%20--%3e%3csvg%20version='1.1'%20id='Nebraska_N'%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20xmlns:xlink='http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink'%20x='0px'%20y='0px'%20viewBox='0%200%20163%20152'%20style='enable-background:new%200%200%20163%20152;'%20xml:space='preserve'%3e%3cstyle%20type='text/css'%3e%20.st0{fill:%23FFFFFF;}%20%3c/style%3e%3cg%3e%3cpath%20class='st0'%20d='M159.1,144c-2.3,0-4.1,1.8-4.1,4s1.8,4,4,4s4-1.8,4-4S161.2,144,159.1,144z%20M159,151.2c-1.8,0-3.2-1.4-3.2-3.2%20s1.4-3.2,3.2-3.2c1.7,0,3.2,1.5,3.2,3.2C162.2,149.8,160.8,151.2,159,151.2z'/%3e%3cg%3e%3cpath%20class='st0'%20d='M157.4,145.6h1.4c0.6,0,0.8,0,1.1,0.2c0.4,0.2,0.6,0.6,0.6,1.1c0,0.4-0.1,0.7-0.3,1c-0.1,0.2-0.3,0.2-0.6,0.4%20h-0.1l1.1,2.1h-0.8l-1-2h-0.6v2h-0.8L157.4,145.6L157.4,145.6z%20M158.6,147.7c0,0,0.3,0,0.4,0c0.4-0.1,0.6-0.3,0.6-0.8%20c0-0.3-0.1-0.5-0.4-0.6c-0.1,0-0.1,0-0.6,0h-0.4v1.4L158.6,147.7L158.6,147.7z'/%3e%3c/g%3e%3c/g%3e%3cg%3e%3cpath%20class='st0'%20d='M147,0H93h-5v5v35v5h5h5v24.8L55.2,2.3L53.7,0H51H5H0v5v35v5h5h5v62H5H0v5v35v5h5h54h5v-5v-35v-5h-5h-5V82.2%20l42.8,67.5l1.5,2.3h2.7h46h5v-5v-35v-5h-5h-5V45h5h5v-5V5V0H147z%20M150,5v35v3h-3h-7v66h7h3v3v35v3h-3h-46h-1.6l-0.9-1.4L52,75.3%20V109h7h3v3v35v3h-3H5H2v-3v-35v-3h3h7V43H5H2v-3V5V2h3h46h1.7l0.9,1.4L100,76.7V43h-7h-3v-3V5V2h3h54h3V5z'/%3e%3c/g%3e%3cpath%20class='st0'%20d='M103,87L103,87L51,5H5v35c0,0,7.8,0,10,0c0,3.3,0,68.7,0,72l0,0c-2.2,0-10,0-10,0v35h54v-35c0,0-7.8,0-10,0l0,0%20c0-2.6,0-47,0-47l52,82h46v-35c0,0-7.8,0-10,0l0,0c0-3.3,0-68.7,0-72c2.2,0,10,0,10,0V5H93v35c0,0,7.8,0,10,0%20C103,42.6,103,87,103,87z'/%3e%3c/svg%3e)
Nebraska Track and Field Meet Day Information
NU Track and Field Blog NU Track and Field Weekly Notes NU Track and Field Media Guide Big 12 Outdoor Performance List NCAA Division I Performance Lists USTFCCCA Division I Rankings Ed Weir Stadium Free NU Track and Field Videos Free NU Track and Field Photo Galleries Free NU Track and Field Wallpapers
2009 NCAA Midwest Regional
Norman, Okla. (John Jacobs T&F Complex)
Friday, May 29 - Saturday, May 30
11 a.m / 11 a.m.
Recaps: Day 1 | Day 2
SoonerSports.com | Big12Sports.com
Meet Information | Schedule | Heat Sheets
Live Results | Purchase Tickets
Visiting Norman | Norman Weather
- all times Central
NCAA Bids on the Line in Norman<?xml:namespace prefix="o" ns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"?>
The No. 7 men’s and No. 19 women’s Nebraska track and field teams will be in Norman, Okla., on Friday, May 29 and Saturday, May 30 for the NCAA Midwest Regional, where the team will look to add qualifiers to the NCAA Outdoor Championships. Hosted by the University of Oklahoma at the John Jacobs Track and Field Complex, the two-day meet will be one of four regional meets across the country this weekend. To qualify for the NCAA Outdoor Championships in Fayetteville, Ark., on June 10-13, athletes must finish in the top five of an individual event or be a member of a top-three relay team.
The Huskers will be one of the largest squads in Norman, sending a total of 57 athletes, including 23 women and 34 men. Of the 57 competitors, seven Huskers will compete in two individual events, while the men will also run in both the 4x100- and 4x400-meter relay.
