Huskers Sweep Mark Colligan Memorial Team Titles

LINCOLN, Neb. - The Nebraska track and field team captured both the men's and women's titles in the scored Mark Colligan Memorial on Saturday at the Bob Devaney Sports Center Indoor Track. Nebraska garnered 23 event titles in sweeping the event in front of 1,034 fans at Devaney.

The Husker men scored 159 points to beat Wichita State (102) and Oral Roberts (39). The Nebraska women collected 155 points to defeat Wichita State (106) and Oral Roberts (44).

Marusa Cernjul was the high jump champion with a new personal best of 6-1 1/4. Her mark was the top mark in the Big Ten this season and ranks fourth all-time on the NU Top 10 chart. 

Nebraska nearly swept the jumps, taing seven of the eight titles. Tierra Williams led a 1-6 Husker finish in the women's long jump, taking her second title of the season with a jump of 19-6 1/4. Kaiwan Culmer won the triple jump with a 49-4 1/2 jump, the best by a Husker this season and a new PR for Culmer. Nikita Pankins captured the long jump title with a mark of 23-7 1/2, while Jerry Westerfield also finished at 23-7 1/2. Landon Bartel took the high jump title in a jump-off against teammates Grant Anderson and Mitchell Westberry. Bartel cleared 6-9 3/4 in the jump-off. On the women's side, Paula Andrie won the pole vault with the seventh-best NU performance all-time (13-5 3/4), and Mollie Gribbin won the triple jump (39-5 1/4). 

The Husker throwers dominated the competition, winning all four events. Tristen Sharp won her second weight throw competition in as many weeks. Sharp tossed 60-0 1/2 to take home the title. Will Lohman won the weight throw (63-11) and shot put (59-0 1/4) with ease. Carlie Pinkelman won her second straight shot put with a toss of 51-11.

In the running events, Connor Gibson won the mile in 4:13.69. He paced a 1-4 Husker finish. Nolan Border notched a PR of 4:15.71 to finish second, while Alney Tobias was third with a PR of 4:15.87. 

Melissa-Maree Farrington won the women's 60m hurdles with a personal-best 8.40, putting her sixth on the all-time NU chart. Oladapo Akinmoladun won the men's 60m hurdles in 8.05, just beating Sean Pille's 8.07.

Breunna McCarty set a new PR in the 60 meters of 7.51 to win the event with the eighth-best performance in NU history. Jake Bender PR'd in the 400 meters with a winning time of 47.48. NU swept the 600 meters, as Karolina Pahlitzsch won the women's in 1:32.98, and Sam Bransby won the men's in 1:20.13. Pahlitzsch's time was the eighth-best in Husker history. NU also swept the 800 meters and 200 meters. In the women's 800, Shawnice Williams clocked in at 2:13.17, while Moujtaba Mohammed won in 1:53.20. Kadecia Baird won the women's 200 in 23.75, and Ricco Hall won the men's 200 in 21.23. 

The men's 4x400 relay team capped the day with a winning time of 3:14.61. Christian Sanderfer, Cody Rush, Andrew Neal and Pille teamed up for the win, as Nebraska squads took four of the five top spots. 

The Big Red will host the adidas Classic next Saturday, Jan. 31 at the Devaney Center. Field events will begin at 11:30 a.m., while running events start at 1:30 p.m.