Huskers Have Solid First Day Showing in Big 12 Meet

Lincoln ? The Nebraska women lead the Big 12 Indoor Track and Field Championships by more than 50 points after the first day of action, while the men had a solid day of competition as well in front of 1,997 fans at the Bob Devaney Sports Center Track on Friday.

The women lead the race with 79.5 points, ahead of Missouri with 28 points, and Kansas State with 24. On the men’s side, Colorado is in the lead after day one with 23 points, followed by Kansas State (22), Baylor (20), Iowa State (17) and Nebraska (16).

"I think the men had a strong first day, and it was a real good overall first day for us," Head Coach Gary Pepin said. "We won the men’s long jump, we are doing well in the multi-events, and for the most part I would say that we are the favorite going into Saturday, but we are going to have to do well. On the women’s side, we were down a little from the points we projected. We still have a chance. It could be really close, but we need everybody to do what they are capable of doing for us to do well."

Junior Becky Breisch won the women’s weight throw with an NCAA provisional-qualifying mark of 65-2 ?. Her mark was the 13th best in the NCAA this season, and that mark comes after Breisch only began competing in the event two weeks ago. Tia DeSoto finished fifth with her throw of 59-2 to score for the Huskers as well in the women’s weight throw.

"I really did it just to get some points for the team, because any points for us are good," Breisch said. "I was shocked. I really can’t even still believe that I did that. I am happy, but I still want to win the shot put tomorrow."

Sophomore Tommy Donlin won bronze in the men’s weight throw, with his personal-best mark of 61-5 ?, which was an improvement of a foot over his previous career-best mark.

Freshman Jenny Green led the NU women’s pole vaulters, with her Big 12 meet record jump of 13-9 ?. The mark tied her previous school record set at the Pole Vault Summit in January. Teammate Jessie Graff finished behind her in second place, clearing 13-1 ?, and Alissa Koerner and Christi Lehman tied for fourth at 12-7 ?, while Stephanie Teeple tied for sixth place, also clearing 12-7 ?. In all, the pole vaulters scored 29.5 of the team’s 79.5 points on the day.

Senior Ineta Radevica captured her fifth Big 12 Conference title in her career, leaping 20-10 ? in the long jump in her next to last jump of the day. Angela Dies and Authea Chambers were sixth and seventh, respectively.

Arturs Abolins won his first Big 12 Championship title in the men’s long jump with his leap of 24-9 to score 10 valuable points for the NU men’s team.

Ashley Selig took second place in the women’s pentathlon to open the meet for the Huskers with her personal record 4,005 points. Sara Jane Baker also took the fourth-place spot with her first NCAA provisional-qualifying mark of 3,868. Teammate Casie Witte also scored for NU with a seventh-place finish with a score of 3,541 points.

The women’s distance-medley relay team set a new Nebraska school record in the event, clocking a time of 11:34.48 to provisionally qualify for the NCAA Indoor Championships and take fourth place on the day.

Senior Chris Richardson is in second place after the first four events of the men’s heptathlon by one point. Texas A&M’s Allen Bulick leads with 3,064 points, followed by Richardson with 3,063. Jesse Colburn is in fourth and Lee Martin pulled out of the competition in the long jump due to injury.

In preliminary action, Ann Gaffigan won the women’s mile run in an NCAA provisional-qualifying time of 4:47.20.

Sophomore Priscilla Lopes again lowered the Nebraska school record in the 60-meter hurdles, running 8.04, but is in third place with the finals remaining on Saturday afternoon. Lopes was also sixth in the semifinals of the 60-meter dash in her time of 7.38.

In the men’s 60-meter hurdles, the Huskers swept the second through fourth-place spots in the semifinals, led by Courtney Jones’ personal-best time of 7.85. He was followed by Nenad Loncar (7.90) and Richard Davidson Jr. (7.92).

Dusty Stamer improved his career-best performance to a time of 6.65 in the men’s 60-meter dash semifinals. He is in second place behind Oklahoma’s DaBryan Blanton going into the finals.

Aaron Nasers is in third after prelims of the men’s 1,000 meters with his time of 2:23.53, while Dmitrjis Milkevics is fourth in the prelims of the men’s 800 meters in 1:53.19. Oliver Williams Jr. is also fifth going into the finals of the men’s 200-meter dash with his career best of 21.64.

The Huskers will hit the track again on Saturday in the Bob Devaney Sports Center to try and claim both the men’s and women’s Big 12 Indoor Championships for the first time since 2001. The multi-events get underway at 9:30 a.m., while the field events fire off at 1:30 p.m. and the running gets underway at 3 p.m. with the women’s 60-meter hurdles.

The Husker men lead the way with qualifiers for day two with 12, followed by Texas with 11 athletes set to compete in finals. On the women’s side, Texas is far and away the leader with 20 athletes in finals, while Nebraska is tied for second with six qualifiers.