Barrefors Starts Day Two Chasing History

Track and FieldMarch 14, 2009

Barrefors Starts Day Two Chasing History

share this story

Nebraska Track and Field Meet Day Information

NU Track and Field Weekly Notes NU Track and Field Media Guide NU Ticket Office Big 12 Indoor Performance List NCAA Division I Performance List USTFCCCA Division I Rankings Devaney Center Indoor Track (Parking Map) Free NU Videos Free NU Photo Galleries Free NU Wallpaper

Heading Back to Texas<?xml:namespace prefix="o" ns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"?>

Just two weeks after traveling south to College Station, Texas, for the Big 12 Indoor Championships, the Nebraska track and field team heads back to the McFerrin Athletic Center on the campus of Texas A&M for the 2009 NCAA Indoor Championships on March 13-14. The No. 5 ranked Husker men will travel nine athletes to the meet, while the No. 15 ranked Husker women will have four athletes in competition.

The meet is set to start on Friday at 10 a.m. with the pentathlon 60-meter hurdles. The field and running events are set to starts at 4 p.m. with the women’s weight throw and the preliminaries of the women’s mile run. On Saturday, action starts at Noon with the heptathlon 60-meter hurdles, while the field events kick off at 3:30 p.m. with the women’s triple jump. Action on the track is set to begin at 5 p.m. with the finals of the women’s mile. A full schedule of the meet can be found on pages 18-19. A full release will be available at the conclusion of each day at Huskers.com, while live results can also be found at Huskers.com, via FlashResults.com. Live video will be available at ESPN360.com

Fan interested in getting their tickets for the NCAA Indoor Championships should hurry as only general admission seats remain. Tickets can be purchased online at 12thManFoundation.com or by calling 888-99-AGGIE (888-992-4443). All-session tickets for both days are $20 for a general admission seat.

NU Out of the Blocks

(USTFCCCA Ranking: Men - No. 5 / Women - No. 15)

2009 NCAA Indoor Championships Participants: 13

(9-Men / 4-Women)

2009 NCAA Qualifying Marks: 33

(19-Men / 14-Women)

2009 Division I Leaders: 1

(1-Men)

2009 Division I Top 10: 10

(6-Men / 4-Women)

2009 Big 12 Conference Champions: 4

(2-Men / 2-Women)

2009 Big 12 Athlete of the Week: 2

(1-Men / 1-Women)

13 Huskers Qualify for NCAA Indoor Championships

With the release of the accepted entries into the 2009 NCAA Indoor Championships on Monday, March 9, 13 Nebraska track and field athletes officially found out they will be making the trip to College Station, Texas, this coming weekend for the national meet.

Before the list was released, seven Huskers already had their bags packed as they had previously reaches NCAA automatic-qualifying marks in their respective event, including Natalie Willer (pole vault), Epley Bullock (high jump), Megan Wheatley (pentathlon), Chantae McMillan (pentathlon), Paul Hamilton (high jump), Nicholas Gordon (long jump) and Bj?rn Barrefors (heptathlon).

The seven automatic qualifiers will be joined by six provisional qualifiers, including 400-meter specialist Lukas Hulett, pole vaulter Seth Burney, 60-meter hurdlers Lehann Fourie and Kirkland Thornton, as well as long jumpers LeRon Williams and Chris Phipps. McMillan will also compete in the long jump after provisionally qualifying with a jump of 20-8.

Of the 13 athletes, Hulett, Bullock and Hamilton have previously qualified for the indoor championships, while everyone but Barrefors, Phipps, Burney and Thornton competed at last season’s outdoor championships. Hulett and Bullock are the only athletes with NCAA All-America honors already in their trophy cases, with Hulett holding three indoor honors and Bullock earning All-America her previous two seasons.

Doubling Up

With 13 Huskers making the trip to College Station and Chantae McMillan entered in two events, the Huskers’ 14 entries into NCAA Indoor Championships more than doubles the six entries the Big Red had last season. However, the 2008 squad made a big impact as the Huskers came away with four All-America honors and a national championship with Dusty Jonas’ school-record leap of 7-7 in the high jump.

Overall, the Husker men are tied with Florida State for the third-most entries in the meet with nine, while Arkansas leads the way with 13 entries. On the women’s side, the Huskers are tied with nine other teams for eighth with five entries, with Oregon’s 14 entries the most on the women’s side.

