Four Huskers Earn Big 12 Titles

Lubbock, Texas ? The No. 5 men’s and No. 18 women’s Nebraska track and field teams returned to a cold and rainy Terry and Linda Fuller Track on Saturday morning, for the second day of the three-day Big 12 Outdoor Championships. Entering the day ranked third on both the men’s and women’s side, both squads took the team leads. The Husker men have totaled 69 points, while the women have scored 35. The Huskers also produced four individual champions on Saturday, including Megan Wheatley, Paul Hamilton, Seth Burney and Nicholas Gordon.<?xml:namespace prefix="o" ns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"?>

 

Battling cold temperatures and rain in the morning, Wheatley and Rachel Butler did not let the elements affect them as Wheatley won her second straight conference heptathlon title with a personal-best and NCAA automatic-qualifying score of 5,800 points, while Butler improved one spot from her 2008 finish to come in third with a personal-best and NCAA provisional-qualifying score of 5,068.

 

After winning three of the four events on day one and setting three personal bests, Wheatley returned to win the long jump with a wind-aided leap of 19-10 1/4, and then place second in both the javelin (144-07) and 800 meters (2:19.78). Over the two-day event, Wheatley finished first or second in all seven events, including four event wins. The Perth, Australia, native’s score of 5,800 moves her to No. 3 nationally and is the second-best score in NU history, trailing Cris Hall’s 1992 point total of 5,936. With Wheatley’s win the Husker women have now won the conference heptathlon title five consecutive years, while she becomes the first Husker to sweep the indoor pentathlon and outdoor heptathlon titles in the same year since Ashley Selig achieved the feat in 2005.

“It’s amazing (to be a repeat Big 12 champion),” Wheatley said. “I haven’t even had time to think about it. It’s been a great weekend.”

 

Butler was able to hold off a host of competitors for the third spot, as she eventually beat out Tihana Sarac of Oklahoma State for third by 75 points. The Mechanicsville, Pa., native capped off her personal-best score with nearly a six-second PR in the 800 meters, topping her previous best of 2:34.78 with a time of 2:28.39.

 

For the second straight year the men’s high jumpers will bring the title back to Lincoln, after sophomore Paul Hamilton won his first conference title. After clearing 6-6 3/4 on his first attempt and then 6-8 3/4 on his second attempt, Hamilton came through with a crucial first-attempt clearance at the 6-10 bar. Hamilton then cleared 7-0 1/2 on his second attempt, leaving four jumpers left at the 7-2 1/2 bar. After both Kansas State’s Scott Sellers and Missouri’s Daniel Hunter missed on all three attempts, Raymond Harris cleared 7-2 1/2 on his final attempt, leaving only one attempt left for Hamilton. Hamilton dug deep and cleared the bar, leaving only him and Harris left in the field. Each jumper missed on all three attempts at 7-4 1/2, and with each clearing 7-2 1/2 and 7-0 1/2 on the same number of attempts, Hamilton won the tie breaker by clearing the previously mentioned 6-10 bar on his first attempt, as it took Harris two tries.

 

“This is unreal,” Hamilton said. “As a sophomore, I wasn’t really expecting to come in and be a Big 12 champ. It really hasn’t sunk in yet.”

 

Seth Burney then added the men’s second Big 12 title of the day with a win in the pole vault, the first Big 12 championship of his career. Burney was in a world all his own, as the sophomore cleared four consecutive bars, including the winning height of 17-6 1/2 on his first attempt. After passing at the first two bars, Burney came in at 16-6 3/4, and then kept climbing, clearing 16-10 3/4, 17-2 3/4 and 17-6 1/2. With no one else left in the field, Burney passed at 17-10 1/2 and moved the bar up to 18-0 1/2 where he was unable to clear. The Beatrice, Neb., native is now the third Husker outdoors on the men’s side in the Big 12 era to win the pole vault title, joining Eric Eshbauch (2000 & 2004) and Gable Baldwin (2005).

 

“I didn’t jump so well the first couple of meets and actually didn’t jump well until the week before the Big 12 Championships,” Burney said. “I am really happy with today.”

