Records Broken On Day One Of Frank Sevigne Meet

LINCOLN, Neb. - The Nebraska track and field teams hosted the first day of the Frank Sevigne Husker Invitational on Friday before a crowd of 1,859 at the Bob Devaney Sports Center Indoor Track. 

In the men's 400 meters, Cody Rush's 47.18 in his first race of the season was good for second place. Sam Bransby set a PR 47.59 to take third overall, while Oliver Alexandre (47.72) and Mate Koroknai (47.77) were fifth and sixth, respectively, in the field of 54 competitors.

Tierra Williams was second in the long jump with a leap of 19-10 1/4 (6.05m). Reka Czuth finished fifth, jumping 19-9 (6.02m). 

The top performance of the night came in the women's 400 meters. Texas senior Courtney Okolo ran 51.16, breaking the Devaney Center record and setting the No. 1 time in the world in 2016. Professional sprinter Ashley Spencer was right behind her, finishing in 51.56, the second-fastest time in the world this year. 

Competing unattached as a redshirt, Anna Peer posted the second-best time in the 5,000 meters, 17:13.34, in her first race of the indoor season. Bonnie Smith was fourth in the event with a personal-best 17:26.51. Austin Post led the Husker men with a third-place finish among collegians in a time of 14:42.12. Alec Sery had a personal-best 14:43.84 to finish fourth. 

Nick Percy took third in the weight throw with a personal-best throw of 63-1 1/4 (19.23m). Tristen Sharp was fifth for the women with a season-best throw of 60-6 3/4 (18.46m). 

Tess Merrill was fifth among collegians in the pole vault by clearing an indoor personal-best 13-2 1/2 (4.03m). 

In preliminary action, Brena Andrews set a 60-meters personal-best 7.51 to qualify for Saturday's final. Her time moved her into a tie for ninth in NU indoor history. Malcolm White qualified for the men's final with a time of 6.79. 

The Husker men's top three 60-meter hurdlers each won their heats to advance to Saturday's final. Oladapo Akinmoladun ran the fastest collegiate time of 7.82, while Antoine Lloyd (7.89) and Sean Pille (7.95) also won their heats with the second-and-third-best collegiate times. Competing unattached, Christian Cook reached the final with a time of 7.98. Former Husker Kirkland Thornton posted the top overall time of 7.77.

The three Huskers in the heptathlon had a strong first day to position themselves well heading into Saturday's final three events. Cody Walton used a long jump PR of 22-0 3/4 (6.72m) and high jump PR of 6-5 1/2 (1.97m) to put him in second place with 3,031 points. Noah Gabel has 3,009 points and is in third place. Gabel posted a long jump of 23-2 (7.06m) to win the event, and he tied for first in the high jump (6-6 3/4, 2.00m). Gabel also set a PR in the shot put (35-10, 10.92m). Guy Fenske sits in fourth place with 2,978 points, and he had a PR 7.10 in the 60 meters. UCLA's Steele Wasik is the leader with 3,158 points. 

The Frank Sevigne Husker Invitational concludes on Saturday with the men’s heptathlon slated to start things off at 9:30 a.m. The running and field event finals will begin at Noon, and the meet concludes at 5 p.m.