Husker Women on Top After Day One of Big 12 Indoors

<?xml:namespace prefix="st1" ns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"?>Lincoln - The Husker pentathlon group of Megan Wheatley, Chantae McMillan, Kim Shubert, Erin Hannon and Rachel Butler powered the Husker women to the top of the standings after day one of the Big 12 Indoor Track and Field Championships as the Husker women posted 49.50 points as a team. <?xml:namespace prefix="o" ns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"?>

Wheatley led the group with a runner-up finish, while McMillan finished third with a new personal-best and NCAA provisional-qualifying score of 3,827. Shubert finished in fourth and Hannon finished sixth as both finished with new personal bests and Shubert's score earned her an NCAA provisional-qualifying mark. Butler rounding out the group in seventh place. All five lost out to defending champion Julianne Kennedy of Texas Tech. As a whole the Husker multi-eventers posted 23 points on the board for the Husker women. Wheatley, who has already posted an NCAA automatic-qualifying time in pentathlon at the Frank Sevigne Husker Invitational, was very excited with her finish and happy to help out the team any way she could.

"Julianne (Kennedy) is a great competitor and I am very excited with my finish. It was awesome that all five of us could score and help out the team. Scoring 23 points for the team was fantastic."

Multi-Events Coach Kris Grimes was very impressed with the effort his athletes put on the track today.

"All of the girls came out and competed and left it all out there today. Megan (Wheatley) is a real trooper and she has had to modify training a bit lately and came out and scored a bunch of points for us. It was great to see us come out and put big points on the board for the team."

Three young Husker pole vaults made their mark at the conference meet as freshman Natalie Willer finished runner-up to defending champion Kate Sultanova of Kansas. Willer finished at 13-0 3/4, a new personal best for her and an NCAA provisional-qualifying mark. Sophomore Lindsey Maher and freshman Rachel Birtles also put points on the board for the Huskers as both finished in eighth place at the mark of 12-0 3/4 (3.68). Afterwards, Willer was ecstatic with her finish.

"Coming out here as a freshman and finishing runner-up to one of the great vaulters in the nation was awesome. You can't put in to words what it is like to win a medal at the conference meet."

Pole Vault Coach Kris Grimes was impressed with the freshman.

"(Natalie) Willer came in and looked like a pro today. She came out and made the 13-0 1/4 bar on her first jump when everyone else was struggling. She came out and took the bull by the horns today."

Lara Crofford continued to run very well as the freshman from Newville, Pa., placed third in the women's 5,000-meter run with a time of 16:45.23, scoring six points for the Big Red. Crofford has already posted and NCAA provisional-qualifying time of 16:28.08 in the 5,000 meters this year at the Iowa State Classic.

Another group scoring well for the Husker women was the long jump team of Leandra McGruder, McMillan and Zarinah Suluki-Drakes. McGruder finished in fifth at 19-4 1/4 (5.90) with McMillian posting another personal best on the day with a sixth-place finish at 19-2 1/2 (5.85). Suluki-Drakes just jumped into the scoring with an eighth-place finish at 18-7 1/4 (5.67). In total the three Husker jumpers scored eight team points.

Senior Tamara Solari rounded out the field events as she finished seventh in the women's weight throw with a toss of 60-8 1/2 (18.50). Solari lost out to defending champion Loren Groves of Kansas State who set a new Big 12 record with a throw of 70-3 (21.41).

The women's DMR team of Jennifer Pancoast, Sheryl Morgan, Lynsey Kreikemeier and Joslyn Dalton finished in seventh place with a time of 11:43.11 and scored two points the Huskers. 

The men were led in scoring by a pair of long jumpers in freshman Nicholas Gordon and senior Dusty Jonas. Gordon continued his impressive freshman season with a third-place jump of 24-9 (7.54). Jonas, who is tied for the No. 1 ranking in the conference and the nation in the high jump, set a new personal best with a fourth-place jump of 24-4 1/4 (7.42).

Bryan Bell also rounded out his Husker indoor season on a high note with a sixth-place throw of 62-1 3/4 in the men's weight throw. Bell lost out to three-time defending champion Egor Agafonov of Kansas (74-4 1/2; 22.67) and Chris Rohr of Missouri (73-6 3/4; 18.94). The pair of top throwers posted the top-two throws in the nation this year at the meet.

The men's DMR finished day one with an eighth-place finish at 10:09.67. Texas and Texas Tech beat out the Big 12 meet record at 9:45.39 and 9:45.93, respectively.

Overall the men's team sits in fourth place with 15 points. First place is currently held by Colorado with 34 points

The Husker women will try to score even more points tomorrow as Karyn LaCour and Arna Erega both advanced in the 60-meter hurdles. LaCour's time of 8.33 was a new personal best and improved her NCAA provisional-qualifying time. Natalja Zarcenko also posted a new personal-best time in the one mile with a time of 4:50.35. Zarcenko's time was the third-fastest time in the preliminaries. Morgan will look to bring home the 600-yard title on the women's side as she finished just .09 seconds behind defending champion Morgan Bonds of Kansas State in the preliminaries.

On the men's side a slew of Huskers moved on from day one to compete on day two. Lukas Hulett finished with the fastest time in the men's 400-meter dash preliminaries at 47.55, while Dan Christensen finished sixth with a personal-best time of 48.03. In the 60-meter dash Dax Danns finished in fifth with a personal-best time of 6.75.

Skyler Reising and Pat Burke will continue their heptathlon trek tomorrow as Reising is leading the pack with three events to go. Burke is currently seeded in seventh, but with his strong abilities in the three remaining events (60-meter hurdles; pole vault; 1,000-meter run), he is expected to rocket up the charts.

Tyrell Ross and Lehann Fourie both moved on in the men's 60-meter hurdles as Ross' time of 7.84 was the fourth fastest preliminary time. It was also a new personal-best and NCAA provisional-qualifying time for Ross. Fourie finished just behind Ross in sixth at 7.92.

In the distance events, Adam Daily and Andrew Pearson finished sixth and seventh in the 600-yard preliminaries. Senior Peter van der Westhuizen advanced in the men's one mile with a time of 4:12.94 and Ethan Luebbe moved on in the 1,000-meter run with a time of 2:27.71.

Events will kick off Saturday at 9:30 a.m. with the men's 60-meter hurdles in the men's heptathlon. The women's triple jump will start off the field events at 1:30 p.m. with the women's 60-meter hurdles starting the running events at 3 p.m. A single-day ticket is available for purchase for $8 at the Devaney Center, while anyone in high school or younger can purchase a ticket for only $5.