Triangular to Pit NU Against Colorado State, Kent State

The Nebraska men's and women's track and field teams turn their attention to team competition this Saturday, when they play host to Colorado State and Kent State in a team scored Triangular. The women's weight throw begins the day at 11:15 a.m., while the women's 5,000-meter run starts action on the track at 11:30 a.m.

Reserved tickets for Saturday's meet may be purchased from the Husker Athletic Ticket Office for $6, while general admission prices are $4 for adults and $2 for children ages 7+. Admission is free for NU students with a valid ID and children under the age of six.

Saturday's Nebraska Triangular will mark the Huskers' first team scored competition of the season. Each team will be allowed only two entries per event and one squad per relay event. A 7-5-4-3-2-1 point scoring system will be utilized. Points will be given on a 7-5-4 basis for the 4x400-meter relay. All heats and flights will be finals.

Select Husker athletes will also compete in a Triangular meet hosted by Nebraska Wesleyan at the Devaney Center following the NU-CSU-KSU matchup. Admission to the non-scored meet will be free, while field and running events each begin at 3 p.m.

A time schedule and list of NU's entries for both Triangular meets are included on pages 3-4.

Husker Ranked 4th, 7th in Inaugural Track & Field Coaches Poll
In conjunction with the launch of its new web site this week, the United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association also released its inaugural Division I USTFCCCA Coaches Poll on Jan. 23. Nebraska is one of four programs to have both its men's and women's teams appear among the poll's top 10.

The NU women open the year ranked No. 4 behind South Carolina (first), Texas (second) and defending NCAA indoor champion Tennessee (third). The Husker men were voted as the No. 7 team by the coaches. Defending NCAA indoor champion Arkansas tops out the men's poll, while Texas (third) is the highest-rated Big 12 squad.

Huskers Dominate adidas Classic
Numerous Huskers posted impressive performances in front of a Devaney Center crowd of 2,378 last Saturday during the annual adidas Classic. NU athletes won 16 of 32 event titles, while five new NCAA qualifying marks were set.

Egle Uljas and Dmitrijs Milkevics made the biggest headlines while winning their respective races of the 600-meter run. Uljas ran away with the women's race in a personal-best time of 1:18.44, which ranks No. 2 all-time in Nebrsaka women's history. Milkevics' winning time of 1:087.81 in the men's race was only 0.14 shy of his own school record.

NU's first automatic qualifying mark came from the arm of Becky Breisch, who won the women's shot put with an indoor personal-best throw of 57-3. She defeated the field by nearly five feet. Breisch had registered a provisional mark for the event a week earlier in the season opener.

Arturs Abolins reached provisional status in the men's long jump after soaring 25-0 to win his first competition of the year. Abolins also notched the fastest time of 6.80 during the 60-meter dash prelims. Dusty Jonas also recorded a provisional mark in his first meet with a first-place leap of 7-2 1/4 in the men's high jump.

Priscilla Lopes and Courtney Jones each hit the provisional standards for the women's and men's 60-meter hurdles with respective winning times of 7.84 and 8.23. Lopes also won the women's 60-meter dash in 7.40.

Other Husker women's adidas Classic winners included Jenny Green (pole vault), Kim Pancoast (mile), Tamara Solari (weight throw) and Zarinah Suluki (triple jump). Gable Baldwin, Peter van der Westhuizen (1,000 meters), Oliver Williams Jr. (60 meters) and the 4x400-meter relay team of Andrew Pearson, Andy Nelson, Gatis Spunde and Nathan Kumm added titles for the men's squad.

Breisch Back and Better than Ever
Becky Breisch continued her remarkable comeback from a career-threatening elbow injury with one of her finest performances in the indoor shot put last weekend.

The eight-time NCAA All-American set an indoor personal best of 57-3 while winning the adidas Classic title by nearly five feet. The mark erased her previous best of 56-10 1/4, which she recorded to finish runner up as a junior at the 2004 NCAA Championships. Briesch currently ranks as the nation's leader thanks to the throw with a more than three-foot lead.

