Husker Track and Field Set to Open 2009

Husker Meet Day
NU Track and Field Notes ? Here

Meet ? Holiday Inn Invitational (Schedule)

Heat Sheets ? Friday | Saturday

When ? Friday, Jan. 16 (4 p.m.) / Saturday, Jan. 17 (Noon)<?xml:namespace prefix="o" ns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"?>

Where ? Devaney Center Indoor Track

Parking - Parking Map

Live Results ? Huskers.com (Here)
NU Ticket Office ? Buy Tickets Online

2009 Media Guide ? Here

Lincoln - For the fourth straight year the Nebraska track and field team will open the 2009 indoor season at home, hosting the Holiday Inn Invitational at the Devaney Center Indoor Track. Last season the Huskers totaled 16 victories at the meet, returning 15 winners in 2009. The Huskers will look to for big contributions out of sophomores Natalie Willer (pole vault), David Adams (distance), Paul Hamilton (high jump), and Karyn LaCour (hurdles) in 2009, as all four won their events as freshman at the meet in 2008, the first meet of their collegiate careers.

 

The meet is scheduled to start at 4 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 16, with the weight throw, long jump, high jump and pole vault, while the running events start at 4:30 p.m. with the preliminaries of the 60-meter hurdles. Action starts again on Saturday, Jan. 17, at Noon, with the pole vault, shot put, triple jump and the 60-meter hurdle finals. A full schedule of events can be found on page four. Tickets can be purchased online at Huskers.com, by calling 1-800-8BIGRED, in person at the Nebraska Athletic Ticket Office or at the door. A reserved ticket is $7, while an adult general admission ticket is $5 and a youth general admission ticket is $3. Live results will be provided at Huskers.com.

 

Scouting the Competition

- No. 10 Minnesota (women)

Won back-to-back Big 10 Conference indoor championships in 2007-2008.

- Sr. Heather Dorniden: Finished runner-up in the 800 at the 2008 NCAA Indoor Championships

- Jr. Alicia Rue: Finished fourth in the pole vault at the 2008 NCAA Indoor Championships

- University of Nebraska-Omaha (women)

Finished 30th at the 2008 NCAA Division II Indoor Championships

- Barton County CC

Men and women finished runner-up at 2008 NJCAA Indoor Championships

- Cowley College CC

Women finished eighth and men finished tied for eighth at the 2008 NJCAA Indoor Championships

- Lincoln University

Women finished third and men finished fifth at the 2008 NJCAA Indoor Championships

- Kansas Wesleyan

Women finished 37th at the 2008 NAIA Indoor Championships

- Butler County CC

Men and women finished third at the 2008 NJCAA Indoor Championships

- Neosho County CC

Men finished tied for 10th and women finished tied for 21st at the 2008 NJCAA Indoor Championships

- University of Nebraska-Kearney

Women finished 23rd and men finished 32nd at the 2008 NCAA Division II Indoor Championships

- Allen County CC

Women finished 25th and men finished tied for 25th at the 2008 NJCAA Indoor Championships

- Northwest Missouri State

Junior Emily Churchman provisionally qualified for the 2009 NCAA Division II Indoor Championships with a school-record pentathlon score of 3,252 at the Doane Multi-Event Meet on Dec. 13.

- Iowa Western CC

Women finished tied for 27th and men finished 20th at the at the 2008 NJCAA Indoor Championships

- Colby CC

Women finished 17th and men finished tied for 30th at the 2008 NJCAA Indoor Championships

- Hastings College

Men finished 16th at the 2008 NAIA Indoor Championships

- Wayne State College

Women tied for 21st at the 2008 NCAA Division II Indoor Championships

 

Both Husker Squads Ranked in USTFCCCA Preseason Top 25

On Thursday, Jan. 8, the USTFCCCA (United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association) released its 2009 indoor track and field preseason rankings. The Nebraska men’s team enters the season ranked No. 15 while the women’s squad is ranked No. 24. Both are improvements from the 2008 indoor season as the men finished the year tied for 17th with Georgetown while the women were unranked.

