Williams Wins Big Ten Indoor Long Jump Title

GENEVA, Ohio – Tierra Williams captured the Big Ten long jump title on Friday at the SPIRE Institute on the first day of the Big Ten Indoor Track and Field Championships.

Williams jumped 20-7 3/4 (6.29m) on her last attempt to take home the title and match her season-best effort. She edged Purdue’s Savannah Carson, who jumped 20-5 (6.22m).

“I just said a prayer and said ‘This is all or nothing, Tierra. You worked so hard for this, now go get it.' And it happened!” Williams said.

After the first day of competition at the championships, the Nebraska men are in second place with 23 points through five events, behind Wisconsin (40 points). The Husker women are in sixth with 20 points through six events. The Penn State women leads with 56.5 points.

Steven Cahoy, competing in his first official meet of the indoor season after battling a back injury, put together a gutsy effort to finish second in the pole vault by clearing 17-1 3/4 (5.23m). It marks Cahoy’s third straight runner-up performance at a Big Ten Championships, as he was the indoor and outdoor runner-up last year. Beau Simmons scored four team points, finishing fifth by clearing an indoor personal-best 16-10 (5.13m) on his first attempt. Redshirt freshman Tyler Loontjer added a team point by finishing eighth at 16-8 (5.08m).

Tess Merrill had a career-best day in the pole vault, clearing a personal-best 13-7 3/4 (4.16m) on her first attempt to earn a fourth-place finish. Merrill, a senior, improved 12 spots on her 16th-place finish last year. Paula Andrie also scored a team point for the Huskers, finishing eighth with a clearance of 13-1 3/4 (4.01m).

Elijah Lucy placed fourth in the men's long jump with a season-best leap of 24-10 (7.57m). He was the top freshman in the event. In addition to Williams’ long jump title, Reka Czuth finished fifth with a jump of 19-10 1/4 (6.05m).

The men’s distance medley relay team (Jacob Olson, Jake Nelson, Ty Moss, Matt Gilbert) posted a 9:46.55 to finish fourth overall and score five team points.

Noah Gabel is in 11th place in the heptathlon with three events remaining tomorrow. Gabel has 2,899 points and . Cody Walton is 13th with 2,850 points, and Guy Fenske is 14th with 2,848 points. 

In preliminary action, the Husker men had a strong day to set themselves up well for tomorrow, taking 12 of a possible 15 spots in final events tomorrow. Cody Rush (46.61), Oliver Alexandre (46.75) and Mate Koroknai (46.86) all won their 400-meter heats and advanced to Saturday’s eight-man final with top-five times. Rush had the second-fastest qualifying time behind Rutgers’ Izaiah Brown (46.43). Alexandre was third and Koroknai was fifth.

Malcolm White and Antoine Lloyd qualified for the 60-meter finals, as both ran 6.74 to finish fourth and fifth, respectively, in trials.

Oladapo Akinmoladun will look for a three-peat in the 60-meter hurdles tomorrow after winning the prelims in a season-best 7.72. Sean Pille, who finished third last year, ran 7.87 and Antoine Lloyd ran 7.98, as both reached the final as well. In the women’s 60-meter hurdles, freshman Jasmine Barge earned a qualifying spot with a personal-best 8.42.

Three Huskers also qualified for the men’s 600-meter final, with Moujtaba Mohammed leading the way with a personal-best 1:17.33 to take the fifth qualifying spot. Sam Bransby (1:17.40) and Levi Gipson (1:17.47) also advanced to the nine-man two-section final. 

Karolina Pahlitzsch reached the women’s 600-meters final with a time of 1:31.38 in the trials. Malcolm White qualified for the 200-meter final with the fifth-fastest time in the prelims, 21.11.

In addition to Barge, the young Husker women's sprinters and hurdlers displayed their talent in near-qualification bids. Freeman ran a personal-best 8.47 in the 60-meter hurdles to finish 11th and as the second-best freshman behind Barge. Lakayla Harris was the top freshman and 15th overall in the 60 meters, running 7.60. And in the women’s 200 meters, Harris was 11th and the No. 2 freshman after running 24.01.

Among events that went final on Friday, Nikita Pankins was 10th in the long jump (23-4 3/4, 7.13m), Craig Driver was 10th in the pole vault (16-4, 5.31m), Tristen Sharp was 12th in the shot put (48-3 1/4, 14.71m), and Katrina Santiago was 13th in the 3,000 meters with a personal-best time of 9:45.52.

The meet resumes on Saturday at 9 a.m. (CT) with the final three heptathlon events. Field events begin at 10 a.m. (CT), while running finals begin at 11:30 a.m. (CT). The BTN Plus online live stream coverage will start at 12:15 p.m. (CT).