Huskers Continue Busy Week with Four Road Meets

Lincoln -- The Nebraska men’s and women’s track and field teams continue a busy week of competition with four road meets on tap for this weekend. Several Huskers already competed earlier this week in Lincoln during the Nebraska Wesleyan Invitational on Monday.

In all, NU will feature its largest contingent of athletes participating yet this season with more than 70 individuals scheduled for action. The largest group of Huskers will travel to Norman, Okla., for the John Jacobs Invitational Friday and Saturday, while four Husker distance runners will trek to the west coast for the Mt. SAC Relays on Friday in Walnut, Calif., and the Long Beach Invitational on Saturday in Long Beach, Calif. Nebraska also will have six multi-event athletes competing in the Audrey Walton Combined Events in Columbia, Mo., Thursday through Friday.

> John Jacobs Invite Information
More than 60 Huskers will travel to Norman for the John Jacobs Invitational. The group will feature a wide array of athletes from each event group, including each of NU’s 13 NCAA All-Americans who are competing this season.

The weekend begins Friday at 7:30 p.m. with a distance carnival that includes the 800-, 1,500- and 5,000-meter races, as well as the 3,000-meter steeplechase. The evening is expected to conclude at about 9:45 p.m. Saturday’s field events begin with the women’s javelin at 11 a.m., while action on the track starts at 1 p.m. with the 4x100-meter relay. The final field event (women’s discus) and running event (men’s 4x400-meter relay) are expected to be held at 3 p.m. and 4:40 p.m., respectively.

Live results from the John Jacobs Invitational can be found on the Oklahoma athletics web site at www.soonersports.com. A final recap and complete results will be available on Huskers.com each evening following the conclusion of events. A schedule with NU’s entries is listed on page 2 of this week's Husker track and field notes.

> Mt. SAC/Long Beach Invite Information
Husker distance runners Peter van der Westhuizen and Jennifer Pancoast, Kim Pancoast and Natalja Zarcenko will make up Nebraska’s weekend travel squad to the two California meets.

Each of the four athletes will run the 1,500 meters at Mt. SAC on Friday (J. Pancoast at 5:15 p.m. CDT, the rest beginning at 9:25 p.m.), while the 800 meters will be the group’s event of choice on Saturday at the Long Beach State Invite starting at 3:05 p.m.

Live results from Mt. SAC can be found at www.relays.mtsac.edu, while results from Long Beach will be posted following the meet at www.longbeachstate.com.

> Audrey Walton Multi-Events Information
Nebraska will feature three athletes each in the men’s decathlon and women’s heptathlon at Missouri on Thursday and Friday?Pat Burke, Lee Martin and Skyler Reising in the decathlon and Erin Hannon, Kim Shubert and Megan Wheatley in the heptathlon.

Each member of the contingent will be competing in their first outdoor combined events challenge of the season, while Burke will see his first official action as a Husker in 2007 after redshirting during the indoor season. The decathlon begins both days at 11:30 a.m., and the heptathlon commences at 1 p.m.

Live results from the Audrey Walton Combined Events will be available at www.mutigers.com.

> Huskers Qualify Well at Texas Relays
Despite a Saturday that was cut short by inclement weather throughout the Midwest, Nebraska still managed to experience a productive weekend in Austin, Texas, at the 80th annual Texas Relays. The meet marked the first competition of the season for NU’s sprinters, hurdlers and jumpers.

Huskers produced 13 NCAA regional qualifying performances, including 10 new efforts, and two national qualifying marks in total.

Two Huskers saw their first action of 2007 in their specialty events, as Ashley Selig posted an NCAA automatic-qualifying score of 5,595 in the women’s heptathlon and Arturs Abolins leaped to a distance of 24-7 (wind-aided) in the men’s long jump. Both athletes finished fifth.