 

Overall, the Big 12 Conference once again showed why it is one of the premier conferences for track and field in the country with 11 teams ranked in the top 25. The women had four teams in the top 25, including No. 1 ranked Texas A&M. On the men’s side, the conference had the most teams ranked in the top 25 of any conference with seven, including top-15 ranked Texas A&M (6th), Texas (7th), Texas Tech (12th) and Nebraska (15th).

 

Huskers Add Three at Semester

The Nebraska track and field team added three athletes to the 2009 squad prior to the spring semester with the additions of Nandi Meyer (middle distance), Bj?rn Barrefors (multis) and Lorena Mengia (high jump).

 

Lorena Menghia - Fr./So., Isai, Romania (Athletic High School / Jacksonville State)

A native of Iasi, Romania, Lorena Menghia (pronounced laur-AA-nah Men-GEE-uh) transferred to Nebraska after one season at Jacksonville State in Jacksonville, Ala., where she was the 2008 Ohio Valley Conference champion in the outdoor high jump with a clearance of 5-6. Menghia set the outdoor school record earlier in the 2008 season with a personal-best outdoor leap of 5-8 3/4 at the Coach O Invitational in Troy, Ala. She placed third in the triple jump at the outdoor conference meet with a school-record and personal-best leap of 40-3 1/4. Menghia cleared a lifetime best in the high jump at the 2006 Romanian indoor championships in Bucuresti, Romania, with a jump of 6-0 1/2 to finish runner-up, ranking her No. 12 on the under-20 world indoor list. She cleared an outdoor personal best of 5-10 3/4 four times between 2005 and 2007, ranking her No. 22 in the world on the outdoor under-18 list in 2005, while ranking No. 48 in 2006 and No. 54 in 2007 on the under-20 world outdoor list.

 

Bj?rn Barrefors - Fr., Skara, V?sterg?tland, Sweden (Teknikum)

Bj?rn Barrefors (pronounced Ba-YUHORN BAR-eh-FORSH) joined Nebraska after winning the 2008 Swedish senior championship in the indoor heptathlon (personal-best score of 5,577) and outdoor decathlon after finishing third in both events the previous year. Barrefors posted a personal-best decathlon score of 7,405 at the 2008 European Cup in Jyv?skyl?, Finland, to finish seventh. He ranked No. 14 on the under-20 world list in 2006 with a decathlon score of 7,012, while also finishing 11th in the junior decathlon at the 2006 IAAF World Junior Championships in Beijing, China, with a score of 7,332.

 

Nandi Meyer - Fr., Kempton Park, Guateng, South Africa (Kempton Park)

Nandi (pronounced NAHN-dee) Meyer joins Nebraska as a middle distance runner from Kempton Park, Guateng, South Africa, South Africa, where she broke onto the track and field scene in 2005 with the top South African under-16 times in the 800 (2:10.16) and 1,500 (4:28.78) meters, also ranking No. 10 on the under-16 world list in the 800 meters and No. 11 in the 1,500 meters in 2005. Meyer posted a personal-best 800-meter time of 2:08.10 in 2006, ranking No. 1 on the South African under-18 list and No. 34 in the world, while running a personal-best 400 meters in Sasolburg, Free State, South Africa, to rank No. 3 on the South African under-18 list in 2006. She recorded 2007 season bests of 56.39 in the 400 meters and 2:08.9 in the 800 meters in Germiston, Gauteng, South Africa, ranking No. 3 in both events on the 2007 South African under-18 list and No. 41 on the 800-meter under-18 world list. Meyer competed in the 800 meters at the 2005 IAAF World Youth Championships in Marrakech, Morocco, and the 2007 championships in Ostrava, Czech Republic.

 

Husker Freshmen Bring Winning Ways

The Huskers’ 2009 recruiting class knows the taste of victory as the 10 newcomers combined to win 54 state championships and four Canadian provincial championships in high school. Two of the key recruits are Blair and Brooke Dinsdale from North Tama High School in Traer, Iowa. The twin sisters combined to win 26 state titles, helping the Redhawks win back-to-back-to-back team titles, with the 2008 squad scoring the most points in Iowa state championship history. Blair owns the state record in the 800 meters with Brooke ranking second.

