Huskers Head to Norman for John Jacobs Invitational

Lincoln - The Husker track and field team will hit the road again this weekend as it travels to Norman, Okla., for the John Jacobs Invitational where it will matchup with Big 12 schools Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Kansas. The Huskers opened up the outdoor season last weekend with most of the team traveling to Tucson, Ariz., for the Jim Click Shootout while a small group of distance runners made the trip to Palo Alto, Calif., for the Stanford Invitational.

The Huskers had a successful weekend with 28 athletes qualifying for the NCAA Midwest Regional which will be held in Lincoln at the Ed Weir track on May 30 and 31. Lara Crofford (10,000 meters) and Skyler Reising (decathlon) also posted NCAA provisional qualifying marks for the NCAA Outdoor Championships that will be held in Des Moines, Iowa on June 11 through 14.

The John Jacobs Invitational kicks off on Friday with two events as the women’s hammer throw starts at 4 p.m. with the men’s hammer throw to follow. Saturday will be chalked full of action with the women’s javelin starting the field events at 10 a.m. and the women’s 4x100-meter relay being the first running event at 1 p.m.

A small group of distance runners along with multi-event athlete Skyler Reising will also make a short trip to Seward, Neb., for the Concordia Invitational hosted by Concordia University. The meet was originally schedule for Friday and Saturday but with the cold weather sweeping across the Midwest the meet will now only be held on Sunday, April 13. The field and running events will both begin at 1 p.m. with the women's hammer throw and the women's 100-meter hurdles preliminaries. Live results of will not be available so make sure and check Huskers.com on Sunday night for a full recap.

- Wilkinson Comes Out Firing After Long Layoff
Senior co-captain Kayla Wilkinson was the story of the Jim Click Shootout as she returned to competition for the first time in more than a year and a half. Wilkinson showed she is back at her All-America form as she walked away with the win in the javelin with a new facility record and regional-qualifying throw of 179-07 (54.75). The next closest competitor was Sigr Sveinsdottir of Georgia who was not even close to Wilkinson at 163-7. Four of Wilkinson’s six throws were over 50 meters with her record-breaking throw coming on her final attempt.

"It was great to wear the Nebraska ?N’ again," Wilkinson said. "Being out so long with my injury ,I was nervous with my first throw. Coming in, I didn’t really have a mark I wanted to hit, I just wanted to throw as far as I could. I am happy with where I am at after today."

"We wanted to not have her (Kayla Wilkinson’s) expectations too high with her being out so long," Nebraska throws Coach Mark Colligan said. "I have to give so much credit to our rehabilitation staff as they have done a great job of getting her back to 100 percent. I wanted her to put together a good series of throws and she did that. Now hopefully we can get focused on the goals we had set before her injury came about."

- Huskers Post 28 Regional Qualifiers in Arizona
The Nebraska track and field team was firing on all cylinders at its first outdoor meet of the season as it not only won the 2008 Jim Click Shootout with 398 points, but also produced 28 NCAA Regional qualifiers. The meet included Nebraska, Arizona, Arizona State and Georgia and used a combined team scoring system that added the men’s and women’s team scores together. The Big Red was closely balanced with the women scoring 198 points and the men scoring 200. The women qualified in 10 events for the regional meet and the men added another 16 qualifiers.

Three Huskers won multiple events at the meet, scoring a total of 54 points for the team.

Dax Danns ran away with 100 and 200 meter wins as he produced regional-qualifying times in each at 10.44 and 21.02, respectively. Nikita Eades swept the hurdles with a time of 1:03.34 in the 400-meter hurdles and a regional-qualifying time of 13.69 in the 100-meter hurdles. Leandra McGruder took first in both the women’s long jump and triple jump as she barely beat out teammate Zarinah Suluki-Drakes in both events. McGruder jumped 19-6 ? (5.95) in the long jump while she and Suluki-Drakes both hit regional-qualifying marks in the triple jump at 41-8 (12.7) and 40-8 ?, respectively.

