No. 5/24 Huskers Return Home for Nebraska Tune-Up

 

Nebraska Track and Field Meet Day Information

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 Nebraska Tune-Up
 Friday, Feb. 20 (12:30 p.m.)
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Lincoln - With the Big 12 Indoor Championship just over one week away, the No. 5 men’s and No. 24 women’s Nebraska track and field team are set to host the Nebraska Tune-Up on Friday, Feb. 20, at the Devaney Center Indoor Track. The one-day meet is set to start at 12:30 p.m. with the women’s distance-medley relay, with the throwing events to begin at 2 p.m. with the women’s long jump and weight throw. A full schedule can be found on page No. 6 of the notes.<?xml:namespace prefix="o" ns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"?>

 

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.

 

NU Out of the Blocks (Men - No. 5 / Women - No. 24)

2009 NCAA Qualifiers - 23 (12-Men / 11-Women)

Big 12 Conference Leaders - 6 (3-Men / 3-Women)

Division I Top 10 - 11 (7-Men / 4-Women)

Big 12 Athlete of the Week - 1 (1-Women)

 

High-Flyin’ Hamilton

After qualifying for the indoor and outdoor NCAA Championships as a freshman in 2008, Sidney, Neb., native Paul Hamilton is looking to do more than just make a trip to the national championships as a sophomore.

 

After clearing a then-lifetime best of 7-2 1/2 in the high jump at the Frank Sevigne Husker Invitational, Hamilton rose to new heights in Fayetteville, Ark., at the Tyson Invitational with a jump of 7-4 1/4, the top jump in Division I in 2009.

 

Nationally, Hamilton is ranked ahead of Minnesota’s Matt Fischer, who has cleared 7-3, while in the Big 12, Hamilton is ahead of Texas’ Raymond Harris (7-2 1/2) by one and three-quarter inches.

 

Bullock Continues to Raise the Bar

Two-time NCAA indoor All-American Epley Bullock has been dominant as ever in 2009, posting wins at all four indoor meets she has competed in this season. The Allen, Texas, native cleared NCAA provisional-qualifying heights of 5-10 and 5-10 3/4 at the first two meets of the year, before busting out with a then lifetime-best jump of 6-0 3/4 at the adidas Classic on Jan. 31, automatically qualifying her for the 2009 NCAA Indoor Championships in College State, Texas. Bullock then rose to new heights at the Frank Sevigne Husker Invitational on Saturday, Feb. 17, clearing 6-1 1/4.

 

Bullock, who won the 2008 Big 12 Indoor Championship in the high jump, is tied for the No. 4 spot in Division I and is ranked No. 2 in the Big 12 Conference, trailing Division I leader Destinee Hooker (Texas), who has cleared 6-3 1/4 in 2009.

 

Top of the Class

With the latest release of the USTFCCCA rankings, the Nebraska men’s track and field team has sky rocketed to the No. 5 spot in Division I. The Husker men are led by sophomore Paul Hamilton, who has cleared a Division I best 7-4 1/4 in the high jump, while he is supported by six other Division I top-10 NCAA qualifiers.

 

By looking at the ranking alone, the Big 12 is easily the toughest conference in the nation, boasting nine men’s teams in the top 25, including two teams in the top five and five teams in the top 10.

 

No. 4 - Texas A&M

No. 5 ? Nebraska

No. 8 ? Texas

No. 9 ? Oklahoma

No. 10 - Texas Tech

No. 15 ? Baylor

No. 16 - Oklahoma State

No. 23 ? Missouri

No. 25 - Kansas State

 

Flash Gordon

After coming just short of All-America honors at the 2008 NCAA Outdoor Championships in the long jump, Nebraska sophomore Nicholas Gordon is looking to make sure he gets a shot at this season’s indoor championships.