 

The Big Red distance squad adds steeplechase specialist Jessica Furlan who is expected to be an instant contributor at the conference level. Furlan has posted a personal-best time of 10:16.32 in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, a time that would rank second all-time at Nebraska. The Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada, native should not be phased by the big meets at the collegiate level as she has competed at the IAAF World Junior Cross Country Championships, the IAAF World Youth Track and Field Championships and the IAAF World Junior Track and Field Championships.

 

Nation’s Top Javelin Thrower Chooses the Big Red

With the departure of three-time Big 12 javelin champion and two-time All-American Kayla Wilkinson, freshman Roxi Grizzle will have big shoes to fill on the Nebraska javelin runway. Grizzle comes to Nebraska with all the tools to succeed at both the Big 12 and national levels. The DeSoto, Kan., native was the only prep girl in the country with three throws in the national top 20 in 2007 and posted the top prep throw in the nation in 2008 with a toss of 170-3. Grizzle’s personal-best throw would rank No. 3 all time at Nebraska and would have placed her eighth at the 2008 NCAA Outdoor Championships.

 

Hulett Hungry for More

Most collegiate track and field athletes would be more than satisfied to be a four-time NCAA All-American, but not Nebraska junior sprinter Lukas Hulett, who has already achieved the feat in his first two years at Nebraska. After reaching All-America status in the indoor 400-meter dash and as a member of the indoor 4x400-meter relay as a freshman in 2007, Hulett returned to earn All-America honors in the indoor and outdoor 400 meters in 2008.

 

Last season Hulett became the first Husker on the men’s side to earn NCAA All-America honors in the 400 meters indoors and outdoors in the same season and was the first Husker to achieve the feat since 1993 when Shanelle Porter won the indoor national title and finished fourth at the outdoor championships.

 

In just two seasons, Hulett has won 10 medals at the Big 12 Championships, including third-place finishes in the 400 meters at the indoor and outdoor championships in 2008.

 

Multi-Event Machine

Husker women Megan Wheatley (junior/sophomore), Chantae McMillan (sophomore/junior) and Rachel Butler (sophomore) make up on of the toughest multi-event groups in not just the Big 12 Conference, but in the nation. All three scored at both the indoor and outdoor Big 12 Championships, Wheatley won the outdoor conference heptathlon title and both Wheatley and McMillan competed at the NCAA Outdoor Championships in the heptathlon.

 

The trio will have high expectations in 2009 as Wheatley was recovering from injury during the 2008 indoor season but still managed to post an NCAA-automatic qualifying score and finish second at the indoor conference meet, Butler was adjusting to college competition and McMillan was in her first year as a mutli-eventer after qualifying for 2007 NCAA Outdoor Championship in the long jump in 2007.

 

In 2009 the Big Red will look to continue its dominance at the conference meets, where it has won four straight outdoor heptathlon titles and two of the past four indoor pentathlon crowns, adding an indoor national title in the pentathlon by Ashley Selig in 2005.

 

Big Red Aims to Hit Century Mark at College Station

With a conference title in 2009 at the Big 12 Indoor Championships on Feb. 28 at College Station, Texas, the Nebraska track and field team will hit the century mark in conference team titles. The Huskers have been the most dominant team in conference history over the past 111 years, totaling 99 team titles and 827 individual titles. In the Big 12 alone the Huskers have won 143 individual titles and a league-best 20 team titles in the 12-year history of the conference.

 

Bar Continues to Rise for Bullock

Epley Bullock returns for her junior season in 2009 looking to excel even more under Jumps Coach Gary Pepin. The Allen, Texas, native had an eventful 2008 season that saw her win her first Big 12 championship, earn NCAA All-America honors for the second straight year, make a trip to both NCAA Championship meets and compete in the U.S. Olympic Trials.

