Huskers Host adidas Classic

Lincoln - The early home portion of Nebraska's 2007 indoor track and field schedule continues Saturday, as the Huskers host the annual adidas Classic at the Devaney Center Indoor Track. A full slate of competition is planned, beginning with field events a 1 p.m. Action on the track starts at 2 p.m. Preliminary rounds for both the 60-meter dash and hurdle events will be contested.

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 seven and older. Admission is free for NU students with a valid ID and children six and under.

Live results will be offered throughout the day on Huskers.com. Final results and a recap will also be posted on the web site following the completion of each day's events, while a complete list of competitors is available on Huskers.com. Nebraska's entries may be found on page 2 of this week's release (click link at top of page).

> Talented Field Expected for Saturday
The adidas Classic annually brings several talented squads to Lincoln, and this year will be no different. Two Big 12 teams?Iowa State and Oklahoma?will be in attendance, as will other Division I squads from Colorado State, Drake, Minnesota (men) and Wichita State.

The field will be comprised of five individuals tabbed All-Americans in 2006, as well as more than 20 NCAA qualifiers from last season. In addition to Nebraska's six provisional qualifiers for this season, three other athletes?Oklahoma's Chip Heuser (men's pole vault) and Shardae Boutte (men's triple jump) and Colorado State's Janay DeLoach (women's long jump)?have met minimum NCAA qualifying standards already in 2007.

Other athletes to look for on Saturday are: Minnesota's Aaron Buzard, a two-time All-American in the men's 400-meter dash; Oklahoma's Scott Martin, an All-American men's pole vaulter; Colorado State's Janay DeLoach, the NCAA's top-ranked women's long jumper; and the Minnesota men's 4x400-meter relay, which often is one of the nation's top relay groups.

> NU Leads Big 12 to Victory in Conference Challenge
Last week NU led Team Big 12 to an impressive victory over Team Mountain West in the inaugural Conference Challenge meet. Huskers won exactly half of the 34 events contested while pacing the trio of NU, Kansas State and Missouri to a 223-144 decision over the MWC pairing of Air Force and Colorado State.

Nebraska was led by three individuals who earned their first NCAA qualifying marks of the young season, including a pair of freshmen in pole vaulter Seth Burney and high jumper Epley Bullock.

Burney out-dueled All-American senior teammate Gable Baldwin in the men’s pole vault with a winning clearance of 17-0 3/4 that placed him among the early provisional qualifiers for March’s NCAA Indoor Championships.

While Bullock was unable to claim victory in the women’s high jump, she did put together an outstanding performance culminating in a final clearance of 5-11 1/2. Like Burney, Bullock also earned an NCAA provisional qualification in addition to moving into a tie for 10th place on the Huskers’ all-time indoor high jump chart.

Nebraska’s final NCAA qualifying performance came from a seasoned veteran in senior Issar Yazhbin. The Israeli national record holder in the men’s 35-pound weight throw, Yazhbin set a new lifetime best with his winning spin of 64-1 3/4. It marked his first career provisional-qualifying performance, as well as the second consecutive week that he recorded a personal-best effort.

The Huskers dominated several other areas during the competition by taking the top two positions in three events. Peter van der Westhuizen continued the early success to his junior season by winning the men’s 1,000-meter run in a blistering career-low time of 2:23.41, while freshman Ethan Luebbe followed close behind with a personal-best clocking of 2:27.18.

Sophomore Brysun Stately (12-9 1/2) and junior Jenny Green (12-5 1/2) also went 1-2 in the women’s pole vault, and sophomore Zarinah Suluki-Drakes (40-5 1/2) and freshman Leandra McGruder (40-4) earned the top two spots in the women’s triple jump. McGruder, who registered a personal best in the event, also won the long jump and fell just short of a provisional qualification by leaping to a lifetime-best distance of 19-9 1/2.

> Yazhbin Continues Strong Comeback
One of the more welcome sights for Nebraska in the early going this season has been the exceptional weight throw performances from Issar Yazhbin, who sat out the 2006 season with a groin injury.

To tell if Yazhbin has completed a successful recovery, one must only look at his early 2007 results. He already has recorded personal-best marks during both meets this season, including a spin of 64-1 3/4 last week while claiming victory during the Conference Challenge. Yazhbin's latest mark earned him his first career NCAA provisional qualification.

Additionally, Yazhbin has continued to extend his own Israeli national record in the event, which he first set as a junior in 2005.

> Freshmen Driving Husker NCAA Qualifying Efforts
Nebraska's highly-touted newcomers have already started to show off their talents in 2007. Of the six Huskers who have earned provisional qualifications to March's NCAA meet, half are freshmen.

Lukas Hulett, a former high school All-American from Bellevue, Neb., became the first Husker to add his name to the list when he clocked a blistering time of 47.03 while winning the men's 400-meter dash at the Holiday Inn Invite. The Nebraska prep record-holder's time is the third-fastest indoor mark all-time at NU.

Seth Burney and Epley Bullock joined Hulett last weekend with outstanding performances during the Conference Challenge. Burney became NU's 12th men's athlete all-time to break the 17-foot barrier in the pole vault with a clearance of 17-0 3/4, while Bullock tied a host of other female athletes at No. 10 on the Husker indoor high jump chart with a leap of 5-11 1/2.

> Men Ranked 16th in Trackwire 25
The Nebraska men's team continued its stay in the Trackwire 25 rankings this week, appearing as the NCAA's 16th-rated team.

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.

