Huskers Set for Final Indoor Home Meet on Friday

The Nebraska track and field team wraps up the regular season this Friday with the Nebraska Tune-Up, beginning at 12:15 p.m. at the Bob Devaney Sports Center Indoor Track. Events will run until 7:05 p.m.

The Huskers are gearing up for the Big Ten Indoor Championships, which will be at the SPIRE Institute in Geneva, Ohio on Feb. 26-27. The Nebraska men are the defending Big Ten Indoor champions, while the women tied for fifth last year.

The Division I teams joining Nebraska at Friday’s meet are UNO, Creighton, South Dakota and UMKC.

Noting the Husker Men
• Craig Driver cleared a personal-best 17-5 (5.31m) in the pole vault at the Tyson Invitational to move to No. 10 in NU indoor history. Driver’s mark made him the Big Ten leader and he is tied for 16th nationally, right on the edge of qualifying for the NCAA Indoor Championships on March 11-12 in Birmingham, Ala.

• The men’s 4x400-meter relay team of Cody Rush, Oliver Alexandre, Levi Gipson and Drew Wiseman set a season-best time of 3:06.96 at the Tyson Invitational to move to No. 1 in the Big Ten and No. 8 in the nation. Their time is the third-best mark by a relay group in NU indoor history. The top 12 relay teams qualify for the NCAA Indoor Championships. In the Huskers’ past two 4x400s at the Tyson Invite and Frank Sevigne Husker Invitational, the freshman Alexandre has run the top splits (46.79 and 46.15).

• Oladapo Akinmoladun improved his season-best 60-meter hurdles time to 7.74 at the Tyson Invitational and is now No. 2 in the Big Ten and tied for eighth nationally. Akinmoladun is the two-time defending Big Ten champion and was a first-team All-American at last year’s NCAA Indoor Championships.

• Landon Bartel ranks tied for second in the Big Ten and tied for 15th nationally in the high jump after clearing 7-1 1/2 (2.17m) at the Mark Colligan Memorial.

• Sophomore Sam Bransby ran a personal-best 1:17.38 to win the Frank Sevigne Husker Invite 600 meters with the second-fastest time in school history. Bransby’s time ranks No. 2 in the Big Ten.

• A handful of Husker men could be considered favorites or strong contenders to win a Big Ten title next week. In addition to Driver in the pole vault, the 4x400-meter relay team, Akinmoladun in the 60-meter hurdles, Bartel in the high jump and Bransby in the 600, Malcolm White’s 21.07 in the 200 meters ranks second in the Big Ten, Antoine Lloyd’s 7.78 in the 60-meter hurdles ranks third, and Davon Clark (50-11) and Kaiwan Culmer (50-6 1/4) rank second and third in the triple jump.

Noting the Husker Women
• Sophomore Reka Czuth, the 2015 Big Ten outdoor long jump champion, has made her presence known in the high jump this indoor season. Czuth went over 6-1 1/2 (1.87m) at the Frank Sevigne Husker Invitational, a PR that moved her into a tie for third on the all-time NU indoor chart. She is the Big Ten leader and ranks tied for second in the nation. Czuth earned Big Ten Field Athlete of the Week on Feb. 10.

• Tierra Williams is off to a fantastic start to her junior season. A second-team All-America long jumper at last year’s outdoor meet, Williams took up triple jump this season for the first-time ever and her personal-best 42-6 (12.95m) ranks 21st nationally and second in the Big Ten. Williams’ long jump of 20-7 3/4 (6.29m) ranks second in the Big Ten and tied for 20th in the nation.

• Paula Andrie cleared a personal-best 13-11 1/4 (4.25m) at the New Mexico Team Invitational and now ranks second in NU indoor history. Andrie’s clearance moved her into a tie for 18th in the nation and second in the Big Ten.

• The Husker women are building with a young and talented crop of athletes. On Nebraska’s indoor performance list, 11 of the 15 individual events are led by freshmen or sophomores.

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, including Edward Kemboi - the 800-meter NCAA indoor and outdoor national champion last season who ran 1:46.79 on an oversized track in February - and Renars Stepins, who has run the 800 meters in 1:48.08. Norfolk, Neb., native Jeremy Scott, the 2009 USA Indoor Championships pole vault winner, owns a personal best of 19-1 1/4 (5.82m) and is believed to be the tallest pole vaulter in history at 6-foot-9. And four entrants in the men’s high jump have cleared 6-11 3/4 or better this year.