Baker Pushes NU Women to Big 12 Lead

WACO, Texas?The Big 12 Outdoor Track and Field Championships continued Saturday, as senior Sara Jane Baker earned Nebraska’s first individual conference crown at Baylor’s Hart-Patterson Track and Field Complex. The Huskers currently lead the women’s team race with 48 points, while the NU men are fourth with 27 points.

Baker put the finishing touches on her first career individual Big 12 championship with a final personal-best score of 5,486 points in the women’s heptathlon. A 2006 NCAA All-American in the indoor high jump, Baker entered the day in third place, but she took command of the competition by winning two of the final three events in the long jump (19-3 ?) and 800-meter run (2:17.08). She also notched the second-best throw of 117-7 in the javelin. Her final day performance rocketed her from a 49-point deficit entering Saturday to a 292-point win over Iowa State’s Erica Lynn.

"I was really pleased with my long jump," Baker said. "That’s been my event in the past that I’ve struggled with, so to come through and really do well is just amazing."

The victory gave Baker a well-earned first conference title in her eighth and final opportunity. Prior to Saturday, the Kalamazoo, Mich., native had finished runner up in three consecutive Big 12 combined events competitions. She now will turn her attention to the Big 12 high jump, which will be held Sunday afternoon.

"It means a lot to win in my senior season. It is a bummer that (redshirt teammates) Ashley (Selig) and Casie (Witte) couldn’t be here with me, but I’m glad that I could get it done. I feel that indoors at conference I had a really good meet and maybe peaked too early. It’s promising to know that I still have a lot of areas I can improve for nationals."

"Sara handled the competition in a very mature way," NU multi-events coach Kris Grimes said. "She did a great job of being disciplined. When she was down early she didn’t panic, she knew that she was going to be okay. She just came out today and took care of business. I’m so happy for her. She’s just such a wonderful athlete and a wonderful person. She certainly deserved a championship."

Baker was joined on the awards stand by teammate Kim Shubert, who placed eighth in the heptathlon in only her redshirt freshman season with 4,642 points. The performance earned her a second All-Big 12 honor to go with the seventh-place finish in the pentathlon she claimed during the indoor season. Shubert finished the day by registering marks of 16-3 ? (wind aided) in the long jump, 91-4 in the javelin and 2:30.07 in the 800-meter run.

Senior Jenna Blubaugh broke out a personal-best height of 13-7 ? to claim silver-medal honors in the women’s pole vault behind Kansas State’s Breanna Eveland (14-5 ?). Blubaugh, who has battled a foot injury recently and was limited in her warm-up attempts prior to Saturday’s competition, surpassed the previous meet record of 13-5 ?, which Eveland also shattered. The Husker matched the runner-up honor she earned earlier this season at the Big 12 indoor meet.

"Jenna has been jumping great, and she’s a tough kid," Grimes said. "She’s overcome a lot of surgeries and heartaches, and she wasn’t willing to let that stop her today."

Another Husker senior, Becky Breisch, earned second place in the women’s shot put with a mark of 57-6 ?. Breisch, who owns a pair of Big 12 outdoor titles in the event in addition to her three indoor conference championships, finished behind Texas’ Michelle Carter (59-0). The Husker will be back in action on Sunday, when she attempts to become the first Big 12 women’s athlete to collect three discus titles.

Sophomore Dusty Jonas and senior Aaron Plas grabbed the No. 3 and 4 placings in a star-studded men’s high jump featuring four of the nation’s top-10 rated athletes. Both Huskers cleared 7-2 ? before bowing out of the competition at 7-3 ?. Texas’ Andra Manson won the event with a height of 7-5.

Two more Husker men added team points in the long jump, as junior Arturs Abolins and freshman Robert Rands finished third and fifth, respectively. Abolins reached 25-9 ?, which extended his streak of meets over the 25-foot barrier to nine. Rands jumped a distance of 24-9 ?, the first time in a Nebraska uniform that he has reached 24 feet. Baylor’s Chris Gillis won the competition with a distance of 26-1 ?.

During the conclusion of the men’s decathlon, junior Lee Martin moved up from his first-day position of eighth to match his 2005 outdoor sixth-place finish with a personal-best score of 7,109. The mark earned Martin his first career NCAA provisional qualification while moving him into eighth on NU’s all-time decathlon chart. Sophomore teammate Ben Schutter also notched a provisional mark of 7,081 to earn seventh place, while redshirt freshmen Skyler Reising (6,806) and Pat Burke (6,704) finished just shy of All-Big 12 status in ninth and 10th places, respectively. Each Husker decathlete set a personal-best score during the two days of competition.

Junior Priscilla Lopes, who is the defending champion in the women’s 100-meter hurdles, was one of six Huskers to advance through preliminary action on the track and qualify for Sunday’s event finals. Lopes easily won her heat with a season-best time of 12.94, which was 0.11 faster than the second-fastest qualifier, Texas’ Melaine Walker (13.05). She also qualified in the women’s 100-meter dash with a regional-qualifying time of 11.52, which was fourth-best on the day.

Other Huskers advancing through preliminary heats included: junior Sheryl Morgan in the women’s 400-meter dash (sixth place, 54.65); senior Oliver Williams Jr. in the men’s 100-meter dash (fifth place, 10.51); senior Mark Harrison (fourth place, 51.04) and sophomore Gatis Spunde in the men’s 400-meter hurdles (eighth place, 52.03); and junior Nate Probasco in the men’s 200-meter dash (second place, 20.90). While sophomore Andrew Pearson did not advance in the men’s 400 hurdles, he did notch his first regional-qualifying effort of the season (10th place, 52.14).

The Big 12 Outdoor Championships conclude Sunday, as Nebraska looks to close out the weekend with a shot at their 98th and 99th all-time conference team titles.

Current Team Scores
Women
1. Nebraska ? 48
2. Kansas State ? 42
3. Texas ? 29
4. Missouri ? 26
5. Texas Tech ? 25.50

Men
1. Texas ? 50
2. Missouri ? 46
3. Kansas ? 30
4. Nebraska ? 27
5. Iowa State ? 16