Huskers Open Big 12 Indoor Championships

AMES, Iowa?The Big 12 Indoor Track and Field Championships opened up Friday, as the Nebraska men’s and women’s teams experienced a solid first day of competition at Iowa State’s Lied Recreation Center. The Husker women currently sit in second place in the team title race with 41 points behind Texas Tech (46), while the NU men’s squad is tied for third with 18 points behind <?xml:namespace prefix="st1" ns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"?>Missouri (28) and Colorado (22).<?xml:namespace prefix="o" ns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"?>

 

 

Several Huskers put forth fine individual efforts Friday that helped lead to three runner-up finishes during event finals.

 

Junior Kim Shubert recorded the first team points of the weekend for the Husker women’s squad, as she led a contingent of four Nebraska athletes who placed among the top-eight finishers in the women’s heptathlon. Shubert put together a phenomenal performance to earn second place with a personal-best score of 3,859 points, besting her previous best total by nearly 140 points. The Lincoln native had never finished higher than seventh during a Big 12 combined events challenge during her career.

 

Shubert used several individual career performances to reach her high point total, as she set bests in three of the five events?the 60-meter hurdles (8.99), high jump (5-9 ?) and long jump (18-0 ?). She finished off the day by clocking a season-best time of 2:23.72 in the 800-meter run.

 

Also placing for NU in the pentathlon were freshman Megan Wheatley in fourth place (3,713), senior Casie Witte in fifth (3,639) and freshman Erin Hannon in sixth (3,611). Wheatley’s score helped her earn her first career NCAA provisional qualification.

 

“I was really happy with my own day, but even happier that each of (Nebraska’s pentathlon entries) were able to finish in the top eight,” Shubert said. “We had high goals going into the weekend, so I don’t think any of us are surprised.”

 

Sophomore Brysun Stately had a successful first Big 12 competition in the women’s pole vault culminating in a runner-up finish. Stately cleared 13-7 ? and briefly led the competition over the eventual champion, Kansas’ Kate Sultanova, but Sultanova was able to survive her third and final attempt at 13-7 ? before clearing 13-9 ? on her second try. Stately’s mark was just shy of her career best of 13-8, set earlier this month at the Tyson Invitational.

 

Fellow sophomore Jenny Green, the defending champion in the pole vault, placed sixth after reaching a season-best height of 13-1 ?. The Grand Island native earned her first NCAA provisional qualification of the season with the performance, in addition to her fourth career All-Big 12 honor.

 

Junior Tamara Solari and freshman Leadra McGruder contributed additional team points for the NU women. Solari placed sixth in the weight throw with a spin of 59-11, marking her third career all-conference nod, while McGruder finished fifth in the long jump after leaping 19-5 ?.

 

A pair of Husker jumpers helped stamp a positive finish to the day for the Nebraska men’s team, as junior Daniel Roper earned silver-medal honors in the long jump while sophomore Robert Rands placed fourth.

 

Roper soared to a career-best distance of 25-2 on his final attempt of the competition to move up from his previous standing of sixth place, while Rands notched his best performance to date with Nebraska by soaring to an indoor lifetime best of 24-10 ?. Roper, who will look to add his fourth career Big 12 crown in the triple jump on Saturday, placed himself on the bubble for earning a spot in the long jump at the NCAA Championships with his mark that would have ranked 12th nationally entering the weekend.

 

The opening-day efforts of several other Husker men helped place the squad within striking distance of earning its ninth Big 12 indoor championship in 11 chances. Senior Issar Yazhbin (62-3 ?) and junior Keith Lloyd (62-3 ?) grabbed the seventh and eighth spots in the men’s hammer throw, while the distance medley relay team of junior Peter van der Westhuizen and freshmen Daniel Christensen, Andras Licsak and Brian Parr earned seventh place with a time of 9:48.09.

 

In the men’s combined events, sophomore Skyler Reising sits in excellent scoring position following the first day of the men’s heptathlon with 3,039 points?good for third place overall. Reising notched three season-best efforts in the day’s four events: the 60-meter dash (7.23), long jump (22-0 ?) and high jump (6-6 ?). Senior Lee Martin also is in striking distance of All-Big 12 honors in 11th place (2,797) following day one. The heptathlon wraps up Saturday with the 60-meter hurdles, pole vault and 1,000-meter run still to be contested.

 

Saturday will be a big day for the NU men’s team, as seven Huskers managed to advance through track event prelims to qualify for finals.

 

Leading the way was freshman Lukas Hulett, who shattered his previous personal best in the 400-meter dash with the day’s third-fastest time of 46.71. Hulett’s clocking, which erased his previous indoor best of 47.03 set in his Husker debut at the Holiday Inn Invitational, ranks as the second-fastest in school history on any size track. Only school-record holder Tomas Molnar, who set the Nebraska standard of 46.37 in 1990, has run faster in a Husker uniform. Hulett's time also would have ranked him No. 6 among all NCAA athletes entering this weekend’s competition.

 

Nebraska will have two finalists in three different track finals on Saturday. Freshmen Dax Danns (6.84) and Scott Wims (6.80) each cruised through the prelims of the 60-meter dash, while Wims also reached the finals of the 200 with a personal-best time of 21.14. Senior Nate Probasco (21.21) will join Wims in the 200 final, and junior Peter van der Westhuizen (2:26.31) and freshman Ethan Luebbe (2:28.29) will participate in the 1,000-meter run final.

 

For the Husker women, sophomore Natalja Zarcenko and senior Kim Pancoast both moved through the prelims of the mile run to earn the right to compete for their first career Big 12 titles on Saturday. Zarcenko led the field with her time of 4:52.81, while Pancoast clocked in at 4:55.66 to earn the fourth seed.

 

Also qualifying for the Husker women was freshman Nikita Eades, who ran 8.53 in the 60-meter hurdles to claim the sixth seed heading into Saturday.

 

"I'd say we had a pretty solid first day for the Big 12 Championships," Head Coach Gary Pepin said following the day's events. "But I'd equate it to being like a basketball or football game. We still have a whole second half to play, so we have to come back strong tomorrow."

 

The Big 12 Indoor Championships conclude Saturday. The men’s heptathlon begins the day’s events at 9 a.m.