NU Concludes Relays Circuit at Drake and Penn

The Nebraska men’s and women’s track and field teams will participate in two of the sport’s most celebrated events this weekend?the Drake Relays and Penn Relays. A total of 45 Huskers will be in action against some of the nation’s top talent Wednesday through Saturday.

Drake Relays (Wednesday, April 27 - Saturday, April 30)
Twenty-six Huskers (13 men and 13 women) will make the three-hour trip east to Des Moines, Iowa, for this week’s Drake Relays. Nebraska’s multi-event athletes will start things Wednesday with the women’s heptathlon (Casie Witte) at Noon and men’s decathlon (Kyle Goerl, Lee Martin) at 12:30 p.m. Both events will conclude on Thursday, while Eric Rasmussen competes in the men’s 10,000-meter run at 7:25 p.m. the same day. Remaining Huskers will see action on either Friday or Saturday, when the main individual events begin.

Other women’s athletes scheduled to participate include Sara Jane Baker, Danute Ceika, Amber Curtis, Christi Lehman, Kim Pancoast, Dace Ruskule, Ashley Selig, Anne Shadle, Jen Steiner, Kayla Wilkinson and Laura Wortmann. Gabe Baldwin, Dmitrijs Milkevics, Nic Petersen, Ray Scotten, Peter van der Westhuizen and Issar Yazhbin are among the men’s athletes to be featured.

For a schedule of NU’s Drake Relays events and participants, see page 2 of this week’s track and field notes. For live results via the internet, visit www.drakerelays.org.

Penn Relays (Thursday, April 28 - Saturday, April 30)
Nineteen Huskers (14 men, four women) will compete in the 111th edition of the Penn Relays this weekend in Philadelphia, Pa. Nebraska will begin competition Thursday at 9 a.m. with the women’s 400-meter hurdles, while Friday’s action starts at 8 a.m. with the men’s 400-meter hurdles. The men’s high jump kicks off the final day of competition Saturday at 12:30 p.m.

Huskers scheduled to attend include Arturs Abolins, Richard Davidson, Mark Harrison, Dusty Jonas, Courtney Jones, Frances Keating, Nenad Loncar, Priscilla Lopes, Sheryl Morgan, Aaron Nasers, Andy Nelson, Aaron Plas, Nate Probasco, Justine Roach, Daniel Roper, Aaron Ross, Dusty Stamer, Egle Uljas and Oliver Williams Jr.

For a schedule of NU’s Penn Relay events and participants, see page 2 of this week’s track and field notes. For live results via the internet, visit www.flashresults.com.

Next Up: Nebraska Invitational (Saturday, May 7)
The Huskers will host their only outdoor meet of the 2005 season on Saturday, May 7 at Ed Weir Stadium. Teams invited to compete include Kansas State and Iowa State, as well as several junior college squads.

Field events begin at 2:30 p.m. with the men’s hammer throw and long jump and women’s pole vault and javelin. Running events will start at 4 p.m. with the women’s 4x100-meter relay.

Huskers Claim Five Kansas Relays Titles
Nebraska received some stellar performances at last weekend’s Kansas Relays in Lawrence, Kan. NU athletes recorded five event titles, six runner-up finishes and six new NCAA regional qualifiers.

Frances Keating began the finals section for NU by winning the women’s 100-meter hurdles in a career-best time of 13.51. The performance places her at No. 6 on NU’s all-time list.

The NU tandem of Egle Uljas (2:08.87) and Danute Ceika (2:12.45) swept the top two spots in the women’s 800-meter run event, while Mark Harrison, Andy Nelson, Dmitrijs Milkevics and Nate Probasco added another win for the Huskers in the men’s 4x400-meter relay by clocking a time of 3:12.12.

The highlight of the weekend for the Nebraska men’s team may have been its 4x100-meter relay squad of Oliver Williams Jr., Nate Probasco, Arturs Abolins and Dusty Stamer finishing second in the Invitational section to Team HSI, which featured two-time Olympic champion and former 60-meter dash world record holder Maurice Green running anchor. The Huskers finished in a time of 40.16, behind HSI’s 39.24.

