11 Huskers to Compete for NCAA Honors

Eleven members of the Nebraska men's and women's track and field teams travel to Fayetteville, Ark., this week in search of national honors at the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships. The University of Arkansas will play host to the meet at its Randal Tyson Track Center for the seventh straight year. NU's squad will feature six women and five men.

NCAA Championships Information
The NCAA Indoor Championships begin Friday at 9 a.m. with the start of the men's heptathlon. Nebraska's first scheduled event is the women's high jump, which will feature Sara Jane Baker at 2:30 p.m. Finals in the men's pole vault (Ray Scotten) and men's long jump (Arturs Abolins) also will be held Friday, as well as preliminary rounds of the women's 800-meter run (Egle Uljas) and men's (Courtney Jones) and women's (Priscilla Lopes) 60-meter hurdles. The finals for the two hurdles competitions are scheduled for Friday evening.

Saturday should be a long and busy day for NU, as Ashley Selig and Sara Jane Baker compete in the women's pentathlon beginning at 11:30 a.m. Field event finals to be held featuring Huskers include the women's shot put (Becky Breisch), men's high jump (Dusty Jonas and Aaron Plas) and women's pole vault (Jenny Green). If Uljas reaches the 800-meter finals, she will compete Saturday evening.

A complete schedule featuring a list of NU entries is included on pg. 2 of this week's track and field notes.

Live results from the NCAA Championships will be available at NCAAsports.com. Updates on Nebraska athletes will be posted on Huskers.com throughout the weekend, along with post-meet recaps and complete results following competition each day.

NU Women in NCAA Title Hunt
A strong contingent of six athletes will give the Husker women's team a shot at its third consecutive top-four finish at the NCAA indoor meet. Included among the group are three former NCAA champions in Becky Breisch (shot put, discus), Priscilla Lopes (60-meter hurdles) and Ashley Selig (pentathlon).

Despite its small numbers, the women's team holds the potential to put up a huge amount of team points this weekend. Among the six athletes, five Huskers rank among the meet's top-eight (scoring position) ranked athletes, including two with No. 1 rankings (Lopes and Selig), one with a second-place position (Breisch) and another with a third-place rating (Baker-pentathlon).

The squad has a chance to win Nebraska's first NCAA title since 1984, when former Husker great Merlene Ottey led the Huskers to their third straight indoor national championship. NU's best NCAA finish since was two years ago, when the women finished third indoors.

Men Aim for Another Top-10 Finish
Five Huskers will attempt to push the NU men's squad to a second consecutive top-10 indoor finish for the first time in more than 30 years, when the team placed tied for fifth (1972) and eighth (1973) in back-to-back national indoor meets for the third time in school history. Nebraska earned seventh place last season, its highest team finish since the 1996 squad placed second.

Leading this year's team is a pair of runner-up athletes from the 2005 NCAA meet, Dusty Jonas (high jump) and Ray Scotten (pole vault). Arturs Abolins should help fuel the team's top-10 bid, as he enters the weekend with the nation's second-best mark in the long jump. Courtney Jones also owns a top-four position in the 60-meter hurdles, while the Huskers' final athlete, Aaron Plas, has finished among the top eight in the high jump at his previous two NCAA meets.

Nine Huskers Win Big 12 Indoor Titles
A two-day total of 5,198 spectators who packed the Devaney Center Indoor Track Feb. 24th and 25th were treated to some terrific performances by Nebraska athletes, including nine who earned individual Big 12 titles.

Three Huskers?Priscilla Lopes, Dmitrijs Milkevics and Ashley Selig?broke their own school records while adding more Big 12 hardware to their respective trophy cases.

Lopes blazed to a time of 7.92 in the women's 60-meter hurdles, setting new standards for the Devaney Center and Big 12 indoor meet, as well as the conference's all-time best performance. The title was her second straight in the event, as well as her fourth overall. Lopes also claimed silver-medal honors in the 60-meter and 200-meter dash events to power the NU women's team.

Selig put together a school-record point total of 4,336 to win the women's heptathlon over teammate Sara Jane Baker. The 2005 NCAA indoor champion in the event, Selig overtook the NCAA's No. 1 score while winning her second conference pentathlon championship, and third title overall.

