Two Huskers Net Top NCAA Performances

LINCOLN?Nebraska athletes set four new NCAA qualifying marks, while 12 Huskers earned event titles Saturday during the adidas Classic in front of 2,037 spectators at the Devaney Center Indoor Track. Junior Dusty Jonas raised the bar for NU on Saturday, becoming the squad’s first automatic qualifier this season for March’s NCAA Indoor Championships.<?xml:namespace prefix="o" ns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"?>

 

Jonas punched his ticket to <?xml:namespace prefix="st1" ns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"?>Fayetteville, Ark., with a near-flawless effort in the men’s high jump that ended with the All-American tying the best mark by a collegian this season entering the weekend with a winning height of 7-4 ?. The La Vernia, Texas, product made five consecutive heights on first attempts after not entering the competition until the bar reached 6-9. After meeting the NCAA automatic standard of 7-4 ?, Jonas attempted to tie the school record of 7-6, but was unsuccessful on each of his three tries.

 

The performance marked Jonas’ second-best career showing indoors, trailing only his indoor personal-best mark of 7-4 ? that he set as a sophomore at the Prairie Wolf Invitational.

 

“That is the kind of performance that (Jonas) is capable of,” said Head Coach Gary Pepin, who coaches the NU jumpers. “He is a highly talented guy. It is good to see him jump at 7-6, because I think he can jump 7-6 or higher. He just needs to see that bar up there and jump at it enough times and eventually he’ll get over it.”

 

Another Husker junior, Peter van der Westhuizen, earned his first NCAA provisional qualification while setting a personal-best time of 4:02.27 to win the men’s mile. The mark, which broke his previous best of 4:03.54 that earned him runner-up honors as a freshman at the 2005 Big 12 Indoor Championships, also ranks faster than any other NCAA time entering this weekend. With the effort, van der Westhuizen moved from fourth place into third on Nebraska’s all-time indoor performance list for the mile.

 

“I was expecting to run like that with the type of workouts I’ve been having, so I’m obviously happy about it,” van der Westhuizen said. “My main focus is (preparing for) outdoors right now, and anything I do indoors is a bonus. I’d love to make it to indoor nationals.”

 

Assistant coach Jay Dirksen, who coaches van der Westhuizen and the rest of the Husker distance runners, was pleased with the junior’s progress in the mile despite limited focus on the event this year.

 

“He’s making excellent progress and he hasn’t really done a lot of specific work for the mile yet, so he’s going to run pretty well,” Dirksen said. “He’s just getting going. By no means has he shown yet of what he’s capable in the mile this year.”

 

Senior Issar Yazhbin once again eclipsed his previous lifetime best in the men’s weight throw with a winning spin of 64-8 ?. It marked the third consecutive week to start the season that Yazhbin has recorded a personal best. After entering the 2007 campaign boasting a top throw of 61-5, Yazhbin has climbed from ninth place on the Huskers’ all-time event list into sixth due to his three-plus-foot improvement.

 

Adding a personal-best performance was senior Casie Witte, who cleared an indoor lifetime-best 5-10 to win the women’s high jump. Witte, who redshirted last season while recovering from a broken arm, recorded her first career NCAA provisional mark with the performance, and will attempt to reach her second career national meet. She previously competed in the high jump at the 2005 NCAA outdoor meet.

 

Junior Brysun Stately, who has battled a nagging leg injury during the early season, also earned her first provisional mark of the year while placing second in the women’s pole vault. Stately’s height of 12-11 ? was the top mark among collegians competing Saturday in Lincoln.

 

Back on the track, freshman Lukas Hulett provided one of the most exciting races of the day, as he employed a late kick down the home stretch in the men’s 600-yard run to snare victory away from IowaState’s Elijah Braimah. Hulett, who entered the day owning the nation’s top time in the 400-meter dash, edged the Cyclone senior by only 0.01 seconds.

 

Another Husker freshman, Nikita Eades, earned her third straight victory to open her collegiate career in the women’s 60-meter hurdles with a time of 8.53. Eades, who clocked in with a personal-best 8.52 during the prelims, has posted lifetime-best marks in the hurdles during each meet in 2007.

 

Husker athletes added six event titles on Saturday, including: senior Nate Probasco, who won the men’s 200-meter dash for the second consecutive week with a clocking of 21.34; senior Kim Pancoast (4:49.71), who was only fractions of a second off her personal best in the women’s mile; sophomore Zarinah Suluki-Drakes (39-11 ?), who claimed her third straight victory in the women’s triple jump; redshirt freshman Brian Parr (2:28.00) in the men’s 1,000 meters; senior Jeni Steiner (48-11 ?) in the women’s shot put; and the men’s 4x400-meter relay (3:10.91) team of Probasco, freshman Scott Wims, redshirt freshman Daniel Christensen and Hulett. The relay squad’s season-best clocking was less than a second short of its first provisional qualification of the season.

                                                                                                              

Nebraska concludes its home indoor schedule next weekend, when it hosts the always-competitive Frank Sevigne Husker Invitational on Friday and Saturday at the Devaney Center Indoor Track. Several talented Division I squads are slated to compete in the Husker Invite’s 32nd edition, including East Carolina, Kansas, Kansas State, Tennessee, UTEP, Washington State and Wyoming.