Probasco continued his breakout season by notching a lifetime-best performance to earn silver during the men’s Invitational 200-meter dash. His time of 20.74 (wind-aided) was a personal low, while he finished a close second to former NCAA champion Leo Bookman (20.52).

Nebraska also had a good showing in the men’s 110-meter hurdles by claiming the Nos. 2, 3 and 5 placings. Courtney Jones led the contingent by posting a personal-best time of 13.88, while Richard Davidson Jr. finished just behind in 13.96. Aaron Ross’ fifth-place time of 14.22 was also a career best, while it was also the first NCAA regional-qualifying performance of his career.

Milkevics met the NCAA regional qualification for the men’s 800-meter run in his first outdoor race of the season by finishing runner-up to Kansas’ Jeremy Mims with a time of 1:50.29.

Justine Roach earned another silver for Nebraska in the women’s 400-meter hurdles with a time of 1:02.73, while the women’s 4x100-meter relay team also posted a second-place finish with a clocking of 46.49.

Ray Scotten extended his streak of reaching the 18-foot mark to three straight meets when he went 18-0 1/2 for a third-place finish in the men’s Invitational pole vault. Scotten, the top-ranked vaulter in the NCAA, achieved the same height as former Husker Eric Eshbach (unattached), but finished behind due to misses.

Arturs Abolins earned Nebraska’s lone individual event title on Friday in the men’s long jump with his winning leap of 24-7 1/4. Abolins recorded the regional-qualifying mark, his first of the outdoor season, on the last of three attempts after fouling during the previous two finals chances. He also worked his way into the finals on his last preliminary try.

NU gained a shot of momentum early with the Husker men’s 4x110-meter shuttle hurdle relay team of Richard Davidson Jr., Aaron Ross, Courtney Jones and Nenad Loncar winning gold in 57.79 on Friday. The mark was only 0.29 shy of Nebraska’s own Kansas Relays record of 57.50, which was set in 2003.

Nic Petersen tied for second in the men’s pole vault by smashing his career-best height while reaching 16-10 3/4. Petersen’s previous outdoor best was 16-0 3/4, while the new mark also earned him the first regional qualification of his career.

Nebraska Throwers Excel at Doane Relays
The Huskers featured their largest group of throwers in competition yet this outdoor season at last weekend’s Doane Relays in Crete, Neb. Nearly every athlete scheduled to compete for NU in a throwing event this season participated.

Issar Yazhbin, last season’s Big 12 champion in the men’s hammer throw, made his 2005 outdoor debut and won the hammer with a spin of 193-5, which was also his first regional qualification. Jen Steiner won the women’s shot put and increased her personal-best throw to 50-9 in the process, while Jamie Senkbile (167-0) earned the women’s hammer title. Huskers earned the Nos. 2 through 4 spots in the women’s discus with the efforts of Dace Ruskule, Laura Wortmann and Amber Curtis. Others competing well included Jesse Colburn (187-3) and Lee Martin (185-4), who each recorded season bests in the men’s javelin, as well as Casie Witte, who earned second in the women’s javelin with a heave of 128-5.

Nebraska also featured a limited number of its jumpers at Doane. Aaron Plas won the men’s high jump after clearing a stadium-record height of 7-2 1/4, while Witte, Sara Jane Baker and Kim Shubert swept the top three places in the women’s high jump. Witte led the group with a mark of 5-8 3/4.

NU Hurdlers Set Eyes on School Relay Record
While this season’s version of the Nebraska men’s 110-meter hurdle group is one of deepest in recent memory, it has also proved to be one of the most talented squads during Head Coach Gary Pepin’s 25-year tenure. With Aaron Ross reaching the NCAA regional-qualify standard at last weekend’s Kansas Relays, the Huskers now have notched four qualifiers in the event for the first time since the NCAA regional system began during the 2003 season.

