Huskers Hunt for National Bids in Kansas This Week

The Nebraska track and field team heads to the NCAA West Preliminary Round at Rock Chalk Park in Lawrence, Kan., this week to compete for spots at the national meet in June. The meet begins Thursday at Noon, Friday at Noon and Saturday at 3 p.m. Live results will be provided by NCAA.com and a link will be posted on Huskers.com. A live video stream will be available at Huskers.com, beginning on Thursday at 4:25 p.m., Friday at 4:55 p.m., and Saturday at 5:55 p.m.

Athletes who rank among the top 48 in their respective events earned berths into the NCAA West Preliminary Round, as well as the 24 best relay times. Athletes with the top 12 times/marks and the best 12 relay teams at both the NCAA East and West prelims will qualify for the NCAA Championships in Eugene, Ore., June 8-11. NCAA selections will be announced Tuesday, May 31 on NCAA.com.

The Big Ten champion Husker men earned 27 individual and relay bids to regionals, while the women totaled 23 bids. Click here to view a list of the Huskers heading to the regional meet.

Huskers Ranked in USTFCCCA Poll
Both the Husker men and women are ranked 23rd in this week’s USTFCCCA Poll. The Husker men have two entrants - Nick Percy in the discus and the 4x400 relay - ranked ninth nationally heading into regionals, which would put them on the cusp of scoring at the national meet by finishing in the top eight. The Husker women have three entrants in the top 10 - Tierra Williams (triple jump), Reka Czuth (high jump) and Sarah Firestone (javelin). Husker decathlete Cody Walton, with his 7,620 points at the Big Ten Outdoor Championships, ranks 12th nationally in the event and will compete at nationals in Oregon, as regionals do not include multi events.

Husker Men Sweep Big Ten Indoor and Outdoor Championships
The Nebraska men’s track and field team completed its first indoor-outdoor conference title sweep since 2004 by winning the Big Ten Outdoor Track & Field Championship on May 15 at Ed Weir Stadium in Lincoln. The Husker men scored 140.5 team points to win by 50 over Michigan (90.5). It’s the largest margin of victory by a Big Ten team at the outdoor meet since 2005. The men captured their 66th overall conference title and fourth since joining the Big Ten. In the indoor season, the Huskers totaled 116 points over the two-day Big Ten Indoor meet to win their first back-to-back conference indoor titles since 2004 and 2005 in the Big 12. NU claimed the title by a wide margin - 43 points - for the second straight year, as Wisconsin was second with 73 points, and Minnesota was third with 72 points.

Pepin Named Big Ten Men’s Indoor and Outdoor Coach of the Year
Nebraska track and field head coach Gary Pepin was named both the Big Ten Men’s Indoor and Outdoor Coach of the Year in 2016. It marked Pepin’s 27th conference coach-of-the-year honor since 1997, when the Huskers started competing in the Big 12. The 2016 Big Ten men’s outdoor title was Pepin’s 72nd career conference title and 30th outdoors. The honor marks Pepin’s fifth selection as Big Ten Coach of the Year since the Huskers moved to the conference in 2011-12.

Five Huskers Win Big Ten Outdoor Titles
The Huskers picked up five event titles at the Big Ten Outdoor Championships. Tierra Williams swept the long jump and triple jump, just as she did during the indoor season, becoming the first Big Ten female athlete since former Husker Mara Griva in 2013 to sweep the horizontal jumps in the indoor and outdoor seasons. Reka Czuth captured the high jump title, adding to her long jump title in the 2015 outdoor season. Nick Percy captured the discus title, and the men’s 4x400 relay closed out the competition with a Big Ten meet record 3:03.74 to win the gold medal. During the indoor season and in addition to Williams’ two victories, Landon Bartel was the Big Ten high jump champion, while Kaiwan Culmer won the triple jump. Williams (triple jump) and Oladapo Akinmoladun (60-meter hurdles) were first-team All-Americans in the indoor season.