Huskers Travel to Texas for Scored Meet

Meet: Texas A&M Challenge (meet schedule - pg. 5 of notes)
Where: College Station, Texas (Gilliam Indoor Track Stadium)
When: Saturday, Feb. 12 (Noon)
Live Results: AggieAthletics.com
Other Teams: Baylor, Texas A&M, Houston, Rice, UTEP, Arizona, Arizona State, Southern Cal, Alabama, Mississippi State, Tennessee

Lincoln - The Nebraska track and field will team with join fellow Big 12 schools Texas A&M and Baylor on Saturday, Feb. 12 in College Station, Texas, at the Texas A&M Challenge against programs from Conference USA, the Pac-10 and SEC conferences. The four conferences will each have three teams representing them and will compete in a one-day team-scored meet.

Conference USA's squad will include Houston, Rice and UTEP, the Pac-10 will be represented by Arizona, Arizona State and USC, while the SEC will be made up from Alabama, Mississippi State and Tennessee.

The men's and women's long jumps as well as the women's 60-meter hurdle preliminaries will start the action on Saturday, while the men's 4x400-meter relay is slated to be the final event at 6:30 p.m.

NCAA Preview
The Huskers will have the opportunity to compete at the Gilliam Indoor Track Stadium on Saturday, which is the host venue for the 2011 NCAA Indoor Championships on March 11-12. This season marks the second time in three years that the building will host the national meet, as it also hosted the 2009 indoor championships. 2009 was first season for the building and the Huskers didn't compete at the facility prior to the 2009 national meet.

McMillan Pours in the Points
The NU record book was rewritten for the second straight week during the first day of the 36th Annual Frank Sevigne Husker Invitational, as Chantae McMillan scored 4,378 points in the women's pentathlon to break the Nebraska record and post the fifth-best score all-time by a collegiate athlete.

McMillan broke Ashley Selig's 2006 record of 4,336 points and would go on to be named the meet's Most Valuable Performer on the women's side. A senior from Rolla, Mo., McMillan automatically qualified for the NCAA Indoor Championships with the score and moved to second on the 2011 NCAA list behind Oregon's Brianna Theisen, who recently set the NCAA record in the pentathlon with a score of 4,507 points at the UW Invitational. On her way to breaking the school record, McMillan set personal bests in the 60 hurdles (8.63) and 800 meters (2:23.91), while also tying her best in the high jump (5-7).

Jumps-U
The Huskers' high, long and triple jumpers are all over the NCAA performance list, as six jumpers have posted eight top-20 marks. True freshman Mara Griva leads the way as the Latvia native owns the fourth-best long jump in the country at 20-9 1/4 and is ranked 14th in the triple jump. Joining Griva on the list are Chantae McMillan (long jump-8th), Paul Hamilton (high jump-14th), Nicholas Gordon (long jump-8th), Chris Phipps (long jump-9th and triple jump-10th) and Bobby Carter (long jump-16th).

Adams Rewrite Record Book
Already the NU record holder in the indoor 5,000 meters, David Adams re-wrote the NU record book once again with a time of 7:58.62 in the 3,000 meters at the Razorback Invitational. The time broke Jacques van Rensburg's 1990 record of 8:03.70. Adams' time ranks 14th on the NCAA list this season.

NCAA Ticket Punched
Three Huskers have secured a spot a the NCAA Indoor Championships in College Station, Texas.

Senior Natalie Willer was the first Husker to put her name in the field with an automatic-qualifying mark of 14-1 1/4 in the pole vault at the Holiday Inn Invitational. Willer matched the mark at the Razorback Invitational and ranks fifth in the country.

Junior Luke Pinkelman also secured his second career trip to the national meet at the Holiday Inn Invitational with a personal-best toss of 63-6 1/4 in the shot put. Pinkelman bettered the mark at the Razorback Invitational with the third-best throw in the county at 64-0 1/4.

A transfer from Iowa State, Pinkelman previously qualified for the 2009 NCAA Outdoor Championships in the shot put.

Nicholas Gordon is the latest to add his name to the list with a leap of 26-0 in the long jump at the Razorback Invitational. The 2009 NCAA indoor champion in the event, Gordon currently ranks ninth in the nation.

Huskers Sweep adidas Classic
The Nebraska track and field team swept the meet titles at the adidas Classic for the third straight year on Saturday, Jan. 22 at the Devaney Center Indoor Track. The Husker women dominated the field with 190 points, while Wichita State finished second with 115.5 points. The men's race was a bit tighter, but NU held off Houston, 179.5-134.

Know How to Throw
The Husker throws squad it well represented on the NCAA top-50 list with five athletes in the shot put and one in the weight throw.

Luke Pinkelman leads the way with the third best shot put mark in the country at 63-6 1/4. Pinkelman is joined on the men's top-20 list by Tyler Hitchler, who ranks 20th with a throw of 59-2 1/4.

On the women's side, Amanda Latsch ranks in the women's top 25 of the shot put with a toss of 51-11, while Victoria Zimmerman is ranked 41st in the weight throw with a toss of 61-7.

102 and Counting
After winning 51 Big Eight titles during the conference's history from 1974-1996, the Huskers have continued to dominate since moving to the Big 12 Conference in 1997. NU has won a league-high 22 team titles during the Big 12's 14-year history, including the program's historic 100th conference team title in 2007.

The Huskers added their 101st and 102nd titles during the 2009 and 2010 outdoor seasons when they became the first men's team in Big 12 history to win back-to-back team titles at the outdoor conference meet.

All-America Pipeline
Nebraska has been a staple at the NCAA Indoor Championships as the men's team alone has produced 113 All-America awards.  The men's squad has been on quite a roll as they have had at least one athlete earn All-American honors at the past 20 national meets. Since the indoor championships began in 1965, the Huskers have failed to leave with at least one All-America award on just five occasions, including 1975, 1982, 1983, 1984 and 1990.

The women's team has been just as good indoors since the national meet started in 1980. Along with three straight national titles from 1982 to 1984, the Huskers have two or more All-Americans at every meet except for 2002 when they failed to earn a honor.

Home-Grown Talent
Fans of track and field in the state of Nebraska will see a lot of familiar faces this season as 65 of the Huskers' 121 athletes are Nebraska natives. Overall, the team is represented by 16 states and 11 countries.

Lopes-Schliep Tops World List
Former Husker national champion and 2008 Olympic bronze medalist Priscilla Lopes-Schliep was picked as the No. 1 women's 100-meter hurdler in the world on the recently released Track and Field News World Rankings for the 2010 season. Lopes-Schliep was one of four former Huskers listed on the top-10 world list, as three-time triple jump national champion Ineta Radevica (Latvia) was fifth in the long jump, two-time outdoor national champion Becky Breisch (US) was seventh in the discus while eight-time All-American and 2008 indoor high jump national champion Dusty Jonas (US) was ninth in the high jump.