The Nebraska men’s relay crews put together a solid round in the prelims to open their outdoor seasons on Friday, as Dax Danns, Lukas Hulett, Nate Probasco and Scott Wims posted a time of 40.48 in the 4x100-meter relay, and Probasco, Andrew Pearson, Danns and Hulett ran 3:07.67 in the 4x400-meter relay. Both times were good enough to surpass regional standards.

Other Huskers to make solid impressions over the weekend were:

● Epley Bullock?Cleared 5-10 3/4 in the high jump to qualify for regionals in her outdoor season opener.
● Kim Shubert?Also qualified for regionals in the high jump (5-8 3/4).
● Jeni Steiner?Set a personal best of 163-1 in the discus for a regional qualification.
● Zarinah Suluki-Drakes?Set a career best of 40-6 1/4 for a regional qualification in the triple jump.
● Tim Grier?Ran 52.12 in the 400 hurdles for his first career regional berth.
● Aaron Ross?Reached the finals in the 110 hurdles.
● Tyrell Ross?Set a personal best of 14.23 (wind-aided) in the 110 hurdles for his first career regional berth.

> Nebraska’s 2007 NCAA Outdoor Qualifiers

Women
NCAA Outdoor Championships Qualifiers
Name?Event?Mark (NCAA rank)
Ashley Selig Heptathlon (auto) 5,595 (6th)
Casie Witte Heptathlon (prov) 5,080 (25th)

NCAA Midwest Regional Qualifiers
Name?Event?Mark (NCAA rank)
Epley Bullock?High Jump?5-10 3/4 (t12th)
Jenny Green?Pole Vault?12-8 (t28th)
Chaunte McMillan?Long Jump?19-10 1/4 (t32nd)
Sheryl Morgan?400m Hurdles?1:00.04 (33rd)
Dace Ruskule?Discus?180-5 (4th)
Ashley Selig?High Jump?5-8 3/4 (t28th)
Kim Shubert?High Jump?5-8 3/4 (t28th)
Brysun Stately?Pole Vault?12-8 (t28th)
Jeni Steiner?Shot Put?50-3 1/4 (24th); Discus?163-1 (39th)
Zarinah Suluki-Drakes?Triple Jump?40-6 1/4 (t49th)
Natalja Zarcenko?800m?2:09.59 (54th)

Men
NCAA Midwest Regional Qualifiers
Name?Even?Mark (NCAA Rank)
Arturs Abolins?Long Jump?24-7w (15th)
Gable Baldwin?Pole Vault?16-8 3/4 (t17th)
Tim Grier?400m Hurdles?52.12 (33rd)
Dusty Jonas?High Jump?7-2 1/4 (7th)
Brian Parr?3,000m Steeplechase?9:05.95 (37th)
Aaron Ross?110m Hurdles?14.10 (t27th)
Tyrell Ross?110m Hurdles?14.23w (40th)
Peter van der Westhuizen?800m?1:50.04 (20th); 1,500m?3:46.82 (25th)
Issar Yazhbin?Hammer?204-6 (22nd)
Relays?4x100m?40.48 (22nd); 4x400m?3:07.67 (10th)

> NU Wins 11 of 15 Events at Wesleyan
Several Huskers competed Monday at the Nebraska Wesleyan Invitational in order to make up for competitions lost over the past weekend due to inclement weather. NU won 11 of 15 events in which the squad competed and recorded four new NCAA regional qualifications during the afternoon.

Nebraska swept the high jump competitions, as Dusty Jonas (7-2 1/4) won the men’s event and Epley Bullock (5-10) claimed the women’s title. Jonas’ mark earned him a regional qualification in his first attempt during the outdoor season.

NU also won both pole vault crowns with Gable Baldwin (16-8 3/4) taking the men’s event and Jenny Green and Brysun Stately sharing the women’s event title with identical 12-8 clearances. Each of the three performances in the pole vault registered as regional qualifications in Nebraska’s first try at the event outdoors this season.

Daniel Roper fell just one centimeter shy of the regional mark in his first appearance outdoors in 2007, as he won the men’s triple jump at 49-2 1/4, while Leandra McGruder won both the women’s long jump (18-7) and triple jump (39-11 1/4).

