"Pepsi Pack the House" Set for Saturday Track Meet

The Nebraska track and field team continues its indoor season with the fifth annual Mark Colligan Memorial at the Bob Devaney Sports Center Indoor Track on Saturday. After picking up 17 event titles at the season-opening Holiday Inn Invitational last week, Nebraska hosts the Mark Colligan Memorial on Saturday at 11:30 a.m. at the Devaney Center. Colorado State, Illinois State and Wichita State are set to compete at this year’s meet, named in honor of former Nebraska track and field throws coach Mark Colligan, who passed away in 2011. The Huskers have won both the men’s and women’s team titles each of the past three years. Saturday’s meet is the annual “Pepsi Pack the House” event. Admission is $1 and Pepsi products are $1 at the concession stand.

Some Huskers will compete in Friday’s Nebraska Wesleyan Invitational, also held at the Devaney Center. That meet begins at 11:30 a.m., and the final event is scheduled for 7:40 p.m.

Noting the Huskers
• Tierra Williams won three events - the long jump, triple jump and 60 meters - at the Holiday Inn Invitational. Williams set indoor PRs in both the long jump (20-1 1/2, 6.13m) and triple jump (41-3 1/4 (12.58m). Her long jump mark ranks 13th nationally and second in the Big Ten, while her triple jump ranks 14th nationally and second in the Big Ten.
• Andy Neal moved to No. 7 on the all-time Nebraska 600 meters indoor list with his time of 1:18.33 to win the event at the Holiday Inn Invitational.
• Antoine Lloyd’s 7.90 in the 60-meter hurdles was a personal best and ranks as the No. 13 mark in the nation this season and No. 2 in the Big Ten.
• Kaiwan Culmer’s 50-5 1/2 (15.38) triple jump last weekend ranks 20th nationally and second in the Big Ten.
• Craig Driver’s clearance of 16-11 in the pole vault has him leading the Big Ten entering the weekend.
• Tristen Sharp captured both the shot put and weight throw titles at the Holiday Inn Invitational. She threw 49-0 1/4 (14.94) in the shot put and 57-5 1/2 (17.51) in the weight throw to begin her senior season.

Freshman Impact
A handful of Nebraska’s highly touted freshmen were on display at the Holiday Inn Invitational. Lakayla Harris, a Miami, Fla., native, won the 200-meter dash with a time of 24.32. Chanel Freeman, also a Miami, Fla., native, posted the top qualifying time in the 60-meter hurdles of 8.69, displaying why she was one of the nation’s top hurdler recruits. In the finals of the event, freshman Jasmine Barge was sixth overall, while Freeman was eighth. For the men, Ty Moss finished third in the 1,000 meters (2:28.46). Moss and freshman Jordan De Spong were part of NU’s winning distance medley relay team (9:59.44) as well. Khalil Davis, a defensive lineman on the Husker football team, threw 51-8 1/4 (15.75m) in the shot put for a third-place finish.

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.

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.

Men’s 4x400 To Feature New Look
The 2015 NCAA Indoor runner-up and school-record holding men’s 4x400 relay team (Jake Bender, Cody Rush, Levi Gipson, Drew Wiseman) will have a new look to it to start this season. Although all four members of the team return from last season, senior Jake Bender will redshirt the season after suffering a knee injury prior to the start of the season. Additionally, Cody Rush is out for a while with an injury. At the Holiday Inn Invitational, the only veteran to run the 4x400 was Wiseman, who partnered with Andy Neal, Sam Bransby and Jake Nelson to win the event in 3:13.11.

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.

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. Cahoy has battled a back injury and is working his way back into competition form. 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. Bartel opened the season by clearing 6-11 1/2 (2.12m) to take second at the Holiday Inn Invitational.

Jumpers Lead Young Husker Women’s Team
The Nebraska women’s team will feature plenty of new and young talent in 2016. Forty-seven of the 69 athletes on the roster (68 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-America 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.

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. Last weekend, a number of professional athletes competed in the Holiday Inn Invitational: Brijesh Lawrence (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 also ran the fastest time in 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.

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.