Nebraska track and field earned an event title and broke two school records during the opening day of the Big Ten Outdoor Championships on Friday in Ann Arbor, Mich.
Rhema Otabor went back-to-back in the women’s javelin, bringing in her second-straight conference title with a distance of 189-5 (57.75m). The Huskers earned 22 total team points from the women’s javelin, with Eniko Sara placing fourth with a 163-2 (49.75m), Mirta Kulisic taking fifth with a 161-4 (49.18m) and Emanuela Casadei placing sixth with a 156-1 (47.59m).
Dash Sirmon launched a 265-3 (80.86m) on his final javelin attempt, breaking the school record, claiming the silver medal and moving up to third in the NCAA this season. Tyler Brown earned the bronze with a distance of 224-11 (68.57m).
Henry Zimmerman secured second place, his highest-career conference meet finish, with a 222-5 (67.81m) in the hammer throw. Seth Schnakenberg made the final in his conference meet debut, going on to place ninth with a 201-0 (61.27m). Hillevi Carlsson (203-5, 62.00m) and Cammy Garabian (198-2, 60.41m) provided top-eight finishes in the women’s hammer throw, placing sixth and seventh.
Jessica Gardner cleared 13-4 1/4 (4.07m) in the pole vault to claim sixth.
In his first time racing the 200m this outdoor season, Garrett Kaalund broke the school record with a 20.50. The sophomore will open Sunday’s final seeded second. Kavian Kerr placed 11th with a 21.21.
Abrielle Artley punched her ticket to the 400m hurdles final, clocking the sixth-fastest prelims time with a 59.35. In the men’s 400m hurdles, Cory Berg finished 10th with a 52.50 and Joseph Clifford finished 11th with a 52.80. Berlyn Schutz covered the track in 4:22.66 to earn a spot in the 1500m final.
Ali Bainbridge and Brynna McQuillen broke the all-time list in the 10,000m. With a time of 34:27.09, Bainbridge finished 10th and climbed to sixth all-time. With a time of 35:14.30, McQuillen placed 16th and moved to 10th all-time. In the women’s 200m, Arianna Walker ran a 24.43 to place 20th and Bariborve Deebom ran a 24.44 to place 21st.
Matthias Algarin and Kolby Heinerikson represented NU in the opening day of the decathlon. With two event wins and two personal-bests, Algarin sits in third with 3,853 points through five events. He tied for first in the 100m with a 10.67, won the long jump with a 23-10 (7.26m), threw a 39-8 (12.09m) in the shot put, cleared 5-10 ¾ (1.80m) in the high jump and ran a 50.26 in the 400m. Heinerikson is in ninth with 3,589 points, with his highest placements coming from the long jump (22-6 ¼, 6.86m), shot put (42-0, 12.80m) and high jump (5-10 ¾, 1.80m).
In the heptathlon, Favour Wanjoku posted three personal-best marks to finish the first day in fifth with 3,157 points. She ran a 14.21 in the 100m hurdles, jumped 5-0 ½ (1.54m) in the high jump, threw 39-6 ½ (12.05m) in the shot put and ran a 25.10 in the 200m.
Through four events, the women are in first with 30 points. Through three events, the men are in first with 22 points.
The meet resumes tomorrow at 8:30 a.m. (CT) for combined events, 12:20 p.m. (CT) for field events and 3 p.m. (CT) for running events.