Adding event titles for Nebraska were: Ashley Selig (1:02.50) in the women’s 400-meter hurdles; Thorin Meyer (177-8); in the men’s javelin; and Jeni Steiner in both the women’s shot put (50-3 1/4) and discus (152-10). Steiner’s shot put marked her first time during the outdoor season breaking 50 feet in the event.

> Abolins Finally Begins Title Defense
The NCAA championship defense of Arturs Abolins officially began last week at the Texas Relays, as the Husker senior saw his first competition of the season in the men’s long jump with a fifth-place leap of 24-7 (wind-aided).

Abolins, who missed nearly the entire indoor season with a strained calf muscle, won both the 2006 NCAA indoor and outdoor titles in the long jump as a junior. While his injury kept him from participating in the event indoors, he now appears healthy in his attempt at the outdoor season. He took the first step by earning a qualification to the NCAA regional meet with his performance in Austin.

> Successful Opening Heptathlon for Selig
Ashley Selig competed for the first time in a combined events challenge for Nebraska since the 2006 indoor season at the Texas Relays, as she earned an automatic berth in the women’s heptathlon for the NCAA outdoor meet.

Selig totaled a score of 5,595 points, easily passing the auto standard of 5,500 while finishing in fifth place. She also managed to record a personal best of 24.89 (wind-aided) in the 200 meters during the competition. Selig currently ranks sixth nationally with the heptathlon score, while she leads all Big 12 athletes in the quest for her second career conference title in the event.

> Big 12 Event Rankings
Women
1,500-Meter Run
7. Natalja Zarcenko?4:28.33

5,000-Meter Run
6. Joslyn Dalton?17:31.06

100-Meter Hurdles
8. Nikita Eades?13.99

400-Meter Hurdles
4. Sheryl Morgan?1:00.04

High Jump
4. (tie) Epley Bullock?5-10 3/4
7. (tie) Ashley Selig?5-8 3/4
7. (tie) Kim Shubert?5-8 3/4

Pole Vault
4. (tie) Jenny Green?12-8
4. (tie) Brysun Stately?12-8

Long Jump
2. Chaunte McMillan?19-10 1/4
7. Ashley Selig?19-2

Triple Jump
7. Zarinah Suluki-Drakes?40-6 1/4

Shot Put
4. Jeni Steiner?50-3 1/4

Discus
1. Dace Ruskule?180-5
6. Jeni Steiner?163-1

Hammer Throw
7. Tamara Solari?175-8

Heptathlon
1. Ashley Selig?5,595
4. Casie Witte?5,080

Men
800-Meter Run
1. Peter van der Westhuizen?1:50.04
8. Erwin Schmidt?1:52.73

1,500-Meter Run
1. Peter van der Westhuizen?3:46.82

110-Meter Hurdles
3. Aaron Ross?14.10
7. Tyrell Ross?14.23w

400-Meter Hurdles
7. Tim Grier?52.12
8. Andrew Pearson?52.71

3,000-Meter Steeplechase
5. Brian Parr?9:05.95

4x100-Meter Relay
3. Nebraska?40.48

4x400-Meter Relay
4. Nebraska?3:07.67

High Jump
2. Dusty Jonas?7-2 1/4

Pole Vault
3. Gable Baldwin?16-8 3/4

Long Jump
3. Arturs Abolins?24-7w

Triple Jump
6. Daniel Roper?49-2 1/4

Hammer Throw
3. Issar Yazhbin?204-6

> Husker Relays Solid in Season Opener
Nebraska wasted no time in receiving solid efforts from its men’s relays. Both the 4x100 and 4x400 groups qualified for regionals in their first opportunities this season during the Texas Relays.

Dax Danns, Lukas Hulett and Nate Probasco each ran on both relay squads, with Scott Wims (4x100) and Andrew Pearson (4x400) interchanged between the groups. The 4x100 relay posted a time of 40.48 to finish sixth in the prelims, while the 4x400 relay clocked the prelims’ fastest time of 3:07.67.