 

Bullock’s memorable 2008 season started on March 1 at the Big 12 Indoor Championships in Lincoln. After struggling through most of the indoor season, Bullock found her groove at the conference indoor meet, clearing a lifetime-best 6-0 1/2 to win her first Big 12 championship. Bullock then made the trip to Fayetteville, Ark., where she moved up two spots from 2007 to finish tied for seventh and repeat as an indoor All-American in the high jump for the first time at NU on the women’s side since 1991-92 when Cris Hall achieved the feat. With another indoor All-America honor in 2009, Bullock will tie Hall as the only Husker athletes on the women’s side to earn three-straight indoor All-America honors at Nebraska, as Hall earned the honors in 1991-92-93.

 

Bullock continued to see growth during the outdoor season as she came close to achieving a sweep of the conference high jump titles, falling just short to teammate Kim Shubert at the outdoor conference meet in Boulder, Colo. After finishing tied for 24th at the 2007 NCAA Outdoor Championship, Bullock shot up the chart at the 2008 meet, finishing 11th with a leap of 5-9 3/4, just three spots away from her first outdoor All-America honor. If Bullock can earn All-America status at both national meets in 2009 she will be the first Husker on the women’s side to do so since Carrie Braness in 2000. Bullock saw her 2008 season culminate at the U.S. Olympic Trials in Eugene, Ore., as she finished as one of the 26-best high jumpers in the United States.

 

Pepin Primed for 2009

Nebraska Head Coach Gary Pepin returns in 2009 for his 29th season as the head coach of the women’s team and his 26th season as the head coach of both the men’s and women’s programs. In 2008, Pepin passed Frank Sevigne as the longest tenured head coach in the history of the Nebraska program, and Pepin is still at the top of his game for coaching athletes to the highest levels of competition.

 

Of the seven NCAA All-America honors brought home by Huskers last season, three were personally trained by Pepin in the jumps area, including eight-time All-American Dusty Jonas, the national champion at the 2008 NCAA Indoor Championships and a member of Team USA at the 2008 Beijing Games. Overall, Pepin sent seven jumpers to the NCAA Championships, including two true freshmen in Nicholas Gordon (long jump) and Paul Hamilton (high jump).

 

Willer Vaults Up the Charts

Elkhorn, Neb., native Natalie Willer returns for her sophomore season as one of the premier pole vaulters in the Big 12 Conference after finishing tied for 20th on the world junior list in 2008. Willer pushed Kansas senior Kate Sultanova to the limit at the indoor and outdoor conference meets in 2008, with Willer finishing runner-up to the Jayhawks’ veteran at both meets. With Sultanova now gone, Willer will not look to return the conference titles to Lincoln for the first time since the 2006 indoor season and the 2007 outdoor season, with former Husker Jenny Green winning both.

 

Following a disappointing finish at the NCAA Outdoor Championships where she finished tied for 15th with a vault of 13-1 1/2, Willer competed at the 2008 USATF National Junior Olympics and showed a glimpse of what 2009 could entail. Willer shattered the USATF National Junior Olympic pole vault record with a mark of 13-9 3/4, breaking the meet record by over a foot and destroying Kira Costa’s national youth record of 13-5 1/4 (2003) by four and one-half inches. The new lifetime-best vault  ranked third all-time outdoors in NU history and would have won the 2008 NCAA Outdoor Championships.

 

Dailey is Dynamite

Hurdler Adam Dailey returns for his sophomore season in 2009 as one of the top 400-meter hurdlers in the Big 12 Conference. Dailey was one of the biggest surprises for the Huskers during the 2008 season, as the Wahoo, Neb., native earned Big 12 medals at the indoor (600-yard run) and outdoor (400-meter hurdles) conference championships while also earning a trip to the NCAA Outdoor Championships in the 400-meter hurdles. Dailey shot up to No. 3 all-time outdoors at Nebraska in the 400 hurdles with a time of 50.33 at the NCAA Midwest Regional to finish fourth.

 

Dailey actually had no plans to run track at the collegiate level out of high school and was planning on only attending school at Nebraska. After seeing Dailey run at the 2007 Nebraska State Track and Field meet, Hurdles Coach Billy Maxwell offered Dailey a chance that he has not regretted. The former Bishop Neumann Cavalier made the most of his opportunity, ranking No. 5 in the 400-meter hurdles on the under-20 world list in 2008. If Dailey can earn NCAA All-America honors in the 400 hurdles during the 2009 season, he will be the first Husker on the men’s side to earn the honor since Mark Jackson in 1992.

