Huskers Begin Season with Holiday Inn Invitational

The Nebraska track and field team begins the 2016 season by hosting the Holiday Inn Invitational at the Bob Devaney Sports Center Indoor Track on Friday, Jan. 15 and Saturday, Jan. 16. Friday’s action begins at 4 p.m., while Saturday’s begins at Noon.

This weekend’s meet marks the first of four home meets in the indoor season. Nebraska will also host the Mark Colligan Memorial (Jan. 23), Frank Sevigne Husker Invitational (Feb. 5-6) and Nebraska Tune-Up (Feb. 19).

Husker Men Out to Defend Big Ten Title
The Nebraska men ran away with the Big Ten Indoor Championship last year in Geneva, Ohio with 127 points to win the meet by 41 points over Illinois. NU will be looking to defend its title in 2016 with 87 of those 127 points back set to compete this indoor season. The Husker men began the season with a No. 11 ranking in the USTFCCCA Top 25 poll, ahead of Penn State at No. 21 and Purdue at No. 24.

Akinmoladun Looking for Three-Peat
Senior Oladapo Akinmoladun will look to add his third straight Big Ten Indoor 60m hurdles title this season. The school-record holder in the event at 7.61 has won the Big Ten title at each of the past two meets and was a first-team All-American in 2015 with a seventh-place finish at the NCAA Indoor Championships. Akinmoladun would be the first Husker male to win three conference indoor titles in the same event since Carl Myerscough won the shot put from 2002 to 2004 in the Big 12. The Huskers also have senior Sean Pille back in the event. Pille finished third at last year’s Big Ten Indoor Championships. Nebraska also added Miami transfer Christian Cook for hurdles, though he is only eligible to compete in the outdoor season for the Huskers. Cook was the ACC 60m hurdles champion last year and an honorable-mention All-American in the outdoor 110m hurdles, finishing 18th.

Men’s 4x400 To Feature New Look
The 2015 NCAA Indoor runner-up men’s 4x400 relay team will have a new look to it this season. Although all four members of the team return from last season, senior Jake Bender will redshirt the season after suffering a season-ending knee injury prior to the start of the season. Cody Rush, Levi Gipson and Drew Wiseman are all back after helping the Huskers to a school-record 3:04.83 at last year’s NCAA Indoor Championships. The Huskers will have to turn to someone other than 4x400-relay regular Ricco Hall, who exhausted his indoor eligibility last season but still has one outdoor season remaining.

Young Huskers Hope to Build off Breakout Seasons
For the Husker men, junior Steven Cahoy and sophomore Landon Bartel are looking to elevate to new heights in 2016. Cahoy was both an NCAA indoor and outdoor second-team All-American in the pole vault in 2015, as well as the Big Ten runner-up at both conference meets. His PR of 17-11 last year at the Frank Sevigne Husker Invitational is third-best in NU indoor history. Meanwhile, Bartel was also the Big Ten runner-up in the high jump twice as a freshman last year and will hope to take over the top spot as two-time champion James White wrapped up his Husker career in 2015. Bartel finished fifth for Team USA at the Pan American Junior Championships in the summer.

Jumpers Lead Young Husker Women’s Team
The Nebraska women’s team will feature plenty of new and young talent in 2016. Forty-eight of the 70 athletes on the roster (69 percent) are freshmen and sophomores. The Huskers return their most experience in the long jump and triple jump, though it was in the outdoor season when the Huskers really hit their stride to help the team to a second-place finish at the Big Ten Outdoor Championships. Junior Tierra Williams returns as a second-team All-American long jumper with a ninth-place finish at last year’s NCAA Outdoor Championships (20-10 1/2), while sophomore Reka Czuth won the Big Ten Outdoor title last season and junior Jazmin McCoy was an honorable-mention All-American. In the triple jump, senior Mollie Gribbin was an outdoor second-team All-American and junior Danielle Jones returns after honorable-mention All-America honors, while sophomore Angela Mercurio won the Canadian Junior Triple Jump Championship in the summer.

Huskers Hold Record Dual-Meet Win Streak
The Husker men’s team has won 14 consecutive dual/tri/quad meets dating back to 2001, the longest streak in the NCAA per DailyRelay.com. In that span, the Huskers have defeated 35 opponents.