The only returning member of both relays from last year is Probasco, but Pearson ran on the 2004 indoor edition that placed ninth at the NCAA Championships. Each of the other three athletes are true freshmen. The best times that NU managed to run in 2006 were 39.70 for the 4x100 and 3:07.37 for the 4x400.

> Grier Makes Most of First Hurdles Race
Tim Grier exhibited why he was one of the nation’s most sought-after recruits in the intermediate hurdles for 2007 in his first outdoor race with Nebraska. Grier clocked in at 52.12 to earn his first career regional qualification in the 400-meter hurdles at the Texas Relays. The time currently ranks seventh in the Big 12 Conference and first among all Husker hurdlers.

Grier came to NU following a tremendous career in the Georgia prep ranks for Westlake High School in Atlanta. He ran a time of 51.34 in the 400 hurdles as a senior, a mark that ranked second among all high school athletes nationally, while he also set the Georgia record in the 300 hurdles (36.74) and won two career state titles. Grier ranked eighth in the nation for the 300 hurdles in 2006.

> Ruskule Has Strong Opener in Discus
Defending NCAA women’s discus champion Dace Ruskule found herself in a tough battle at the season-opening Stanford Invitational, as she competed against several of the nation’s elite athletes, including several professional throwers.

Ruskule managed to throw a solid distance of 180-5 to finish fourth, although she was the top collegian finisher. The performance easily qualified her for the NCAA Midwest Regional Championships with the nation’s No. 3 throw this season.

For her efforts, Ruskule claimed her first career Big 12 Women’s Athlete of the Week Honor. She became the first Husker track and field athlete to be honored by the conference in 2007.

> Parr Ends NU Steeplechase Drought
Brian Parr opened his Husker outdoor track and field career with a bang, as the redshirt freshman met the NCAA regional standard in the men’s 3,000-meter steeplechase by winning Section 3 at the Stanford Invitational with a personal-best time of 9:05.95.

Parr became the first Husker to record a qualifying mark in the men’s steeplechase since the NCAA instituted the regional format in 2003. The time also ranks as the fastest by a Husker since Kyle Wyatt broke nine minutes in 2002 (8:59.33).

> Doubling Up
Peter van der Westhuizen joined Brian Parr in making the outdoor opener a success for the Husker men’s distance crew, as he reached the regional standard in both events in which he competed?the 800- and 1,500-meter races.

The NU junior clocked in with times of 1:50.04 and 3:46.82, respectively, while running on back-to-back days to place among the top-nine finishers in each event.

Jeni Steiner joined van der Westhuizen as the second Husker with multiple individual regional berths at the Texas Relays, as she posted a career-best throw of 163-41 to go with the earlier shot put qualification she earned at the Stanford Invite. Steiner bested her initial shot put mark with a 50-3 1/4 mark at the Nebraska Wesleyan Invite.

Nate Probasco, Dax Danns and Lukas Hulett also posted double regional marks as legs on NU’s 4x100- (40.48) and 4x400-meter (3:07.67) relays at the Texas Relays.

> Huskers in the ?Dandy Dozen’
The Trackwire 25 projection of the 2007 outdoor season was updated Tuesday with both NU’s women’s and men’s (tie-18th) dropping in the rankings among the nation’s top 25 teams. The Husker women fell out of the poll this week despite having four athletes listed among the ?Dandy Dozen,’ which is the individual event ranking system that makes up the Trackwire scoring.

Huskers among the ?Dandy Dozen’ athlete rankings this week included:

Women
Dace Ruskule, DT?5th
Ashley Selig, Hep?7th
Brysun Stately, PV?8th
Epley Bullock, HJ?9th

Men
Arturs Abolins, LJ?2nd
Dusty Jonas-HJ?2nd

> Wilkinson to Sit Out 2007 Season
The Nebraska women will be without one of their strongest returnees during the outdoor season, as senior Kayla Wilkinson is expected to redshirt while rehabbing from shoulder surgery she underwent during the winter.

