Husker Men Win NCAA Midwest Regional Crown

College Station, Texas ? The Nebraska men’s track and field team won its first NCAA Midwest Regional title, while the women took second place Saturday behind several outstanding performances in College Station, Texas.

Nebraska earned 15 automatic qualifiers for the NCAA Outdoor Championships Saturday to bring the team total to 22 people in 24 events in the two-day meet. The Huskers won the men’s team race with 86.25 points, defeating Minnesota (68.25) and Southern Methodist (57.75). Texas won the women’s race with 110 points, while Nebraska was just behind with 105, in what became a two-team race. Kansas State finished in third place with 35.5 points, 69.5 points behind the Huskers.

"I am more than pleased with both of our teams," Coach Gary Pepin said. "We didn’t come into this meet trying to win the titles. We were trying to qualify as many people as possible for the NCAA meet, but overall we had two great team performances."

The men’s 4x100-meter relay team got the Huskers off to a phenomenal start on the track, running the second-fastest time in school history with a 39.62 showing to win the regional and qualify for nationals. The relay was strong from the beginning with Shelldon Simpson leading the way, and it was smooth sailing the rest of the way for Oliver Williams Jr., Nate Probasco and Dusty Stamer.

"We have done the impossible," Simpson said. "We weren’t supposed to win the Big 12 and we weren’t supposed to win the regional, but we did. Now all we have to do is make it three in a row."

Stamer and Williams also qualified individually in the 100-meter dash, finishing third and fifth, respectively. Stamer crossed the line in 10.21, while Williams finished in 10.40, equaling his time from the preliminaries.

"We had a wonderful performance by the men’s 4x100-meter relay team," Pepin said. "For them to come down here and have to run out of lane nine against all these southern schools speaks highly of them. The men’s team definitely had more positives then negatives, and the women were really close to winning the title and again just had a few things that could have put them over the top."

Senior Ann Gaffigan took the lead in the 3,000-meter steeplechase about five and a half minutes into the race and continued to extend that lead the rest of the way, running a time of 10:30.06 and winning by more than nine seconds. Teammate Anne Shadle also finished in the top five, running a fourth-place time of 10:43.60 to move on to the NCAA Championships for the second consecutive year.

"It felt good," Gaffigan said. "I was a little nervous because the last couple times I have been to Texas, it has been really hot and I haven’t done very well. It was good to get past that mental barrier and it gives me a lot more confidence for nationals in a couple of weeks."

NCAA Indoor hurdle champion Priscilla Lopes ran an unbelievable race in the 100-meter hurdles for the second day in a row, winning the regional with a time of 12.77 to move on to the NCAA Championships. Lopes got out strong and held off Texas’ Raasin McIntosh in the end. The time would have demolished Rhonda Blanford’s school-record time of 12.85, but due to a 5.1 wind-reading will not count for record purposes.

"This is a very nice track," Lopes aid. "I ran a personal best yesterday and again today, but it was a good competition. They push me and I push them. It was a very good field."

Lopes finished seventh in the 100-meter dash, running a personal-best time of 11.40 with a 5.5 wind aid.

Nenad Loncar got out strong in the men’s 110-meter hurdles, but Jermaine Cooper got him in the end, as Loncar finished second with a wind-aided time of 13.7.

Dmitrijs Milkevics ran a career-best outdoor time of 1:47.95 in the 800 meters, challenging 2003 NCAA runner-up Jonathan Johnson all the way until the end, coming across the line second.

Artur Wszelaki claimed second place in the men’s javelin to secure his trip to the national meet. Wszelaki threw a mark of 229-4 on his second attempt of the meet before fouling on two of his three chances in the final round.

NCAA defending champion Becky Breisch took second place in the women’s shot put, throwing it 56-3 ?, while senior Leann Boerema qualified for her fourth career NCAA appearance with a fourth-place finish with a toss of 51-7, moving from seventh to fourth place on her next to final attempt.

Ineta Radeivca and Authea Chambers claimed a stellar 2-3 finish in the women’s triple jump, as Radevica leaped a season-best 46-1 ? and Chambers jumped a career-best 43-5 ? to win bronze.

Carl Myerscough won silver in the men’s discus throw with a toss of 209-10, falling to SMU’s Hannes Hopley, who threw an outstanding mark of 222-0.

Senior Na’Tassia Vice qualified for her second consecutive NCAA Outdoor Championship by clearing 5-10 ? in the women’s high jump to tie for third place with Kansas State’s Morgan High. Vice had a solid day, despite strong winds throughout the competition, missing once at 5-8 ? and once at 5-10 ?. Casie Witte and Sara Jane Baker tied for 14th place with a height of 5-6 ?.

Danute Ceika made the national team with a fifth-place time of 2:08.57 in the 800-meter run. Maggi Escudero also took a fifth-place finish to qualify for nationals with a time of 1:00.88 in the 400-meter hurdles.

Brad Teeple led the men pole vaulters, finishing fifth with a height of 17-3. Freshman Gable Baldwin finished 18th with a height of 15-11 ?, while Danny Tylka and defending NCAA Outdoor champion Eric Eshbach did not clear a height.

Senior Jason Thompson mustered up a big leap of 51-6 ? on his final attempt of preliminaries to make it into the finals in the men’s triple jump, moving him into fourth place. He fouled his next two attempts in the finals, however, and was surpassed by two competitors, giving him a sixth-place finish and out of reach for an NCAA automatic qualifier. Freshman Daniel Roper was just short of making finals leaping 49-10 on his second jump to finish 10th.

The NU men’s 4x400-meter relay team came in fourth with a time of 3:10.20 to finish off the regional meet for the Huskers.

Kathryn Handrup took a seventh-place finish in her first appearance at the NCAA Regional meet, running a time of 4:37.06. Kim Pancoast was 10th in a time of 4:40.02.

Danny Hill and Andy Nelson finished seventh and eighth, respectively, in the 400-meter hurdles. Hill ran a career-best time of 51.55, while Nelson finished in 52.30.

Kayla Wilkinson struggled in the women’s javelin throw, only posting one legal mark with a toss of 137-2 on her second attempt to finish 17th.

The Huskers will await word from the NCAA on Sunday to find out who will earn at-large bids to the national meet. Nebraska will travel to Austin, Texas, for the 2004 NCAA Outdoor Championships June 9-12, to conclude its season.