Milkevics shattered his own school record, as well as the former Big 12 meet and Devaney Center standards, with a time of 1:46.46 in the men's 800-meter run. Along with adding his second career Big 12 indoor title, the reigning NCAA outdoor champion also regained the top NCAA performance.

Two Huskers, Daniel Roper (triple jump) and Ray Scotten (pole vault), successfully defended men's indoor titles despite experiencing up-and-down regular seasons. Roper, who missed the first two weeks of the season while recovering from ankle surgery, soared to a mark of 50-9 1/2 while winning his second Big 12 title. Scotten, a three-time All-American who had failed to break the 17-foot barrier in the vault during the season's first six weeks, cleared 17-9 for his second title and first NCAA provisional-qualifying mark of the year.

Jenny Green and Becky Breisch each returned to championship form after redshirting during the 2005 season. Green won her third women's Big 12 pole vault competition in three attempts with a season-best clearance of 13-5 1/4. Breisch held on for victory in the women's shot put with a heave of 57-6 1/4. The honor counted as Breisch's eighth conference title, including her fifth in the shot.

Courtney Jones recorded the performance of his life to win his first Big 12 title, in the men's 60-meter hurdles. His time of 7.74 shattered his previous best of 7.84, while also taking over the No. 3 spot on the NCAA performance list.

Nebraska's final champion was Arturs Abolins, who provided a mild upset of the NCAA's No. 1-ranked athlete in the men's long jump. The Riga, Latvia, native registered a leap of 25-8 1/4 to outdistance Texas A&M's Fabrice LaPierre by two inches. Abolins, who ranks second in the NCAA for the long jump, matched his 2004 indoor Big 12 championship with the victory.

Selig Set to Defend NCAA Title
This weekend one Husker, Ashley Selig, has her sights locked in on a repeat performance of the 2005 NCAA indoor meet, when she set the former school record in the pentathlon while winning her first national championship.

Similarities abound from last season to this one for the Husker senior. For the second straight year, Selig enters the NCAA Championships as the nation's leader in the pentathlon, as well as the reigning Big 12 champion. The Lincoln native first rewrote the Husker record in the event as a junior at the Husker Invite. After breaking it to claim her NCAA title, she followed suit again this season at the Big 12 Championships.

Selig will face stiff competition this season, including teammate Sara Jane Baker, who owns the No. 3 NCAA mark. Arizona State's Jacqueline Johnson, who won the NCAA outdoor heptathlon competition and finished second in the pentathlon indoors as a freshman in 2004, also returns after stepping away from the track in 2005 for a short stint with the Sun Devil basketball team.

Breisch Back and Better than Ever
After redshirting the 2005 season to recover from career-threatening elbow and shoulder injuries, Becky Breisch returns to the NCAA Championships on Saturday seeking her third career NCAA title, and second in the women's shot put.

The Edwardsburg, Mich., native has rewritten her own personal best three times already this season, while she has exceeded the NCAA automatic-qualifying standard during four of the last five competitions. An eight-time NCAA All-American, Breisch set an indoor personal best of 57-10 1/2 to win the shot at the Iowa State Classic last month, erasing the previous best of 57-6 1/2 that she set earlier this season at the Husker Invite.

Breisch earned Nebraska's first automatic qualification of the season to the national indoor meet during the adidas Classic, while she added her eighth conference title two weeks ago with a win in the shot put at the Big 12 Championships. With the victory, Breisch joined Paulette Mitchell (1994-96) as NU's only three-time indoor conference champions in the women's shot put.

Baker Lone Husker to Double-Up
Sara Jane Baker could have a huge impact on the Nebraska women's national title hopes this weekend. The only Husker competing in multiple events, Baker enters the meet with the opportunity to earn team points in both the pentathlon and high jump.

Earning a top place in the pentathlon would be the safest best, as she owns the nation's No. 3 score in the event this season. Momentum should not be a problem for Baker. She has set career-best totals in her only two pentathlon competitions this season, including the Big 12 Championships, where she notched individual bests in four of the five events to finish second behind teammate Ashley Selig with a total of 4,203. One of those four individual career bests?a leap of 5-11 1/4?also earned Baker a spot in the NCAA high jump competition.

