Huskers Head to Last Chance Qualifiers

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

 Cyclone Last Chance
 Saturday, March 7 (10:30 a.m.)
 Cyclones.com | Meet Information | Live Results
 Meet Schedule | Parking Map | Heat Sheets
 Visiting Ames | Ames Weather

 Washington Last Chance
 Saturday, March 7 (1 p.m. (Central))
 goHuskies.com | Meet Information | Live Results
 Meet Schedule | Parking Map | Heat Sheets
 Visiting Seattle | Seattle Weather
 

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With the Big 12 Indoor Championships in the books, the Nebraska track and field team now turns its attention toward the NCAA Indoor Championships on March 13-14 at the McFerrin Center in College Station, Texas. With 32 NCAA qualifying marks already set, the Huskers will travel to Ames, Iowa for the Cyclone Last Chance and to Seattle, Wash., for the Washington Last Chance on Saturday, March 7, in hopes of improving marks and qualifying more athletes for the indoor championships. Both Iowa State’s Lied Center and Washington’s Dempsey Indoor house 300-meter oversized tracks.

 

The Cyclone Last Chance is set to start at 10:30 a.m. at the Lied Center with the women’s weight throw and pole vault. The running events are scheduled to begin at 11:25 with the preliminaries of the women’s 60-meter hurdles. A full schedule of the meet can be found on page eight of the notes, while live results are expected to be available on Huskers.com, via Cyclones.com. Admission is free.

 

In Seattle at Dempsey Indoor, the Washington Last Chance is scheduled to kickoff at 1 p.m. (Central) with the women’s shot put, long jump and 60-meter hurdle preliminaries. A full schedule of the meet can be found on page nine of the notes, while live results are expected to be available on Huskers.com, via goHuskies.com. Admission is free.

 

Fan interested in getting their tickets for the NCAA Indoor Championships should hurry as only general admission seats remain. Tickets can still 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. 4 / Women - No. 16)

2009 NCAA Qualifying Marks: 32

  (18-Men / 14-Women)

Division I Leaders: 1

  (1-Men)

Division I Top 10: 12

  (8-Men / 4-Women)

Big 12 Conference Champions: 4

  (2-Men / 2-Women)

Big 12 Athlete of the Week: 2

  (1-Men / 1-Women)

 

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 20 Nationally

With the latest release of the USTFCCCA rankings on Wednesday, March 4, the Nebraska men’s track and field team is ranked No. 4 for the second week in a row, ranking them as the top men’s team in the Big 12 Conference. The Husker women are ranked No. 16, their highest ranking of the season.

 

The Big 12 is arguably the top conference in the nation, boasting eight teams in the top 25, tied with the SEC and two more than the Pac-10. In the top-10 alone, the Big 12 has five teams battling for position, including No. 4 Nebraska, No. 6 Texas A&M, No. 7 Texas, No. 9 Oklahoma and No. 10 Baylor. The conference is rounded out by No. 11 Texas Tech, No. 18 Oklahoma State and No. 20 Missouri.

 

On the women’s side, the Big 12 has the second most teams in the top 25 with five, two behind the SEC’s seven. All five teams rank in the top 20, led by No. 1 Texas A&M. The Aggies are followed by No. 11 Texas Tech, No. 15 Texas, No. 16 Nebraska and No. 18. Colorado.

 

Wheatley Wins Second Straight Title

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.

 

The win during the outdoor season marked the fourth straight title in the heptathlon for the Big Red multis, while Wheatley’s indoor title brought top honors 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. The jump ranks him No. 3 in Division I this season, the No. 4 performer all-time indoors at NU and ties him for No. 18 in the world in 2009. 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.

 

With a trip to the NCAA Championships locked up, Gordon will now look to become the first Husker long jumper to earn All-American honors since 2006, when Arturs Abolins won the national title with a school-record jump of 26-7 1/4.

 

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. The two Huskers are expected to join Gordon back in College Station for the NCAA Indoor Championships as the pair is tied for 10th in Division I entering the last chance qualifying meet.

 

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.

 

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 a personal-best throw of 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.

 

No Ceiling for Burney

Seth Burney made a strong run at his first conference title at the Big 12 Indoor Championships with a personal-best vault of 17-10 1/2, but was unable to match Kansas’ Jordan Scott, who cleared 18-2 1/2.

 

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 now 17-10 1/2 at the conference championships. The vault most recent vault moved the Beatrice, Neb., native from No. 7 on the NCAA performance list into a tie for the No. 5 spot with Bob Low of BYU, while also moving Burney No. 3 all-time on the NU indoor performance list, trailing Eric Eshbach (18-3 3/4) and Ray Scotten (18-0 1/2).

 

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.

 

Bj?rn Breaks Out

Stockholm, Sweden, native and Nebraska freshman Bj?rn 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.

 

At the NCAA Indoor Championships, 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.

 

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. ESPN2 will also broadcast a two-hour recap of the meet on Monday, March 23, at 1:30 p.m. (Central).

 

Hurdling Huskers

The Nebraska hurdle squad had a strong showing the Big 12 Indoor Championships, finishing second and third on the men’s side, while taking third-place honors on the women’s side.

 

Kirkland Thornton crossed the finish line in second with a personal-best time of 7.76, improving on his previous best of 7.78 and securing him the No. 9 spot in Division I. Lehann Fourie finished two-hundredths of a second later with a time of 7.78 to take third, as the two combined to score 14 points for the Husker men.  Fourie holds a personal-best time of 7.75 on the season, tying him for the seventh nationally with Ramon Sosa of Syracuse.

 

Of the 32 male hurdlers qualified for the indoor championships, Nebraska is the only program with two hurdlers in top-10 nationally, while also being one of only four programs, along with Syracuse (2), Florida (3) and South Carolina (2), to have at least two athletes qualified for the national meet.

 

On the women’s side, Arna Erega finished third with a time of 8.47, improving on her seventh-place finish from a year ago. Erega’s season-best time of 8.40 ranks her tied for 35th nationally.

 

Bullock Continues to Raise the Bar

Two-time NCAA indoor All-American Epley Bullock has been dominant as ever in 2009, posting wins at four of the six 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 just tied for second at the Big 12 Indoor Championships with teammate Audrey Svane, ranks No. 5 in Division I.

 

Pepin’s High-Jumping Trio

Of the 43 men’s high jumpers that have provisionally or automatically qualified for the 2009 NCAA Indoor Championships, Head Coach and Jumps Coach Gary Pepin’s squad owns three spots on the list, including the No. 1 spot with sophomore Paul Hamilton’s jump of 7-4 1/4 at the Tyson Invitational.

 

Hamilton is joined on the list by fellow sophomores Brandon Sheppard and Sam Haase, who each cleared 7-0 1/4 at the Nebraska Tune-Up to tie for 28th nationally with 16 other jumpers.

 

Nebraska is one of only six schools with at least two jumpers on the NCAA qualifying list and one of only three schools, along with Northern Iowa and Washington State, to have three jumpers on the list.

 

Quarter-Mile Specialist

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.

 

In just two seasons, the Bellevue, Neb., native has become a four-time NCAA All-American, while winning nine medals at the Big 12 Championships, including a third-place finish in the 400 meters at the 2008 indoor championships.

 

In 2009, Hulett is tied for 16th nationally with a time of 46.75, while also teaming with fellow All-American Dan Christensen, as well as Kirkland Thornton and Adam Dailey to post the seventh-best 4x400-meter relay time in Division I, running a 3:08.54 at the ISU Classic.

 

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.

 

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 tied for No. 7 in Division I this season.

 

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.

 

Pepin Primed for 2009

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 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.