Huskers Close Graduate Classic with 14 Titles

LINCOLN, Neb. - The Nebraska track and field team picked up 11 more event titles on the final day of the Graduate Classic at the Bob Devaney Sports Center in front of a crowd of 1,846 who braved a winter storm to see the Huskers compete on the first weekend of the 2019 season. The Huskers finished the two-day event with 14 titles. 

Nebraska athletes combined to win six of the eight field events that took place on Saturday. Freshman Mayson Conner, a native of York, opened his college career in a big way with a Graduate Classic winning high jump of 7-3 (2.21m), tied for fourth nationally so far this season. Lara Omerzu won the Graduate Classic high jump for a second straight year with a mark of 5-10 1/2 (1.79m), tying her personal best indoors. 

Andy Jacobs, a sophomore pole vaulter competing for the first time after missing all of last season with an injury, won the competition with a mark of 13-3 1/2 (4.05m). She was clean up until that height and cleared it on her third attempt.

Grady Leonard won the men's shot put with a new personal best of 59-1 1/2 (18.02m), narrowly edging teammate Nick Coghill, who also set a personal best of 58-7 1/2 (17.87m). The Huskers also went 1-2 in the men's pole vault with Tyler Loontjer winning the event with a clearance of 16-11 (5.16m) and Garrison Hughes taking second at 16-7 1/4 (5.06m).

Angela Mercurio won the triple jump at 42-2 3/4 (12.87m). Freshman Jonathan Miller took second place in the men's triple jump with a mark of 49-7 1/4 (15.12m). 

Kristina Insingo was third in the shot put at 49-0 3/4 (14.95m), and Candice Dominguez Fields was third in the high jump with a mark of 5-8 (1.73m). 

On the track, Isaiah Hutchinson was the top collegiate finisher in the 60 meters with a PR of 6.77 in just his third time ever running the race. Malcolm White, competing unattached, finished just behind him in 6.86. 

Redshirt freshman and Central City native Vincent Ohlman won the 60-meter hurdles with a personal-best time of 8.12, as the Husker men went 1-2-3-4 in the event. Jared Seay was second with a PR of 8.16. Makiyah Smallwood finished third in 8.17.  

Raynesha Lewis was second in the women's 60-meter hurdles with a time of 8.73, and Lakayla Harris led a 2-3-4-5 finish for the Husker women in the 60 meters with a time of 7.55 to earn second place. Whitney Bridges was third at 7.68. Fellow freshman Deja Ingram took second place in the 200 meters with a time of 24.91, while Mason Hericks ran a career-best time of 21.65 to finish runner-up in the men's race. Givon Washington led the Husker men in the 400 meters, finishing third among collegiate athletes in 48.78, a new indoor personal best.

The Huskers won three of the four relay races to close out the meet. The women's distance medley relay - Mia Morck, Chelsey Jones, Jessi Smith, Elsa Forsberg - ran a solid time of 11:48.86 to take the title. The men's DMR team - Jordan De Spong, Bryce Barrett, Ty Moss, George Kusche - ran 9:47.07, missing a top-10 mark in school history by only half of a second. The men's 4x400-meter relay of Tony Nou, Elijah Lucy, Washington and Hutchinson, won with a time of 3:14.73.

Nebraska will take part in the Simmons-Harvey Big Ten Invitational next Saturday in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Nebraska, Maryland, Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State and Penn State will compete at the meet.