Husker Seniors Dominate at Big 12 Meet

Norman, Okla. ? Four Nebraska seniors put the final touches on their Nebraska track and field careers with Big 12 Outdoor titles at John Jacobs Field in Norman, Okla., on Friday.

"For us to do well as a team, we really needed the senior leaders and the high performers to come through for us and they have done well," head coach Gary Pepin said. "I thought in most cases the kids did a really good job of handling the weather and the competition today."

The Nebraska men lead after two days of competition with 47 points, followed by Texas A&M with 36.5. The Aggies lead the women’s race with 65.5 points, followed by NU in second with 43.5.

Senior Ineta Radevica captured her seventh consecutive Big 12 title on Friday in an exciting long jump competition. Radevica and Texas’ Marshevet Hooker both leaped 21-3 ? on their final attempts of the preliminaries to lead the competition. Radevica set the same mark on her final attempt of the competition to take the win over Hooker. Hooker’s second best mark was a leap of 21-0 to take second place on her second attempt of the preliminaries.

"With this being my last Big 12 Championship, it was really special to come away with the win," Radevica said. "You would think with experience the meets would get easier, but the girls I’m competing with are getting so much better that every contest gets tougher."

Eric Eshbach won his first Big 12 outdoor title since his freshman season, clearing 17-9 to win gold. The win marked Eshbach’s fourth conference title, after not clearing a height in the last two Big 12 Outdoor Championships.

"That performance isn’t going to do it at NCAAs," Eshbach said. "It’s a long season, and you have to be ready then. Indoor I never have had a lot of problems, but outdoors I have had a lot of problems. I won it (the conference) my freshman year and have been down the last couple of years. Anytime you break out of something bad, it feels good."

Brad Teeple finished fourth in his final conference meet in the pole vault, clearing 16-9 ?.

Carl Myerscough set a Big 12 meet and John Jacobs Field record in the men’s shot put to win the event with a throw of 67-9 ? on his first attempt of the competition. All of Myerscough’s throws with the exception of a foul on his final attempt would have won the meet.

"I felt pretty good today," Myerscough said. "I thought I had another one or two feet in me, but we just didn’t quite get there."

Senior Na’Tassia Vice pulled off the indoor-outdoor sweep in the women’s high jump, after claiming the outdoor title with a jump of 5-8. Vice had not claimed a conference title in her career until the indoor meet this season.

"I thought Na’Tassia really came through in the high jump," Pepin said. "It was tough weather and they halted the competition for a while. Na’Tassia really competed well and had no misses until she went out. It was a good field, and she did well."

Sophomore Sara Jane Baker used a third-place finish in the javelin (121-10) and a second-place run in the 800 meters (2:15.30) to earn bronze in the women’s heptathlon with a career-best score of 5,295 points. Baker also took sixth place in the women’s high jump, clearing 5-6 for the meet.

Ashley Selig took fifth place in the heptathlon, while Casie Witte followed in sixth. Selig scored 5,141 points after taking second in the javelin throw with a mark of 121-10 and a fifth-place time of 2:22.92 in the 800 meters. Witte scored 4,732 points after winning the heptathlon javelin with a throw of 127-0.

Chris Richardson also won bronze in his first full decathlon of the season, scoring 6,924 points. Kyle Goerl finished eighth with 6,514 points.

Goerl and Richardson went 2-3, respectively, in the final 1,500-meter run with times of 4:42.59 and 4:43.66.

Nebraska placed three men in the finals of the 110-meter hurdles. Nenad Loncar leads the field, after running a time of 13.89 in the preliminaries, while Richard Davidson Jr. ran a personal-best time of 14.19 to finish third overall in round one. Courtney Jones is seventh overall going into finals with a time of 14.65.

Priscilla Lopes set the second-fastest time of the day in the women’s 100-meter hurdles, with a season-best time of 13.24, finishing behind Texas’ Raasin McIntosh time of 13.20.

"I am very pumped with my time in the hurdles," Lopes said. "I was focused on getting out good and then running hard between each hurdles."

Lopes also qualified in the 100-meter dash with her time of 11.68, running sixth in the preliminaries. The Husker men were also successful in the men’s 100-meter dash, qualifying three athletes for the finals. Dusty Stamer led the way, clocking a third-place time of 10.43, followed by Oliver Williams Jr. in fourth in 10.47. Shelldon Simpson finished ninth to qualify for the finals with a time of 10.70.

Williams also qualified for the finals of the 200 meters with a career-best time of 20.88, which puts him in third place going into the final. The time also marks Williams’ first NCAA regional-qualifying mark of the season. Freshman Nate Probasco also qualified for finals in the 200 with a seventh-place time of 21.16.

Andy Nelson and Danny Hill had a strong day in the 400-meter hurdles, finishing second and third, respectively, in the preliminaries. Nelson ran a time of 51.87, while Hill set a personal-best mark of 52.03. Maggi Escudero and Justine Roach qualified for finals in the women’s 400-meter hurdles with third and fifth-place showings, respectively. Escudero dropped a second off her previous personal-best time for a mark of 1:00.22 to qualify for the NCAA Regionals. Roach ran a time of 1:01.08.

Kathryn Handrup and Kim Pancoast both qualified for the finals of the 1,500-meter run, with each clocking personal-best and NCAA Regional-qualifying times. Handrup finished seventh in the preliminaries with a time of 4:27.33 and Pancoast was ninth with a time of 4:28.36.

In the men’s 1,500-meter run, Aaron Nasers dropped two seconds off his previous season and career-best times to run a time of 3:51.25 for a ninth-place finish to sneak into the finals on Saturday.

Danute Ceika finished fifth in the prelims of the women’s 800-meter run with a time of 2:09.38. Dmitrijs Milkevics was the only Husker on the men’s side to qualify for the finals of the 800 meters, after running a time of 1:50.95 for a third-place showing.

The Huskers had a rough day in the women’s discus throw as junior Becky Breisch fouled her three preliminary throws, knocking her out of the finals after leading the NCAA for the last eight weeks. Jennifer Steiner made finals, but finished ninth and out of scoring position, throwing a mark of 152-9.

Nebraska will wrap up the 2004 Big 12 Outdoor Championships on Saturday. The meet begins at 1 p.m. with the women’s triple jump and the men’s javelin. The meet is scheduled to conclude at 7:30 p.m. with the women’s and men’s 4x400-meter relays.