Huskers Add Six More Big 12 Titles

<?xml:namespace prefix="st1" ns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"?>LINCOLN?The Big 12 Indoor Track and Field Championships concluded Saturday, as a Devaney Center Indoor Track crowd of 2,865 watched six Nebraska athletes claim individual conference titles. Both men’s and women’s teams placed second in the team championship races to Texas. The Longhorn women squeaked by the Huskers by a 125-118 margin, while the UT men posted a 127-100 edge in team points.<?xml:namespace prefix="o" ns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"?>

                  

“Certainly on the men’s side we had a great meet,” Head Coach Gary Pepin said. “Texas just had too many good athletes out there, but I was pleased with our team’s efffort. On the women’s side, it really hurt us not having Egle (Uljas) out there (sick), because she could have really helped us in two events (800-meter run and 4x400-meter relay). The Texas women had been No. 1 this season, but we battled them and did about as good as we could do on that side.”

 

Junior Priscilla Lopes wowed the crowd with a dominating performance in the women’s 60-meter hurdles that earned her a fourth career Big 12 crown. The 2004 NCAA champion in the event, Lopes posted a school-record time of 7.92 that also broke Big 12 indoor meet and Devaney Center records, as well as the previous all-time Big 12 best of 7.95 (Raasin McIntosh-Texas, 2004). The Whitby, Ontario, native now leads the nation by a huge margin of 0.14 seconds after erasing her previous school record of 7.96, which she set to win her national title two years ago.  She also finished runner-up in both the 60-meter and 200-meter dash events. Her 200 time was a career best.

 

“I was really tuned into the (hurdles) race,” Lopes said. “Sometimes your mind kind of goes blank and the race goes by really quick, but this time I felt the Texas girl next to me and we hit hands a couple of times and I thought ?You’re not going to get a chance to hit me a third.’ I really wasn’t expecting the score I got. I thought I’d go (7.95), but hey I’ll take (7.92) any day. I feel pretty good after how that race went now I’m just looking forward to NCAAs.”

 

A second Husker and Big 12 indoor meet record also fell Saturday when junior Dmitrijs Milkevics erased his previous school record with a time of 1:46.46 to win the men’s 800-meter title. The Riga, Latvia, native regained the national lead in the event with the performance, which bested the previous school record of 1:47.54 that he set earlier this season at the Tyson Invitational.

 

“I thought I ran pretty well,” Milkevics said. “I did what I wanted to do. I ran hard all the way, ran smooth and I really pushed myself to run my fastest during the last lap. It was a really good race for me.”

 

Senior Courtney Jones posted his best performance as a Husker to win the men’s 60-meter hurdles with a time of 7.74. Jones, who previously owned a best of 7.81 in the event, won his first career Big 12 championship.

 

“It was a tight race the whole way,” Jones said. “I actually think I was a little behind for a while. I could see (Texas Tech’s Daryl Burgess) out of the corner of my eye and I knew I had to pick it up and luckily I came back to beat him. This feels really great. I’ve been trying for this the whole time since I’ve been here.”

 

A pair of Husker men successfully defended 2005 indoor conference titles with senior Ray Scotten winning the men’s pole vault and junior Daniel Roper taking the triple jump competition. Scotten, who had failed to break the 17-foot barrier in the meets leading up to this weekend, recorded a height of 17-9 for his second career conference championship, while Roper soared to a distance of 50-9 1/2 in the triple jump.

 

“Part of my problem this year is that I think I wasn’t motivated enough,” Scotten. “But today when the crowd got behind me, I got a little spark in my step and it really helped. This meet is really where it’s at. I’d rather win at conference than go to nationals, but I’m excited to be doing both.

 

“It meant a lot to win at home,” Roper said. “I’m just happy that I was able to get the win in front of my girlfriend and my coaches. I struggled through the (qualifying) rounds and I came back and I’m really excited about the win.” 

Senior Becky Breisch claimed her eighth career Big 12 title with a win in the women’s shot put. The eight-time NCAA All-American launched the shot 57-6 1/4 to outlast runner-up Michelle Carter (Texas).

 

“I was warming up pretty big so I was hoping for a better throw, but that was all I needed to win so I’m happy with it,” Breisch said. “It’s important to us to win as a team, but I keep telling myself that this is only indoors and once we get outdoors I don't think anyone will be able to touch us.”

 

While Nebraska was busy collecting individual Big 12 titles, two Huskers also added qualifications to next month’s NCAA Indoor Championships. Sophomore Elizabeth Lange notched her first career provisional-qualifying performance in the women’s 800-meter run with a gutsy third-place time of 2:07.91 that kept the Husker women in the team title race. Junior Nate Probasco recorded a season-best provisional time of 21.17 in the men’s 200-meter dash for a second-place finish out of the slower of the two final heats. He improved on an earlier provisional time of 21.18. Senior Aaron Plas also improved on his provisional mark with a fifth-place finish in the men's high jump (7-3), while sophomore Dusty Jonas hit the automatic standard once again by placing fourth (7-4 1/2) among a highly talented field featuring the nation's top three jumpers.

 

NU finished the weekend with nine individual Big 12 crowns, as senior Ashley Selig (women’s pentathlon), junior Arturs Abolins (men’s long jump) and sophomore Jenny Green (women’s pole vault) claimed titles during day one action on Friday.

                         

The indoor season begins to wind down next weekend, as Nebraska will send athletes to the Cyclone NCAA Qualifier in Ames, Iowa, with the intentions of adding more qualifiers to the NCAA Championships, which will be held in two weeks in Fayetteville, Ark.