet is close to home for Barinova, as her home town of Prerov, Czech Republic, is roughly 60 miles from Ostrava.