Qualifiers Richard Davidson Jr., Courtney Jones, Nenad Loncar and Ross will team up at this weekend’s Penn Relays in the 4x110-meter shuttle hurdle relay. The four-man squad currently owns the NU record of 56.14, which was set last season at Drake. The hurdle relay normally occurs only once a season--at either Penn or the Drake Relays, but this year the Huskers will have two cracks at the event.

NU ran the event last weekend at the Kansas Relays, winning the meet title with a time of 57.79, despite having to deal with wind gusts of up to 30 mph. With an extra week of preparation for the shuttle hurdle relay, the Husker hurdlers have a good chance to rewrite NU history for the second straight year.

Huskers Sixth, Seventh in Latest Dual Meet Rankings
The Nebraska men’s and women’s teams dropped in this week’s USTCA Team Power Rankings, but both squads still rank among the nation’s top 10 teams. The Husker women won the final Indoor Power Rankings earlier this year, while the men finished sixth.

The men’s team owns a sixth-place ranking with a score of 355.88. Despite a four-point gain in the rankings, the Huskers slid two spots from its previous fourth-place rating. Fellow Big 12 Conference squads also rated among the poll’s top 25 include Texas Tech (first), Kansas State (11th), Iowa State (21st) and Missouri (25th). Nebraska trails Texas Tech by about 30 points.

The NU women’s team ranks seventh this week with a potential score of 348.54, down two spots from last week when its score was 344.50. The Huskers are the top Big 12 Conference team, with Kansas State (ninth), Missouri (17th) and Texas Tech (21) also appearing among the top-25 schools. NU trails first-place South Carolina by roughly 21 1/2 points.

The Team Power Rankings are a unique a system of rating college teams on the basis of quality of athletic performance, team depth and dual meet scoring potential. The system rates teams in the same fashion as a decathlete or heptathlete. Points are assigned for two athletes in each event contested in a dual meet and points assigned on the basis of quality of performance. The top person in each event has his/her points doubled to adjust for the value of the number one performer on each team in a dual meet. The points for all events are then totaled for the ranking score.

Fantastic Freshmen Make Their Marks
A common theme during the young outdoor season has been even younger Huskers recording big performances. So far, six NU freshmen have combined to notch eight regional-qualifying marks with only three weekends of competition under their belts.

Nebraska’s youthful group of throwers leads the way with three regional qualifiers. Bubba Kramer was able to record his first qualifying performance in his first outdoor meet--the Stanford Invitational. Kramer’s best throw of 56-10 1/4 in the men’s shot put currently ranks 11th in the Big 12. A pair of freshmen Husker women’s discus throwers, Amber Curtis and Laura Wortmann, also joined NU’s Midwest Regional list at the Emporia State Relays. Curtis and Wortmann have garnered respective conference rankings of fourth and fifth with their recent performances.

Dusty Jonas became the first member of the NU vertical jumps crew to qualify for regionals when he finished fifth in the long jump at the Texas Relays. Jonas is no stranger to early-career success, as he finished as runner-up in the high jump at last month’s NCAA Indoor Championships. Meanwhile, Frances Keating joined fellow freshman women’s qualifiers Curtis and Wortmann by finishing seventh in the 400-meter hurdles at Texas, while she also teamed with three of NU’s upperclassmen to reach qualifier status in the 4x400-meter relay.

Last weekend’s Kansas Relays was another fine meet for Husker freshman, as Keating recorded another qualifying mark to win the 100-meter hurdles and tie Sheryl Morgan for the team lead with three regional qualifications. Egle Uljas also joined NU’s group of fantastic freshman with her qualifying performance that won the women’s 800-meter run.

This weekend could be another big weekend for Nebraska’s newbies, as 11 more Husker freshman will attempt to earn qualifying marks.

NU Athletes Rank Among Nation’s Best
The newest set of Trackwire Top 25 rankings for the 2005 outdoor season were released on Tuesday with the Nebraska women’s team once again earning top-10 recognition. The women’s team moved from sixth place to eighth this week, while the men’s team remained out of the ratings for the second consecutive week and only the third week of both indoor and outdoor seasons.