Wilkinson became NU’s second-highest finisher ever in the women’s javelin at the NCAA Championships by placing runner-up as a junior last season. She additionally broke the school record earlier in the year with a mark of 181-2 at the Nebraska Invitational. While Wilkinson would have been the nation’s top returning athlete in the javelin this season, she is expected to be completely healthy for the 2008 outdoor season, when she should vie for a spot on the United States’ Olympic team.

> NU Benefits from Added Outdoor Events
With the opening of the outdoor season, NU’s men’s and women’s teams are only expected to grow stronger due to the addition of several strong events, most notably the 400-meter hurdles, 4x100-meter relay and discus events.

One of deepest groups of talent on this year’s Husker squad, on both the men’s and women’s sides, will be the 400 hurdles. While the NU men suffered from the graduation loss of 2006 Big 12 champ Mark Harrison, several elite newcomers will help Andrew Pearson fill the void.

Others who may compete in the event this season include: freshmen Tim Grier, Nick Makukutu, Tyrell Ross and Cylend Simmons. Grier was one of the nation’s top high school recruits in the event last year as the Georgia state record holder in the 300-meter hurdles, while Simmons set the Arizona state prep mark in only his second season competing in the event. Makukutu ranked among the Texas state prep leaders for the hurdles in 2006, and while Ross specializes in the high hurdles, he also could contribute in the longer event.

On the women’s side, seniors Sheryl Morgan and Justine Roach each have experience success during their Husker careers in the 400 hurdles. Roach is a former NCAA qualifier in the event, while Morgan’s personal-best time of 56.81 ranks first on the team.

Nebraska’s biggest boost in the added events will be provided in the women’s discus by senior Dace Ruskule, who is the reigning NCAA champ and a 2004 Olympian for her native Latvia.

Once again, the sprint relay should also serve as a strength for the Husker men’s team. Three legs return from the squad that clocked a time of 39.70 last season in addition to placing third in the Big 12, but competition for spots on the team is expected to be wide open with the several talented freshman to this year’s squad?most notably NCAA indoor All-Americans Lukas Hulett and Scott Wims and fellow freshman sprinter Dax Danns.

> NCAA Indoor Recap
Nebraska concluded the indoor track season with eight athletes in competition at the NCAA Indoor Championships. The Husker men finished among the nation’s top 25 teams for the sixth straight season with nine team points, while NU athletes also grabbed eight All-America honors.

Dusty Jonas nearly single-handedly kept the top-25 streak alive for the NU men after he finished runner-up in the men’s high jump for the second time in three seasons. Jonas’ final clearance of 7-4 1/2 marked his best ever in NCAA competition while earning him a fifth career All-America finish in as many chances.

The men’s 4x400-meter relay team of senior Nate Probasco and freshmen Scott Wims, Daniel Christensen and Lukas Hulett provided an additional point with an eighth-place finish after clocking in at 3:08.68. NU’s relay, which was the lone group among the field featuring as many as three freshmen, was the first Husker relay to earn a point at an NCAA meet since 1996. Each member was crowned an All-American.

Hulett’s honor marked his second such accolade of the weekend, as he also finished as the eighth American (11th overall) in the men’s open 400-meter competition.

Brysun Stately, who finished sixth in the pole vault at the 2006 NCAA outdoor meet as a freshman for USC, registered the lone team scoring of the weekend for the Husker women, as she tied for seventh place in the vault with a height of 13-5 1/4.

NU’s other women’s athlete in action, freshman Epley Bullock, placed ninth in the high jump after tying her career-best height of 6-0. Bullock helped make the Husker freshmen a near-perfect 5-for-6 in All-America finishes during the weekend. Wims, who did run on NU’s 4x400 relay, was the lone Husker freshman not to meet the distinction in his individual event by placing 16th in the men’s 200-meter dash.