Huskers Compete in 99th Running of the Drake Relays

Lincoln - The Huskers will battle some of their stiffest competition starting on Thursday, April 24, as they will be part of an 8,000-athlete field at the 99th annual Drake Relays. The Drake Relays is one of the most highly anticipated meets of the outdoor track season. Each year some of the top athletes not only in the collegiate ranks, but in the world travel to Des Moines, Iowa, to compete at Drake Stadium. Over the years Drake Relays fans have seen 14 world records, 45 American records and 59 national collegiate records.

- Nebraska Open Offers Free Admission to Fans
The Nebraska track and field team will host its first home track meet of the outdoor season on April 27, at Ed Weir Stadium.

The meet will start at 11 a.m. with the women’s hammer throw and the men’s javelin. The running events will begin at Noon with the running of the women’s 3,000-meter steeplechase. Fans are encouraged to come check out the team. Admission will be free for all ages.

For fans not able to attend, live results and a full recap will be available at Huskers.com.

- Ross Runs Down Olympian
Tyrell Ross successfully defended his 110-meter hurdles title with a time of 14.02 at the 81st annual Kansas Relays on Saturday, April 19. He defeated Olympian Tom Pappas (unattached) who ran 14.22. Ross ran the second-fastest time in the preliminaries Saturday morning at 14.19, trailing Pappas’ time of 14.14. Pappas competed for the United States in the decathlon at the Olympic Games in Sidney in 2000 and in Athens in 2004.

"Running against an Olympian really gave me an extra boost. He beat me in the prelims, but I knew I had to defend my title in the finals," said Ross when asked about how it felt to run against an Olympic athlete.

- Husker High Jump Trio Battles for Top Spot
Sophomores Epley Bullock and Erin Hannon along with senior Kim Shubert are vying for the top spot in the Midwest Region as all three are tied at No. 2 with a high jump of 5-8 3/4 (1.75). All three cleared the height at the first meet of the outdoor season, the Jim Click Shootout in Tucson, Ariz. Shubert and Bullock each have championship experience as both competed in the high jump last year at the NCAA Outdoor Championships in Sacramento, Calif. The trio is currently chasing Tiyana Peters of New Mexico who holds the top spot in the region with a jump of 5-10 (1.78).

- Dailey Dynamite in Hurdles
Freshman Adam Dailey has made quite the impact during the outdoor season for the Nebraska track and field team as the Wahoo, Neb., native has already regionally qualified in two events. Most recently Dailey ran the opening leg of the 4x400-meter relay team on Saturday, April 12, in Norman, Okla., at the John Jacobs Invitational. Earlier at the Jim Click Shootout in Tucson, Ariz., Daily ran a 51.40 in the 400-meter hurdles, which currently ranks him No. 21 in Division I and No. 4 in the Midwest Region. Dailey was a three-time Nebraska Class B state champion at Bishop Neumann High School in Wahoo, Neb. He earned top honors in the 110-meter hurdles, 300-meter hurdles and 400-meter hurdles, also earning the all-class medal in the 300-meter hurdles with a time of 38.17.

- Reising and McMillan Post Provisional Multi-Event Scores
Senior Skyler Reising and sophomore Chantae McMillan have each provisional qualified this year for the NCAA Outdoor Championships. Reising currently ranks No. 13 in Division I, while McMillan is ranked No. 21.

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 the leaderboard as he set new personal bests in three of the five events. He knocked .22 seconds off 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 three-quarters of an inch as his highest clearance on the day was the 6-10 ? (2.09) bar.

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

McMillan earned her spot on the NCAA provisional heptathlon list at the Kansas Relays on April 16 and 17. It was the sophomore’s first outdoor heptathlon and first time throwing the javelin in competition. McMillan earned the No. 11 all-time score at Nebraska. During the two-day event McMillan set personal bests in the 100-meter hurdles (14.60w), shot put (38-9; 11.81), 200 meters (25.38w), javelin (121-01; 36.90) and 800 meters (2:30.53).

- 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 moved 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 then followed her performance at the Stanford Invitational with another record-setting performance on April 19, at the Mt. SAC Relays. Crofford finished third in the 5,000-meter run with a time of 16:27.73 at the prestigious meet in Walnut, Calif. Crofford’s time not only qualified her for the Midwest Regional, it also moved her to No. 4 all-time outdoors on the Nebraska top 10 list. She is only three-tenths of a second away from overtaking Anne Shadle for the No. 3 position.

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.

- Yazhbin Honored as Chancellor’s Scholar
Former Husker track and field star Issar Yazhbin of Yavne, Israel, was 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.

- 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."

- 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.

- 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)

- 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.