Huskers Set For Big Ten Indoor Championships

The Nebraska track and field team travels to the Big Ten Indoor Championships this weekend at the SPIRE Institute in Geneva, Ohio. The meet begins on Friday and Saturday at 9 a.m. (CT).

Big Ten Network will provide live streams of both days of competition to those who subscribe to BTN Plus through BTN2GO.com. A BTN Plus subscription is available online for $9.95 for one month of access.

On Friday, streaming coverage will start with the men’s 60-meter trials at 1:05 p.m. (CT). On Saturday, coverage will start with the men’s mile at 12:15 p.m. (CT). Additionally, the championships will air tape delayed on BTN on Saturday, March 5 at 9:30 a.m. (CT).

It will be the fourth straight year the meet will take place at the oversized track at the SPIRE Institute. Last year, the Husker men won the Big Ten title, while the women tied for fifth. Oladapo Akinmoladun has won the last two Big Ten 60-meter hurdles titles and will look for a third in his senior season, while senior Levi Gipson was the 600-meter champion in 2014.

The NU men have 36 all-time indoor team titles, while the women have 24. While the men won it all in 2015, the women’s last indoor title was 2012. The Husker men have won at least two individual conference indoor titles seven years in a row. The Nebraska men have not won back-to-back conference indoor team titles since winning six straight in the Big 12 from 2000 to 2005.

Big Ten Championships Preview
Sprints/Hurdles
Men – The Husker men should rack up plenty of points with talented sprinters and hurdlers atop the Big Ten charts. In the 60 meters, Malcolm White ranks fourth with his time of 6.73 at the Mark Colligan Memorial. White also leads the Huskers in the 200 meters, as his 21.07 ranks second in the conference. Last year, Cody Rush finished fifth in the 200 meters, but he hasn’t run the race this season after battling an injury. The Huskers have three athletes ranked in the top seven of the 400 meters, as Mate Koroknai (47.17), Cody Rush (47.18) and Andy Neal (47.37) rank fifth, sixth and seventh. Rush was third in the event at last year’s meet and has only run one 400 this season. The 60-meter hurdles should also be a strong event as it was last year. Oladapo Akinmoladun, the two-time defending champion and a first-team All-American, enters the meet seeded second at 7.74. Antoine Lloyd (7.78) is third, and Sean Pille (7.87) is fifth. Pille finished third at the Big Ten meet last year.

Women – Freshman Lakayla Harris is the top Husker sprinter, ranking tied for 13th in the 60 meters (7.57) and ninth in the 200 meters (23.92). Karolina Pahlitzsch is tied for 10th in the Big Ten in the 400 meters with a time of 54.67. In the 60-meter hurdles, Jasmine Barge’s PR 8.48 last week at the Nebraska Tune-Up ranks tied for 12th, while Chanel Freeman is 14th at 8.49.

Middle Distance/Distance
Men – The Huskers have had success in the 600 meters in recent years and will look to do so again in 2016. Last year, Levi Gipson was third and Moujtaba Mohammed was fourth, and Gipson was the Big Ten champion in 2014. This year, Sam Bransby ranks second in the Big Ten with a time of 1:17.38, No. 2 in NU history, while Gipson is ninth at 1:18.13. Andy Neal is also in the mix, ranking 12th at 1:18.33.

Women – Karolina Pahlitzsch ranks ninth in the 600 meters with a time of 1:30.99. She finished fifth in the event at last year’s indoor championships.

High Jump
Men – The Husker men scored 20 team points in the high jump last year, and while that will be tough to repeat with reigning champion James White graduated, the Huskers should still be able to score well with three jumpers currently in the top eight. Landon Bartel, who finished second indoors and outdoors last year, ranks second this season at 7-1 1/2 (2.17m). Grant Anderson has cleared 7-0 1/4 (2.14m) and ranks sixth, while Michael McCann is tied for eighth at 6-11 (2.11m).

Women – Reka Czuth will look to bring home the Big Ten title as she enters the meet as the Big Ten leader with her clearance of 6-1 1/2 (1.87m) at the Frank Sevigne Husker Invitational, a mark that is tied for second in the nation and tied for third in NU indoor history. Only two other Big Ten high jumpers have cleared 6-0 (1.83m) this season. Czuth was sixth at the Big Ten indoor meet last year and third at the outdoor meet.

Long Jump/Triple Jump
Men – The Huskers scored 15 points in the long jump and seven in the triple jump on their way to the team title last year. Davon Clark (50-11) and Kaiwan Culmer (50-6 1/4) are two of three Big Ten athletes to surpass 50 feet in the triple jump. Culmer was sixth at last year’s Big Ten meet. In the long jump, freshman Elijah Lucy ranks sixth with a best jump of 24-3 1/2 (7.40m), and Nikita Pankins is eighth at 24-0 1/4 (7.32m). Pankins, who has been battling an injury this indoor season, finished fourth last year for the Big Red.

Women – Tierra Williams has a chance to score big team points for the Huskers while chasing a Big Ten individual title in both the long jump and triple jump. She currently ranks second in both events – 20-7 3/4 (6.29m) in the long jump and 42-6 (12.95m) in the triple jump. Williams was fourth in the indoor long jump last year and took up triple jump for the first time this season. The horizontal jumps are the strongest events for the Husker women. In the long jump, Jazmin McCoy and Reka Czuth are tied for 10th at 19-9 (6.02m), and Kari Heck is 15th (19-1 1/2). Czuth was the Big Ten outdoor champion in the event last year as a freshman. In the triple jump, Angela Mercurio is seventh with a leap of 40-5 (12.32m), while Danielle Jones is 10th at 39-7 (12.06m).

