Husker Men Win Midwest Regional Title

<?xml:namespace prefix="st1" ns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"?>NORMAN, Okla. ? The Nebraska men’s track and field team won its second consecutive regional team title Saturday at the NCAA Midwest Region Championships held at Oklahoma’s John Jacobs Track Complex. The Husker men collected 92.50 points to edge runner-up Texas Tech (85.50), while the women’s squad (65.50) finished second to first-place Texas. <?xml:namespace prefix="o" ns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"?>

               

The Huskers have now combined for three of the six Midwest championships since the regional format was started in 2003 (the women won their only title in 2003).

 

Aside from the team hardware, NU also had a great day in the pursuit of individual berths to next month’s NCAA Outdoor Championships in Sacramento, Calif. Nebraska earned 19 (11 men, eight women) automatic qualifications to the national meet in 16 events Saturday, while the two-day totals swelled to 23 athletes in 19 events.

 

The Nebraska men’s 4x100-meter relay team of Arturs Abolins, Oliver Williams Jr., Nate Probasco and Dusty Stamer made the biggest headlines of the weekend by smashing the NU school record with a blistering time of 39.19. The previous standard of 39.40 was set during last year’s NCAA Outdoor Championships’ final by a team composed of Williams Jr., Probasco, Stamer and former Husker Shelldon Simpson.

 

“What we wanted to do today was come out here, (set a) PR and break our own school record again,” Stamer said. “That’s what we did, so I think everyone did a good job.”

 

The squad also matched the NCAA Midwest Region record (Texas, 2003) while earning one of the region’s three automatic berths to next month’s NCAA Championships. The Huskers appear well ahead of schedule to duplicate last year’s All-America honors earned by finishing eighth at the 2004 NCAA Championships.

 

Egle Uljas became the second-fastest performer in NU women’s history for the 800-meter run with her runner-up time of 2:04.64. Only a freshman, Uljas also was one of six runners to surpass the Midwest Region meet record. Dmitrijs Milkevics also broke a Midwest Region record in the men’s 800 meters with his winning time of 1:46.48.

 

Dace Ruskule (discus) and Anne Shadle (1,500 meters) also earned regional titles Saturday. Shade (4:16.30) dominated the field in her race by recording a Midwest Region-record time, while Ruskule (186-1) outdistanced her competition by more than nine feet.

 

Nebraska’s biggest event proved to be the men’s 110-meter hurdles, as three athletes finished in the final heat’s top five. Nenad Loncar earned second place with a clocking of 13.84, while Richard Davidson Jr. came in just behind in 13.86. Courtney Jones sneaked into his first NCAA meet by finishing fifth with a mark of 13.94. Priscilla Lopes (12.94) turned in her typical first-place finish in the women’s 100-meter hurdles, giving the Huskers another Midwest Regional meet record.

 

A couple of men’s events also will feature multiple Huskers.

 

Williams Jr. and Stamer went 2-3 in the men’s 100-meter dash to each earn trips to Sacramento, while Ray Scotten tied for second and Gable Baldwin tied for seventh in the men’s pole vault. Although only the top five individual finishers earn automatic qualifications, the fifth through eighth placings are eligible for a small number of at-large bids. Baldwin is nearly assured of one of those at-large bids due to his NCAA No. 2 mark of 18-2 ?.

 

Other NU men’s qualifiers included Mark Harrison (50.75), who finished third in the 400-meter hurdles, Probasco (20.78), who was the runner-up competitor in the 200-meter dash, and Peter van der Westhuizen (3:45.75), who sneaked into an automatic qualification by claiming fifth in the men’s 1,500 meters.

 

Several other Nebraska women’s athletes also made the cut for the national meet, including Casie Witte (5-9 1/4), who tied for third in the women’s high jump, Kwonya Ferguson (41-3 3/4), also a third-place finisher in the triple jump, Kayla Wilkinson (162-6), who earned fourth in the women’s javelin, and Justine Roach (59.01), who claimed fifth in the women’s 400-meter hurdles. Each of the three Huskers will appear at their first NCAA meet.

 

NU athletes on the bubble still having shots for at-large bids include Frances Keating (13.61), who claimed sixth in the women’s 100-meter hurdles, Laura Wortmann (165-11), who placed seventh in the women’s discus, Issar Yazhbin (197-1), the seventh-place finisher in the men’s hammer throw, and Baldwin in the pole vault. Each of the four athletes appear to have very good shots at making the 544-athlete men’s or women’s fields.

 

“I thought we had a heck of a meet,” Head Coach Gary Pepin said. “Both the men’s team and the women’s team had great meets. We have an outstanding list of (NCAA meet) qualifiers, some people who saved their very best performances of the year. It’s always tough to come back to try and qualify (for nationals) after the (Big 12) conference meet.”

 

Nebraska will find out its final NCAA Outdoor Championships roster when the men’s and women’s fields are announced Monday evening. The national meet is scheduled for June 8-11 at Sacramento’s Alex G. Spanos Sports Complex.

Media Note: For complete results from the NCAA Midwest Region Championships, visit the following link:

http://www.ncaasports.com/track-and-field/results/outdoor/2005/div1/midwest/results