NU Jumps into Regional Team Race

Norman, Okla. ? Behind a 12-point performance in the long jump, the Nebraska men’s track and field team sits in second after the first day of the NCAA Midwest Regional at the John Jacobs Track on the campus of the University of Oklahoma. Trailing only Minnesota, NU’s 23 team points came in part from the efforts of the four Husker men who earned automatic berths to the NCAA Championships.

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

 

Nicholas Gordon and Chris Phipps both set personal-best marks in the long jump to  finish second and fifth, while Paul Hamilton and Trey Jordan earned fourth in the high jump and shot put, respectively.

In the women’s race, Nebraska is tied for eighth with nine points, while Texas Tech leads with 26. Natalie Willer posted a third-place finish in the pole vault to automatically advance to the NCAA Championships.

Gordon, a sophomore, finished second in his flight to Texas A&M’s Julian Reid, while Phipps won his flight. Gordon took the lead with a personal-best mark of 26-0 1/4 in his second jump during the finals, but Reid uncorked a 26-4 1/2 on his last jump to retake first. Gordon was unable to top the mark on his final attempt.

“I thought I did pretty well for a regional meet,” Gordon said. “It’s not a like a conference or national meet where you have to get up. You just have to get through. I just made sure I got to the national meet.”

 Meanwhile Phipps, a freshman, also turned up the intensity in the finals with a personal-best jump of 25-3 1/4.

“We like to go out there and do our best every day,” Gordon said about Phipps. “At the end of the day we are all on the podium. That is the aim.”

Hamilton, the Big 12 Champion, finished fourth in the high jump after clearing 6-11 3/4. The sophomore got off to a good start, clearing his first three heights with only one scratch, but missed all three attempts at 7-1 to foul out. He will be making his second trip to the outdoor national meet.

Jordan was the first Husker to earn a trip to the NCAA Championships during the day, as the junior placed fourth in men’s shot put. Jordan notched just one mark during the prelims but did advance to the finals, where he busted out three throws, including one of 59-8 1/2 to earn his first trip to the national meet.

On the women’s side, Willer’s third-place vault of 13-5 3/4 earned six of NU’s nine points. She passed on the first two heights and cleared the next three heights on her first attempt at each, but could not make 13-9 3/4.

Eight Husker men advanced through today’s prelims to tomorrow’s finals, including one relay, while two NU women made it past prelims. The most notable of NU’s performances was the men’s hurdles.

The Huskers went 3-for-3 in the men's 110 hurdles as all three Nebraska athletes advanced into tomorrow's finals. Junior Lehann Fourie posted a 13.64 in the second heat to finish second, while senior Kirkland Thornton won the third heat with a 13.63 and junior Tyrell Ross claimed second with 13.96. Thornton’s and Fourie’s times were the second and fourth fastest in the prelims, respectively.

In the 400 hurdles, three of the Husker men competing advanced to the finals. Thornton posted a personal-best 50.46 to win his heat, while sophomore Adam Dailey accomplished the same feat with a 50.90. Sophomore Nick Makukutu notched a 51.20 to take third in his heat and claim the last final’s spot.

The Nebraska 4x100 squad kicked off the Husker's running events on a good note. The combo of Dax Danns, Kirkland Thornton, Lukas Hulett and Scott Wims posted their best time of the season at 39.73 to advance to tomorrow's finals at 5:10 p.m. Their time was the third fastest in prelims, a feat they will have to repeat tomorrow to qualify as only the top three relay teams advance to the NCAA Championships.

Lukas Hulett turned in a great performance in the men’s 400, as he ran down Texas Tech’s Rodney Mims in the last 15 meters to pass him and finish second in the heat. The move proved to be a huge one as Hulett earned the eighth and final spot in tomorrow's final by beating Mims by .01 of a second.

 

Two Huskers finished second in their respective heats of the 800 to automatically advance to tomorrow’s finals. Freshman Blair Dinsdale put together a 2:09 on the women’s side, while sophomore Blaise Rewaka was .32 away from a personal-best time with his 1:49. He made a late charge to run down two people in the final 100 meters for the time.

 

NU’s Ashley Miller will run in tomorrow’s 1,500-meter final, as today’s prelims were cancelled due to scratches.

 

In the field events that went final on the first day, two NU athletes barely missed the necessary top-five finish to advance to the NCAA Championships and will have to wait until at-large bids are announced next week.

 

Senior Keith Lloyd claimed a spot in the finals of the shot put and earned one point in the team race with a toss of 56-8 ?, but the Omaha native finished eighth. Junior Leandra McGruder finished sixth in the women’s long jump to narrowly miss earning a bid. She posted a mark of 20-0 1/2 to enter the finals in sixth, but could not improve her mark. Both will have a chance to qualify tomorrow in different events, as Lloyd competes in the hammer and McGruder in the triple jump.

 

Full results from the first day can be found by clicking on the link above. Tomorrow’s competition begins with field events at 11 a.m., while running events commence at 5 p.m.