 

Flash Gordon

Following a strong indoor season that saw him finish third in the long jump and sixth in the triple jump at the Big 12 Indoor Championship, Nicholas Gordon took off during the 2008 outdoor season.

 

Gordon was a force at every meet during the outdoor season in the long jump, finishing in the top three at eight of nine meets. He posted victories at the Kansas Relays, Nebraska Open, Nebraska Invitational and the NCAA Midwest Regional. Gordon’s win at the regional came two weeks after the Big 12 Outdoor Championships, where he missed out on the conference title by just one quarter-inch to fellow freshman Julian Reid of Texas A&M. Gordon beat Reid at the regional meet with a lifetime-best jump of 25-11 1/2, the No. 3 jump all-time outdoors at Nebraska and a NCAA Midwest Regional record.

 

Gordon went on to finish 13th at the NCAA Outdoor Championships before finishing fourth at the Jamaican Olympic Trials with a jump of 25-1 1/4.

 

Lloyd Pulls Double Duty

As the lone senior on the men’s throws squad, Keith Lloyd returns in 2009 following an impressive 2008 outdoor season where he participated in both the shot put and the hammer throw at the NCAA Outdoor Championship.  Lloyd will look to make a strong statement during the 2009 indoor season after he was hampered by a hand injury during the 2008 indoor season and was forced to redshirt.

 

Outdoors, he earned victories in the shot put at five meets, including the Kansas Relays, Nebraska Open, Ward Haylett Invitational, Nebraska Invitational and NCAA Midwest Regional. Lloyd’s mark of 61-5 at the regional meet not only secured a spot at the NCAA Outdoor Championship, but was a personal best and the No. 6 all-time mark outdoors at Nebraska.

 

Lloyd was also a constant front-runner in the hammer throw, finishing in the top five at eight of 10 meets. His fourth-place throw of 207-5 at the NCAA Midwest Regional was a personal best that locked up an automatic bid to the NCAA Outdoor Championships while also securing the second-best throw in Husker history, trailing record-holder Issar Yazhbin (207-7) by just two inches. 

 

Wolkins Added Weaponry to Javelin Group

With the addition of junior college transfer Adam Wolkins, the men’s javelin squad will be one of the toughest in the Big 12 Conference. The group already returns Big 12 medalists Austin Braman (sophomore) and Ryan Petrocchi (junior), with Braman also making a trip to the 2008 NCAA Outdoor Championships as a true freshman.

 

Wolkins joins NU after winning back-to-back NJCAA javelin national championships at Cowley Community College. At the 2008 NJCAA Championships, Wolkins surpassed runner-up finisher Tyler Drake of Hutchinson Community College by more than 16 feet with a school-record toss of 232-5. The toss would have placed fifth at the 2008 NCAA Division I Outdoor Championships and would rank fourth all-time at Nebraska.

 

Crofford Leads the Pack

Following a freshman season that saw her win four Big 12 Championship medals and make a trip to the NCAA Outdoor Championships, sophomore Lara Crofford is expected to lead the Husker distance squad in 2009 season. Crofford was a welcome addition during the 2008 indoor season as she finished third in the 5,000-meter run and eighth in the 3,000-meter run at the conference indoor meet.

 

The Newville, Pa., native exploded during the outdoor season, posting the second-best time in Husker history in the 10,000-meter run at the Stanford Invitational with a time of 33:56.46, Sammie Resh Gdowski (1990) owns the top time at 32:34.71. Even more impressive may have been her pair of races at the Big 12 Outdoor Championship in Boulder, Colo. On May 16, Crofford finished second in the 10,000-meter before finishing third in the 5,000-meter run just two days later. Crofford was the top scorer for NU on the women’s side with 14 points, helping the women to a runner-up finish with 105 points. Crofford capped her freshman year with a trip to the NCAA Outdoor Championships in the 10,000-meter run.