Huskers Prepare for Two Meets at Devaney Center

The Nebraska track and field team will host the ninth annual scored quadrangular, the Mark Colligan Memorial, on Saturday at 11:30 a.m. at the Bob Devaney Sports Center Indoor Track. A portion of the team will also participate in the Prairie Wolf Invitational on Friday at the Devaney Center. That meet begins at 12:30 p.m.

Saturday's meet is "Pepsi Pack the House" day at the Devaney Center. Admission is $1 and Pepsi products will also be $1 at the concession stands.

The Husker men have won the team title at the Mark Colligan Memorial for seven straight seasons, while the women have won six of the last seven titles. The teams joining Nebraska at the Mark Colligan Memorial this season are North Dakota State, Oklahoma and Oral Roberts.

About the Huskers
• Sophomore high jumper Mayson Conner was the Big Ten indoor and outdoor champion last year and achieved first-team All-America honors at the NCAA Indoor Championships, finishing seventh. He was named the Big Ten Freshman of the Year both indoors and outdoors, and his indoor PR of 7-3 3/4 (2.23m) has him at No. 9 in school history. He tied for 12th at the NCAA Outdoor Championships to earn second-team All-America honors. 
• Senior Luke Siedhoff was the Big Ten silver medalist in the 60m hurdles, and he ranked 27th in the country at season's end with a PR of 7.83.
• George Kusche scored 11 points at the Big Ten meet last year, finishing third in the 3,000m and fourth in the mile as a freshman. Kusche broke the standard-track indoor school record in the mile last year (3:59.61).
• Junior Ieva Turke placed third in the triple jump and fourth in the long jump at last year's conference meet. She is third in the Big Ten after her triple jump of 40-8 1/4 (12.40m) last weekend.
• Zionn Pearson was the bronze medalist in the long jump as a freshman, and Andy Jacobs took bronze in the pole vault. She ranks tied for seventh in school history.
• Nebraska won 20 individual titles as a team at the Graduate Classic last weekend, bettering last season's individual title count of 14.

New Nebraska Top-10 Marks
Two Huskers have achieved all-time top-10 indoor marks in school history so far in 2020:
• Alencar Pereira - Weight Throw (No. 3, 68-0 1/2 (20.74m))
• Kristina Insingo - Shot Put (No. 9, 52-4 (15.95m))

Participating Teams
North Dakota State
Trevor Otterdahl leads the NDSU men with a weight throw of 70-2 1/2 (21.40m), which ranks fifth in the nation. Alex Talley is just behind him at sixth in the nation at 70-2 1/4 (21.39m). Talley also ranks seventh nationally in the shot put at 64-1 1/4 (19.54m). 

Maddy Nilles leads the NDSU women with the fourth-best weight throw in the nation at 70-5 1/4 (21.47m). She was 12th at last year's NCAA Indoor Championships. Shelby Gunnells ranks sixth in the shot put (55-7 3/4, 16.96m), and Akealy Moton is seventh. Moton placed fifth at the NCAA Outdoor Championships last season. The Bison women won the Summit League indoor title last year.

Oklahoma
Vernon Turner cleared 7-1 (2.16m) in the high jump last weekend, and he ranks 14th in the nation. He placed fourth at the NCAA Indoor Championships in 2018. Joseph Sheffield's 21.26 in the 200m is 15th-best in the nation. 

Freshman Mikeisha Welcome has the No. 1 triple jump in the country so far this season, 43-9 3/4 (13.35m). Essence Thomas ranks fourth nationally in the triple jump at 43-2 1/4 (13.16m) and sixth in the long jump at 20-9 (6.32m). She was 16th at the NCAA Outdoor Championships in the triple jump last year. The OU women finished third in the Big 12 at last year's outdoor conference championships. 

Oral Roberts
The Oral Roberts men have the No. 23 time nationally in the 4x400m relay (3:11.99). Freshman Kevin Jackson ranks 66th in the 200m with a time of 21.66.

Sasha Wells leads the Golden Eagles women with a 60m hurdles time of 8.43, which ranks 42nd nationally. She was the Summit League 60m and 60m hurdles champion last year. 

Pepin Named B1G and USTFCCCA Men's Midwest Region Coach of the Year
Nebraska track and field head coach Gary Pepin was named the Big Ten Men's Indoor Coach of the Year and the USTFCCCA Midwest Region Coach of the Year in 2019. 

The Big Ten honor marked Pepin's sixth selection as Big Ten Coach of the Year since the Huskers joined the conference in 2011-12, and it was his 28th all-time conference coaching accolade. The 2019 Big Ten men's indoor title was Pepin's 73rd career conference title and 43rd indoors. He has guided the Husker men to three Big Ten indoor titles in the last five seasons.

Pepin, in his 40th year as head coach at Nebraska, has also been honored as region coach of the year 11 times in the past 15 years. Of his 11 region coaching honors, three are men's indoor coach of the year (2005, 2015, 2019). 

Husker Men Out to Defend Big Ten Indoor Title
The Nebraska men won the 2019 Big Ten Indoor Championship in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Angela Mercurio, Lakayla Harris, Mayson Conner and Elijah Lucy all won individual Big Ten indoor titles for the Big Red. 

The Husker men entered the final day of the Big Ten Championships with an 11-point lead and led the entire day until Indiana took a 90-89 lead with only the 4x400-meter relay remaining. However, the Huskers' relay team of Givon Washington, Tony Nou, Lucy and Isaiah Hutchinson ran a season-best of 3:09.12 to finish fifth, while Indiana finished eighth in 3:11.71. The Huskers finished with 93 points, and Indiana had 91, giving NU its first team crown since 2016.

The Husker men won their 67th all-time conference title and 38th indoors with the victory. It was the fifth Big Ten title for the Husker men since joining the conference in 2012. For legendary head coach Gary Pepin, it marked his 73rd career conference title and 43rd indoors.

Conner was crowned the high jump champion after clearing a personal-best 7-3 3/4 (2.23m), which put him in a tie for ninth in school history. Conner had the competition locked up as the only jumper to clear 7-2 1/4 (2.19m), and he was perfect through that height. The McCool Junction native went on to achieve a new personal best and give the Husker men the Big Ten indoor high jump title for the fifth time in the last six years. Conner was the Big Ten Indoor and Outdoor Freshman of the Year.