Huskers on ESPN

The NCAA has announced that the upcoming NCAA Indoor Championships on March 13-14 in College Station, Texas, will be streamed live for free on ESPN360.com. Check with your internet provider to find out if it allows access to ESPN360.com. ESPN2 will also broadcast a two-hour recap of the meet on Monday, March 23, at 1:30 p.m. (Central).

Sprinting to History

In 2008, Lukas 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.

This weekend Hulett will look to make Husker history again by becoming the first Husker on the men’s side to earn All-America honors indoors three straight seasons in the 400 meters. If achieved, he would again join Porter as she earned All-American honors indoors from 1992-94.

Willer Vaulting at Another Level

Sophomore Natalie Willer had been at a level all her own in 2009, posting a personal-best and indoor school-record clearance of 14-0 in the women’s pole vault. Recently at the Big 12 Indoor Championships, Willer set a new meet record with a winning vault of 13-10. The Elkhorn, Neb., took the bar up to 14-3 1/2, which would have ranked her No. 2 in Division I, but she was unable to clear.

Willer was the only vaulter in the Big 12 Championship field to clear 13 feet, as teammate Rachel Birtles tied for second with Amanda Alley of Texas Tech, as each cleared 12-7 1/2. Throughout the entire indoor season, of the other 33 vaulters on the Big 12 indoor performance list, Alley was the only vaulter besides Willer to clear 13 feet, as Alley cleared 13-3 3/4.

Willer, who ranks No. 4 nationally, has cleared 13-9 1/4 or better at all five meets she has competed in this season, posting four wins and a runner-up finish at the Tyson Invitational. At the NCAA Indoor Championships she will look to earn the first All-America honor of her career, which would be the first in the pole vault for the Husker women since 2007, when Brysun Stately tied for seventh.

High Jumpin’ Hamilton

Sophomore Paul Hamilton enters the NCAA Indoor Championships with a target on his back as he is the No. 1 ranked high jumper in Division I with a clearance of 7-4 1/4 at the Tyson Invitational on Saturday, Feb. 14. An NCAA veteran, Hamilton returns to the national meet after qualifying both indoors and outdoors as a true freshman in 2008.

A native of Sidney, Neb., Hamilton has cleared seven feet or more at four of the seven meets he has competed in this season. With the long history of outstanding jumpers under Jumps Coach Gary Pepin, Hamilton’s jump of 7-4 1/4 ranks him No. 7 all-time on the Nebraska indoor performance list.

First Time for Everything

At the NCAA Indoor Championships, Bj?rn Barrefors will look to become the first Husker in school history to earn All-America honors in the heptathlon. The last Husker to finish the heptathlon at the indoor championships was Chris Richardson in 2004, who finished 12th with a score of 5,064 points.

A native of Stockholm, Sweden, Barrefors broke out at the Big 12 Indoor Championships with an NCAA automatic-qualifying and third-place score of 5,679 points.

In the first heptathlon of his collegiate career, Barrefors was cool under the pressure, setting personal bests in the 60-meter dash (7.13) and 60-meter hurdles (8.08) on his way to his personal-best score. Barrefors’ score of 5,679 ranks him as the No. 2 performer all-time on the Nebraska indoor performance list, trailing Bill Vacek’s 1996 score of 5,766 points.

Husker Men Annually in the Top 25

The Nebraska men’s track and field team will be in search of its eighth-straight top-25 finish at the NCAA Indoor Championships this weekend in College Station, Texas. Following a tie for 26th place in 2001, the Husker men have been a top-25 team at every meet since, including top-ten finishes in 2003 (t-9th) and 2005 (7th).

Since the NCAA Indoor Championships started in 1965 in Detroit, Mich., the Husker men have finished in the top 25 at 28 of the 44 championships, with their top finish coming in 1996 when they finished second to George Mason by 8.5 points, 31.5-39.

The Wizard of Jumps

Nebraska Head Coach Gary Pepin has 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 13 athletes competing at the NCAA Indoor Championships, Pepin personally coaches five of them in the jumps area, including No. 1 ranked high jumper and NCAA automatic-qualifier Paul Hamilton. Pepin also coaches fellow automatic qualifiers Epley Bullock (high jump) and Nicholas Gordon (long jump), as well as provisional-qualifying long jumpers LeRon Williams and Chris Phipps.

All of Pepin’s jumpers rank in the top 15 nationally, with Hamilton (No. 1), Gordon (No. 3) and Bullock (No. 5) all ranked in the top five of their respective event. Williams and Phipps are on the cusp of the top-10, as they are tied for 11th nationally.