While this year's indoor nationals will be Baker's fifth consecutive NCAA championship meet, it is the first time she will be competing in an event other than a combined events challenge. She is still seeking her first All-America placing. Baker's highest finish came at the 2004 indoor meet, where she finished ninth in the pentathlon.

Lopes Focuses on Hurdles
For the first time in three seasons, Priscilla Lopes will not compete in an event other than the 60-meter hurdles at the NCAA Indoor Championships. Despite the fact that she also owned season-best marks this year good enough to be selected for the 60-meter and 200-meter dash events, she will focus solely on the hurdles this weekend.

A six-time All-American, Lopes will attempt to regain the 60-meter hurdles title she won as a freshman in 2004. Last season, the Whitby, Ontario, native finished a close second place to USC's Virginia Powell by a margin of only two-hundredths of a second. Lopes leads the nation in 2006 with the conference-record time of 7.92 she notched to win her second consecutive Big 12 championship. Powell currently ranks second (7.98).

Green Returns to National Stage
Two seasons after a third-place finish in the women's pole vault at the NCAA indoor meet, Jenny Green returns to the site where she helped push the Husker women to their best team finish in nearly 20 years.

The Grand Island, Neb., native missed the entire 2005 season while rehabbing a career-threatening back injury. Now recovered and hungrier than ever, she hopes to help give the NU women a shot at their first national title since 1984.

While Green just barely reached this weekend's field as the final of 17 selections in the pole vault, she proved her mettle by showing up big in the Huskers' most important meet of the year. Despite having not broken the 13-foot barrier all season before the Big 12 Championships?a five-meet stretch?she led a 1-2-3 Nebraska sweep of the women's pole vault at the conference meet with a season-best clearance of 13-5 1/2.

Green appears ready to challenge her personal-best and school-record indoor height of 13-9 1/4 this week, but earning a high-level placing will be tough. Four athletes entered in the field own career bests of 14-0 or better.

Jonas, Plas Ready for NCAA's
Husker high jumpers Dusty Jonas and Aaron Plas already know how tough the men's NCAA indoor high jump competition will be. They competed among a virtual NCAA field two weeks ago as both placed at the Big 12 Indoor Championships.

Each of the top-five finishers from this season's conference meet earned bids for the NCAA Championships. That Big 12 field included four of the current top-six high jumpers in the nation: No. 1 Andra Manson (Texas), No. 2 (tie) Kyle Lancaster (Kansas State), No. 4 Jonas and No. 5 (tie) Scott Sellars (Kansas State). Plas, who has battled a hamstring injury through much of the indoor season, also ranks high nationally in 12th place.

While Jonas and Plas finished fourth and fifth among the conference field, they registered very impressive clearances of 7-4 1/4 and 7-3, respectively. Both Huskers will aim for repeat All-America performances at this year's NCAA indoor meet. Jonas finished second among the field at last year's national meet as a freshman, while Plas tied for seventh.

Scotten Busts Slump in Big Way
One may not have recognized Ray Scotten?the silver-medal finisher in the men's pole vault at last year's NCAA Indoor Championships?earlier this season strictly by watching the senior Husker vault.

Marred in a season-long slump, Scotten, who reached 18-0 or higher seven times in 2005 (indoor and outdoor), was unable to break the 17-foot barrier in each of his first seven competitions this year.

Facing the prospect of missing his first NCAA meet since the Indoor Championships of his freshman year, Scotten produced with his back against the wall. The three-time All-American defended the conference championship he won last year by clearing 17-9 at the Big 12 indoor meet two weeks ago.

The next step for Scotten appears to be bettering his indoor personal best of 18-0 1/2. Any mark above that height this weekend could put Scotten in the race for his first national title.

Abolins Aims to Keep Consistency
Arturs Abolins, the top-ranked Nebraska men's athlete competing this weekend, has also been the most consistent Husker this season. The nation's second-rated athlete in the long jump, Abolins has cracked the 25-foot barrier in each of his five meets in 2006. While the Riga, Latvia, native's season and personal best of 25-9 1/2 is more than four inches shy of the nation's leader, he proved that he is ready to compete for an NCAA championship two weeks ago.

The junior won his second Big 12 indoor title after defeating the NCAA's No. 1-ranked jumper, Texas A&M's Fabrice Lapierre, with a leap of 25-8 1/4 at the indoor conference meet. Abolins, who will compete in his fifth consecutive national meet this weekend, aims for his first spot among the NCAA's top-eight finishers.

