Wims Leads Three Husker Midwest Regional Champs

DES MOINES, Iowa?The NCAA Midwest Regional Championships concluded with a flurry for Nebraska Saturday, as Huskers added 12 automatic qualifications to the NCAA Outdoor Championships with top-five finishes at Drake Stadium. NU finished the weekend with 17 total automatic bids during the two-day meet.<?xml:namespace prefix="o" ns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"?>

 

The <?xml:namespace prefix="st1" ns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"?>Nebraska men placed runner-up in the men’s team race to Oklahoma (75.33) with 60 points, while the NU women were third behind Texas A&M (99) and Texas (67) with 55 points.

 

Three Huskers claimed Nebraska’s first Midwest Regional titles of the weekend, as freshman Scott Wims won the men’s 200-meter dash and seniors Sheryl Morgan and Dace Rusukle added victories in the women’s 400-meter hurdles and discus events.

 

Wims experienced his finest day as a Husker Saturday by registering NCAA qualifications in both the 200- and 100-meter dash events. After running a personal-best time of 10.35 to place third in the 100, which tied for the seventh-best effort in Husker history, Wims ran away with the 200 race in a career-low clocking of 20.66 for only his second career collegiate victory in the event. The surprising win also moved him into sole possession of fifth place on NU’s all-time performance chart.

 

“At Big 12’s I thought I had a good start and could win that one, so coming in here I thought if I could just get going from the start I’d be in good shape,” Wims said. “Against the competition, it was a really good race for me. There were some really good guys in that race. I had my idea how I was going to run the race going in, because coach (Matt Martin) told me I looked tight yesterday near the end. I just tried to relax and started to move ahead (once he hit the home stretch).”

 

Senior Nate Probasco joined Wims on NU’s NCAA roster by placing third in the 200 (20.87). Probasco will compete in his fifth career national meet, as well as his first outdoor competition since 2005. He was unable to advance out of the prelims of the 200 last season.

 

Probasco also ran on the Husker 4x400-meter relay that earned third place with a season-best time of 3:05.15, the ninth-best time in school history. Freshmen Tim Grier, Dax Danns and Lukas Hulett helped the squad reach the NCAA Championships by running the Nos. 2 through 4 legs, respectively. The group will attempt to earn Nebraska’s second All-America finish of the season following an eighth-place effort at the NCAA indoor meet back in March.

 

Sheryl Morgan continued to excel down the final stretch of her Husker career in the 400-meter hurdles by notching the squad’s second event title of the day with a time of 57.41. Morgan controlled the race from start to finish, as she outlasted Kansas’ Ashley Brown to secure victory with a strong final kick over the final two hurdles.

 

“I just wanted to make the (NCAA Championships team),” Morgan said. “I think it was the hardest 400 hurdles race I’ve had to run all season.

 

“I went out (of the starting blocks) pretty good, so I think that’s what won it for me. I guess I was the strongest at the end, too, because I looked and saw two girls at my side (before pulling away midway down the home stretch).”

 

Dace Ruskule became the first athlete to own three career Midwest Regional titles in the discus after pacing the field with a spin of 177-1. This season will mark Rusukle’s third consecutive NCAA outdoor appearance, and she will attempt to defend her 2006 national title in two weeks.

 

Sophomore Brysun Stately, considered one of the favorites to win the NCAA title for the women’s pole vault in two weeks, easily qualified for nationals with a second-place clearance of 13-11 ?. The event champion, SamHoustonState’s Jennie Sewell, reached the same height but took home top honors due to fewer misses. Stately’s clearance marked the second-best effort of her career, and she appears more than ready to make a strong run at NU’s first NCAA title in the event.

 

“It’s pretty much what I thought I could do,” Stately said. “I actually was only hoping to come in, clear (13 feet) and walk out of here making it to nationals, but the weather was really better than what I thought it would be. I’m definitely ready for nationals.”

 

Junior teammate Jenny Green was unable to earn an automatic bid after placing seventh (12-11 ?), but she should have a good shot at making the national meet with her season best of 13-5 ?, which tied for 11th among all NCAA competitors entering the weekend.

