Huskers Make Noise at Holiday Inn Invite

The Nebraska men's and women's track teams concluded their first meet of the 2005 indoor season Saturday with the second day of the Holiday Inn Invitational at the Bob Devaney Sports Center Indoor Track. The Huskers realed in 12 event titles on Saturday to go along with the 10 they claimed during Friday's session.

Junior transfer Kwonya Ferguson began her NU career by earning first place, as well as an NCAA provisional qualifying mark, in the women's seeded triple jump with a personal-best leap of 42-6 1/4. Ferguson also finished second in the women's seeded high jump with a mark of 5-8 1/2, coming in just behind former Husker Na'Tassia Vice, who jumped 5-10 1/2.

Another NU newcomer that demanded attention was freshman Dusty Jonas, who tied for first in the high jump with former NU jumper Shane Lavy. Both athletes cleared a height of 7-1 3/4, which counts as a provisional qualifying mark for Jonas.

"Dusty (Jonas) is a very talented young guy," Head Coach Gary Pepin said. "That (provisional qualifying mark) is pleasing, but not necessarily suprising to see on his part. He's doing a good job. The same thing goes for (Kwonya) Ferguson. She's just a good athlete and should continue to get better."

While future stars were heating up for the Huskers, old familiar faces also grabbed the spotlight. Sophomore Priscilla Lopes lowered her provisional qualifying time in the women's 60-meter hurdles to a blistering 8.18 while grabbing first place. Lopes also placed first in the 200-meter dash in 24.18, while senior Authea Chambers (24.83) and sophomore Justine Roach (25.59) finished in third and fourth places, respectively.

On the men's side, NU ruled both the seeded pole vault and 60-meter hurdle competitions. Junior Nic Petersen won the pole vault on a tiebreaker over junior transfer Ray Scotten. Both Huskers cleared 16-2 3/4, while Danny Tylka came in fourth with a personal-best height of 15-9. The trio of junior Courtney Jones and seniors Nenad Loncar and Richard Davidson Jr. swept the 1-2-3 spots in respective times of 7.93, 8.01 and 8.09.

Redshirt freshman Bubba Kramer smashed his previous career-best heave of 54-11 1/4 to win the men's seeded shot put after unleashing a throw of 56-11 1/2.

Sophomore Nate Probasco (21.418) broke his career-best time in the men's 200-meter dash, but finished second to Butler CC's Willie Hordge (21.413) in a photo finish by only five one-thousandths of a second. Sophomore Daniel Roper also set a personal best of 22.19 to finish fourth, while he claimed gold in the men's seeded triple jump with a career-best leap of 49-9.

Both Nebraska men's and women's distance medley and 4x400-meter teams swept the relay session to close out the Holiday Inn Invite schedule.

"We had some good individuals from other schools in this meet," Pepin said. "It's always a good starting point for us with the long period of time we had between the two semesters. I thought we did a really nice job in a lot of areas and had marks that were equivalent to, or better than, what we've had in the last couple of years."

The Huskers will return to the Devaney Center oval next weekend when they host the adidas Classic on Saturday. Competition begins at 1 p.m.