 

Nicholas Gordon wrapped up the night for the Big Red with his second career Big 12 title, giving him the 2009 sweep of the men’s conference long jump crowns. Gordon earned the win on his final jump of the competition, tying his personal best with a leap of 25-11 1/2, defeating fellow Jamaican Jullian Reid of Texas A&M, who cleared 25-10 1/4 on his first attempt of the competition. Senior LeRon Williams joined Gordon on the award stand with a third-place clearance of 25-3 1/2, which he also cleared on his final attempt. With the 2009 sweep, Gordon joins Chris Wright (1998) as the only Huskers on the men’s side to sweep the long jump crowns in the same season during the 13-year Big 12 era.

 

“Winning today feels good,” Gordon said. “I don’t think I can ever get used to this.”

 

Earlier in the day, redshirt freshman Tyler Hitchler added big points to the men’s score in the discus with a monster personal best of 187-10, destroying his previous best of 177-0 by nearly 11 feet. Hitchler was quiet through his first four attempts, posting a throw of 176-3 and three fouls, before unleashing his runner-up throw on his fifth attempt. The mark moves Hitchler to 10th on the all-time NU performance list, while also moving him into the NCAA top 20.

 

Co-captain Leandra McGruder started her 2009 Big 12 Championships on the right foot with a third-place finish in the women’s long jump. The Husker junior cleared a wind-aided personal-best of 20-10 on her final attempt, but with a wind reading of 4.6 m/s, the jump will not count on the national list. McGruder will still slide up on the national list as she cleared 20-7 1/4, tied for 19th in the nation, on her second attempt, improving on her previous season best of 20-1. McGruder will now return for the triple jump tomorrow at 4 p.m., where she ranks No. 4 in the Big 12 and No. 13 on the national list.

 

Brandon Sheppard and Zac Holoch also contributed to the men’s two-day total of 69 points. Sheppard finished sixth in the high jump with a leap of 6-10 3/4, while Holoch placed fifth in the pole vault with a jump of 16-6 3/4.

 

Samantha Musil became the Huskers first double-medal winner at the 2009 meet with a seventh-place finish in the women’s discus. After finishing fifth in the hammer throw on Friday night, Musil returned to post a toss of 160-9 on her final attempt of the event.

 

In the men’s decathlon, Bj?rn Barrefors climbed one spot on day two with a sixth-place finish after starting the day in seventh place. Barrefors started the day well with a fourth-place finish in the 110-meter hurdles (14.56), followed by third-place finish in the discus (122-3) and a second-place finish in the pole vault (15-3). Barrefors then struggled in the final two events with 11th-place finishes in the javelin (152-10) and 1,500-meters (5:07.12), ending the meet with 7,244 points.

 

The Huskers will return to the track tomorrow at 11 a.m. for the men’s javelin, while the first running event will be the women’s 4x100-meter relay at 5:30 p.m. The men’s 4x400-meter relay will wrap up the meet at 9:35 p.m., with the team award presentation to follow.

 

Huskers Advancing to Sunday Finals

Ashley Miller ? Women’s 1,500 Meters (6:20 p.m.)
Karyn LaCour ? Women’s 100-Meter Hurdles (6:45 p.m.)

Kirkland Thornton ? Men’s 110-Meter Hurdles (6:55 p.m.)

Lehann Fourie ? Men’s 110-Meter Hurdles (6:55 p.m.)

Tyrell Ross ? Men’s 110-Meter Hurdles (6:55 p.m.)

Lukas Hulett ? Men’s 400 Meters (7:15 p.m.)

Dax Danns ? Men’s 100 Meters (7:35 p.m.)

Blaire Dinsdale ? Women’s 800 Meters (7:45 p.m.)

Erica Hamik ? Women’s 800 Meters (7:45 p.m.)

Adam Dailey ? Men’s 400-Meter Hurdles (8:15 p.m.)

Kirkland Thornton ? Men’s 400-Meter Hurdles (8:15 p.m.)

Tyrell Ross ? Men’s 400-Meter Hurdles (8:15 p.m.)

Lehann Fourie ? Men’s 400-Meter Hurdles (8:15 p.m.)

Dale Ervin ? Men’s 200 Meters (8:35 p.m.)

Dax Danns ? Men’s 200 Meters (8:35 p.m.)