The meet is set to start on Friday at 11 a.m. with the women’s hammer throw, where junior Lisa Minnick will compete in her first regional meet. On the track, Dax Danns, Kirkland Thornton, Lukas Hulett and Scott Wims will be the first Huskers to run at 3:45 p.m. in the preliminaries of 4x100-meter relay. The men’s hammer will be the first event on Saturday, with Keith Lloyd, Eric Petersen and Brett Suckstorf throwing at 11 a.m. If the previously mentioned relay team makes the finals, they will again be the first Huskers on the track at 5:10 p.m.
Tickets to the meet are still available at SoonerSports.com, where an all-session pass is $15, with senior citizen and youth passes priced at $10. Fan unable to make it to Norman should check the track and field page on Huskers.com for more information. Live results are expected to be available on DeltaTiming.com.
NU Out of the Blocks
(USTFCCCA Ranking: Men - No. 7 / Women - No. 19)
2009 NCAA Midwest Regional Qualifiers: 61
(35-Men / 26-Women)
2009 NCAA Championship Qualifiers: 1 Automatic & 4 Provisional
(2-Men / 3-Women)
2009 Division I Outdoor Top-10: 9
(6-Men / 3-Women)
2009 Big 12 Athlete of the Week: 4
(2-Men / 2-Women)
Cream of the Crop
After the Huskers sent 21 athletes to the 2008 NCAA Outdoor Championships, including 14 automatic qualifiers from the regional meet, the Big Red will look to match or exceed that number this weekend. On the men’s side, the Huskers have 13 athletes ranked in the top five of their event, led by Kirkland Thornton, who ranks No. 2 in both the 110- and 400-meter hurdles. The Husker women have three athletes ranked in the top five, including No. 1 ranked pole vault, Natalie Willer.
Husker Men Hoist No. 100 in Lubbock
Following a dominating 148-point performance at the 2009 Big 12 Outdoor Championships on May 15-17, the No. 7 Nebraska men’s track and field team brought home its 60th and the overall program’s historic 100th conference crown. The win marked the men’s fifth Big 12 outdoor title and 14th overall title in the Big 12’s 13-year era. The men took the team lead on Friday, May 15 following the fourth event of the meet, the men’s high jump, taking a 31-30 lead over Kansas State. The Huskers would continue to add points over the next 17 events, never relinquishing the lead, even with runner-up Texas A&M making a strong push on day three, finishing with 126 points.
Head of the Class
The Nebraska men’s victory at the 2009 Big 12 Outdoor Championships marked Head Coach Gary Pepin’s 21st team championship in the Big 12 era. Pepin holds the most titles of any coach in the conference, 10 ahead of Texas’ Beverly Kearney, who owns 11 titles. The 21 combined titles for the Husker men and women is also a conference high, one ahead of Texas, who won its 20th title during the 2009 indoor season with a win on the men’s side.
For his success in 2009, Pepin was named Big 12 Men’s Outdoor Coach of the Year. In his 29th year at Nebraska, Pepin now holds 22 Big 12 Coach of the Year honors, along with his five outdoor men’s honors, he has also been selected the men’s indoor coach of the year a conference best eight times. On the women’s side, Pepin has been selected twice outdoors and five times indoors.Pepin has guided the Husker men and women to 65 conference titles, including 44 Big Eight championships.
Home Grown Huskers
At the Big 12 Outdoor Championships, Nebraska natives continued to show that they can compete with the best in the country. Of the Huskers’ six Big 12 individual champions, four are Nebraska natives, including Paul Hamilton (Sidney), Natalie Willer (Elkhorn), Adam Dailey (Wahoo) and Seth Burney (Beatrice). The men’s championship team was also filled with Nebraska ties, as exactly half of the 32-member team calls a Nebraska city home.
Hurdling the Competition
The Nebraska men’s hurdle squad is one of the deepest and most talented in the country, as the group has three hurdlers ranked in the top 25 in both the 110- and 400-meter hurdles nationally. Regionally, the Huskers hold three of the top-five spots in both hurdle races entering the meet.
Senior Kirkland Thornton leads on the way, ranked No. 4 in the 110 hurdles (13.50) and No. 15 in the 400 hurdles (50.63) nationally. Thornton is joined in the 110’s by No. 7 ranked Lehann Fourie (13.57) and Tyrell Ross (13.87), who is tied for the No. 19 spot. In 400’s, Thornton teams with 13th-ranked Adam Dailey (50.48A) and 24th-ranked Nick Makukutu (50.99). Overall, the Huskers have seven hurdles regionally qualified the 400-meter hurdles and four qualified in the 110 hurdles.
Stretched Thin
Some may think the Nebraska track and field team has two athletes with the name Kirkland Thornton. This is because Thornton has become one of the most diverse track athletes in the nation this season, as he has qualified for the NCAA Midwest Regional meet in an unheard of six events. After qualifying individually in the 100 meters, 200 meters, 110 hurdles and 400 hurdles, as well as a member of the 4x100 and 4x400 relays, Thornton is expected to compete in everything but the 100 and 200. Thornton ranks in the top 15 in both hurdle races, including the No. 4 national ranking in the 110 hurdles. He will also run the second leg of the No. 18-ranked 4x100-meter relay and the second leg of the No. 14 4x400-meter relay.