 

Gordon broke out in Fayetteville, Ark., at the Tyson Invitational with a personal-best leap of 25-8 in the championship division of the men’s long jump. In the prelims, Gordon cleared an NCAA-provisional qualifying mark of 25-2 on his first attempt to post the top jump in the first of two flights and the No. 4 jump overall through the prelims. The jump was just one-half inch short of his personal best. Following the completion of second flight, Gordon returned to clear 25-8 on his final attempt of the finals to take third overall, just missing the NCAA automatic-qualifying mark of 25-9 1/4 by one and one-quarter inches.

 

The jump ranks Gordon No. 4 in Division I and No. 1 in the Big 12 Conference.

 

Hurdling the Competition

Sophomore Lehann Fourie inched closer to the men’s 60-meter hurdle NCAA automatic-qualifying standard of 7.70 at the ISU Classic with a personal-best time of 7.75, finishing runner-up to Mikel Thomas of Kentucky (7.74). Fourie, who entered 2009 with a PR of 7.80, first cracked 7.80 at the Conference Challenge with a time of 7.79, before running 7.78 at the adidas Classic. With a new best of 7.75, Fourie is tied with Ramon Sosa of Syracuse for the No. 6 spot in Division I, while also holding onto his spot atop the Big 12. Fourie was joined in the top three by teammate Kirkland Thornton, who matched his PR with a time of 7.80 in the finals, after running 8.00 in the prelims. Thornton ranks No. 8 in the Division I.

 

Relay Makes Most of 300-Meter Oval

The Nebraska track and field team closed the ISU Classic on Saturday, Feb. 14, in style with the top 4x400-meter relay, running an NCAA provisional-qualifying time of 3:08.54. Taking advantage of the Lied Center’s 300-meter oval, Dan Christensen, Kirkland Thornton, Adam Dailey and Lukas Hulett teamed to run faster than 35 other teams, ranking the Huskers No. 5 in Division I this season. The Huskers are now ranked No. 2 in Big 12, trailing Baylor’s Division I leading time of 3:06.67.

 

Husker Duo Battles for Top Spot

Nebraska’s Megan Wheatley secured a spot at the 2009 NCAA Indoor Championship in College Station, Texas, with an automatic-qualifying score of 4,061 points in the pentathlon at the Frank Sevigne Husker Invitational, topping the automatic standard of 4,050 points.

 

Wheatley and sophomore Chantae McMillan battled back and forth for the meet title, with Wheatley edging her fellow team co-captain, 4,061 to 3,996 points. Wheatley was in second-place through the first two events, with a time of 8.84 in the 60-meter hurdles and a personal best of 5-5 3/4 in the high jump. The Perth, Australia, native then propelled to the top of the standings after the women’s shot put with a personal-best toss of 43-1 1/2, improving on her previous best of 41-8 3/4 by over a foot. McMillan, who had started the day with personal bests in the 60-meter hurdles (8.83) and high jump (5-7), led after two events before dropping to second, following a personal-best shot put toss of 40-5 1/2.

 

The two then swapped spots following the long jump with Wheatley’s jump of 18-7 3/4, short of McMillan’s leap of 19-3 1/2. Wheatley put the event away with an 800-meter time of 2:21.10, finishing the pentathlon with an NCAA automatic-qualifying score, topping the auto mark of 4,500 points by just 11. McMillan finished with a personal-best and NCAA provisional-qualifying score, topping her previous best of 3,827 by 169 points. The Husker pair ranks 1-2 in the Big 12 Conference, while in Division I, Wheatley is ranked No. 5 and McMillan is No. 9.

 

Down the Stretch, Hulett Pulls Away

Nebraska junior Lukas Hulett showed why he is one of the top 400-meter runners in the county at the adidas Classic with a personal-best time of 46.75. Hulett trailed second-place sprinter Gakologelwang Masheto of Illinois until the final curve, where Hulett turned it on and sprinted to a seventh-tenths of a second victory.

 

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 nine medals at the Big 12 Championships, including a third-place finish in the 400 meters at the 2008 indoor championships.

 

Wims Back on Track

After a sophomore season that was riddled with injury, Scott Wims is returning to his 2007 NCAA All-American form. Wims put his name on the NCAA provisional-qualifying list in the 200 meters at the adidas Classic with a personal-best matching time of 21.20 (oversized best ? 21.06). Wims’ time ties him for No. 19 spot in Division I and the No. 7 spot in the Big 12.

