Meet: Big 12 Indoor Championships (meet schedule - pg. 5 of notes)
Where: Lincoln, Neb. (Devaney Center)
When: Friday, Feb. 25 - Saturday, Feb. 26 (10:30 a.m./11 a.m.)
Live Results: Huskers.com
Lincoln - The Nebraska track and field team will host its final Big 12 Indoor Championships this weekend at the Devaney Indoor Track on Friday, Feb. 25 and Saturday, Feb. 26. The Huskers have previously played host to the indoor conference meet eight times in past 14 years, including six straight championships from 2001 to 2006 and most recently in 2008.
The meet is scheduled to start at 10:30 a.m. on Friday with the women's pentathlon 60-meter hurdles, while the first field event will be the women's weight throw at 3:30 p.m. and the first track event is the women's 60-meter hurdle preliminaries at 2 p.m. The men's heptathlon 60-meter hurdles starts the action on Saturday at 11 a.m., the women's triple jump will be the first field event at 1:30 p.m. and the women's 60-meter hurdle finals will be the first track event at 3 p.m.
Of the 24 teams in attendance, 12 of them enter the meet ranked in the nation top 25. Texas, Texas A&M and Oklahoma are represented in the top 10 for both men and women. On the women's side, UT is No. 3 with TAMU checking in at No. 5 and OU at No. 8, respectively. For the men, the Aggies hold the current No. 4 spot, with the Longhorns at No. 8 and the Sooners at No. 9. Nebraska comes in to the meet ranked 11th on the women's side, while the men are ranked 13th.
A total of 16 men, in nine different events, and 17 women, in eight different events, have already automatically qualified for the NCAA Indoor Championships on March 11-12, along with two men's and one women's relay teams.
Live results will be available on Huskers.com, while tickets can still be purchased on Huskers.com, by calling 1-800-8BIGRED or by stopping by the Nebraska Athletic Ticket Office.
102 and Counting
After winning 51 Big Eight titles during the conference's history from 1974-1996, the Huskers have continued to dominate since moving to the Big 12 Conference in 1997. NU has won a league-high 22 team titles during the Big 12's 14-year history, including the program's historic 100th conference team title in 2007.
The Huskers added their 101st and 102nd titles during the 2009 and 2010 outdoor seasons when they became the first men's team in Big 12 history to win back-to-back team titles at the outdoor conference meet.
Indoors, Nebraska and Texas lead the women's race with five titles each, while Texas A&M has won the last four championships. On the men's side, NU has won a conference-best nine conference titles, including six straight from 2000 to 2005, while Texas has won four and Oklahoma has one championship.
Back-to-Back
This weekend Chantae McMillan will have a chance to become the fifth pentathlete in Big 12 history to repeat at the conference meet. The Husker senior would join Barbara Szlendakova (ISU, 98-99), Austra Skujyte (KSU, 01-02), Ashley Selig (NU, 05-06) and Julianne Kennedy (TTU, 07-08).
A win would also give the Huskers their third straight title in the event, as Megan Wheatley also won the 2009 crown. No program in Big 12 history has ever won three straight women's pentathlon titles.
McMillan enters the meet ranked No. 1 in the Big 12 and No. 2 nationally with a school-record score of 4,378. Ryann Krais of Kansas State sits second on the Big 12 list with 4,021 points.
Big-Time Jumpers
The Husker women have been arguably the top program in the Big 12 when it comes to the high, long and triple jumps. The Huskers have one at least one title in one of the events at nine of the previous 14 indoor championships and have won the triple jump crown six times, including five straight wins from 2000 to 2004.
The women pulled off the clean sweep in 2004 when Na'Tassia Vice won the high jump, while Ineta Radevica won the long and triple jumps.
Wide Open
Now that four-time champion Jordan Scott of Kansas is no longer around, the men's pole vault title is up for grabs.
Nebraska's Nate Polacek is in position to make a run at the crown as he enters the conference meet ranked second on the Big 12 performance list following his personal-best vault of 17-7 1/4 at the Nebraska Tune-Up. Missouri's Brian Hancock leads the conference by one-half inch, as he cleared 17-7 3/4 at the Missouri Collegiate Challenge.
Latvian Leaper
Ventspils, Latvia, native Mara Griva has had a breakout freshman season for the Huskers in the horizontal jumps with a pair of top-10 national marks. Griva is tied for fifth in the country on the long jump list with a leap of 20-9 1/4 and sits eighth in the triple jump with a clearance of 42-8 1/4. Both marks are tops by a freshman this season nationally, while she is also third in both events on the Big 12 performance list.
Leandra McGruder captured the triple jump title last season for the Huskers, but a win in the long jump by Griva would be the first for Nebraska since 2004, when Ineta Radevica won her second straight title.
NCAA Tickets Punched
Four Huskers have secured a spot a the NCAA Indoor Championships in College Station, Texas.
Senior Natalie Willer was the first Husker to put her name in the field with an automatic-qualifying mark of 14-1 1/4 in the pole vault at the Holiday Inn Invitational. Willer has since improved her standing with a vault of 14-3 1/2, which ties her for fourth nationally.
Junior Luke Pinkelman also secured his second career trip to the national meet at the Holiday Inn Invitational with a personal-best toss of 63-6 1/4 in the shot put. Pinkelman bettered the mark at the Razorback Invitational with the third-best throw in the county at 64-0 1/4.
Nicholas Gordon added his name to the list with a leap of 26-0 in the long jump at the Razorback Invitational. The 2009 NCAA indoor champion in the event, Gordon currently ranks ninth in the nation.
Chantae McMillan was the latest to lock up a spot with her school-record pentathlon score of 4,378 points at the Frank Sevigne Husker Invitational. McMillan earned All-American honors in the event at the 2009 national meet.
Jumps-U
The Huskers' high, long and triple jumpers are all over the NCAA performance list, as seven jumpers have posted nine top-25 marks.
True freshman Mara Griva leads the way as the Latvia native owns the fifth-best long jump in the country at 20-9 1/4 and is ranked eighth in the triple jump (42-8 1/4). Joining Griva on the list are Chantae McMillan (long jump - 9th), Paul Hamilton (high jump - 15th), Nicholas Gordon (long jump - 9th), Chris Phipps (long jump - 10th and triple jump - 13th), Bobby Carter (long jump - 20th) and Seth Wiedel (long jump - 23rd).
Know How to Throw
The Husker throws squad it well represented on the NCAA top-50 list with five athletes in the shot put and one in the weight throw.
Luke Pinkelman leads the way with the third best shot put mark in the country at 63-6 1/4. Pinkelman is joined on the men's top-25 list by Tyler Hitchler (15th - 60-5 1/2) and Chad Wright (25th - 59-2 1/4)
On the women's side, Amanda Latsch and Annie Jackson are both in the top-50 of the women's shot. Latsch ranks 22nd with a toss of 52-6 1/2 and Jackson sits 38th with a throw of 50-10. In the women's weight throw, Victoria Zimmerman is ranked 46th with a toss of 61-7.