Thornton’s 2009 Regional Times and National Rank
100-Meter Dash (10.51 | t-91st)
200-Meter Dash (20.84 | t-35th)
110-Meter Hurdles (13.50 | 4th)
400-Meter Hurdles (50.63 | 15th)
4x100-Meter Relay (39.80 | 18th)
4x400-Meter Relay (3:06.74 | 14th)
One for the Thumb
The women’s heptathletes continued their domination at the conference outdoor meet in 2009, as Megan Wheatley won her second straight and the squad’s fifth straight heptathlon title. 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 moved her to No. 4 nationally and was the second-best score in NU history, trailing Cris Hall’s 1992 point total of 5,936. Wheatley also became the first Husker to sweep the indoor pentathlon and outdoor heptathlon titles in the same year since Ashley Selig achieved the feat in 2005.
Back-to-Back
For the second straight year the men’s high jumpers brought the conference title back to Lincoln, after sophomore Paul Hamilton won his first conference title with a leap of 7-2 1/2. Along with Dusty Jonas’ school and conference record jump of 7-8 3/4 in Boulder, Colo., last season, the Huskers are the second school in conference history to win the men’s high jump in consecutive years. Texas was the first to do so in 1999-2000, when Mark Boswell won back-to-back titles.
Colligan’s Squad Bring ?A’ Game to Lubbock
The men’s throwers capped their impressive Big 12 Outdoor Championship weekend with a second- and fifth-place finish in the shot put. Junior Trey Jordan took runner-up honors with a toss of 60-6 1/2, while senior Keith Lloyd finished fifth with a toss of 57-7 1/2 on his final attempt of the meet. In the hammer throw, discus and shot put, Throws Coach Mark Colligan saw his group contribute 35 points to the men’s 148-point total.
Bustin’ Out the Broom
Sophomore Natalie Willer completed the 2009 sweep of the women’s pole vault on Sunday, May 17 with a jump of 13-11 1/4. After passing at the first two heights, Willer had a second-attempt clearance at 12-7 1/2 and then came through at 12-11 1/2, leaving only her and Texas Tech’s Amanda Alley in the field. Willer followed with a clearance at 13-3 1/2 on her final attempt, then Alley missed, clinching Willer her first outdoor title. Eventually, Willer took the bar up to 14-5 1/2, which would have been a new personal best and meet record, but she was unable to clear. With the win, Willer joins Jenny Green (2003) as the only Husker women in school history to sweep the conference indoor and outdoor titles in the same season.
Overall, Pole Vault Coach Kris Grimes swept the pole vault titles at the meet as Seth Burney won the men’s crown, 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. 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).
Flash Gordon
Nicholas Gordon ended day two of the Big 12 Outdoor Championships 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. 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.
Dailey Quadruple
Sophomore Adam Dailey and the men’s 400-meter hurdle crew put the men’s team title away the conference meet with a 1-2-7-8 finish, as Dailey won his first Big 12 title, posting a time of 50.96. A sophomore from Wahoo, Neb., Dailey took the lead on the final hurdle and never looked back, becoming the men’s first 400-meter hurdle conference champion since Mark Harrison in 2006. Lehann Fourie followed in second (51.22), Kirkland Thornton in seventh (53.71) and Tyrell Ross in eighth (59.92).
High Jumpin’ Huskers
Junior Epley Bullock and sophomore Paul Hamilton have been hitting their strides as of late in the high jump, as Bullock is tied for No. 3 in the country with a jump of 6-1 1/4 on the women’s side, while Hamilton is tied for seventh nationally with a leap of 7-2 1/2.
Bullock exploded with a personal-best jump of 6-1 1/4 to win the Penn Relays on Friday, April 24, breaking her previous best of 6-0. Hamilton has cleared the 7-2 1/2 bar at his past two meets, including the Concordia Twilight and then at the Big 12 Outdoor Championships.
Swedish Sensation
True freshman and Stockholm, Sweden, native Bj?rn Barrefors looks to be on his way to the NCAA Outdoor Championships in the decathlon, adding to his indoor appearance in the heptathlon where he finished third. Barrefors currently ranks No. 14 in the nation after posting a score of 7,448 early in the outdoor season on April 3 at the Jim Click Shootout in Tucson, Ariz.
Barrefors’ teammate Skyler Reising also has an outside shot of making the meet, as he ranks 21st in the country with a score of 7,325. Last season, 26 decathletes were invited to the NCAA Outdoor Championships.
If accepted, the pair would have a shot at becoming the first Husker since Casey Thom in 2003 to earn All-America honors in the decathlon. Thom finished 10th overall, but eighth among American competitors.