NU Switches Focus From Conference to National Scene

With both men’s and women’s Big 12 Conference indoor championships firmly in their grasp for the second straight year, the Nebraska track and field teams turn their attention toward this year’s NCAA Indoor Championships. The Huskers will attempt to add some last-minute NCAA qualifiers, as well as improve current provisional marks, this Saturday at the Iowa State NCAA Qualifying Meet in Ames, Iowa.

Field events begin the meet at 9:30 a.m. with the women’s pole vault, while running events on the oversized 300-meter track start an hour later at 10:30 a.m. The day’s competition is scheduled to conclude at 4:40 p.m. with the men’s 4x400-meter relay.
Athletes from across the nation will be in attendance this weekend, as Iowa State’s meet is one of only a limited number of qualifying meets allowed by the NCAA. Teams with athletes competing Saturday include Arizona State, Baylor, Clemson, East Carolina, Florida State, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Iowa, Iowa State, Kansas State, Kentucky, LSU, Minnesota, Oklahoma, Penn State and Texas.

NU will also send men’s and women’s distance medley relay teams to South Bend, Ind., for the Alex Wilson Invitational NCAA qualifier, hosted by Notre Dame. The women’s relay team will compete at 8 p.m. Friday with the men’s race to follow.

Huskers Still Looking to Make Their Marks
Nebraska plans to send 27 athletes to Ames to either reach NCAA qualifying status or improve on already attained marks. Huskers looking to hit the provisional-qualifying level for the first time this season include Tamara Solari (women’s weight throw); Issar Yazhbin (men’s weight throw); Amanda Benson, Nicole Kadyszewski, Vanessa Maher and Casie Witte (women’s high jump); Patrick Burke (men’s high jump); Demea Carter and LeRon Williams (men’s long jump and triple jump); Nic Petersen (men’s pole vault); Jen Steiner (women’s shot put); Aaron Ross (men’s 60-meter hurdles); and Oliver Williams Jr. (60-meter dash).
Other Huskers competing Saturday with the hopes of surpassing already set provisional marks include Tom Donlin (men’s weight throw); Gable Baldwin (men’s pole vault); Bubba Kramer (men’s shot put); Dusty Jonas (men’s high jump); Authea Chambers (women’s triple jump); Daniel Roper (men’s triple jump); Richard Davidson Jr., Courtney Jones and Nenad Loncar (men’s 60-meter hurdles); Sheryl Morgan and Egle Uljas (women’s 400-meter dash); Nate Probasco (men’s 200-meter dash); and the women’s 4x400-meter relay team of Justine Roach, Morgan, Frances Keating and Uljas.

Both the Husker men’s squad of Tim Williams, Mark Harrison, Aaron Nasers and Peter van der Westhuizen and the women’s team of Danute Ceika, Sara Jane Baker, Elizabeth Lange and Kim Pancoast will attempt to record their first NCAA qualifying marks of 2005 in the distance medley relay events at the Alex Wilson Invite.

Each NU squad will be revamped from the last time they ran the distance medley. The women have fielded only one DMR team thus far in 2005, at the Holiday Inn Invite with a lineup of Anne Shadle, Casie Witte, Lange and Pancoast. The men’s team last competed in the relay at the Husker Invite with a squad of Jack Lemke, Demea Carter, Nasers and van der Westhuizen. The Husker women will have to make up about 30 seconds from their previous season best of 12:00.59 with their revamped team to hit the provisional-qualifying standard, while the men need to cut roughly 15 seconds off of their 10:00.55.

Huskers Sweep Big 12 Indoor Championships...Again
NU claimed its second consecutive Big 12 indoor sweep last weekend after it outdistanced both Texas squads for the men’s and women’s conference team championships. The win was the sixth straight, and eighth in the nine-year history of the Big 12, for the men’s squad, while the Husker women earned their fifth title during that span.

Eight Huskers earned nine individual championships, including Priscilla Lopes, who claimed both the women’s 60-meter hurdle and dash events within a 15-minute time frame. The latter win was most impressive, as she erased former NU great Merlene Ottey’s 24-year old school-record time of 7.24 with a 7.23 clocking. Her time of 8.00 in the hurdles was a season-best, as well as the NCAA-leading mark.