 

This weekend Wims will be running on Iowa State’s 300-meter oval at the Lied Center in Ames, Iowa. Wims ran his oversized-best time of 21.06 on the same track at the 2007 Big 12 Indoor Championships.

 

McGruder Honored as Community Champion

On Thursday, Feb. 5, the Big 12 Conference named Nebraska track and field junior Leandra McGruder to its Winter Chick-fil-A Community of Champions team, formerly known as the Good Works Team. The honor is the second of McGruder’s career, as she was also named to the 2008 spring team.

 

A native of Jefferson City, Mo., McGruder was selected for the team based on her combination of academic success, community service and leadership/sportsmanship. One student-athlete from each of the 12 conference schools were selected, and the winter team is the second of three seasonal teams during the year, with Husker volleyball player Amanda Gates named to the fall team.

 

Away from the track, 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.

 

Danish Dynamo

NCAA All-American and Nebraska junior Dan Christensen briefly held the Danish under-23 indoor record in the 400 meters with his time of 47.55 at the adidas Classic on Saturday, Jan. 31. Christensen, who is half Danish, broke Jacob Riis’ mark, before Riis came back to tie the record in Torino, Italy on Tuesday, Feb. 3.

 

Christensen and Riis are now only .17 seconds away from the Danish all-time indoor mark of 47.38, held by Christian Birk (2001). Christensen’s time qualifies him for the European Indoor Championships in Torino in March.

 

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.

 

The Home of High Jumping

Jumps Coach Gary Pepin is once again on top of his game as he has three men and three women in the top 10 on the Big 12 performance list.

 

On the men’s side, the Big Red is led by NCAA leader and automatic-qualifier Paul Hamilton (7-4 1/4). Hamilton is joined by No. 6 John Ottun (6-10 3/4), No. 8 Sam Haase (6-10 1/4).

 

The Husker women are led by two-time All-American Epley Bullock, who is ranked second in the conference with a leap of 6-1 1/2. Bullock is joined by fellow Texan Audrey Svane, who has cleared 5-9 1/4 and is ranked No. 4. Newcomer Lorena Menghia rounds out the list tied for No. 8, with a leap of 5-7 1/4.

 

World Class Athletes

The 2009 season has started well for the Nebraska track and field team, with its early success partially due to the team’s young talent. The Huskers boast four athletes that rank in the top 15 in their respective event on the under-20 world indoor list, including the world’s No. 1 under-20 women’s pole vaulter and men’s 600-yard runner.

 

Sophomore Natalie Willer tops the women’s pole vault list with a vault of 14-0, the No. 2 vault in Division I in 2009. For the Husker men, Rochelle, N.Y., native Blaise Rewaka owns the top spot in the men’s 600 yards with a time of 1:11.17 at the Frank Sevigne Husker Invitational

 

The Husker women are rounded out by the world’s No. 7 60-meter hurdler, Humble, Texas, native Karyn LaCour (8.44). The Husker men have welcomed Lodi, N.J., native Chris Phipps, who in just his third collegiate meet jumped an NCAA provisional-qualifying mark of 50-11 in the triple jump, ranking the freshman No. 11 on the under-20 list.

 

Big 12 Leaders

The Nebraska track and field team currently holds to the top spot in the six events on the Big 12 performance list. Lehann Fourie (7.75) holds the top time in the men’s 60-meter hurdles, Megan Wheatley (4,601) owns the top pentathlon score, Paul Hamilton (7-4 1/4) is the confernce’s top high jump, Nicholas Gordon (25-8) has posted the top long jump, while Natalie Willer (14-0) has the women’s pole vault locked down and Natalja Callahan (2:49.52) is the conference’s top 1,000-meter runner.

 

Overall, the Huskers have at least one athlete in the top 10 in 30 of the 38 combined men’s and women’s events.