The Trackwire Top 25, a set of rankings used to predict the outcome of this year’s NCAA Championships, are calculated by track and field statistician Gary Verigin, who uses his "Dandy Dozen" power rankings of the top 12 athletes in each NCAA event. Eleven Huskers appear in this week’s edition of the "Dandy Dozen," the same number as in last week’s rankings. For a complete list of NU athletes ranked, see page 4 of this week’s track and field notes.

While the outdoor season is still relatively young, several Huskers own lofty event rankings on the NCAA’s latest performance list.

Nebraska women who have earned high rankings include: Anne Shadle, the top-ranked athlete for the 1,500-meter run; Ashley Selig and Priscilla Lopes, who rank third in the heptathlon and 100-meter hurdles, respectively; and Sara Jane Baker, who owns the No. 4 ranking for the heptathlon. Dace Ruskule and Kayla Wilkinson also rank among the nation’s top-10 competitors with Wilkinson sitting sixth in the javelin and Ruskule seventh in the discus.

NU’s hurdlers lead the men’s team in the NCAA rankings with six athletes among the nation’s top-ranked performers. Four Huskers, Richard Davidson Jr. (tie-No. 12), Courtney Jones (No. 14), Nenad Loncar (tie-No. 25) and Aaron Ross (No. 64) rank among the top performers in the 110-meter hurdles, while Andy Nelson (23rd) and Mark Harrison (tie-43rd) both represent NU in the 400-meter hurdle ratings. Nebraska’s pole vault crew is also well-represented with top-ranked Ray Scotten, Gable Baldwin (tie-23rd) and Nic Petersen (tie-37th). Aaron Plas (tie-fifth) has earned NU’s final top-10 ranking in the high jump, while Dusty Jonas (No. 15, high jump), Nate Probasco (No. 14, 200 meters), Peter van der Westhuizen (No. 15, 1,500 meters) and NU’s 4x100-meter relay (No. 15) also fit in among the nation’s top 20 for their respective events.

How Nebraska Stacks Up Against the Big 12
With this year’s Big 12 Outdoor Championships less than a month away, NU athletes have begun to settle their names alongside the conference’s best. Huskers appear in the top eight (scoring places) on this week’s Big 12 performance list 47 times (26 women, 21 men), a gain of two scoring spots from last week’s total of 45.

Nebraska possesses balance on both the men’s and women’s sides, as Husker athletes hold a top-eight spot in 16 (women) and 14 (men) of the 21 events that will be held at this year’s outdoor conference meet.

While Ray Scotten (pole vault) and Nate Probasco (200 meters) are the lone Husker men’s athletes leading an event, three others sit alone or in a tie for second place. Anne Shadle (1,500 meters), Dace Ruskule (discus), Kayla Wilkinson (javelin) and Ashley Selig (heptathlon) each have earned No. 1 rankings for the NU women, while two others own second-place positions. For a complete list of NU’s Big 12 rankings, see page 5 of this week’s track and field notes.

NU will begin making final decisions as to the makeup of this year’s postseason squads in the next two weeks as it looks toward the Big 12 Championships, to be held May 13-15 in Manhattan, Kan.

Shadle, Selig Claim First NCAA Championships
Two Huskers went a long way toward pushing the Nebraska women’s squad to its fourth-place team finish at the NCAA Indoor Championships in Fayetteville, Ark. Ashley Selig and Anne Shadle each broke NU records to earn their first national title with the Huskers.

Selig overcame a strong performance by BYU’s Amy Menlove to claim the women’s pentathlon championship with a school-record 4,327 points. The three-time NCAA All-American set personal bests in the high jump (5-9 1/4) and long jump (20-2 1/2) to break her own Husker women’s record of 4,269 points. Selig’s win came as no surprise; she entered the competition with the nation’s No. 1 ranking for the event.

