Huskers Head to Idaho for NCAA Indoors

Meet: NCAA Indoor Championships
Where: Boise, Idaho (Jacksons Indoor Track)
When: Friday, March 9 (11 a.m.) & Saturday, March 10 (11:30 a.m.)
Live Results: FlashResults.com

The Nebraska track and field team will travel to Boise, Idaho, this weekend for the NCAA Indoor Championships. A total of 10 Huskers will compete at the two day meet in nine events, as Mara Griva and Chris Phipps will each compete in two events.

The No. 19 ranked Husker men earned four entries to the meet, while the women have six entries.

Nebraska will be looking to add to its list of 595 All-Americans during its two days at Jacksons Indoor Track at the Idaho Center. Last season, the men tied for 20th and the women placed 17th in the team races, while the women produced two All-Americans and the men totaled three.

The 2012 NCAA Indoor Championships are set to start on Friday, March 9 at 11 a.m. CT and will continue on Saturday, March 10 at 11:30 a.m. CT.

On Friday, NCAA.com will have a live stream from 11 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. CT and then ESPN3.com will have action the rest of the day. NCAA.com will again provide a stream early on Saturday from 11:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. CT and then ESPN3.com will again take over for the remainder of the meet. ESPNU will air a tape-delay of the meet on Sunday, March 18 from 6:30-8:30 p.m. CT.

Make in 104

The Nebraska women's track and field team capped its first Big Ten Indoor Championships in style with a 114.50-106 win over defending champion Ohio State. The NU women earned the second Big Ten title in school history and the first team title for the track and field program. Nebraska now has a total of 104 conference titles as a program.

As an overall program, the Huskers won 51 Big Eight titles during the conference's history from 1974-1996 and Nebraska continued to dominate the conference since moving to the Big 12 in 1997. NU had won a league-high 23 team titles, 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. Nebraska recorded its 103rd conference title in 2011, as the women's team upset four-time defending champion Texas A&M at the indoor championships.

Prestigious Pepin

Nebraska's Big Ten women's title added to the historic 32-year resume of Head Coach Gary Pepin, who now holds 68 conference titles dating back to his first Big Eight win at the 1981 indoor meet. Pepin was honored by his peers on Tuesday, Feb. 28 as the 2012 Big Ten Women's Indoor Coach of the Year.

Big-Time Jumpers

The Husker women have been arguably one of the top programs when it comes to the high, long and triple jumps. The Huskers have won at least one title in one of the events at 11 of the previous 16 indoor conference championships and have won the triple jump crown eight times, including five straight wins from 2000 to 2004.

Mara Griva has led the Huskers in 2012, while earning her first Big Ten Indoor title on Feb. 26. Griva used a season-best jump of 42-9 1/2 (13.04) to take top honors and earn her second indoor conference triple jump title.

Jumps-U

The Huskers' jumps program will once again be well represented at the national meet with two athletes earning four entries. Chris Phipps and Mara Griva will both compete in both the long and triple jumps.

Phipps earned the first conference title of his career at the 2012 Big Ten Indoor Track and Field Championships. With a leap of 25-4 1/2 (7.73), Phipps became the Big Ten Indoor long jump champion.

Barrefors Leading NU

Nebraska's senior heptathlete Bjorn Barrefors enter this weekend's national meet ranked in the top-10 of his event, as he is No. 8 in the heptathlon.

The NU men and women have combined to win one national title in the combined events with Ashley Selig's 2005 victory in the pentathlon.

Barrefors captured All-America honors in the combined events at the 2011 national meet, as he also earned All-America accolades in 2009.

Undefeated

Pinkelman is undefeated on the year and did not let his streak end on his home turf at the 2012 Big Ten Indoor Championships, with a toss of 63-9. With the mark, he earned the Big Ten men's shot put title.

Pinkelman will now try to keep the streak going at the NCAA Indoor Championships. Carl Myerscough is the only Husker in school history on the men's side to win the shot put indoors with consecutive wins in 2002 and 2003. Pinkelman is the last Husker to earn All-America honors in the event with his sixth-place finish in 2011.

Husker Women's DMR Makes History

The distance medley relay team of Jessica Furlan, Mara Weekes, Ellie Grooters and Ashley Miller took home a first-place finish with a time of 10:58.74 at the Alex Wilson Invitational last weekend. The Huskers broke the Nebraska indoor distance medley relay record for an oversized track and qualified  for the 2012 NCAA Indoor Championships. In addition, it broke the Alex Wilson Invitational record and the Meyo Track record of 11:04.26 set by Michigan in 2011.

Dynamic Duo

Husker pole vaulters Breanna Bussel and Nate Polacek both enter this weekend's meet in the top-20 nationally, as Polacek is ranked No. 9 on the men's side and Bussel is 16th on the women's side. Polacek earned All-America honors at the indoor championships in 2011, while this is Bussel's first trip to the NCAA meet.

Huskers Claim Big Ten Titles

Nebraska captured five individual titles at the 2012 Big Ten Indoor Track and Field Championships.

Breanna Bussel was the Huskers' first Big Ten Conference champion, recording a first-place finish in the pole vault. Bussel notched a personal-best mark of 13-10 1/2.

Ashley Miller claimed the 3,000 meters title while rewriting the Husker record books. Miller posted a personal-best time of 9:17.28 to edge out the first-place finish. With the time, she now sits in first among top 3,000 meter performances at Nebraska.

Pinkelman added Big Ten Champion to his list of accomplishments, taking top honors in the shot put. With a throw of 63-9 (19.43), Pinkelman became a

back-to-back conference champion as he was the Big 12 champion in 2011.

Chris Phipps earned the Big Ten title in the long jump, taking down his competition with a leap of 25-4 1/2 (7.73). The six-time All-American took home his first indoor conference title.

Mara Griva secured  the title in the women's triple jump. Griva notched a season-best jump of 42-9 1/2 (13.04) to take top honors and earn her second indoor conference triple jump title.

Huskers Earn Big Ten Honors

Nebraska seniors Ashley Miller and Luke Pinkelman were honored by the Big Ten Conference on Monday, Jan. 23 after being selected as the Big Ten Female Track and Male Field Athletes-of-the-Week. Pinkelman was honored for the second-consecutive week after being selected as the Big Ten Co-Field Athlete-of-the-Week on Monday, Jan. 30.

Phipps, Pinkelman, Bussel, Miller and Griva were all honored as All-Big Ten first-team selections, the conference announced. Barrefors, Tommy Brinn, Ricco Hall and Patrick Raedler also earned second-team All-Big Ten honors.

All-America Pipeline

Nebraska has been a staple at the NCAA Indoor Championships as the men's team alone has produced 116 All-America awards.  The men's squad has been on quite a roll as they have had at least one athlete earn All-American honors at the past 21 national meets. Since the indoor championships began in 1965, the Huskers have failed to leave with at least one All-America award on just five occasions, including 1975, 1982, 1983, 1984 and 1990.

The women's team has been just as good indoors since the national meet started in 1980. Along with three straight national titles from 1982 to 1984, the Huskers have two or more All-Americans at every meet except for 2002 when they failed to earn a honor.