Ashley Selig also set her own NU record on Friday during the women’s pentathlon competition of 4,269 points. The junior All-American set personal-best marks in the 60-meter hurdles, shot put and 800-meter run, while matching her best in the high jump, to break Janet Blomstedt’s 1996 NU record score of 4,235. Teammate Sara Jane Baker also had a fine competition, finishing second with a career-best 3,962 points.

Huskers dominated the short sprint events during Saturday’s finals. Along with Lopes outstanding performances, NU athletes won the first five races. Dusty Stamer defeated defending NCAA champion DaBryan Blanton of Oklahoma in the men’s 60-meter dash for his first Big 12 championship, while Nate Probasco accomplished the same feat in the men’s 200-meter dash. Anne Shadle won her second conference title, and first in the women’s mile, while Nenad Loncar finally won the men’s 60-meter hurdle competition after finishing second the previous two years. Ray Scotten and Daniel Roper each added their first-ever Big 12 titles in the respective competitions of the men’s pole vault and triple jump.

A slew of other NU athletes put together good performances, including Peter van der Westhuizen (second) in the men’s mile, Authea Chambers (second) in the women’s triple jump, Bubba Kramer (third) in the men’s shot put, Christi Lehman (second) in the women’s pole vault, Aaron Plas (second) in the men’s high jump, Mark Harrison (second) in the men’s 600 yards and Egle Uljas (second) in the women’s 400 meters.

NU Athletes Rank Among Nation’s Best
Due to outstanding performances at the Big 12 Indoor Championships, both Nebraska squads made leaps in this week’s edition of the Trackwire Top 25, a set of ratings that are used to predict the outcome of the NCAA Championships. The women’s squad jumped from 11th all the way to fifth, with a gain of 12 points in their projected NCAA meet score. Meanwhile, the Husker men also made a climb for the second straight week, this time from seventh the fourth behind a nine-point gain.

Individually, many NU athletes saw their names fly up the NCAA performance charts after career performances last weekend. Eleven Huskers appear among the top 10 athletes on this week’s latest national list, while several more sit within reasonable striking distance.

The lone No. 1-ranked Huskers belong to the women’s team, with both Priscilla Lopes and Ashley Selig leading the NCAA in the women’s 60-meter hurdles and pentathlon, respectively. Both athletes hold commanding leads in the events, with Lopes leading by 0.12 and Selig ahead by 97 points. Lopes is the only other NU athlete that owns as high as a second-place spot, where she resides in the 60-meter dash. Anne Shadle continues her outstanding season in the women’s mile with her No. 4 space. Nebraska women close to breaking into the top 10 include Sara Jane Baker, who falls only one place short at No. 11 in the pentathlon, as well as Authea Chambers and Christi Lehman, who are both ranked 13th in their respective events, the long jump and pole vault.

The Husker men’s talent is heavily concentrated in a few single events. Ray Scotten (third) and Gable Baldwin’s (sixth) names both appear among the nation’s top-10 pole vaulters, while the same is true with Aaron Plas (fourth) and Dusty Jonas (eighth) in the high jump. Dusty Stamer re-enters the top-10 60-meter list this week at fifth, his highest placing of the year. Dmitrijs Milkevics makes his first appearance in the 2005 800-meter rankings at No. 9, while Arturs Abolins continues to be cemented among the NCAA’s best long jumpers in eighth place. A pair of 60-meter hurdlers, Richard Davidson Jr. and Nenad Loncar, are on the outside looking in while tied for 12th place, and Daniel Roper appears ready to crack the top 10 after making the leap to 13th. Nate Probasco (15th) in the 200 meters and Bubba Kramer (19th) in the shot put also rank among the nation’s elite athletes.

Nebraska Women Dominate Dual Meet Rankings
The Husker women appear at the top of the USTCA Team Power Rankings, a system that rates college teams in the same fashion as a multi-event athlete, for the second straight week. The Team Power Rankings take into account quality of individual performances, team depth and dual-meet scoring potential.

