NU Notches Five Qualifying Marks at adidas Classic

LINCOLN?The Nebraska men’s and women’s track and field teams returned to the Bob Devaney Sports Center Indoor Track Saturday, as numerous Huskers posted impressive performances in front of a crowd of 2,378 during the annual adidas Classic. In all, NU athletes won 16 of the meet’s 32 event titles, while five new NCAA qualifying marks were set.<?xml:namespace prefix="o" ns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"?>

 

A pair of Huskers making their season debuts made the biggest headlines in the men’s and women’s 600-yard run events.

 

Sophomore Egle Uljas ran away with the women’s race in a personal-best time of 1:18.44, which ranks as the No. 2 all-time performance in <?xml:namespace prefix="st1" ns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"?>Nebraska women’s history. Uljas, a 2004 Olympian in the 400 meters for Estonia who now specializes in the 800, fell just 0.52 seconds shy of Lesley Owusu’s 2001 school record of 1:17.92.

                                        

“I think Egle is one of the best (middle distance) runners in the United States,” Head Coach Gary Pepin said. “Talent-wise, she’s up there with the best in school history. She’s a tremendous talent.”

 

Returning NCAA outdoor 800-meter champion Dmitrijs Milkevics also kicked off his indoor season in the 600-yard run, winning the men’s race in 1:08.81. The mark was only 0.14 seconds shy of his own school-record time of 1:08.67, which he set as a freshman in 2003.

 

Two other Huskers who opened their indoor campaigns recorded NCAA provisional-qualifying marks Saturday. Sophomore Dusty Jonas cleared 7-2 1/4 in the men’s high jump only three weeks after suffering a fracture in his arm. The two-time All-American finished ahead of senior teammate Aaron Plas, who reached a season-best 7-0 1/4 in his second competition of the season. Jonas also finished second in the triple jump (47-8).

 

“Dusty jumped better in both events than he did last year, so that was very good,” Pepin said. “That was a good start for him. I wasn’t surprised how he jumped (in the high jump), and I thought he could have made the next height (7-3 3/4).

 

NU’s Becky Breisch registered the first NCAA automatic-qualifying mark of the season with her throw of 57-3 in the shot put. The two-time NCAA champion clinched a spot at March’s national indoor meet after beating the field by nearly five feet Saturday.

 

Junior Arturs Abolins also reached provisional status in the men’s long jump after soaring to 25-0. Abolins bested runner-up freshman teammate Robert Rands (23-4 1/2) by nearly 1 1/2 feet, while he also posted the fastest preliminary time in the men’s 60-meter dash (6.80), but did not participate in the finals.

 

“We may well need Arturs in the 60 meters this year,” Pepin said. “He’s very good at the long jump, but he’s too good of an athlete to just get a long jump out of him.”

 

Nebraska pulled off a clean sweep of the 60-meter dash events with senior Oliver Williams Jr. (6.78) winning the men’s race and senior Priscilla Lopes (7.40) taking the women’s competition.  Lopes also earned first-place honors in the women’s 60-meter hurdles with a provisional-qualifying time of 8.23. The race was the first hurdles competition of the season for the former NCAA champion.

 

Senior Courtney Jones also met the provisional-qualifying standard in the men’s 60-meter hurdles by finishing runner-up in 7.84. Jones was the first collegiate finisher behind the unattached Jared MacLeod.

 

Junior Peter van der Westhuizen continued his early-season success with a win in the men’s 1,000 meters in a personal-best time of 2:23.64. van der Westhuizen, who opened the season last weekend with a victory in the 3,000 at the Holiday Inn Invite, moved up to the No. 5 spot on NU’s all-time 1,000-meter performance list with his race Saturday.

 

The women’s mile race turned into an easy victory for senior Kim Pancoast, who beat the field by nearly eight seconds with her time of 4:55.86. A former Husker miler, Anne Shadle, set the Devaney Center record in the women’s 1,000 Saturday with a winning time of 2:45.90, while freshman Natalja Zarcenko claimed second place in a career-best 2:53.12.

 

Other individual adidas Classic winners included sophomore Jenny Green, who reached 12-11 1/2 for the second consecutive week in the women’s pole vault, senior Kayte Tranel, who erased her previous personal best by nearly 11 seconds with her winning time of 9:53.25 in the women’s 3,000; sophomore Tamara Solari, who fell only four inches shy of a personal best with a mark of 59-7 in the women’s 20-pound weight throw; and freshman Zarinah Suluki (38-10 ?) in the women’s triple jump. Nebraska’s men’s 4x400-meter relay also claimed victory after clocking 3:16.97, while junior Gable Baldwin (16-6) added a victory in the men’s pole vault.

 

Nebraska’s track and field focus shifts from individual to team efforts next week, as it plays host to a team-scored Triangular against ColoradoState and KentState on Saturday, Jan. 28 at the Devaney Center Indoor Track. Competition begins with field events at 11:15 a.m.