Nebraska Veterans Lead Huskers with All-America Honors

<?xml:namespace prefix="st1" ns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"?>Sacramento, Calif. ? Three Nebraska veterans led the way with NU’s first top-eight finishes of the 2007 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships on Friday at the Alex G. Spanos Sports Complex in Sacramento, Calif. Seniors Ashley Selig and Dace Ruskule captured All-America honors in the heptathlon and women’s discus, respectively, while junior Dusty Jonas earned his sixth consecutive All-America award in the men’s high jump.<?xml:namespace prefix="o" ns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"?>

 

Sophomore Brysun Stately represented the NU underclassmen by adding a top-three All-America finish in the women’s pole vault.

 

“Overall, we had some people that competed well, especially Ashley Selig and her efforts after coming off an injury,” Head Coach Gary Pepin said. “But we’re disappointed because we didn’t necessarily do as well as we would have liked in certain events. As a group, we struggled some.”

Selig posted a personal best score of 5,794 to move into fifth place during day two of the heptathlon, after finishing the first day of competition ranked sixth. Selig’s new best further solidifies her place as the second highest scoring women’s heptathlon competitor at Nebraska in school history. Selig is second only to Cris Hall, who scored a 5,936 in 1992. Selig was joined in the heptathlon on Friday by fellow senior Casie Witte, who finished 20th overall (5,240) after launching a career best mark of 151-0 in the javelin.

“I knew that I would run into some amazing competition out here and that’s what I found,” said Selig, who is the reigning Big 12 heptathlon champion. “I have a tremendous respect for all of the competitors out there, including my teammate Casie Witte. It was a lot of fun to compete alongside Casie and I feel very blessed to have done as well as I did.”

Fewer than 200 points separated Selig from the top-finisher Jacquelyn Johnson of ArizonaState, who captured her third consecutive NCAA heptathlon crown with a score of 5,985. With the finish, Johnson became just the second woman in NCAA history to take home more than two national titles in the event.

Although she failed to defend her title as the NCAA outdoor women’s discus champion, Ruskule still finished her career at Nebraska with another All-America honor by placing eighth with a top throw of 169-9. The winning spin was 188-11 from Kelechi Anyanwu of California.

The two-time Big 12 champion and 2006 NCAA outdoor champion ends her career with the Huskers as a three-time All-American with a personal best spin of 195-9. The career best mark ranks Ruskule second all-time in the Nebraska record books.

Jonas maintained his All-American streak in the high jump, earning his sixth consecutive top-eight finish with a sixth place leap of 7-2 1/2. The high jump crown stayed in the Big 12 however, as KansasState sophomore Scott Sellers jumped 7-7 1/4 to take home his first NCAA title.

“This was unfortunate because Dusty’s height was the lowest he has ever jumped in this meet,” Pepin said. “He was doing real well up until that final height, so I was surprised when he went out.”

Stately wrapped up the Husker All-American accolades for the day by finishing third in the women’s pole vault, the highest finish of any NU competitor so far. The sophomore, who entered the meet with a nation-leading vault of 14-3 1/4, finished the finals with a jump of 13-7 1/2 for the third top-eight finish of her career. She tied for sixth last season in Sacramento while competing as a freshman for USC before adding a seventh-place effort (13-5 1/4)) for NU earlier this year at the NCAA indoor meet.

The 2007 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships conclude on Saturday, June 9, with a half-day of competition beginning at Noon central time. Senior Jeni Steiner will have her final opportunity to grab All-America honors as she takes to the field in the shot put finals at Noon, while freshman Scott Wims looks to wrap up his outstanding week on the track with the men’s 200m dash finals at 12:51 p.m. All of Saturday’s competition can be seen live on CBS.

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

Women’s Heptathlon (100h, HJ, SP, 200m, LJ, JT, 800m)
5. Ashley Selig, 5,794 PR (13.98, 5-10 (t-PR), 37-2 1/2, 24.50 (PR), 19-6 1/4, 116-09, 2:15.48)
20. Casie Witte, 5,240 (14.82, 5-8 3/4, 33-9 1/2, 26.24, 26.24, 18-6, 151-0 (PR), 2:36.99)

Men’s High Jump-Finals
6. Dusty Jonas, 7-2 1/2 AA

Women’s Discus-Finals
8. Dace Ruskule, 169-9 AA

Women’s Triple Jump
25. Zarinah Suluki-Drakes, 41-5

Men’s Pole Vault-Finals
9. Gable Baldwin, 17-2 3/4

Women’s Pole Vault-Finals
3. Brysun Stately, 13-7 1/4 AA

AA - All-American finish
PR ? Personal best

SB- Season Best