Four other Huskers won events and reached regional-qualifying marks. Rachel Carrizales set the tone for the day for the Huskers as she and teammate Joslyn Dalton ran away with the 3,000-meter steeplechase as Carrizales’ time of 10:48.62 was just below the regional-qualifying standard of 10:50.25, while Dalton finished at 10:57.78. Freshman Lehann Fourie narrowly beat out teammate Tyrell Ross in the 110-meter hurdles as Fourie’s regional-qualifying time of 13.93 was just quick enough to beat out Ross’ regional-qualifying time of 14.13. Natalja Zarcenko paced the field in the 1,500 meters as she was the only athlete in the event to regional qualify with a time of 4:26.01. Kacie Sharp was the last Husker to post a winning regional-qualifying mark as her toss of 50-4 ? (15.35) in the shot put was also a new personal best.

Other Huskers hitting regional qualifying marks included Nicholas Gordon (long jump and triple jump), Epley Bullock (high jump), Natalie Willer (pole vault), Keith Lloyd (hammer throw and shot put), Bryan Bell (hammer throw), Austin Braman (javelin), Adam Dailey (400-meter hurdles), Cylend Simmons (400-meter hurdles), Paul Hamilton (high jump), Bubba Kramer (shot put) and Trey Jordan (shot put).

- Jonas Leaves Tucson with Record
Dusty Jonas showed no let down after having two weeks off after his NCAA indoor championship in the high jump as Jonas set a new facility record with an regional-qualifying leap of 7-5 (2.26) at the Jim Click Shootout, clearing the bar on his first attempt. Jonas then went after what would have been a new personal-best of 7-6 1/2. The mark also would have tied the Nebraska outdoor high jump record currently held by Shane Lavy (1999), but Jonas missed on his three attempts.

- Reising Posts Top-10 Decathlon Score
Senior Skyler Reising was unstoppable at the 2008 Jim Click Shootout as he finished with the top collegiate and second overall score with a new personal best of 7,295 points.

On day one, Reising climbed up the leaderboard as he set new personal bests in three of the five events. He knocked .22 seconds off of his 100-meter time to finish at 11.07, increased his shot put by 2-6 1/2 feet as his best toss landed at 47-6 1/4 (14.48) and improved his high jump by 3/4 of an inch as his highest clearance on the day was the 6-10 ? (2.09) bar.

Reising was not done as on day two he set another personal best in 110-meter hurdles on his way to topping his previous decathlon best total. With his score, Reising has provisionally qualified for the NCAA Outdoor Championships on June 11-14 in Des Moines, Iowa.

- Yazhbin Honored as Chancellor’s Scholar
Former Husker track and field star Issar Yazhbin of Yavne, Israel, will be one of 25 Chancellor’s Scholars honored on April 6, at the Lied Center for Performing Arts during UNL’s All-University Honors Convention.

Chancellor’s Scholars are students who will receive their degrees in May or August and have maintained a 4.0 grade-point average on all of their collegiate work at UNL and elsewhere.

Yazhbin earned his first CoSIDA Academic All-America honor in 2007 after producing a perfect 4.0 GPA in biological systems engineering. He also earned three consecutive first-team academic All-Big 12 awards and appeared on the Big 12 Commissioner’s Honor Roll seven times.

Yazhbin excelled in the hammer throw at Nebraska as he competed for the Big Red from 2004 to 2007 and was a team co-captain in 2006 and 2007. He earned a Big 12 Championship in the hammer throw in 2004 with a toss of 203-8 while also competing at the NCAA Outdoor Championships twice, finishing 15th in the hammer throw in 2005 and 17th in 2007. Yazhbin currently holds the all-time hammer throw record at Nebraska with a mark of 207-7 at the 2007 NCAA Midwest Regional.

