Hammer Throwers Add Five Big 12 Medals

Lubbock, Texas ? The No. 5 men’s and No. 18 women’s Nebraska track and field teams kicked off the 2009 Big 12 Outdoor Championships on Friday at the Terry and Linda Fuller Track on the campus of Texas Tech University. With only four events going final on day one, the Husker women are tied with Kansas State for second place (11 points) and the men are in third with 15 points. Over the three-day meet, the Huskers will be in search of their 100th conference title in the past 112 historic years of Nebraska track and field.<?xml:namespace prefix="o" ns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"?>

 

Sophomore Megan Wheatley started her heptathlon title defense with a bang on Friday morning as she topped her previous best of 14.12 in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 13.76. The time qualified Wheatley for the NCAA Midwest Regional and put her in the lead after one event with 1,013 points. Fellow sophomore Rachel Butler also set a personal best with a time of 14.31, scoring 935 points to place her third, behind Wheatley and Kaela Rorvig of Missouri (1,008). The pair of Huskers then moved to the high jump pit where Wheatley won her second straight event with a clearance at the 5-6 1/2 bar, scoring 842 points and extending her total score to 1,855. Butler finished third with a jump of 5-5 1/4, scoring 806 points to move her three points behind Rorvig’s second-place score of 1,744.

 

The heptathletes then moved the shot put ring, where Wheatley once again took top honors with a personal-best toss of 44-3 1/4, scoring 760 points and Butler came in ninth with a toss of 31-9 1/4 to score 509 points. Wheatley’s winning streak then came to an end at the final event of the day, the 200-meter dash, as Rorvig’s time of 24.44 topped Wheatley’s personal-best second-place time of 24.47 and Butler’s third-place time of 24.93.

 

With one day complete, Wheatley is out to a commanding lead with 3,551 points. The Perth, Australia, native is nearly 300 points ahead of Rorvig’s second-place score of 3,266. Butler ranks third with 3,143 points, 114 points ahead of Rorvig’s teammate, Lindsey Boldt, who is fourth with 3,029 points.

 

In the first completed event of the meet, Samantha Musil and Jade Hodson earned the first Big 12 medals of the careers in the women’s hammer throw. Musil posted a personal-best toss of 172-6 on her first throw in the second of three flights, and the mark held up to earn the DuBois, Neb., native a fifth-place finish and add four points to the women’s score. Hodson, who was also competing in flight 2, tossed a personal best of 171-5 to finish sixth and score three points for the Huskers. Hodson’s mark shattered her previous best of 166-4 by over five feet.

 

The men’s throw then put on their own show, finishing 3-4-5 and scoring 15 points. Senior Keith Lloyd led the way with a toss of 197-3, followed by Eric Petersen with a personal-best throw of 193-4 and Brett Suckstorf with a personal-best toss of 193-2. The Huskers entered the finals with the Petersen, Lloyd and Suckstorf ranked 3-6-8, respectively. Lloyd threw his third-place toss and his second-to-last throw, while Suckstorf topped the 190-foot mark on his final throw of the competition. Petersen and Suckstorf earned the first Big 12 outdoor medals of their careers, while Lloyd hauled in his fifth.

 

Lara Crofford capped day one for the Huskers with a fifth-place finish in the women’s 10,000 meters, running 36:48.62, just under three-tenths of a second behind Grace Kemmey’s fourth-place time of 36:48.36. Crofford set a good pace, running 15 of the 25 laps below 1:30.00, including the final 10 laps. The Huskers sophomore poured it on in the final 800 meters, running her fastest laps of the race at 1:25.50 and 1:17.46, respectively. Crofford will now have to bounce back for the 5,000-meter run on Sunday night at 8:40 p.m.

 

On the men’s side of the multi, Bj?rn Barrefors entered the meet with the conference’s top score in the two-day men’s decathlon, scoring 7,448 points at the Jim Click Shootout to rank No. 9 nationally. Battling an injured foot, Barrefors had a rough day one, as he finished no higher than sixth in any event. The true freshman started the day by finishing 10th in the 100-meter dash (11.13), seventh in the long (23-2 3/4) and sixth in the shot put (44-3 1/2). Barrefors then moved the high jump, where he tied for sixth with a jump of 6-3 1/2, before wrapping up the day with a ninth-place finish in the 400-meter dash (50.76). The Stockholm, Sweden, native sits seventh after day with 3,871 points, trailing leader Mantas Silkauskas of Kansas State who scored 4,231 points. The 110-meter hurdles, discus, pole vault, javelin and 1,500-meter run await the decathletes tomorrow.

 

The Huskers will return to the track tomorrow for a 10 a.m. start, when Barrefors will run the decathlon 110-meter hurdles. The Husker field events are set for 1 p.m. with Amanda Latsch, Musil and Kacie Sharp throwing the discus, while Ashley Miller and Jen Pancoast will be the first to hit the track at 6 p.m. with the running of the women’s 1,500 meters.