The heave also earned Breisch Nebraska's first automatic qualification to the 2006 NCAA meet, where she will attempt to earn her first indoor national title. She has won an NCAA outdoor title in the event, as she claimed the 2003 NCAA title as a sophomore.

NU Rankings Hold in Trackwire 25
Both Nebraska men's and women's squads were listed among the nation's top 10 in the weekly Trackwire 25 rankings for the second straight week Tuesday.

The women's team stayed at No. 4, the same spot it placed at the 2005 NCAA Indoor Championships. NU is one of three Big 12 Conference schools included among the top 10, along with Texas (No. 2) and Texas A&M (tie-No. 7). Kansas State dropped out of the poll after debuting at No. 20.

The Husker men also were placed in the same position (No. 7) they finished during last year's NCAA indoor meet. NU shares the spot with Arizona. The poll predicts a talented Big 12 men's field in 2006, as six teams appear in the rankings: Texas (No. 4), Baylor (No. 9), Texas A&M (tie-No. 12), Texas Tech (tie-No. 15), Kansas (No. 18) and Missouri (tie-No. 24).

The Trackwire 25 attempts to predict team scores for the NCAA Championships based on individual athlete rankings for each event?nicknamed the "Dandy Dozen"?that are updated weekly by track and field statistician Gary Verigin.

Nebraska is the hot name in the Dandy Dozen for 2006, as the program leads all NCAA teams with 14 individual athletes this week. The next closest dual-squad program is Texas, which has 11 athletes appear in this week's rankings.

Both individual Husker teams own respective national leads in numbers of athletes selected. The eight men's picks ties Wisconsin for the national lead, while NU's six women's selections tie LSU, Miami (Fla.) and South Carolina.

Husker athletes among this week's "Dandy Dozen":
Women
Becky Breisch, Shot Put?1st
Ashley Selig, Pentathlon?1st
Priscilla Lopes, 60m Hurdles, 2nd; 60 Meters?9th
Egle Uljas, 800 Meters?5th
Jenny Green, Pole Vault?7th
Sara Jane Baker, Heptathlon?11th

Men
Dmitrijs Milkevics, 800 Meters?1st
Arturs Abolins, Long Jump?4th
Courtney Jones, 60m Hurdles?6th
Daniel Roper, Triple Jump?6th
Nate Probasco, 200 Meters?7th
Dusty Jonas, High Jump?9th
Aaron Plas, High Jump?10th
Ray Scotten, Pole Vault?10th

Huskers Rank Among Nation's Best
Six NU athletes sit among the top 10 for their respective events on the latest NCAA performance list.

Topping the charts is No. 1-ranked Becky Breisch, who owns a nearly three-foot lead in the women's shot put. Priscilla Lopes is the only Husker with top-10 ratings in two events: the 60-meter hurdles (tie-fourth) and 60-meter dash (tie-eighth). Jenny Green is tied for ninth in the women's pole vault.

Three Nebraska men that notched provisional-qualifying marks last weekend find themselves in the national rankings this week. Courtney Jones turned in a stellar performance in the men's 60-meter hurdles last weekend that ranks him fifth nationally for the event this week, while Dusty Jonas is tied for seventh in the high jump after only his first week of competition. Arturs Abolins also debuted last week with a No. 8 rating in the long jump.

Seven Huskers Lead Big 12 Events
Several Huskers find themselves leading events on the 2006 Big 12 Conference indoor performance list, despite the season being only two weeks young. Three men and five women rank No. 1 among all league athletes for events to be held at this season's indoor conference meet.

Priscilla Lopes tops the women's 60-meter hurdles field with her NCAA provisional-qualifying time of 8.23, while Kim Pancoast owns a lead in the mile (4:55.86). Channing Anseth (17:21.00) also owns a No. 1 ranking in the 5,000 over teammate Val Zajac, although the two are currently the only athletes to have a mark for the event. Egle Uljas posted an impressive time of 1:18.44 in the 600-yard run on Saturday that gives her a huge lead of nearly five seconds over the conference field. Becky Breisch, the NCAA leader in the shot put, owns a lead of more than three feet with her automatic-qualifying mark of 57-3.