- Freshman Rewrites NU Record Book
Freshman Lara Crofford took to the track on Saturday, April 5, at the Stanford Invitational and earned a NCAA provisional-qualifying time of 33:56.46 in the 10,000 meters. Crofford’s time moves her into second place all-time at Nebraska in the 10,000 meters. The top spot is held by Sammie Resh Gdowski who ran a time of 32:34.71 in 1990 at a meet in Walnut, Calif.

Crofford (Newville, Pa.) has been a welcome addition to the Husker distance squad this season as she also ran the fourth fastest 5,000 meters all-time at Nebraska during the indoor season with a time of 16:43.43 and posted the 11th fastest 3,000 meters all-time indoors at 9:43.13.

- Jonas Flies High in Fayetteville
Senior Dusty Jonas culminated his last indoor season as the best high jumper in the country as the four-time All-American won his first national championship on March 15. His height of 7-7 (2.31) is the highest jump in the history of Nebraska track and field indoors or outdoors. The indoor record was previously held by Jeff Loescher who jumped 7-6 (2.29) in 1985.

Jonas was on top of his game all day, as he cleared the first six bars (2.09, 2.14, 2.19, 2.22, 2.25 and 2.28) on his first attempt. Jonas’ only competition on the day was Big 12 indoor champion Scott Sellers of Kansas State, who stayed with Jonas until the 7-4 1/2 (2.25) bar. Sellers was then not able to clear at 7-5 3/4 (2.28). Jonas almost cleared 7-7 on his first attempt, barely clipping the bar with his leg. He would not be denied on his second attempt, as the 7-7 height put him somewhere no other Husker has been able to reach.

Head Coach Gary Pepin couldn’t be happier for his senior jumper.

"7-7 is something that is very special, and I think even if Dusty (Jonas) hadn’t won, he and I would have been happy he cleared 7-7," Pepin said. "Dusty is now somewhere that only special people get to. He has a bright future not only in the outdoor season, but after his career at Nebraska. I am just so pleased to see all his hard work pay off and that he won a national championship."

Jonas was relieved that all of his and Coach Pepin’s hard work had finally paid off.

"Truthfully it really hasn’t sunk in yet that I am a national champion," Jonas said. "Right now it just feels like I’ve set a new PR at any regular meet. Coming in, I knew I had a chance and both Coach Pepin and Nic (volunteer coach Nic Petersen) said they knew I had what it was going to take to win. The strange thing is I think I am happier that I cleared 7-7. Hopefully over the next few days it will set in that I’m a national champion."

- Huskers Send Six to Fayetteville
Dusty Jonas was not the only Husker to earn hardware at the two-day NCAA Indoor Championships as Sheryl Morgan and Lukas Hulett each finished seventh in the 400 meters and Epley Bullock finished eighth in the high jump.

Morgan, who was running her last race as a Husker, gave it her all as she finished with a time of 53.53. It was a sad goodbye for Morgan, but she was happy to have the opportunity to run at Nebraska.

Morgan said, "I am sad that this is my last meet, but being on the podium makes me happy. My experience at Nebraska was great and I just want to thank all the coaches for everything they’ve allowed me to do. I’m very happy to be able to call myself an All-American."

Hulett, who ran the fifth-fastest time in the preliminaries, had trouble getting into a flow in the finals, finishing with a time of 47.22. Even though Hulett was not happy with his final race, he was proud to be able to say he has earned All-America honors for the second straight year.

"I didn’t run very well today, and I am really disappointed about that. I really wanted to PR again today, but I am very pleased to be an All-American again. This just motivates me to get ready for the outdoor season," Hulett said following the meet.

Sophomore Epley Bullock earned All-America honors in the high jump for the second-straight year as the Allen, Texas, native finished tied for seventh with a jump of 5-10 3/4 (1.80). Bullock earned All-America honors last year as she finished ninth overall and fifth among American competitors. Bullock cleared the first three bars with ease before tweaking her knee which kept her from being able to clear the 6-0 (1.83) bar.

Bullock was happy to earn the All-America honor outright this year and saw quite a difference in herself this year compared to last.