After beginning the season ranked ninth, the Huskers fell seven spots to their current position. One of four Big 12 teams included in the list, the Huskers join conference opponents Texas (fourth), Baylor (eighth) and Texas A&M (tie-18th)

The Husker women, who last week occupied the 14th position in their respective poll, dropped out of the rankings this week. Texas A&M (sixth), Kansas State (seventh), Texas (tie-eighth), Texas Tech (tie-19th) and Colorado (22nd) represent the Big 12 in the latest release.

Nebraska athletes among this week's "Dandy Dozen" include:
Women
Gy?rgyi Farkas, Pentathlon?4th
Megan Wheatley, Pentathlon?6th
Epley Bullock, High Jump?10th
Brysun Stately, Pole Vault?11th

Men
Arturs Abolins, Long Jump?1st
Dusty Jonas, High Jump?5th
Nate Probasco, Triple Jump?12th

> Three Men Added to Roster at Semester
The Husker men's squad added three freshmen athletes to its 2007 roster this week following the start of second semester classes?Dax Danns (Lemon Grove, Calif.), Erwin Schmidt (Benoni, South Africa) and Cylend Simmons (Mesa, Ariz).

Danns, a sprints prospect out of Helix High School, arrives at Nebraska boasting solid personal-best times of 10.60 in the 100-meter dash, 21.21 in the 200 and 48.44 in the 400. A native of Guyana, both of Danns' 100 and 200 marks rank as national junior records. He finished fourth place in both events as a junior at the 2005 California state meet.

Simmons will join Nebraska's hurdles crew following an outstanding prep career at Mesa Westwood High School. He set the all-time Arizona state record of 37.01 while winning the 300-meter hurdles at the Arizona Meet of Champions last spring. Simmons was named the Gatorade Boy's Athlete of the Year for Arizona in 2006 and also owns a personal-best time of 14.26 in the 110-meter hurdles.

Schmidt brings outstanding potential from South Africa in the 800-meter run, as he owns a personal-best time of 1:49.75. The mark ranked third among all South African junior athletes for 2006.

> Nine All-Americans Return in 2007
Nebraska returns four women's and five men's athletes for the 2007 season who have combined to earn 19 NCAA All-America honors during their outstanding careers.

Leading the pack is senior Ashley Selig, who has registered five of the awards, including the 2004 NCAA indoor championship in the pentathlon. NU returns a second national champion in senior Dace Ruskule, who won the NCAA outdoor discus title last season, while senior Kayla Wilkinson (javelin) and junior Jenny Green (pole vault) also will compete for further accolades this season. Only Green will compete during the 2007 indoor season.

Nebraska brought in a fifth women's All-American to join the squad during the offseason in sophomore Brysun Stately, who placed sixth in the pole vault at the 2006 NCAA outdoor meet.

Senior Arturs Abolins, a two-time national champion in the long jump, leads the men's squad into the season, while junior Dusty Jonas, a four-time All-American in the high jump, also returns. Two-time All-American Nate Probasco will be the Huskers' leader in the sprints during his senior campaign. Gable Baldwin (pole vault) and Daniel Roper (triple jump), each one-time honorees, also will compete in their finals seasons as Huskers.

> NU Boasts Heralded Freshman Classes
A pair of incoming classes ranked among the nation's top 10 by Track & Field News magazine will aid both Husker men's and women's teams in their championship drives during the 2007 season.

The women's class, ranked No. 4 nationally by Track & Field News, will help fill the holes created by the loss of a 2006 senior class that accounted for three individual NCAA titles and 21 All-America finishes.

The group, which was highlighted with signings by former high school All-Americans Brysun Stately and Epley Bullock, along with international combined events prospects Gy?rgyi Farkas and Megan Wheatley, was NU's first-ever top-five ranked class.

While the Husker men lost 10 All-America finishes with members of its 2006 senior class, this season's group of newcomers earned one of the program's highest rankings ever by the famed track and field publication with a No. 8 rating.

The class featured the signings of former high school All-Americans Seth Burney, Tim Grier, Lukas Hulett, Nicholas Makukutu and Scott Wims.

> Pepin in 27th Season at Husker Helm
Nebraska Head Coach Gary Pepin is in his 27th year guiding the Husker women’s team and 24th year coaching the NU men's squad. Pepin is only one season shy of former Husker coach Frank Sevigne as the longest-tenured track and field coach in school history. Sevigne logged 28 seasons leading the NU men’s program from 1956 through 1983.

Pepin has helped the Husker women combine for 38 of their 40 conference titles, while also notching 20 of the program’s 21 top-five NCAA team finishes, including each of Nebraska’s three indoor national championships.

Pepin has led the men's team to 25 of its 57 indoor and outdoor conference crowns, while also notching two NCAA top-five placings. The Huskers' second-place finish at the 1996 NCAA Indoor Championships ranks as the squad's highest at an NCAA meet.

> Huskers to Host Full Home Schedule
Nebraska will host one of its most extensive series of home meets in recent memory during the 2007 season. In addition to scheduling four home competitions at the Devaney Center Indoor Track, the Huskers have three outdoor meets planned for Ed Weir Stadium.

The indoor schedule stacks up much the same as it has over recent years, with the Huskers hosting four straight home meets to open the season?the Holiday Inn Invitational, the Conference Challenge and the adidas Classic. The always high-profile Frank Sevigne Husker Invitational will conclude the stretch Feb. 2-3.

Outdoors, the Huskers will host three meets for the first time since 2003, all during a three-week period. The Nebraska Open will be held on Sunday, April 29, the same weekend as the Drake and Penn Relays, with the Nebraska Invitational the following week. The Big 12 Outdoor Championships come to Ed Weir Stadium for the first time in the conference’s 11-year existence the weekend of May 11-13.