Track and Field Announces 2005 Awards

<?xml:namespace prefix="st1" ns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"?>Lincoln ? Head Coach Gary Pepin announced the winners of Nebraska’s annual track and field awards for the 2005 season Tuesday. Fifteen athletes laid claim to 11 individual honors, as the competitive awards race featured four ties. <?xml:namespace prefix="o" ns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"?>

Leading the field with the Henderson State Bank Women’s and Sam Waugh Men’s Outstanding Track & Field Athlete Awards were 2005 NCAA champions Anne Shadle and Dmitrijs Milkevics, respectively. Shadle became the first Husker to win national titles in both the indoor mile and outdoor 1,500-meter run when she swept the events during the 2005 season. Milkevics, a 2004 Olympian for his native Latvia, became the first Husker to earn an NCAA championship in an outdoor running event since Olympic Gold Medal-winner Charlie Greene won three straight 100-yard dash titles from 1965-67.

Most Valuable Team Performer Awards went to Nate Probasco for the NU men and Priscilla Lopes and Ashley Selig for the women’s squad. Selig claimed Nebraska’s first-ever national championship in a multi-event competition with her NCAA indoor pentathlon win last season, while Lopes grabbed three All-America honors during the indoor and outdoor campaigns to run her career total to six in only two years of competition. Probasco also reached All-America status for the second time in as many years in the indoor 200-meter dash, and ran on NU’s school-record setting 4x100-meter relay outdoors.

Justine Roach and Mark Harrison were named the Women’s and Men’s Most Improved Track Athletes, respectively, for 2005. Roach and Harrison reached the NCAA Championships for the first time in an individual event last month as they both competed in the 400-meter hurdles. The Most Improved Field Athlete Awards went to Gable Baldwin and Aaron Plas on the men’s side, while Kayla Wilkinson and Casie Witte were recognized with the women’s honor. Baldwin (pole vault), Plas (high jump) and Wilkinson (javelin) each earned individual Big 12 titles for the first time in 2005, while Witte (high jump) finished the season at her first NCAA Championships.

Three freshmen?Dusty Jonas, Frances Keating and Egle Uljas?were recognized with the Outstanding Newcomer Awards. Jonas claimed the men’s honor after recording a pair of All-America performances in 2005, while Keating and Uljas shared the women’s award after reaching their first NCAA Championships last month.

Jamie Senkbile also was honored with the Russ White Spirit Award for her passion and devotion to the Nebraska track and field team.