Pole Vault
Men – Only seven Big Ten vaulters have cleared at least 16-7 1/4 (5.06m) this season, and four of them are Huskers. Craig Driver ranks first in the conference, having cleared 17-5 (5.31m). Driver is looking to close out his senior indoor season on top after finishing fourth at last year’s Big Ten meet. Senior Beau Simmons is tied for fifth at 16-8 (5.08m), while freshman Tyler Loontjer is sixth with his best clearance of 16-7 1/4 (5.06m). The Huskers could have four scorers in the pole vault, as 2015 Big Ten indoor and outdoor runner-up Steven Cahoy is set to compete attached for the first time this season. Cahoy has battled a back injury dating back to last year, but after clearing 16-8 (5.08m) last week, Cahoy is going to jump back into competition at the conference meet. He was the runner-up at last year’s indoor meet, losing a tiebreaker to Michigan State’s Tim Ehrhardt at 17-7 1/4 (5.37m). Cahoy’s all-time personal best of 17-11 (5.46) last year ranks third in NU indoor history.

Women – Nebraska boasts two of the top four pole vault marks in the Big Ten this season. Paula Andrie is seeded second after clearing 13-11 1/4 (4.25m), the second-best mark in NU indoor history. Andrie is looking for redemption after finishing seventh last year by clearing 13-1. Tess Merrill, having cleared 13-7 1/4 at the Tyson Invitational, is tied for fourth in the Big Ten and will look to score team points after finishing tied for 16th last year.

Throws
Men – Nick Percy ranks 17th in the weight throw at 63-1 1/4 (19.23m), a mark he has reached in two straight meets.

Women – Toni Tupper leads the Husker women at No. 11 in the Big Ten shot put (49-2 1/2) rankings. Tristen Sharp just missed top-10 finishes in both the shot put and weight throw at last year’s Big Ten Indoor Championships. This year, Sharp ranks 14th in the shot put (49-0 1/4) and 16th in the weight throw (60-6 3/4).

Relays
Men – The Huskers’ 4x400 relay holds the top time in the Big Ten entering this week. Cody Rush, Oliver Alexandre, Levi Gipson and Drew Wiseman ran 3:06.96 at the Tyson Invitational and rank eighth nationally. The Huskers are back-to-back NCAA Indoor runners-up but just missed a Big Ten title last season, finishing second by .02 seconds behind Illinois. Nebraska’s distance medley relay finished fourth at last year’s meet. The Huskers’ fastest time this season - 9:57.77 - ranks fifth entering the week. The Huskers will look to top last year’s time of 9:43.66 at the Big Ten Championships.

Women - The Nebraska women have the fifth-fastest 4x400 relay time in the Big Ten this season, as Jasmine Barge, Morgan Woitzel, Kristen Dowell and Chantal Duncan ran 3:41.89 at the Tyson Invitational. NU finished eighth in the event last year with a time of 3:43.10 on the oversized track at SPIRE Institute, so this year’s team is in good shape to surpass that once it gets the chance to compete on an oversized track.

Combined Events
Men – The Huskers have depth to score team points in the heptathlon with three athletes ranking in the top 14 in the Big Ten entering the meet. Cody Walton’s 5,515 at the Frank Sevigne Husker Invite ranks fourth in the conference, while Noah Gabel is 10th at 5,318. Guy Fenske is 14th in the conference with a score of 5,222. Gabel and Fenske finished seventh and eighth last year. Walton, who was hurt at the time of the Big Ten Indoor Championships, was third in the Big Ten Outdoor decathlon.

Women – The Huskers have not fielded a pentathlon competitor this indoor season.

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, as this year’s roster combined for 79 of the 127 points last year. The Nebraska men have not won back-to-back conference indoor team titles since winning six straight in the Big 12 from 2000 to 2005. Wisconsin was the last Big Ten men’s team to repeat, winning indoor titles in 2013 and 2014.

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 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. But Cody Rush has returned from an early season injury, and along with Gipson and Wiseman, the trio combined with Husker freshman Oliver Alexandre to set the top Big Ten time this season - 3:06.96 - at the Tyson Invitational. Rush, Wiseman and Gipson are part of the fastest three 4x400 indoor times in school history.

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. Finally, Antoine Lloyd is poised to break through in the event at the conference meet after a strong indoor season as a sophomore.

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 still 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.

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 68 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-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.

Recapping the 2015 Big Ten Indoor Championships
GENEVA, Ohio - The Nebraska men’s track and field team took home its first Big Ten Track and Field Indoor Championship, running away with the trophy with 127 points at the SPIRE Institute. Illinois was second with 86 points. Minnesota was third with 76 points.

The Huskers entered the final day with a seven-point lead on Penn State but got event titles from Oladapo Akinmoladun (60m hurdles) and James White (high jump) to roll to their 36th all-time conference indoor title and first since joining the Big Ten.

The win gave legendary head coach Gary Pepin his 30th career indoor team championship and 70th career overall conference title in his 35th year at the helm. The Husker men won an indoor conference championship for the first time since 2007 in the Big 12. It was the second overall Big Ten title for the Husker men, as they won the 2013 outdoor title.

The Nebraska women finished the weekend with 65 points to tie for fifth with Michigan State. Ohio State was the women’s team champion with 84 points. Michigan had 69, and Penn State and Purdue tied with 68.

Huskers Hold Record Dual-Meet Win Streak
The Husker men’s team has won 15 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 38 opponents.

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 12 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 seven 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 two juniors - Anna Peer (distance) 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.