van der Westhuizen Continues Distance Attack

Lincoln - <?xml:namespace prefix="st1" ns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"?>South Africa native Peter van der Westhuizen continued his season-long assault on the Husker indoor record book as he easily beat out the rest of the field by more than nine seconds in the men's one-mile run with a new personal best and NCAA provisional qualifying time of 4:02.19. van der Westhuizen now ranks third all-time in the Husker indoor record book in the one-mile, 3,000-meter and 5,000-meter runs after winning the 5,000 meters at the Conference Challenge and 3,000 meters at the Frank Sevigne Husker Invitational. van der Westhuizen has been using the longer races as building blocks for the one mile.<?xml:namespace prefix="o" ns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"?>

"It is a grueling schedule and you have to train very hard to stay at the top. Running the 3,000 and 5,000-meter races help me build stamina and reach my goal of 3:59.50 or better in the mile," said van der Westhuizen, referencing that 3:59.50 is the NCAA automatic qualifying mark for the one-mile run.

Another South African excelling on the track was freshman Lehann Fourie. Fourie's personal-best time of 7.81 in the men's 60-meter hurdles was an NCAA provisional qualifying mark. The time placed him sixth all-time in the Husker record book and currently ranks him No. 1 in the Big 12 Conference.

Senior co-captain Dusty Jonas added another high-jump title to his trophy case as his jump of 7-3 3/4 (2.23), beating out former NAIA All-American Trevor Barry, who was competing unattached.

Returning All-American Dan Christensen took the top collegiate time in the men's 400-meter dash with a time of 48.05. Christensen's time was second overall and a new personal best. Fellow Husker, Dax Danns, finished second in the men's 200-meter dash with a personal-best time of 21.80.

Huskers Nicholas Gordon, Chris Nuttelman and Jonas posted the top-three collegiate jumps in the men's triple jump. Gordan led the way at 48-10 1/4 (14.89), followed by Nuttelman at 48-4 (14.73) and Jonas at 47-11 1/4 (14.61). All three were beat out by Aarik Wilson (54-10; 16.71), a former two-time national champion for the Indiana Hoosiers, who was competing unattached. 

van der Westhuizen was not the only Husker distance runner to do well in the mile. Four other Huskers reached new personal bests as Kyle Custer (4:12.81) finished fourth, Ethan Luebbe (4:12.95) finished fifth, David Adams (4:13.59) finished seventh and Vince Sickler (4:15.80) finished 11th out of out of 37 runners.

Adam Dailey, Nick Makukutu, Blaise Rewaka and Matt Conahan all set new personal bests in their respective events as well. Both Daily and Makukutu set new personal bests in the 600-yard run. Daily's third-place time of 1:10.80 beat out Makukutu's fifth-place time of 1:11.75. Rewaka's time of 1:52.50 in the men's 800 meters placed him in second, just ahead of Conahan, who finished in fourth at 1:52.86.

Trey Jordan posted the top collegiate mark in the men's shot at 55-5 (16.89). The transfer from TCU continues to improve and will look to better his personal best of 56-3 3/4 (17.16) before the end of the indoor season.

In the pole vault, Zac Holoch and Pat Burke finished third and fourth as they each jumped 15-11 (4.85), Holoch placed third with fewer misses.

On the women's side, freshmen Karyn LaCour and Arna Erega both continued to impress in the women's 60-meter hurdles as they finished with the top two collegiate times and second and third overall times. Both finished behind Husker 60-meter hurdles record-holder, Priscilla Lopes-Schliep. Both LaCour's (8.40) and Erega's (8.42) times were NCAA provisional qualifying marks. However, LaCour posted a faster time last week at the Frank Sevigne Husker Invitational at 8.39. Lopes-Schliep said she hopes she is pushing the Husker freshman.

"It's awesome to come out here and see them (LaCour and Erega) do well. There are times where we train together and I not only push them, they push me to do better as well. It was awesome to be back here at home, competing in front of a Husker crowd," said Lopes-Schliep.

Veterans Natalja Zarcenko and Sheryl Morgan both won individual titles and set new personal bests in their respective events. Zarcenko won the women's 1,000-meter run with a time of 2:50.98, beating out 18 other competitors and moved up to No. 3 on the conference performance list. Morgan's time of 1:21.94 in the 600-yard run moved her to No. 1 on the Big 12 indoor list.

Joslyn Dalton and Ari Goldstein also set new personal bests in the mile run with Dalton's seventh place finish at 4:58.36 barley beat out Goldstein's eighth place finish of 4:58.63.

Jennifer Pancoast finished with the top collegiate mark in the women's 3,000-meter run at 9:57.85, her mark placed her third overall. Former Husker Ann Gaffigan won the event with a time of 9:26.81.

In the field events, Zarinah Suluki-Drakes out-jumped Husker teammate Danielle Smith to win the women's triple jump. Suluki-Drakes jumped 40-9 1/2 (12.43), barley beating Smith's jump of 40-7 (12.37). Amanda Latsch finished with the top collegiate mark in the shot put and third overall with a new personal-best mark of 48-10 1/4 (14.89).

Freshman Natalie Willer also finished with the top collegiate mark in the pole vault with a vault of 12-0 (3.66). High jumpers, Audrey Svane and Erin Hannon both jumped 5-7 (1.70), with Svane earning second place with less misses. Both lost out to Chealsea Taylor of Alabama, who jumped an NCAA automatic qualifying mark of 6-0 3/4 (1.85).

Next weekend the Huskers will hit the road for the first time all season when they travel to Ames, Iowa, for the Iowa State Classic. Events will start Friday, Feb. 15th and Saturday, Feb. 16th at 10 a.m. each day. Check out Huskers.com for more information, including results and daily recaps.