"My goal coming in was to earn finish in the top eight and have no question about the All-America honor. Last year I was so nervous coming in and couldn’t keep myself still. This year I could just focus on having fun and doing my best," Bullock said.

Senior Peter van der Westhuizen and freshman Paul Hamilton also competed on day two for the Huskers. van der Westhuizen finished 11th in the mile run at 4:07.77, and Hamilton finished 12th in the high jump with a leap of 6-10 1/4 (2.09).

Overall the Husker men finished tied for 17th with 12 points while the women finished 52nd with 3.5 points.

- Huskers Tough in the Classroom Too
The Nebraska track and field team earned an amazing 89 spots on the 2007 Big 12 Fall Commissioner’s Honor Roll, released by the Big 12 Conference on Wednesday, Feb. 13.

The men’s team contributed 52 athletes to the list, with the women adding another 37. Nine athletes produced perfect 4.0 grade-point averages. On the men’s side, Anthony Oberle, Ben Schutter, Bryce Somer and Issar Yazhbin produced 4.0 grade-point averages in the fall, while Joslyn Dalton, Betsy Miller, Kim Shubert, Kayla Ubel and Natalie Willer added perfect semesters on the women’s side.

Overall, an impressive list of 298 Nebraska student-athletes across all sports claimed spots on the Big 12 Commissioner’s Fall Academic Honor Roll. Among the 298 student-athletes who achieved 3.0 or better grade-point averages during the semester, 35 Huskers posted perfect 4.0 GPAs.

Nebraska’s approach to recruiting the nation’s finest student-athletes yielded a remarkably diverse contingent of fall academic honorees that included representatives of 31 U.S. states and 16 foreign countries, including honor roll members from four Canadian provinces. Husker honor roll members also came to Nebraska from Australia, Belgium, Brazil, China, Croatia, France, Germany, Hungary, Israel, Jamaica, Latvia, Mexico, Scotland, South Africa and Sweden.

The Huskers’ Big 12 Commissioner’s Fall Academic Honor Roll class also carried a distinct state flavor with 114 native Nebraskans among the 298 award winners.

- T&F Adds 12 New Huskers
The Nebraska track and field team has announced 12 signees to its 2008 class. The men’s team will welcome four athletes while the women’s team adds eight. The class includes five Nebraska natives, two athletes from Iowa, one from Kansas, two from Canada, one from South Africa and one from Panama. Check out Huskers.com for a full bio on all the signees.

Men
- Alonso Edwards (Sprints)
- Adam Mitteis (Distance)
- Pieter Smith (Sprints)
- Adam Wolkins (Javelin)

Women
- Blaire Dinsdale (Distance)
- Brooke Dinsdale (Distance)
- Jessica Furlan (Distance)
- Roxi Grizzle (Javelin)
- Erica Jamik (Distance)
- Tara Korshoj (Jumps)
- Katie White (Distance)
- Morgan Wilken (Throws)

- Husker Legend Earns Honor
In the February issue of Track and Field News, the publication celebrated its 60th birthday with a list of the best track and field athletes over the past six decades. Under the "Best College Woman" section, former Husker Merlene Ottey was named the best collegiate woman sprinter.

Ottey is easily the most decorated track and field athlete in Nebraska history as she won 14 national championships from 1980 to 1984. Ottey also competed in seven straight Olympic Games from the 1980 games in Moscow to the 2004 games in Athens. Over her seven Olympics, Ottey was runner-up three times and also earned five bronze medals, including earning the silver in the 100- meter dash (1992 Barcelona), 200-meter dash (1996 Atlanta) and 4x100-meter relay (Sydney 2000). Ottey still holds 13 school records, including four relay marks.

Ottey earned indoor national championships in the 55-meter dash (1984), 60-yard dash (1982), 300-yard dash (1982), 4x220-yard relay (1982), 60-meter dash (1981) and 300-meter dash (1980-81). Outdoors she won titles in the 100-meter dash (1983), 200-meter dash (1983), 1982 (100-meter dash), 4x100-meter relay (1982), 100-meter dash (1981) and 200-meter dash (1980-81).

