Huskers Host NCAA Midwest Regional

Lincoln - For the second time in the six-year history of the NCAA regional track and field format, the <?xml:namespace prefix="st1" ns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"?>University of Nebraska will play host to the Midwest Regional meet at Ed Weir Stadium. The Huskers hosted the inaugural meet in 2003, winning the meet on the women’s side and finishing tied for third on the men’s. The Husker men have won the meet twice, finishing first in 2004 and 2005. At the 2007 meet at Drake Stadium in Des Moines, Iowa, the men’s squad finished second to Oklahoma with the Sooners scoring 77.33 points and the Huskers racking up 60 points. The Husker women finished third with 55 points, trailing Texas A&M (99) and Texas (67).<?xml:namespace prefix="o" ns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"?>

This weekend’s meet is scheduled for Friday, May 30, and Saturday, May 31. The women’s long jump and hammer throw along with the men’s high jump and javelin will get action started on Friday at 1 p.m. The running events are set to start at 1:30 p.m. with the preliminaries of the women’s 4x100-meter relay. On Saturday the field events start with the women’s high jump and javelin while the men will throw the hammer and long jump at 1 p.m. The women’s 4x100-meter relay will again be the first running event, with the finals starting at 4 p.m. Tickets can be purchased in advance at Huskers.com or by calling 1-800-8-BIG-RED. Fans can also purchase tickets the day of the meet at Ed Weir Stadium.

- Catch the Huskers Live
Fans unable to get to Lincoln this weekend will still have the chance you watch their favorite Huskers. HuskerVision will be providing a free live video stream of all the action this weekend. Fans should visit the track page on Huskers.com for details.

- 52 Huskers Compete at Home
At the 2008 Midwest Regional meet, the Husker men will have 30 entries while the women will add another 22. The men will have the most entries in the field and have the second most in the nation, trailing UCLA who has 31.

Of the 52 entries, 36 Huskers rank in the top 10 of the region, 13 on the women’s side and 23 on the men’s side. Of those 36 Huskers, 10 men rank in the top five, with the women adding six top-five competitors.

- Cheer on Olympic Hopefuls
This weekend at Ed Weir Stadium fans will have the chance to see athletes that have a shot at competing in the Olympic Games later this summer in Beijing, China. The women’s field has 17 athletes that have hit the Olympic ?A’ standard while the men’s side will showcase 16 athletes. The men’s side includes two of the top-five high jumpers in the United States this year, KansasState’s Scott Sellers and Nebraska’s own world high jump leader, Dusty Jonas. Some of the top sprinters in the country on the women’s side will be in Lincoln as seven women have hit the ?A’ standard in the 100 meters with another eight making it in the 200 meters. Porscha Lucas of Texas A&M holds the top spot in the world in the 200 meters this year with a time of 22.29, while her teammate, Simone Facey, owns the second-fastest time in world this year in the 100 meters at 10.95.

- Jonas Atop World List and Big 12
Senior Dusty Jonas cemented his name at the top of the Nebraska and Big 12 Conference record books with a world-class performance at Potts Field in Boulder, Colo. on Sunday, May 18. Jonas entered the men’s high jump competition at 7-0 1/2 (2.15) and stayed clean through the first five heights as he jumped, 7-1 3/4 (2.18), 7-3 (2.21), 7-4 1/4 (2.24), 7-6 (2.29) and 7-7 3/4 (2.33). With the Big 12 title already in the bag after no other competitor was able to clear a bar higher than 7-3, Jonas then moved the bar up to 7-8 3/4 (2.36). After just clipping the bar with his foot on his first attempt, the Potts Field crowd got behind the small-town kid from La Vernia, Texas, which has a population of 931. Jonas cleared the mark on his second attempt and gave a dramatic fist pump to the crowd. With the jump he set the Nebraska school record, Big 12 Championship meet record, Big 12 Conference record and put his name at the top of the 2008 world list.

Jonas’ performance at the conference meet propelled him to the Big 12 Conference Outdoor Male Performer of the Year. The award is voted on by the conference coaches and is the first time Jonas has earned the honor.

- Four Huskers Capture Big 12 Crowns
Along with Dusty Jonas’ Big 12 championship after his world-leading jump, seniors Kim Shubert and Kayla Wilkinson as well as redshirt freshman Megan Wheatley came back to Lincoln with Big 12 titles.

Wilkinson got things started for the Huskers on Friday, May 16, with her third Big 12 championship in the javelin. Wilkinson won titles in the 2005 and 2006 before redshirting the 2007 season with a shoulder injury. Wilkinson returned in 2008 in dominant fashion as she recaptured her title while breaking her own school record with a toss of 182-10 (55.73).