Jones Looks for Another Career Day
Courtney Jones picked the right time to have a career day, as he earned his first Big 12 championship in the men's 60-meter hurdles two weeks ago. His career-best time of 7.74 moved him into second place on Nebraska's all-time performance list for the event. The title was the third by a different Husker men's hurdler in the past four years.

The senior enters the NCAA Championships ranked fourth nationally, but he faces a tough challenge in his quest for a national title. The top NCAA hurdler, Tennessee's Aries Merritt, owns a season best of 7.61. The role of pursuer may suit Jones just fine for this week, though. Before his win at the conference meet, the Lancaster, Texas, native entered that competition with the Big 12's No. 3 time of 7.84 before breaking out his big performance.

Uljas Seeking NCAA Redemption
After suffering a disqualification in the women's 800-meter run during last year's NCAA Outdoor Championships, Egle Uljas will look for redemption in 2006.

As a freshman last outdoor season, Uljas switched her specialty race from the 400 meters to the 800 and showed tremendous potential. She placed second at the NCAA Midwest Regional and led much of the national title race before falling roughly 30 meters from the finish line. The disqualification was caused after she accidentally tripped another runner during the fall.

Uljas has picked right up where she left off last year. She set the Husker women's record of 2:05.30 for the 800 in her first attempt this season at the Husker Invite, which earned her an automatic bid to this week's NCAA Championships. The Tallinn, Estonia, native missed Big 12's with an upper-respiratory infection, but she enters the meet with the nation's seventh-best time.

Cyclone NCAA Qualifier Recap
Daniel Roper slightly improved his previous provisional-qualifying mark for the NCAA Indoor Championships by winning the men's triple jump at the Cyclone NCAA Qualifier in Ames, Iowa, on March 4.

Roper recorded a leap of 51-5 1/2 to exceed his previous season best by one inch while earning top honors at Iowa State. Entering the weekend, the Plantation, Fla., native ranked 18th nationally with his mark of 51-4 1/2, but Saturday's performance was not enough to earn him an NCAA bid.

Of the 13 Huskers who competed in Ames, only Roper improved his qualifying stock. Nate Probasco, who entered the meet with hopes of lowering the nation’s No. 21 time of 21.17 in the men’s 200-meter dash, finished seventh with a time of 21.29.

Other NU athletes seeking improved marks for NCAA consideration included Jenna Blubaugh, who reached 12-5 1/2 to earn third place in the women’s pole vault; Gable Baldwin, who finished fourth in the men’s pole vault (16-7 1/2); Aaron Ross, who claimed fourth place in the men’s 60-meter hurdles (7.91); LeRon Williams, the seventh-place finisher in the men’s long jump (23-11 3/4); and Elizabeth Lange, who notched a time of 2:10.61 in the women’s 800 meters. None of the five were able to notch season-best performances.

Egle Uljas, already the owner an automatic NCAA qualification in the women’s 800 meters, tuned up for this week's national competition by finishing runner-up in the 800 to South Carolina’s Shay Shelton with a time of 2:06.24. Uljas set the Nebraska women’s record of 2:05.30 earlier this season to win the event at the Frank Sevigne Husker Invitational and claim her first career bid the NCAA indoor meet.

Demea Carter also competed Saturday, setting a career best of 24-1 3/4 to earn fourth place in the men’s long jump.

Eight Huskers Set NCAA Auto Marks
Eight Nebraska athletes (five women, three men) punched their tickets to the NCAA indoor meet through automatic-qualifying performances this season.

The women's pentathlon is the team's strongest event, as both Ashley Selig and Sara Jane Baker posted auto marks last month during the Frank Sevigne Husker Invitational. Becky Breisch hit the automatic standard five times in the shot put this season, including a personal-best mark of 57-10 1/2 at the Iowa State Classic. Priscilla Lopes claimed an auto qualification for the third straight year in the 60-meter hurdles with her NCAA-leading time of 7.92, while Egle Uljas qualified for the first time in the 800 meters indoors after notching a new school record at the Husker Invite.