Anne Shadle provided what outsiders may have described as a mild upset in the women’s mile. Shadle entered the weekend with the nation’s No. 4 time in the event, but gave the best performance of her life during Saturday’s final to finish in an NU-record 4:38.22. The mark bumped former Husker great Fran ten Bensel’s 1992 record of 4:38.33 from the top of the Nebraska women’s charts.

While Selig and Shadle were the lone Huskers to win NCAA titles, several other athletes also had fantastic finishes. Including the two champions, Nebraska took home 12 All-America honors. Priscilla Lopes earned two awards for finishing second in the women’s 60-meter hurdles and eighth in the dash. Three NU men finished runner-up, including Dusty Jonas (high jump), Ray Scotten (pole vault) and Dusty Stamer (60 meters). Other All-Americans included Gable Baldwin (men’s pole vault), Richard Davidson Jr. (men’s 60-meter hurdles), Aaron Plas (men’s high jump), Nate Probasco (men’s 200 meters) and Daniel Roper (men’s triple jump).

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 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 Ashley Selig, who finished seventh indoors in the pentathlon and third outdoors in the heptathlon, and Christi Lehman, who finished ninth (eighth American) in the indoor pole vault. Thrower Becky Breisch, the 2004 NCAA discus champion, and 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. 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, Oliver Williams Jr. and Nate Probasco.

Nebraska's 2005 NCAA Outdoor Regional/Championships Qualifiers

Women
NCAA Championships Provisional Qualifiers
Name Event Mark
Sara Jane Baker Heptathlon 5,469
Ashley Selig Heptathlon 5,474w
Casie Witte Heptathlon 5,072

NCAA Midwest Regional Qualifiers
Name Event Mark
Amber Curtis Discus 167-10
Kwonya Ferguson Long Jump 19-8 1/4   Triple Jump 42-1 1/2
Jessie Graff Pole Vault 12-5 1/2
Frances Keating 100m Hurldes 13.51    400m Hurdles 59.38
Christi Lehman Pole Vault 13-1 1/2
Priscilla Lopes 100m Hurdles 12.89
Sheryl Morgan 400 Meters 54.47     400m Hurdles 59.94
Kim Pancoast 1,500 Meters 4:27.55
Justine Roach 400m Hurdles 1:00.45
Dace Ruskule Discus 179-9
Anne Shadle 800 Meters 2:07.82      1,500 Meters 4:14.39
Jen Steiner Shot Put 50-9
Egle Uljas 800 Meters 2:08.87
Kayla Wilkinson Javelin 174-3
Casie Witte High Jump 5-9 3/4
Laura Wortmann Discus 166-1
Baker, Keating,
Selig, Morgan 4x400m Relay 3:41.02

Men
NCAA Midwest Regional Qualifiers
Name Event Mark

Gable Baldwin Pole Vault 17-0 3/4
Richard Davidson Jr. 110m Hurdles 13.87
Mark Harrison 400m Hurdles 51.97
Dusty Jonas High Jump 7-0 1/2
Courtney Jones 110m Hurdles 13.88
Bubba Kramer Shot Put 56-10 1/4
Nenad Loncar 110m Hurdles 13.98
Dmitrijs Milkevics 800 Meters 1:50.29
Aaron Nasers 800 Meters 1:49.85
Andy Nelson 400m Hurdles 51.39
Nic Petersen Pole Vault 16-10 3/4
Aaron Plas High Jump 7-2 1/2
Nate Probasco 200 Meters 20.74
Aaron Ross 110m Hurdles 14.22
Ray Scotten Pole Vault 18-2 1/2
Dusty Stamer 100 Meters 10.35
Peter van der Westhuizen 800 Meters 1:50.29     1,500 Meters 3:43.62
Issar Yazhbin Hammer Throw 193-5
O. Williams, Probasco, Abolins, Stamer 4x100m Relay 39.8
Harrison, Probasco, Nasers, Nelson 4x400m Relay 3:09.24