Olympic Year Means Professionals Head to Lincoln
The Bob Devaney Sports Center Indoor Track and the Ed Weir Stadium Track are sure to be popular spots for professional athletes looking to train or qualify for the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil next August. This weekend, a number of professional athletes are scheduled to compete: Brijesh Lawrence (60m), Charles Silmon (60m), Diondre Batson (60m), Tabarie Henry (400m), Eric Sowinski (600m), Remona Burchell (60m, 4x400), Alexandria Anderson (60m, 4x400), Schillonie Calvert (60m, 4x400), Charonda Williams (60m, 4x400), Sharika Nelvis (60m hurdles, 4x400) and Bethany Praska (600m). Former Husker All-American Angee Henry will also be running the 400 meters.

Big Ten Outdoor Championships Coming to Lincoln
For the first time, Nebraska’s Ed Weir Stadium will host the Big Ten Outdoor Track & Field Championships when the event comes to Lincoln May 13-15. The Huskers hosted the Big Ten Indoor Championships at the Bob Devaney Sports Center in 2012 in their first Big Ten season. The women won the title at that meet, while the men finished third. The last time the Huskers hosted a conference outdoor meet was the Big 12 Championships in 2007.

National Prominence
The Nebraska track and field team is a force every year at the NCAA Championships, including last year when the Huskers earned five All-America honors. The women’s team won back-to-back-to-back national titles from 1982 to 1984 and most recently finished in the top 20 at the NCAA Indoor Championships five times in the past 13 years. Outdoors, the women’s team has secured 21 top-25 finishes in the past 27 seasons, including top-10 finishes from 2002 to 2006. The men’s team has been among the top 25 at 19 of the last 22 indoor championships, including a tie for fifth in 2009. Outdoors, the men have finished in the top 20 at 10 of the last 12 meets, including top-15 finishes in 2003, 2004, 2006, 2012, 2013 and 2014.

Huskers Name 13 Team Captains
The Nebraska track and field program has named 13 team captains for the 2016 indoor and outdoor seasons. Five Huskers were captains on last year’s squad and will resume their leadership roles in 2016: seniors Craig Driver (pole vault), Cody Rush (sprints), Kari Heck (jumps), Tristen Sharp (throws) and junior Sarah Firestone (javelin). The Huskers will have eight new captains in the upcoming season. On the men’s side, seniors Jake Bender (sprints), Christian Sanderfer (pole vault), Ricco Hall (sprints) and sophomore Landon Bartel (high jump) will serve as captains. For the women, senior Paula Andrie (pole vault) and three juniors - Anna Peer (distance), Brena Andrews (sprints) and Dani Jones (jumps) - are the new additions.

Maxwell Inducted into USTFCCCA Hall of Fame
Nebraska track and field assistant coach Billy Maxwell was inducted into the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Hall of Fame in December. A nationally renowned sprints/hurdles/relays coach, Maxwell completed his 20th season at Nebraska in 2015. He has been a critical element to the success of the Husker track and field program over the last two decades. Maxwell is a four-time Midwest Region Assistant Coach of the Year, including both indoor and outdoor in 2014. He joined head coach and friend Gary Pepin, who was inducted in 2008, in the hall.

Recapping the Intrasquad Meet
The Nebraska track and field team held its annual Intrasquad meet on Dec. 12 at the Bob Devaney Sports Center Indoor Track. Malcolm White set two meet records to highlight the competition. White ran the 60m in 6.74 and the 200m in 20.99. The sophomore from Katy, Texas is poised for a big year after missing most of the 2015 outdoor season with an injury. Miami (Fla.) transfer Christian Cook was the 60m hurdles champion with a meet-record time of 7.76 in what will be a strong event once again for the Husker men this season, with Oladapo Akinmoladun and Sean Pille returning after podium finishes at the Big Ten Indoor meet last season. Freshman Lakayla Harris won both the 60m and 200m on the women’s side. Harris, from Miami, Fla., ran 7.58 in the 60m and 24.64 in the 200m. Sophomore thrower Nicholas Percy won the weight throw with a meet-record throw of 65-3 1/2 (19.90m).

Up Next
Nebraska is at the Devaney Center next Friday for the Nebraska Wesleyan Invitational and next Saturday, hosting the Mark Colligan Memorial.