 

Conference Challenge = No Challenge for Big Red

For the third straight year the Big 12 Conference showed its dominance over the Mountain West Conference with a 249-118 win at the Big 12 vs. Mountain West ? Conference Challenge. The Huskers ran well on their home track, winning 19 of the 34 events, contributing a meet-high 146 points to the Big 12 squad of Nebraska, Kansas State and Missouri. The Mountain West team of Air Force, Colorado State and Wyoming was unable to stop the Big 12 from winning its third straight meeting between the two conferences. The Big 12 has won all three meetings between the two conferences, with scores of 223-144 in 2007 and 224-145 in 2008.

 

Pepin Primed for 2009

Nebraska Head Coach Gary Pepin returned 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 tied 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 in 2008, three were personally trained by Pepin in the jumps area, including eight-time All-American Dusty Jonas, who won the 2008 indoor high jump national championship and went on to earn a spot on 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).

 

Huskers Ink Three for 2010

On Tuesday, Feb. 10, the Nebraska track and field team announced the signings of three future Huskers. Tommy Brinn (Otsego, Mich.), Jordan Oddo (Arlington, Texas), and Anne Martin (Waverly, Neb.) all signed a National Letter of Intent to join the Nebraska track and field family for the 2010 season. With their senior seasons still ahead, the three have already combined to win six state championships.

 

Tommy Brinn ? Middle Distance: Otsego High School (Otsego, Michigan)

Otsego High School product Tommy Brinn joins the Huskers as an accomplished 800-meter runner, posting a personal best of 1:51.07 at the 2008 Midwest Distance Gala in Lisle, Ill. As a junior in 2008, Brinn’s time was the top prep time in Michigan, while ranking No. 22 among prep runners nationally and ranking him No. 7 in the country among returning 2009 preps. At the MHSAA LP Division 2 Championships, Brinn set the finals meet record in the 800 with a winning time of 1:51.76 in 2008.

 

Brinn, who chose Nebraska over Tennessee, Michigan and Indiana, went on to finish 16th at the 2008 Nike Outdoor Championships in the 800 with a time of 1:54.25.

 

Jordan Oddo ? Pole Vault: Grace Preparatory Academy (Arlington, Texas)

Pole vaulter Jordan Oddo joins the Nebraska pole vault squad as a three-time 5A TAPPS state champion from Grace Preparatory Academy in Arlington, Texas. Oddo holds a lifetime-best vault of 12-1, ranking her No. 1 among TAPPS vaulters and No. 23 nationally in 2008. She set the all-class state meet record with a vault of 11-10 in 2008, propelling the Lions’ to their first 5A state title on the women’s side.

 

Oddo also dominated on the volleyball court, setting the school record for kills in a season and a match, as well the school record for kills per game. She was named by the Fort Worth Star Telegram as of one its private school players of the year.

 

Oddo chose Nebraska over San Diego State, Notre Dame, Cornell, Columbia, Air Force, South Alabama, Louisiana Monroe and Baylor.

 

Anne Martin ? Multi-Events: Waverly High School (Waverly, Nebraska)

Waverly, Neb., native Anne Martin joins the Huskers as one of the most versatile track and field athlete in the state, qualifying for the Class B state meet in four events each of the first three years she’s been in the prep ranks.

 

Martin won her first state title in the high jump as a freshman with a leap of 5-4, also finishing fifth in the triple jump (35-1 3/4) and competing in the long jump and 400 meters. She returned as a sophomore in 2007 to win the long jump (17-10 1/2), finish second in the high jump (5-4), take third in the triple jump (36-2 1/12) and finish fifth in the 400 (1:01.27). Martin then won the All-Class gold medal and took back her state title in the high jump with the top mark during the 2008 Nebraska high school season, clearing 5-8. She also finished runner-up in the 200 meters (25.94) and triple jump (36-10 1/4), along with earning a bronze in the long jump (17-9 1/2).

 

Martin, the sister of former Husker multi-eventer Lee Martin (2003-07), picked Nebraska over Missouri and Iowa. She also excels on the hardwood, averaging 15.8 points and 9.8 rebounds per game this season for the Vikings’ basketball team.

 

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., Stockholm, 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.