NU increased its potential score from 311.59 to 318.88 this week, ahead of Pittsburgh, which has a score of 310.06. Other Big 12 Conference teams appearing in the rating’s top 25 are Kansas State (11th) and Missouri (23rd). The Husker women finished first in last season’s final Indoor Team Power Rankings for the fifth time in program history.

The Nebraska men’s team is rated sixth for the second consecutive week with a potential score of 313.87. The Huskers increased their score by nearly 10 points due to their performance at last week’s Big 12 Championships. The NU men finished fourth in last season’s final indoor rankings, the highest placing since it finished third in 2002.

The Reign of Lopes: Unbeaten, Unmatched
Priscilla Lopes has begun the 2005 indoor season much like she finished her 2004 indoor campaign: by blazing past everyone in sight.

Last year’s NCAA 60-meter hurdles champion is undefeated so far this season in collegiate races of the 60-meter dash and hurdles, respective streaks of eight and 12 races. In fact, the last time Lopes lost a collegiate race in the 60-meter hurdles was at last year’s Big 12 Indoor Championships.

The junior has experienced a wealth of success in her short career, including rewriting the Nebraska record books. Lopes broke the Husker women’s 60-meter hurdles record on nearly a weekly basis in 2004, concluding with the current mark of 7.96 to win the NCAA title. While the hurdles accomplishment is quite a feat, perhaps her greatest achievement came last weekend at the Big 12 Indoor Championships.

Lopes broke Merlene Ottey’s 24-year-old school record in the 60-meter dash with her clocking of 7.23. The time blew away the junior’s previous best of 7.28, set in 2004, while also catapulted her into No. 2 in the event this season in the NCAA. Ottey’s record, one of 14 owned by the former Husker great, was one of the oldest in the NU women’s books. The most impressive aspect of Lopes’ time is that it came in the confines of the Bob Devaney Sports Center’s track. Ottey’s mark was recorded at an altitude above 6,000 feet, a factor that would add 0.04 to any of today’s qualifying marks, which would equate the former record to 7.28.

Huskers Earn Weekly Big 12 Conference Honors
Three Nebraska athletes have been named Big 12 Conference Indoor Track and Field Athletes of the Week during the 2005 season. Dmitrijs Milkevics and Ashley Selig earned acclaim for the week of Feb. 7, while Priscilla Lopes garnered honors for the week of Jan. 18.

Milkevics set a collegiate-record time of 1:15.60 to win the 600-meter run on Feb. 5 at the Frank Sevigne Husker Invitational. The Riga, Latvia, native’s mark was only .48 shy of the world record, while he smashed the NU (1:19.05) and Bob Devaney Sports Center Track (1:17.92) marks. The former collegiate standard was set by Tom Gerding of Minnesota in 2001. Milkevics shared the weekly men’s award with Texas A&M’s Fabrice Lapierre.

Selig compiled the greatest indoor pentathlon performance of her career to win the event with a nation-leading score of 4,171 points a day earlier. The Lincoln, Neb., native set personal-best marks in both the high jump (5-7 3/4) and shot put (38-5) on her way to overtaking the No. 1 performance in the Big 12 and claiming an NCAA automatic-qualifying mark. It was the third-best point total in NU history and currently ranks No. 1 in the NCAA by 93 points.

Priscilla Lopes, the defending NCAA champion in the 60-meter hurdles, was named the Big 12 Female Track and Field Athlete of the Week on Jan. 18 for her performance at the Holiday Inn Invitational. Lopes won invitational titles in both the 60-meter dash and hurdle events while surpassing the NCAA provisional-qualifying standard for both events.

NU Adds Three to Roster
The Husker coaching staff went international in its search for the finest athletes during the past year, and three impact athletes were added to Nebraska’s roster for the 2005 season during the third week of January, one to the women’s team and two to the men’s squad.

The most accomplished athlete of the group, freshman Egle Uljas, hails from Tallinn, Estonia. Uljas, also a renowned concert pianist, reached the semifinal round of the women’s 400-meter dash at the 2004 Olympics after recording a career-best time of 51.91 in the quarterfinals. That mark would rank No. 1 on NU’s all-time indoor charts, ahead of former Husker Ximena Retsrepo’s school record of 52.12. Uljas is the reigning Estonian national indoor champion in the 400, and holds national records in the 300 meters (38.71), 400 meters both indoors (54.25) and outdoors (51.91) and the indoor 600-yard run (1:20.65).