Nebraska men with No. 1 event rankings include Dmitrijs Milkevics (1:08.81) in the 600-yard run, Peter van der Westhuizen in the 1,000 meters (2:23.64) and Alec Maduza
(15:50.96) in the 5,000 meters. Maduza is the lone athlete on the 5,000-meter list.

Thirteen All-Americans Return in '06
A combined 13 NCAA All-Americans will suit up for the Nebraska men's and women's squads in 2006. The Husker men will feature nine All-Americans, including 2005 NCAA champion Dmitrijs Milkevics, while four honorees will compete for the NU women. Of the four Husker women's All-Americans, three own NCAA championships in Becky Breisch (2003 outdoor shot put, 2004 discus), Priscilla Lopes (2004 60m hurdles) and Ashley Selig (2005 pentathlon).

Husker NCAA All-Americans (former NCAA champions in bold)
Women
Name; Honors; Event(s)
Becky Breisch; Eight; Shot Put (five), Discus (three)
Jenny Green; Two; Pole Vault
Priscilla Lopes; Six; 60m (two); 60m hurdles (two); 100m hurdles (two)
Ashley Selig; Four; Pentathlon, Heptathlon 

Men
Name; Honors; Event(s)
Gable Baldwin; One; Pole Vault
Dusty Jonas; Two; High Jump
Dmitrijs Milkevics; Three; 800m
Aaron Nasers; One; 800m
Aaron Plas; Two; High Jump
Nate Probasco; Two; 200m, 4x100m
Daniel Roper; One; Triple Jump
Ray Scotten; Three; Pole Vault
Oliver Williams Jr.; One; 4x100m

Three Win USATF Titles
The 2005 season proved to be a banner year for Nebraska athletes competing on the national stage. While Huskers brought home four individual NCAA titles, that success carried into the summer months with three athletes claiming titles at the U.S. Track and Field Championships in Carson, Calif.

Becky Breisch became the first Husker to win a USATF title in the women's discus with her final throw of 206-5, securing victory over four-time U.S. champion Seilala Sua (202-10). The win also clinched a spot for Breisch on the U.S. World Championships team, while she fell just short of qualifying in the shot put with a fifth-place finish.

Dusty Jonas and Robert Rands earned respective U.S. junior titles in the high jump and long jump events. Jonas cleared 7-4 1/2, more than five inches higher than the runner-up, to win the high jump, while Rands, who joined the Nebraska men's squad this fall, soared to 24-7 while taking the long jump. Jonas and Rands each qualified for the Pan American Junior Games, where they also claimed titles during the summer.

Huskers Take on the World
Four Nebraska athletes saw their 2005 seasons extend into the late summer to the IAAF World Championships in Helsinki, Finland, during late August. The elite competition served as the second consecutive world championship competition for Becky Breisch, Priscilla Lopes, Dmitrijs Milkevics and Egle Uljas.

Priscilla Lopes experienced the most successful stay among Huskers with her semifinals appearance in the women's 100-meter hurdles. Competing for Canada, Lopes notched the 10th-fastest semifinal time to fall only two spots shy of her first career final at a world competition.

Becky Breisch finished 18th overall during women's discus qualifying with a throw of 57.16 meters (187-6) on her second of three attempts. Breisch recorded fouls on her first and third attempts to finish 10th in her flight.

Dmitrijs Milkevics, competing for Latvia, ran in the men's 800-meter race, but did not advance out of the qualifying stages. Milkevics finished fifth in the third of six heats with a time of 1:50.44, just .30 seconds off the heat's winning time.

Egle Uljas competing for Estonia, ran a season-best time of 52.94 during women’s 400-meter qualifying to finish seventh in the first of six heats and 32nd overall out of 46 athletes. Uljas competed primarily in the 800 meters as a Husker last spring, but also competed at the 2004 Olympics in the 400.