Huskers Continue Homestand with adidas Classic

The Nebraska track and field team will host its second straight quadrangular, the adidas Classic, on Saturday at 11:30 a.m. at the Bob Devaney Sports Center Indoor Track. The field events will begin at 11:30 a.m., while the track events will commence at 12:15 p.m. George Kusche will also be running the mile at 6:07 p.m. (CT) at the Washington Invitational on Saturday.

Nebraska won the last edition of the adidas Classic in 2017 and has won seven consecutive titles on both the men's and women's side since scores started being recorded for the meet in 2009. The meet was held and scored in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2015 and 2017 and the Huskers came away with both the men's and women's titles in all of those years.

This weekend's meet will feature Nebraska, Illinois State, Kansas City and South Dakota.

About the Huskers
• Sophomore high jumper Mayson Conner was the Big Ten indoor and outdoor champion last year and achieved first-team All-America honors at the NCAA Indoor Championships, finishing seventh. He was named the Big Ten Freshman of the Year both indoors and outdoors, and his indoor PR of 7-3 3/4 (2.23m) has him at No. 9 in school history. He tied for 12th at the NCAA Outdoor Championships to earn second-team All-America honors. 
• Senior Luke Siedhoff was the Big Ten silver medalist in the 60m hurdles, and he ranked 27th in the country at season's end with a PR of 7.83.
• George Kusche scored 11 points at the Big Ten meet last year, finishing third in the 3,000m and fourth in the mile as a freshman. Kusche broke the standard-track indoor school record in the mile last year (3:59.61).
• Junior Ieva Turke placed third in the triple jump and fourth in the long jump at last year's conference meet. She is third in the Big Ten after her triple jump of 40-8 1/4 (12.40m) last weekend.
• Zionn Pearson was the bronze medalist in the long jump as a freshman, and Andy Jacobs took bronze in the pole vault. She ranks tied for seventh in school history.
• Nebraska won 20 individual titles as a team at the Graduate Classic to start the season, bettering last season's individual title count of 14.
• The Huskers swept the team titles at the Mark Colligan Memorial last weekend, collecting 11 individual titles in the process.

New Nebraska Top-10 Marks
The Huskers have achieved seven all-time top-10 indoor marks in school history so far in 2020:
• Alencar Pereira - Weight Throw (No. 3 - 68-0 1/2, 20.74m)
• Burger Lambrechts Jr. - Shot Put (No. 5 - 62-6 1/2, 19.06m)
• James Joycey - Weight Throw (No. 6 - 66-1, 20.14m)
• Burger Lambrechts Jr. - Weight Throw (No. 7 - 65-7 1/2, 20.00m)
• Kristina Insingo - Shot Put (No. 9 - 52-4, 15.95m)
• Elsa Forsberg - Mile (No. 9 - 4:46.13)
• Judi Jones - 3,000m (No. 9 - 9:36.19)

Participating Teams
Illinois State
Kevin Koski leads the Illinois State men with a time of 14:26.62 in the 5,000 meters, ranking 33rd nationally in the event. Koski was also seventh at last year's Missouri Valley Indoor Championships. Austin Rauch is also in the top 50 nationally, ranking 42nd in the high jump with a leap of 6-10 3/4 (2.10m).

Kameesha Smith is the leading ISU women this season, clearing 5-9 3/4 (1.77m) in the high jump and is currently ranked 18th in the country in the event. Smith was the runner-up in the high jump at the 2019 Missouri Valley Indoor Championships.

Kansas City
Christopher Bryan had a long jump mark of 24-5 3/4 (7.46m) at the Bob Timmons Challenge in December and he ranks 36th in the NCAA in the event. He was third at the WAC Indoor Championships last season. Josh Benford is sitting 37th nationally in the high jump after a clearance of 6-11 1/2 (2.12m) at the Missouri Intercollegiate Meet two weeks ago. 

Halley Dean has the No. 38 time in the country in the 5,000 meters with a time of 17:02.61.  Dean placed 10th in the 5,000 meters at the WAC Outdoor Championships last May.

South Dakota
The South Dakota men have two Coyotes in the top 10 nationally. Chris Nilsen is sixth in the pole vault with a height of 18-2 1/2 (5.55m) and Zack Anderson is seventh in the high jump with a leap of 7-3 1/4 (2.22m). Nilsen is a three-time NCAA champion in the pole vault and holds the Devaney Center record at 19-0 1/4 (5.80m). Anderson claimed both the indoor and outdoor high jump titles at the Summit League Championships last season.

Makiah Hunt leads the USD women with a clearance of 13-8 1/2 (4.18m) in the pole vault, which ranks 15th nationally. She was fourth at the Summit League Indoor Championships in 2018 and was the runner-up at the outdoor championships that same year.

Pepin Named B1G and USTFCCCA Men's Midwest Region Coach of the Year
Nebraska track and field head coach Gary Pepin was named the Big Ten Men's Indoor Coach of the Year and the USTFCCCA Midwest Region Coach of the Year in 2019. 

The Big Ten honor marked Pepin's sixth selection as Big Ten Coach of the Year since the Huskers joined the conference in 2011-12, and it was his 28th all-time conference coaching accolade. The 2019 Big Ten men's indoor title was Pepin's 73rd career conference title and 43rd indoors. He has guided the Husker men to three Big Ten indoor titles in the last five seasons.

Pepin, in his 40th year as head coach at Nebraska, has also been honored as region coach of the year 11 times in the past 15 years. Of his 11 region coaching honors, three are men's indoor coach of the year (2005, 2015, 2019). 

Husker Men Out to Defend Big Ten Indoor Title
The Nebraska men won the 2019 Big Ten Indoor Championship in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Angela Mercurio, Lakayla Harris, Mayson Conner and Elijah Lucy all won individual Big Ten indoor titles for the Big Red. 

The Husker men entered the final day of the Big Ten Championships with an 11-point lead and led the entire day until Indiana took a 90-89 lead with only the 4x400-meter relay remaining. However, the Huskers' relay team of Givon Washington, Tony Nou, Lucy and Isaiah Hutchinson ran a season-best of 3:09.12 to finish fifth, while Indiana finished eighth in 3:11.71. The Huskers finished with 93 points, and Indiana had 91, giving NU its first team crown since 2016.

The Husker men won their 67th all-time conference title and 38th indoors with the victory. It was the fifth Big Ten title for the Husker men since joining the conference in 2012. For legendary head coach Gary Pepin, it marked his 73rd career conference title and 43rd indoors.

Conner was crowned the high jump champion after clearing a personal-best 7-3 3/4 (2.23m), which put him in a tie for ninth in school history. Conner had the competition locked up as the only jumper to clear 7-2 1/4 (2.19m), and he was perfect through that height. The McCool Junction native went on to achieve a new personal best and give the Husker men the Big Ten indoor high jump title for the fifth time in the last six years. Conner was the Big Ten Indoor and Outdoor Freshman of the Year.