Jonas Soars to New Height at Prairie Wolf

Lincoln - Senior Dusty Jonas was the star on Friday as the six-time All-American high jumper returned to the top of the national rankings with a new personal-best jump of 7-5 (2.26).

Jonas has been chasing the mark all season and would not be denied after what Scott Sellers of Kansas State did last weekend. Jonas had been tied for the No. 1 spot in the nation all year with Sellers at 7-4 1/2 (2.25), until last weekend when Sellers jumped 7-5. Jonas said it was great to finally see all his hard work pay off.<?xml:namespace prefix="o" ns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"?>

"It was so nice to finally hit 7-5 after all the hard work in practice," Jonas said. "I've really been working hard for Big 12 indoors and today’s jump motivates me even more for next weekend. Next week is going to be a heck of a battle if we (Jonas and Sellers) are both on. This week was just a tune-up, I know I can hit 7-6." 

Head Coach Gary Pepin was excited for Jonas and knows he can compete with the best in the country.

"I was very proud of Dusty (Jonas) and you can see that he is starting to jump consistently at the marks that are special. What some people don't know is that he took six long jumps before he high jumped, which makes his high jump mark that much more incredible," Pepin said. 

Seth Burney hit another NCAA provisional-qualifying mark for the Husker pole vaulters as his vault of 17-1 (5.21) just got him by the qualifying standard of 17-0 3/4 (5.20). Burney's vault earned him a second-place finish overall and the top jump among the collegiate competitors. Burney now is tied for the 17th best mark in the nation and joins female pole vaulters Rachel Birtles and Natalie Willer as NCAA provisional qualifiers. Lindsey Maher also won the women's pole vault with a vault of 11-11 3/4 (3.65).

Sophomore Dax Danns ran both his best and worst 60 meters of the season on Friday. Danns ran his slowest time of the indoor season in the prelims with a time of 6.96, only to come roaring back and take the finals with a new personal-best time of 6.76. The time moves Danns into a tie for seventh on the Big 12 indoor performance list and ties him for 11th all-time in the Husker indoor record book with Tom Fish (1997). Danns said the prelims were what motivated him in the finals.

"I didn't warm up properly for the prelims and I should have run faster (in the prelims)," Danns said. "Seeing my time definitely motivated me for the finals, there was no way I was going to lose."

For the first time all season NCAA provisional qualifier Arna Erega earned a win in the women's 60-meter hurdles. Erega is ranked fifth in the Big 12 Conference and has four runner-up finishes.

In the men's hurdles, Tyrell Ross and Jamie Ryder finished with the top-two collegiate times and second and third overall. Ross' time of 8.09 beat out Ryder who ran an 8.12. Both lost out to current Husker, Kirkland Thornton, who was competing unattached. <?xml:namespace prefix="st1" ns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"?>Thornton's NCAA provisional-qualifying time of 7.84 would have placed him fourth in the Big 12, right behind current Husker freshman, Lehann Fourie.

Senior Kim Shubert led a quartet of Huskers to the top four marks in the women's high jump as Shubert, Epley Bullock and Erin Hannon all jumped 5-8 3/4 (1.75). Shubert finished first with less misses, while Bullock and Hannon tied for second. Audrey Svane rounded out the group with a jump of 5-7 (1.70). 

In the throws, the Huskers made a clean sweep in the college ranks of all events with Tamara Solari and Bryan Bell taking the weight throw as Solari posted her top mark of the 2008 indoor season in the 20-pound weight throw with a toss of 59-8 1/4 (18.19) and Bell won the 35-pound weight throw with a mark of 63-1 1/4 (19.23). Trey Jordan posted the top mark in the shot put at 55-7 1/2. Amanda Latsch posted the top collegiate mark in the women's shot with a new personal best and NCAA provisional-qualifying mark of 50-2 1/2 (15.30) and Kacie Sharp finished in third at 47-3 (14.40). Both Latsch and Sharp lost out to former Husker Jeni Steiner, who hit 51-9 (15.77).

The Husker men and women swept the one-mile run with Mikel Thomas and Lara Crofford posting the top times. Thomas and Todd Gulizia both set new personal bests with Thomas destroying his personal best by exactly 21 seconds with a time of 4:12.87, and Gulizia setting a new time with his fourth-place finish of 4:17.98. Crofford's time of 4:55.84 was a new personal best and led a trio of Huskers to top-10 finishes as Ari Goldstein finished in fifth at 5:00.52 and Jennifer Webers finished sixth at 5:10.21.

Channing Anseth and Rachel Carrizales each finished in second place in their events with Anseth's time in the 5,000-meter run at 17:48.28 and Carrizales finishing at 10:18.72 in the 3,000 meters. 

Jack Lemke and Natalja Zarcenko took home the 800 meters for the Huskers with Zarcenko posting a new personal best of 2:11.14 and Lemke winning with a time of 1:54.15. Joslyn Dalton set the pace in the 1,000-meter run on the women's side with a first-place time of 2:56.17. On the men's side Vince Sickler (2:28.69), Kyle Custer (2:29.07) and David Adams (2:32.49) finished 2-3-4 in the men's 1,000 meters as they all recorded new personal bests.

In the jumps on the women's side, Zarinah Suluki-Drakes out-jumped Brooke Kent of EmporiaState by one-quarter of an inch to finish first in the long jump. Suluki-Drakes' jump 18-2 1/2 (5.55) also beat out teammate Leandra McGruder, who finished third with a jump of 18-0 1/4 (5.49). Danielle Smith finished second in the triple jump at 39-7 3/4 (12.08).

On the men's side, Scott Jorgenson posted the top collegiate mark and finished second overall at 23-1 1/4 (7.04) in the men's long jump. Jonas and Robert Rands finished right behind Jorgenson with jumps of 23-0 (7.01) and 22-8 (6.91), respectively. All three Huskers finished behind former Husker indoor and outdoor national champion, Arturs Abolins. Abolins jumped 23-10 1/4 and still holds the Nebraska indoor long jump record at 26-7 1/4 (8.11). In the men's triple jump Chris Nuttelman earned his second first-place finish of the year with a jump of 48-9 (14.86)

In the women's sprints Chi Kalu finished second in the 60-meter dash at 7.76, and fourth in the 200-meter dash with a new personal-best time of 25.22. Nikita Eades placed third in the 400-meter dash with a time of 57.92, in only the second time Eades had ran the 400 meters this year. On the men's side, Nick Makukutu finished second in the 400-meter dash at 49.09 and freshman Anthony Blue finished sixth in the 200 meters at 22.48.

Overall the Huskers notched 15 wins at the Prairie Wolf Invite with the women winning eight events and the men winning seven. The Huskers finished in the top two in 25 of the 36 events.

Nebraska will be back at home next weekend when it hosts the Big 12 Conference Indoor Championships on Friday, Feb. 29, and Saturday, March 1. The meet will start on Friday at 9:30 a.m. with the women's pentathlon. Running events will begin at 2 p.m. with the women's 60-meter hurdle prelims and the field events start at 2:45 p.m. with the men's weight throw. Saturday, the men's heptathlon starts the day off at 9:30 a.m., with the women's triple jump as the first field event at 1:30 p.m. Running events begin at 3 p.m. with the women's 60-meter hurdle finals.

Tickets can be purchased at Huskers.com, the Husker Athletic Ticket Office or at the DevaneyCenter on the day of the meet. A reserved seat package for both days can be purchased for $14, while a general admission seat for both days is $12.