All three Husker men's automatic qualifiers are highly ranked. Arturs Abolins, Dusty Jonas and Dmitrijs Milkevics each earned their qualifications through spectacular performances at the Tyson Invitational. Milkevics, who recently turned professional, still ranks first nationally in the 800 meters, while Abolins is second in the long jump. Jonas is the NCAA's No. 4-rated athlete in the high jump.

Huskers Rank 4th, 7th in Coaches Poll
In conjunction with the launch of its new web site this season, the United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association has begun organizing a Division I USTFCCCA Coaches Poll. Nebraska is one of five programs to have both its men's and women's teams appear among the poll's top 10 this week.

The NU women, who have been ranked fifth nearly the entire season and jumped to third following their performance at last weekend's Big 12 Championships, sit in fourth place this week. The squad trails only Texas (first), South Carolina (second), and Stanford (third) in the poll.

The Husker men were voted as the seventh-best team by the coaches for the second straight poll after spending two consecutive weeks in the No. 6 spot. Texas leads defending NCAA indoor champion Arkansas at the top. Other ranked conference squads include Baylor (12th), Kansas (13th), Texas A&M (14th) and Kansas State (20th).

NU Rated 5th, 17th in Trackwire 25
Last week's release of the latest Trackwire 25 marked the first time this season that Nebraska did not place both men's and women's teams among the ranking's top 10, as they had been cemented during each of the poll's previous six weeks this season. The women's team dropped to No. 5 this week after ranking fourth for the entire season. The Huskers trail No. 1 Texas by a projected 22 points, but the deficit between NU and No. 2 Stanford is only 14. Other than Nebraska and Texas, no other league school earned a top-25 ranking.

The Husker men fell from sixth to No. 15 last week following Dmitrijs Milkevics' recent announcement that he is turning professional, and they dropped another two spots in to a tie with Kansas State for 17th this week. The poll predicts a talented Big 12 men's field in 2006, as five other league teams also appear in the rankings: Texas (No. 4), Baylor (tie-No. 5), Kansas (tie-No. 11), Texas A&M (tie-No. 20) and Texas Tech (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.

Husker athletes among the latest "Dandy Dozen":
Women
Ashley Selig, Pentathlon?1st
Becky Breisch, Shot Put?2nd
Priscilla Lopes, 60m Hurdles?2nd
Sara Jane Baker, Heptathlon?3rd
Egle Uljas, 800 Meters?9th

Men
Arturs Abolins, Long Jump?3rd
Courtney Jones, 60m Hurdles?6th
Dusty Jonas, High Jump?7th
Ray Scotten, Pole Vault?7th
Aaron Plas, High Jump?10th

Middle Distance Pair Earns Big 12 Honors
Two Huskers, Dmitrijs Milkevics and Egle Uljas, have garnered Big 12 Athlete of the Week honors this season after posting outstanding performances.

Uljas has won Women’s Athlete of the Week twice this season. She shattered a pair of NU women’s indoor records in a three-week stretch in early February.

She recorded the nation’s No. 7 time to win the women's 800 meters at the Husker Invite with a personal-best time of 2:05.30. Uljas broke former Husker great Lisa Darley Graham’s 1991 school-record mark of 2:06.93, as well as the Devaney Center record. A native of Tallinn, Estonia, she also claimed a new Estonia national record during the race, erasing the former record of 2:05.57.

Most recently, the 2004 Olympian claimed conference honors again Feb. 21 for shattering Marcia Tate's 1984 NU standard in the 600-meter run (1:33.11) with a time of 1:28.42. She also set a new Devaney Center record, as well as an all-time best Big 12 performance.

Milkevics was named Big 12 Conference Men’s Track and Field Athlete of the Week Feb. 14 for his performance during the Tyson Invitational in Fayetteville, Ark. He broke his own Husker men’s indoor 800-meter run school record with a personal-best time of 1:47.54, erasing the former school record of 1:47.82 that he set as a freshman during preliminary sections of the 2004 NCAA Indoor Championships.

Thirteen All-Americans Return in '06
A combined 13 NCAA All-Americans will suit up for the Husker men's and women's squads in 2006. The NU men will feature nine athletes, 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).

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, she 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, and Egle Uljas, competing for Estonia, ran in the men's and women's 800-meter competitions, 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, while Uljas finished 32nd overall out of 46 athletes.