Like the women’s team, the Husker men also landed a top-level athlete from South Africa. Sophomore Peter van der Westhuizen, from Kempton Park, South Africa, has recorded personal-best times of 1:50.35A over 800 meters and 3:44.0 over 1,500 meters. Van der Westhuizen’s 1,500-meter mark would place seventh on NU’s all-time performance list. He placed second in the 1,500 at the 2003 South African Junior (Under-20) Championships, as well as third in 2002.

Freshman Gatis Spunde, Nebraska’s final addition to the men’s squad, hails from Smiltene, Latvia. Specializing in the 400-meter hurdles, he won the 2004 Latvian national championships in the event, while also earning the Balkan Championships title the same year. Spunde owns a personal-best clocking of 51.31.

Ten Returning All-Americans to be Featured in 2005
A total of 10 NCAA All-Americans return for the Huskers this season, five each for the men’s and women’s squads. Headlining the group will be sophomore sprinter/hurdler Priscilla Lopes, who won accolades in the 60-meter dash and 60-meter hurdles indoors, as well as the 100-meter hurdles outdoors. Other women to return after reaching All-America status include junior Ashley Selig, who finished seventh indoors in the pentathlon and third outdoors in the heptathlon, and senior Christi Lehman, who finished ninth (eighth American) in the indoor pole vault. Senior thrower Becky Breisch, the 2004 NCAA discus champion, and sophomore Jenny Green, an All-American in both the indoor (third) and outdoor (third) pole vault, also return for NU, but both are likely to redshirt in 2005 because of injury.

Dmitrijs Milkevics will aim for an NCAA title in the 800-meter run following an outstanding freshman campaign that saw him earn All-America honors by finishing sixth at both the NCAA Indoor and Outdoor Championships. Junior Aaron Nasers, who finished ninth (fifth American) indoors in the 800, adds even more firepower to Nebraska’s middle distance crew. Finally, three members of NU’s eighth-place outdoor 4x100-meter relay quartet return in Dusty Stamer, junior Oliver Williams Jr. and sophomore Nate Probasco.

Nebraska’s 2005 NCAA Indoor Qualifiers:
Women
Automatic
Name   Event  Mark
Priscilla Lopes  60 Meters 7.23
   60m Hurdles 8.00
Ashley Selig  Pentathlon 4,269

Provisional
Name   Event  Mark
Sara Jane Baker Pentathlon 3,962
Authea Chambers Long Jump 20-6 1/2
   Triple Jump 42-6 1/4
Kwonya Ferguson Long Jump 20-1 3/4
   Triple Jump 42-6 1/4
Jessie Graff  Pole Vault 12-11 1/2
Sheryl Morgan  400 Meters 54.12
Christi Lehman  Pole Vault 13-5 1/4
Anne Shadle  Mile  4:39.10
Egle Uljas  400 Meters 53.61
Roach, Morgan,
Selig, Uljas  4x400m Relay 3:38.04

Men
Automatic
Name   Event  Mark
Aaron Plas  High Jump 7-3 3/4
Ray Scotten  Pole Vault 18-0 1/2

Provisional
Name   Event  Mark
Arturs Abolins  Long Jump 25-3 1/2
Gable Baldwin  Pole Vault 17-4 1/2
Richard Davidson 60m Hurdles 7.80
Tom Donlin  Weight Throw 64-7
Dusty Jonas  High Jump 7-3 1/4
Courtney Jones  60m Hurdles 7.84
Bubba Kramer  Shot Put 60-4
Nenad Loncar  60m Hurdles 7.80
Dmitrijs Milkevics 800 Meters 1:48.29
Aaron Nasers  800 Meters 1:49.21
Nate Probasco  200 Meters 20.99
Daniel Roper  Triple Jump 51-11 3/4
Dusty Stamer  60 Meters 6.65
Peter van der Westhuizen Mile 4:03.56
Harrison, Milkevics,
Spunde, Probasco 4x400m Relay 3:09.45