- Freshmen Shine During Indoor Season
During the 2008 indoor season 17 events were won by Husker freshmen. Leading the pack for the men were Paul Hamilton of Sidney, Neb., and Nicholas Gordan of Kingston, Jamaica. Hamilton was the only freshman to compete in the high jump at the 2008 NCAA Indoor Championships, finishing 12th. Gordon won the triple jump twice during the year and the long jump three times. Other winners for the men included Adam Dailey (800m), David Adams (3000m) and Mikel Thomas (mile run).

The women were carried by NCAA provisional qualifier Karyn LaCour, who posted the top collegiate time in the 60m hurdles at five meets. NCAA provisional-qualifiers Lara Croffod (5,000-meter run) and Arna Erega (60-meter hurdles) also posted wins. Crofford also went on to win mile run twice and Natalie Willer posted four wins in the pole vault.

- Four NCAA All-Americans Head Outdoor for Men’s Squad
Four Husker men who have combined to win nine individual and one relay All-America awards return to power Nebraska outdoors. The group is led by Dusty Jonas, one of the premier high jumpers in the country.

Jonas enters his final season with the Huskers in search of an outdoor national championship after winning the 2008 indoor event in Fayettville, Ark. Jonas owns seven All-America finishes in the last three years and is the Nebraska indoor record holder at 7-7.

Three young Husker sprinters will compliment the seasoned veteran. Junior Dan Christensen and sophomores Lukas Hulett and Scott Wims were part of the 4 x 400-meter relay that earned All-America honors by virtue of their eighth-place performance at the 2007 NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships. Wims also earned All-America recognition outdoors for his seventh place in the 200-meters at the outdoor championships. Hulett is a two-time All-American in the indoor 400 meters. These three sprinters plus sophomore Dax Danns should form a solid sprints and relay corps.

- Two NCAA All-Americans Return for Women
The Huskers return two women for the 2008 season who have each earned NCAA All-America honors during their outstanding careers. Kayla Wilkinson returns for her second attempt at a senior season after redshirting in 2007 due to shoulder surgery, while Epley Bullock is back for her sophomore year following a remarkable debut campaign.

Wilkinson captured her All-America honor with a runner-up finish in the javelin at the 2006 NCAA Outdoor Championships with a toss of 177-7. Had it not been for an injury in 2007, she would have been poised to make a run for a national title in the event last year. That goal resurfaces this season, as well as Wilkinson’s attempt to reclaim the Big 12 javelin title, which she won in both 2005 and 2006.

While Wilkinson has years of collegiate experience under her belt, Bullock is the epitome of young stardom. She finished ninth in the high jump (eighth American) at the 2007 indoor championships with a then career-high leap of 6-0, winning one of three freshman All-America honors for the Huskers last season. Bullock again qualified for the NCAA Championships in the high jump during the outdoor season, only to finish 24th. Bullock returned to the NCAA 2007 Indoor Championships in 2008 an finished tied for seventh and earn All-America honors for the second-straight year.

- Pepin Leads Husker Squad for Record-Tying 28th Season
Nebraska Head Coach Gary Pepin is in his 28th year guiding the Husker women’s team and 25th year coaching the NU men's squad. This year Pepin ties former Husker coach Frank Sevigne as the longest-tenured track and field coach in school history. Sevigne logged 28 seasons leading the NU men’s program from 1956 through 1983.

Pepin has helped the Husker women combine for 38 of their 40 conference titles, while also notching 20 of the program’s 21 top-five NCAA team finishes, including each of Nebraska’s three indoor national championships.

Pepin has led the men's team to 26 of its 58 indoor and outdoor conference crowns, while also notching two NCAA top-five placings. The Huskers' second-place finish at the 1996 NCAA Indoor Championships ranks as the squad's highest at an NCAA meet.