NU Grabs Two Kansas Relays Titles

LAWRENCE, Kan.?The Nebraska men’s and women’s track and field teams experienced a successful second day at the 79th annual Kansas Relays, as more than 20 Huskers competed at KU’s Memorial Stadium.

While many Huskers were attempting to qualify for Saturday’s event finals by advancing through preliminary rounds, NU managed to claim a pair of event titles Friday. Leading the way was junior Kayla Wilkinson, fresh off breaking the NU school record in the women’s javelin last Saturday at the Nebraska Invitational.

Despite battling her runway approach throughout much of the afternoon, Wilkinson still won her third meet title in four tries this outdoor season. Wilkinson, who returned to the state where she attended high school, launched a throw of 167-4 on her first attempt of the day to easily outdistance the rest of the field by more than 13 feet. The Deshler, Neb., native was competing in her first Kansas Relays since winning the girls bronze medal as a senior at Belleville (Kan.) High School in 2003.

"My approach was off today," Wilkinson said. "I guess my adrenaline must have been pumping too much when it was time to throw, because my warm ups went good. I still managed to win, so I’m happy."

The Nebraska women also utilized the legs of senior Sara Jane Baker, junior Justine Roach, sophomore Kim Shubert and junior Priscilla Lopes to claim the team’s second Kansas Relays title. The quartet posted a blazing time of 58.50 in the 4x100-meter shuttle hurdle relay to dominate its four-team heat by more than three full seconds. The clocking ranks seventh on NU’s all-time charts.

While junior Jeni Steiner earned the runner-up spot in the women’s shot put final, she was the top collegiate finisher with a heave of 49-9 ?. The all-conference selection from last season’s Big 12 outdoor meet improved on her previous season-best mark, which had already earned a trip to next month’s NCAA Midwest Regional Championships, by more than a foot. Sophomore Keith Lloyd matched Steiner’s silver medal performance with a put of 55-11 ? in the men’s shot event.

"Lloyd has had a good meet," Head Coach Gary Pepin said. "He seems to be improving by the week in the shot put and also getting more consistent overall. Steiner had a good performance, as well."

Junior Daniel Roper improved on his previous season-best performance in the men’s triple jump with a fourth-place leap of 50-9 ?. The mark ranks third among Big 12 athletes this season.

In preliminary action, five Huskers and three NU relays advanced to Saturday’s track event finals. NU’s most successful event was the men’s 400-meter hurdles, which featured three qualifiers in sophomore Gatis Spunde (52.02) and seniors Mark Harrison (52.13) and Andy Nelson (52.40), who was competing unattached. Each of the three athletes won their individual heats, with Spunde and Harrison posting the day’s top two times. Sophomore Andrew Pearson (53.02) finished 10th overall, missing out on the event’s final qualifying slot by only two places. Junior Justine Roach also gave NU an individual in the women’s hurdles final with a season-best, eighth-place clocking of 1:01.22.

The two-time defending Big 12 champion Husker men’s 4x100-meter relay comprised of junior Courtney Jones, senior Oliver Williams Jr. and juniors Nate Probasco and Daniel Roper recorded a time of 40.64 to match Lindenwood for the day’s best time and set a matchup in Saturday’s final despite having Jones fill in for the team’s regular lead-off leg, junior Arturs Abolins. The women’s foursome of Lopes, freshman Pinar Saka, junior Sheryl Morgan and redshirt freshman Chi Kalu posted the third-best overall time of 46.31 to win its their preliminary heat.

Other Husker qualifiers included Morgan, who notched the day’s third-best time of 55.58 in the women’s 400-meter dash, and the men’s 4x400-meter relay (Harrison, Pearson, freshman Nathan Kumm and Spunde), which sneaked out of the preliminary round with an eighth-place time of 3:12.23.

"The weather and competition at this meet have been great," Pepin said. "It was an excellent meet for us to come to this weekend. We are getting the kind of competition we needed at this time of the year."

Senior Kayte Tranel was also in action Friday in Eugene, Ore., at the Oregon Invitational. The Husker distance runner broke out a huge personal-best time of 34:10.94 on a cold and windy night in the women's 10,000-meter run to finish fifth among a very talented field. The mark earned Tranel a provisional qualification to the NCAA Outdoor Championships and was only 15 seconds shy of meeting the automatic standard. An All-American during the cross country season, she cut more than one minute off her previous career best of 35:23.18. The second half of the race was especially impressive for Tranel, who had a split of 16:52.94, which was faster than her lifetime-best 5,000-meter time of 16:53.85.

Saturday at the Kansas Relays will feature a full slate of activity for Nebraska. More than 30 Huskers are slated to vie for event titles, including Gable Baldwin (men’s pole vault), Jenny Green (women’s pole vault), Dusty Jonas (men’s high jump), Priscilla Lopes (women’s 100-meter hurdles), Aaron Plas (men’s high jump) and Ray Scotten (men’s pole vault), each of who will compete in the ultra-competitive Invitational sections featuring both collegiate and professional athletes. A group of eight Huskers who stayed in Nebraska this weekend also will be in action at the Doane Relays in Crete.