Husker Women Look to Get Back on Track

Following a tie for 67th in 2007 and a 52nd-place finish in 2008, the Nebraska women’s track and field team will look to get back among the nation’s best at the 2009 NCAA Indoor Championships. Prior to 2007, the Husker women had produced four straight top-15 finishes, including a third-place finish in 2004 and a fourth-place finish in 2005.

Since indoor track and field became an NCAA Championship event on the women’s side in 1983, the Husker women have finished in the top-20 at 21 of the 26 meets, including back-to-back championships in 1983-84. The Huskers also went on an impressive top-15 run from 1987-97, finishing in the top 10 every year but 1993 when they tied for 12th.

The Husker women also won the AIAW Indoor Championship in 1982.

Long Jumping Dominance

At the NCAA Indoor Championships the men’s long jump will be filled with scarlet and cream as the Huskers will have three jumpers in the field, including 2009 Big 12 champion and No. 3 nationally ranked Nicholas Gordon.

Joining Gordon in the field are senior LeRon Williams (t-10th) and true freshman Chris Phipps (t-10th), with the three slotting Nebraska as the team with the most entries in the event, topping LSU and Arkansas, who each have two.

Overall in the jumps (long jump, triple jump, pole vault, high jump) the Huskers are tied with fellow Big 12 school Texas A&M on the men’s side for the most entries with five.

Pentathlon is Wide Open

With a win in the heptathlon at the 2008 Big 12 Outdoor Championships and a victory in the pentathlon at the 2009 Big 12 Indoor Championships, junior Megan Wheatley has become the one of the most feared multi-event athletes in the Big 12 and nationally.

At the national meet, Wheatley will be joined by fellow automatic-qualifier and Big 12 runner-up Chantae McMillan, who ranks eighth in Division I. The pentathlon looks to be wide open, as the first- through fifth-place seeds are separated by just 55 points, while first through eighth is separated by just 175 points.

Wheatley and McMillan will look to become the first Huskers to earn All-America honors at the same indoor championships meet in the pentathlon since 1982 when the duo of Nancy Kindig and Marjan Goedhart finished second and eighth, respectively.

Ceiling Continues to Rise for Burney

Entering the NCAA Indoor Championships, Seth Burney is tied for fifth in Division I with a personal-best vault of 17-10 1/2 at the Big 12 Indoor Championships. Burney will look to become the first Husker on the men’s side to earn All-America honors indoors at the national meet since Ray Scotten finished 11th overall and 8th among American vaulters in 2006.

Including the Big 12 meet, Burney has set personal bests at his last three meets. After tying his then best of 17-4 1/2 at the adidas Classic, Burney cleared 17-6 1/2 at the Frank Sevigne Husker Invitational, 17-7 3/4 at the Nebraska Tune-Up and then 17-10 1/2 at the conference championships.

The most recent vault moved the Beatrice, Neb., native to No. 3 all-time on the NU indoor performance list, trailing Eric Eshbach (18-3 3/4) and Scotten (18-0 1/2).

13 Years Later

This weekend, Husker hurdlers Lehann Fourie and Kirkland Thornton will look to make Husker history by becoming the first hurdlers on the men’s side to earn All-America honors in 60-meter hurdles, following the NCAA’s switch from the 55-meter hurdles to the 60-meter hurdles in 1999.

The Husker duo would also be the first hurdlers the men’s side to earn All-America honors indoors since 1996. The Big Red will be hoping for a repeat of the 1996 indoor championships, as both Willie Hibler (5th) and Frank Mensah (4th) were All-Americans in the 55-meter hurdles.

Bullock Continues to Raise the Bar

Two-time NCAA indoor All-American Epley Bullock has been dominant as ever in 2009, posting wins at five of the seven 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 Station, Texas. Bullock then rose to new heights at the Frank Sevigne Husker Invitational on Saturday, Feb. 17, clearing 6-1 1/4.

A third straight All-American honor would put Bullock in an elite class of Nebraska high jumpers, as she would join Cris Hall as the only Husker on the women’s side indoors to reach the achievement, with Hall a three-time honoree from 1991-93.

Huskers Bring Four Big 12 Titles Back to Lincoln

The Nebraska track and field team came up short of winning the conference team titles with the men finishing second and the women finishing third, but the teams were able to bring four individual titles back to Lincoln.

