NU Advances Five Through Day One of NCAA Meet

Sacramento, Calif. ? Nebraska began its efforts at the 2007 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships Wednesday by advancing five athletes through qualifying rounds at Sacramento State's Alex G. Spanos Athletic Complex.

The Husker seniors led the way with three veterans advancing to final rounds. Senior Dace Ruskule, the 2006 national champion in the discus, earned the right to defend her crown by finishing eighth in the preliminaries, while fellow senior Daniel Roper advanced by qualifying for the first time in the long jump. Gable Baldwin rounded out the Husker senior qualifiers in the men's pole vault. For the non-seniors, junior Dusty Jonas will search for his sixth All-America award in the high jump after moving through his qualifying round, while sophomore Brysun Stately also moved on in the women's pole vault.

Ruskule took the first step toward defending her 2006 NCAA Outdoor title in the discus with a spin of 171-1 during the women's discus qualifying round to place eighth heading into Friday's event finals. Ruskule threw a 180-10 to win the event last season and with a second title in 2007 would become the first woman at <?xml:namespace prefix="st1" ns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"?>Nebraska to win multiple NCAA discus crowns.

Although he missed out on qualifying forthe long jump finals, Jonas showed his talent on the high jump by qualifying with a leap of 6-10 3/4. A five-time All-American in the event, Jonas will look to go six-for-six in high jump national awards on Friday, while also aiming for the ultimate goal of an NCAA event title.

Roper was able to secure a spot among the final 12 in the long jump with a top wind-aided leap of 24-9 3/4. Roper will look for the second All-America honor of his career, and first in the long jump, on Thursday, June 7 beginning at 8:30 p.m. CST. The Plantation, Fla., native will need to finish among the top eight Americans in the field to be named an All-American.

“Dusty just couldn’t find the long jump board today, but his focus has always been on the high jump and he did well there,” Head Coach Gary Pepin said. “Daniel was a little shaky with his long jump, but the first day just doesn’t really matter as long as you qualify for finals. It’s like the first inning of a baseball game. It’s just the beginning.”

Stately, who entered the day with the nation's top women's pole vault height this season of 14-3 1/4, continued to impress in the preliminary round of the event on Wednesday. Stately marked a vault of 13-1 1/2 in front of her hometown Sacramento crowd to advance to the finals in the event, which will take place at 8:15 p.m. CST on Friday, June 8.

Stately will aim for Nebraska's first-ever women's national title in the event, as well as the first NCAA crown of her career. She tied for sixth last season in Sacramento while competing as a freshman for USC before adding a seventh-place effort for NU earlier this year at the NCAA indoor meet.

Junior teammate Jenny Green fell just short of making the women's pole vault final with a mark of 12-9 1/2, which tied for 14th. Only 12 athletes advanced to Friday's competition.

Baldwin easily cleared the qualifying height of 16-10 3/4, which is well below his season-high of 17-3. The Grand Island, Neb., native will look to top off his Husker career with a second career All-America finish on Friday.

“Both Brysun and Gable came in and hit the nail on the head today,” said assistant coach Kris Grimes, who tutors both the Husker vaulters and combined events athletes. “They knew what they had to do and they did it. I look for good things from them in the finals.”

In the men’s decathalon, sophomore Skyler Reising gave a solid first-day performance in his debut at the NCAA Championships. The Lincoln, Neb., native posted a personal best in the 100m dash (11.29) to open the day and finished the afternoon in 13th place with 3,717 points.

Also in the decathalon, senior Lee Martin marked his first NCAA Championships appearance with a 20th-place showing after one day of competition. Martin used a personal record of 22-9 1/4 in the long jump, besting his previous score of 22-4 1/2 by nearly five inches, to help total 3,640 points on the day.

Reising and Martin will finish up the second day of the decathalon on Thursday, while seniors Ashley Selig and Casie Witte begin the first day of the women’s heptathalon.

“The thing to remember about Skyler and Lee is that this is the first NCAA Championships for both of them,” Grimes said. “When you consider that, they have both done a tremendous job of coming in and staying relaxed and staying in this competition. We’re looking for some good (110-meter) hurdles tomorrow and to finish strong.”

Freshman Scott Wims qualified for the semifinals in the 100m dash, placing fifth in his heat and 17th overall with a wind-aided with a time of 10.39, just behind his career high mark of 10.35. The top four finishers from each heat automatically advance to the event semifinals in the 100m, as did the next six best scores, which included Wims’ score of 10.39.

Wims went on to notch a career-best performance of 10.32 in the semifinals later in the evening, making him the sixth-fastest Husker all-time. Despite his efforts, Wims failed to advance to Friday’s event finals in the 100m, finishing 13th in the semifinals, but will still compete in the 200m and potentially the 4x400m relay on Thursday.

Freshman Rachel Carrizales capped off the day for the Huskers in the women's 3,000-meter steeplechase by shaving nearly eight seconds off her previous career best with an 18th-place time of 10:17.26. The new mark further cemented Carrizales as the second-fastest performer in school history, however it was not enough to garner her a spot in the event finals.

Joining Wims on Thursday in the 4x400 relay are senior Nate Probasco and freshmen Tim Grier, Lukas Hulett and Dax Danns. Probasco will also compete in the 200, while Grier is set to compete in the 400-meter hurdles.

Rounding out the Husker field for day two of the four-day 2007 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championship are Roper in the long jump, senior Sheryl Morgan in the 400-meter hurdle prelims, senior Jeni Steiner in the women’s shot put prelims and junior Peter van der Westhuizen in the 1,500-meter semifinals.

NCAA Outdoor Championships ? Day One
Alex G. Spanos Sports Complex?Sacramento, Calif.

Men’s Decathlon (100m, LJ, SP, HJ, 400m, 110h, DT, PV, JT, 1,500m) Through 5 of 10 Events
13. Skyler Reising, 3,717 (11.29 (PR), 22-1 3/4, 43-2 1/4, 6-5, 52.09)
20. Lee Martin, 3,640 (11.69, 22-9 1/4 (PR), 42-4, 6-5, 52.58)

Men’s Hammer Throw
17. Issar Yazhbin, 202-07

Women’s Pole Vault
1T. Brysun Stately, 13-1 1/2-FQ
14T. Jenny Green, 12-9 1/2

Men’s Pole Vault
1T. Gable Baldwin, 16-10 3/4-FQ

Men’s Long Jump
12. Daniel Roper, 24-9 3/4-FQ
24. Dusty Jonas, 23-2

Women’s Long Jump
23. Chantae McMillan, 19-8 1/4
28. Leandra McGruder, 17-11

Women’s High Jump
19T. Kim Shubert, 5-8 1/2
24T. Epley Bullock, 5-7

Men’s High Jump
1T. Dusty Jonas, 6-10 3/4-FQ<?xml:namespace prefix="o" ns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"?>

Women’s Discus
8. Dace Ruskule, 171-1-FQ

Men’s 400m
24. Lukas Hulett, 47.66

Men’s 100m-Prelims
17. Scott Wims, 10.39-SQ

Men’s 100m-Semifinals
13. Scott Wims, 10.32-PB

3,000 Women’s Steeplechase
18. Rachel Carrizales, 10.17:26-PR

SQ ? Semifinals qualifier
FQ ? Finals qualifier

PR ? Personal best