 

The most outstanding Husker performance of the day came from sophomore Rachel Carrizales, who earned fifth place in the women’s 3,000-meter steeplechase after shattering her career best in the event with a time of 10:25.22. She entered the meet ranked 10th among the regional field, but she was able to grab the final automatic qualification to the NCAA meet after moving past former NCAA champion and Husker great Anne Shadle into second place on NU’s all-time event list.

 

Carrizales’ time was more than 11 seconds faster than her previous best, and she has cut more than 26 seconds off the time she set during her season-opening race at the John Jacobs Invitational back in April. Sophomore teammate Joslyn Dalton also ran a personal best (10:35.12) while finishing ninth.

 

Dirksen’s distance crew added a second NCAA competitor in junior Peter van der Westhuizen, who ran a lifetime best of his own while finishing third in the men’s 1,500-meter run (3:41.17).

 

Adding automatic qualifications for the Huskers Saturday were: senior Daniel Roper, who claimed the final auto position for the men’s triple jump after placing fifth (51-5 ?); junior Dusty Jonas, the fourth-place finisher in the men’s high jump (7-3 ?); and sophomore Zarniah Suluki-Drakes, who was just short of her personal-best distance in the women’s triple jump while placing fourth (42-8 ?). Suluki-Drakes earned her first career bid to the NCAA meet.

 

Head Coach Gary Pepin was pleased with his team’s efforts during the weekend.

 

“We had a lot of really fine performances?Scott Wims, the men’s 4x400-meter relay and Sheryl Morgan to name a few,” Head Coach Gary Pepin said. “Any time you can get in the top five in this meet, you are a pretty good athlete, and we had a lot of those placings.”

 

Among the impressive features of the weekend was the high number of young athletes earning NCAA bids for Nebraska. Freshmen or sophomores earned seven of NU’s 16 automatic qualifications during the two days, and Pepin said he believes that displays a glimpse of the future success of the Husker program.

 

“That’s one of the things that is kind of hidden and impressive about our team,” Pepin said. “We really have a lot of young athletes. It’s not very often you come to this type of meet and see a freshman (Wims) win the 200, and the same goes for the mile relay, with three freshmen running very competitively. That is certainly a good sign for the future.”

 

Nebraska will take the next week off from competition as it prepares to close out its season at the NCAA Outdoor Championships June 6-9 in Sacramento, Calif. At-large bids for the national meet will be announced Tuesday.

                                       

 

NCAA Midwest Regional Championships ? Day Two
Drake Stadium?Des Moines, Iowa

 

Women’s 400-Meter Hurdles?Final

1. Sheryl Morgan, 57.41 NQ

 

Women’s 3,000-Meter Steeplechase?Final

5. Rachel Carrizales, 10:25.22 PR, NQ

9. Joslyn Dalton, 10:35.12 PR

 

Women's Pole Vault

2. Brysun Stately, 13-11 ? NQ

7. Jenny Green, 12-11 ?

 

Women’s Triple Jump

4. Zarinah Suluki-Drakes, 42-8 ? NQ

16. Leandra McGruder, 40-2 ?

20. Danielle Smith, 39-11 ? 

 

Women’s Discus

1. Dace Ruskule, 177-1 NQ

16. Jeni Steiner, 150-7

 

Women’s Hammer Throw

15. Tamara Solari, 162-0

 

Men’s 100-Meter Dash?Final

3. Scott Wims, 10.35 PR, NQ

 

Men’s 200-Meter Dash?Final

1. Scott Wims, 20.66 PR, NQ

2. Nate Probasco, 20.87 NQ

 

Men’s 1,500-Meter Run?Final

3. Peter van der Westhuizen, 3:41.17 PR, NQ

 

Men’s 110-Meter Hurdles?Final

7. Aaron Ross, 14.09

8. Tyrell Ross, 14.34

 

Men’s 3,000-Meter Steeplechase?Final

10. Brian Parr, 9:08.36

 

Men’s 4x100-Meter Relay?Final

7. Nebraska (T. Ross, Wims, Probasco, Danns), 40.42

 

Men’s 4x400-Meter Relay?Final

3. Nebraska (Probasco, Grier, Danns, Hulett), 3:05.15 NQ

 

Men’s High Jump

4. Dusty Jonas, 7-3 ? NQ

 

Men’s Triple Jump

5. Daniel Roper, 51-5 ? NQ

 

 

NQ ? NCAA automatic qualifier

PR ? Personal best