Men's 4x400 Breaks NU Record in Arkansas

Fayetteville, Ark. - The Nebraska track and field team completed the second day of competition at the Arkansas-hosted Tyson Invitational on Saturday. On the afternoon, the Huskers earned five personal-best marks along with four season-best times, including one school record.

The men's 4x400 meter relay team of Jake Bender, Levi Gipson, Drew Wiseman and Cody Rush broke the NU school record with a time of 3:06.93 in the final race of the day to finish second as they ran to the top of the Big Ten Conference and top 10 in the country. The previous record of 3:07.63 was set last year.

The women's 4x400 meter relay team of Chantal Duncan, Kadecia Baird, Shawnice Williams and Mara Weekes finished off the Tyson Invite by putting together the second-best time in NU history of 3:34.99 to jump inside the top 10 in Division I.

Pole vaulters Craig Driver and Steven Cahoy finished third and fourth, respectively, as both Huskers cleared personal-best heights of 16-11 (5.16m). Their marks puts them at No. 6 in the conference, while Christian Sanderfer finished sixth at 16-5 1/4 (5.01m).

Junior sprinter Ricco Hall stopped the watch at 21.23 in the 200 meters for his season best that also pushed him to the top of the NU performance list this season for the event.

Senior Trevor Vidlak completed the 3,000 meter distance race in 8:14.77 to earn third place in the championship section. The men's distance medley relay squad consisting of Jacob Holtmeier, Christian Sanderfer, London Hawk and Jacob Olson posted a season-best time of 9:45.01 to finish third behind Arkansas and Houston. 

In the shot put, Chad Wright ended in fourth place with a toss of 60-3 3/4 (18.38) as Will Lohman recorded a mark of 59-1 1/2 (18.02m) in sixth position.

For the NU women, Junior Ellie Ewere took home runner-up honors in the championship flight of the triple jump. Ewere's second round mark of 42-4 (12.90) was a personal best as she remains No. 2 in the Big Ten and moves inside the top 15 nationally. Sophomore Mollie Gribbin recorded a personal best of her own as posted a distance of 40-5 1/2 (12.33m) in the triple jump. Grribin finished sixth and improves upon her mark from one week ago.

NU freshman Anna Peer won her heat of the 3,000 meter run after clocking a personal-best time of 10:00.90 to finish 11th overall. Senior captain Annie Jackson muscled her way to a 51-7 1/4 (15.73m) showing in the shot put to finish fifth at the Tyson.

The Huskers will be back at the Devaney Center Indoor Track next Friday, Feb. 21 for the Nebraska Tune-Up before heading to the Big Ten Indoor Championships in two weeks.