Wheatley was up next for the Huskers. The Perth, Australia, native won the women’s heptathlon after not competing in the event for almost two years. Wheatley sat out the 2007 outdoor season with injury. She returned in 2008 to finish runner up at the 2008 Big 12 Indoor Championships in the pentathlon, even though she had been out with injury for most of the indoor season as well. Wheatley dominated the two-day event, posting the fifth-best score in the country this season with 5,643 points.

Shubert was the last of the Husker women to win at the three day Big 12 Outdoor Championships. Shubert has competed in the heptathlon that last two years, however, due to the fact that she had posted the top high jump in the conference entering the meet she focused solely on the high jump. It paid off as the Lincoln native earned her first Big 12 title, improving her season best with a leap of 5-10 3/4 (1.80).

- Gordon is Dual-Threat Jumper
Freshman Nicholas Gordon has a chance this weekend of earning a spot in two events at the NCAA Outdoor Championships. At the Big 12 Outdoor Championships, Gordon came within one-quarter of an inch in the long jump of winning his first Big 12 championship with a personal-best jump of 25-6 (7.77). He then followed up his performance with a sixth-place finish in the triple jump with a personal-best jump of 51-1 3/4 (15.59) in the triple jump. Gordon will enter the regional meet ranked No. 3 in the long jump and No. 10 in the triple jump

- Huskers Know High Jump  
Big 12 champions Dusty Jonas and Kim Shubert lead a pack of seven Huskers that have qualified for the 2008 NCAA Midwest Regional in the high jump. On the men’s side, Jonas leads the world with his jump of 7-8 3/4 (2.36) from the Big 12 Outdoor Championships. Freshmen Paul Hamilton and Brandon Sheppard will join Jonas at the regional meet. With a personal-best jump of 7-3 (2.21), Hamilton owns the No. 4 spot in the region. Sheppard earned his spot at the regional meet with a personal-best jump of 6-10 3/4 (2.10) at the Big 12 meet which places him tied for No. 7 in the region. On the women’s side, Shubert cleared 5-10 3/4 (1.80) at the Big 12 Outdoor Championships while sophomores Epley Bullock and Erin Hannon as well as freshman Audrey Svane have all cleared 5-8 3/4 (1.75). Shubert is ranked No. 3 in the region with the other three tied for the No. 5 spot.

- 38 Huskers Named Academic All-Big 12
With the release of the Academic All-Big 12 Track and Field Team, the Huskers have again shown they excel not only in athletic events but also in the classroom. The Big Red posted the most male and female athletes on the team, with 20 on the men’s side and 18 on the women’s team. Among its 38 selections, the track and field team had four student athletes earn a perfect 4.0 grade-point average. The perfect GPA students on the women’s team included Kim Shubert (biological sciences), Betsy Miller (biological sciences) and Joslyn Dalton (communication studies) while the men’s team added Bryce Somer (nutritional science and dietetics).

- 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. At the Big 12 Outdoor Championships, Crofford was the highest point scorer on the women’s side. She tied for the No. 10 spot in individual points standing with 14.

 

- McGruder Earns Spot on Good Works Team
Nebraska track and field sophomore Leandra McGruder was named to the 2008 Big 12 Conference Spring Sports Good Works Team in a release from the Big 12 Conference on Thursday, May 1. A native of Jefferson City, Mo., McGruder was selected by the University of Nebraska as its student-athlete who best exemplifies community service, good academic standing and participation in a Big 12 sponsored sport. McGruder joins Jenny Green as the only Nebraska track and field athletes to be named to the team after Green was honored on the 2007 spring team.

McGruder has been involved in the community by being a member of SAAC (Student-Athlete Advisory Committee), participating in the food backpack program and attending the Big 12 Multicultural Leadership Conference.

- 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 indoors have returned 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 Fayetteville, Ark. Jonas owns seven All-America finishes in the last three years and is the Nebraska indoor and outdoor record holder

Three young Husker sprinters will have complimented 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 have 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 Indoor Championships in 2008 and finished tied for seventh to earn All-America honors for the second-straight year.

- Track and Field Adds 16 New Huskers
The Nebraska track and field team has announced 16 signees to its 2008 class. The men’s team will welcome seven athletes while the women’s team adds nine. The class includes eight Nebraska natives, two athletes from Iowa, one from Kansas, two from Canada, two from South Africa and one from Panama. Check out Huskers.com for a full bio on all the signees.

Men
- Jesse Adams (Distance)
- Alonso Edwards (Sprints)
- Adam Mitteis (Distance)
- Jon Ronhovde (Distance)
- Matthew Shipp (Middle Distance)
- Pieter Smith (Sprints)
- Adam Wolkins (Javelin)

Women
Blair Dinsdale (Distance)
Brooke Dinsdale (Distance)
Jessica Furlan (Distance)
Roxi Grizzle (Javelin)
Erica Hamik (Distance)        
Tara Korshoj (Jumps
Nandi Meyer (Distance)
Katie White (Distance)
Morgan Wilken (Throws)

- 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.