Megan Wheatley (pentathlon), Natalie Willer (pole vault), Nicholas Gordon (long jump) and Keith Lloyd (shot put) all won the first Big 12 indoor championship of their careers in College Station, with Wheatley earning her second conference title of her career after a win in the heptathlon as last season’s outdoor championships.

The two titles on the women’s side mark the second straight year that the women have won two individual titles at the indoor championships, with Epley Bullock (high jump) and Sheryl Morgan (600 yards) winning titles in 2008. On the men’s side, Lloyd and Gordon became the first individual winners at the indoor meet since 2006, when the men won five indoor titles.

Huskers Men and Women Ranked in the Top 15 Nationally

With the latest release of the USTFCCCA rankings on Wednesday, March 11, the No. 5 Nebraska men’s track and field team is ranked in the top five for the third week in a row, ranking them as the top men’s team in the Big 12 Conference. The Husker women are ranked No. 15, their highest ranking of the season.

The Big 12 is arguably the top conference in the nation, boasting seven teams in the top 25. All seven teams sit in the top 20, including No. 5 Nebraska, No. 7 Texas A&M, No. 9 Oklahoma, No. 11 Baylor, No. 13 Texas and No. 16 Missouri.

On the women’s side, the Big 12 has five teams in the top 25, led by No. 1 Texas A&M. The Aggies are followed by No. 7 Texas Tech, No. 10 Texas, No. 15 Nebraska and No. 23 Baylor.

Wheatley Wins Second Straight Title

Following a win at the 2008 Big 12 Outdoor Championships in the heptathlon, which marked the fourth straight title in the heptathlon for the Big Red multis, Megan Wheatley brought top honors in the indoor pentathlon back to Lincoln for the first time since 2006, when Ashley Selig won her second straight championship. Wheatley’s score of 4,211 points at the indoor conference meet was a personal best, ranking her as the No. 3 performer all-time indoors at Nebraska, trailing Selig’s score-record score of 4,336 points.

Wheatley was not alone on the award stand in College Station, as she was joined by fellow NCAA automatic-qualifier Chantae McMillan, who finished runner-up with 4,061 points, and fourth-place finisher Rachel Butler, who provisionally qualified with a personal-best score of 3,858 points.

Gordon Continues NU’s Long Jumping Dominance

Sophomore Nicholas Gordon’s victory in the long jump at the 2009 Big 12 Indoor Championships marked the seventh long jump title for the Husker men indoors, the most of any other program in the conference’s 13-year history.

Gordon’s winning jump of 26-1 1/2 was a personal best, automatically qualifying him for the NCAA Indoor Championships. Gordon’s jump was also a meet record, breaking former Husker Chris Wright’s 10-year old record of 26-0 at the 1998 championships.

Overall, the Husker jumps dominated the field as freshman Chris Phipps and senior LeRon Williams finished third and fourth, respectively, with each clearing a personal best of 25-6 1/4, with Phipps breaking the tie with a better second jump.

Lloyd Roars Back

Senior co-captain Keith Lloyd capped the final Big 12 Indoor Championships of his career in dramatic style, winning his first Big 12 title. The Omaha, Neb., native tossed 59-4 1/4 in the men’s shot put, shattering his previous best of 58-0 1/2 by nearly 16 inches.

Lloyd entered the finals with the top throw in the competition, tossing 58-5 3/4 on his first attempt of the meet. In the first round of the finals, redshirt freshman Luke Pinkelman of Iowa State took the lead with a toss of 58-8 3/4, but Lloyd came roaring back on his first final’s attempt with the winning toss of 59-4 1/4. The win was the first conference title for the men in the shot since Carl Myerscough won back-to-back titles in 2003-04.

Distance Double Threat

For the second straight year sophomore Lara Crofford scored in both the 5K and 3K at the Big 12 Indoor Championships, as she was one of three runners in the conference to achieve the feat on the women’s side.

After finishing third in the 5K and eighth in the 3K at the 2008 meet, Crofford improved in both in 2009, finishing runner-up in the 5K on Friday and sixth in the 3K on Saturday. The Newville, Pa., native recorded personal-best and NCAA provisional-qualifying times in each, running a time of 16:28.84 in the 5K and a time of 9:33.37 in the 3K.

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. 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.

Men's Teams

Women's Teams

Athletics

University of Nebraska

More Resources

Donate Now

Huskers Athletic Fund

Stores

Online Shopping

Sports

BTN

Huskers App

Husker Sports Podcasts

TV Shows

Barrefors Starts Day Two Chasing History