Huskers Ready for Outdoor Season

The Nebraska track and field team begins the outdoor season this week split up at two meets. The Husker throwers, along with a few track athletes, will compete at the Arizona State Invitational in Tempe, Ariz., on Friday and Saturday beginning at 12:30 p.m. (CT) both days. Meanwhile, three Husker decathletes will head to Emporia, Kan., for the Emporia State Relays and Combined Events on Thursday at 1:30 p.m. and Friday at 10 a.m.

The Huskers are coming off a third-place finish for the men and tie-for-seventh finish for the women at the 2022 Big Ten Indoor Championships. 

Like last year, Nebraska will look to capitalize in the javelin, an event only contested during the outdoor season. The Husker women had two of the top three javelin throwers in the Big Ten last year in freshmen Maddie Harris and Mirta Kulisic. Now sophomores, both are ready to take a big step forward for the Huskers. After winning the Big Ten outdoor title as a freshman last year, Harris finished 19th at the NCAA Outdoor Championships. Kulisic took the Big Ten bronze medal and went on to finish 20th at the NCAA Championships. 

Mayson Conner was the only Husker to score points at last year’s NCAA Outdoor Championships. Conner cleared an outdoor PR 7-3 3/4 (2.23m) in the high jump to place third and become the first Husker men’s high jumper to medal at the NCAA Championships in more than a decade. He followed that up this indoor season with a Big Ten indoor title and an NCAA Championships appearance. 

Conner is one of five Huskers who will be looking to complete the 2022 Big Ten indoor-outdoor sweep. Jenna Rogers (high jump), Papay Glaywulu (triple jump), Burger Lambrechts Jr. (shot put) and Darby Thomas (long jump) all won Big Ten indoor titles in February, while Alex Talley (Big Ten weight throw champion) will be one of the top Big Ten hammer throwers this spring. Talley placed sixth at the NCAA Championships in the hammer throw last year and his personal best of 233-1 (71.05m) at North Dakota State last year is more than 10 feet better than the Nebraska school record. 

Lambrechts Jr. (shot put), Darius Luff (60-meter hurdles), Rogers (high jump) and Talley (weight throw) were all indoor first-team All-Americans two weeks ago at the NCAA Indoor Championships. The NU men tied for 24th place, their best finish since 2015. The women tied for 47th. 

Emporia State Relays and Combined Events

Thursday, March 24

1:30 p.m. – Decathlon 100m (Steinforth, Algarin, Heinerikson)

2:15 p.m. – Decathlon Long Jump (Steinforth, Algarin, Heinerikson)

3:20 p.m. – Decathlon Shot Put (Steinforth, Algarin, Heinerikson)

4:25 p.m. – Decathlon High Jump (Steinforth, Algarin, Heinerikson)

6:15 p.m. – Decathlon 400m (Steinforth, Algarin, Heinerikson)

Friday, March 25

10:00 a.m. – Decathlon 110m Hurdles (Steinforth, Algarin, Heinerikson)

11:15 a.m. – Decathlon Discus (Steinforth, Algarin, Heinerikson)

12:45 p.m. – Decathlon Pole Vault (Steinforth, Algarin, Heinerikson)

3:15 p.m. – Decathlon Javelin (Steinforth, Algarin, Heinerikson)

4:30 p.m. – Decathlon 1,500m (Steinforth, Algarin, Heinerikson)

Arizona State Invitational

Friday, March 25

12:30 p.m. – Men’s Hammer Throw (Zimmerman, Morrison, Ronnfeldt)

2:00 p.m. – Women’s High Jump (Miller)

5:30 p.m. – Men’s Discus (Otterdahl, Morrison, Brown, Shubert)

to follow – Women’s Discus (Meyer, Rosvold, Diew) 

9:40 p.m. – Women’s 3,000m Steeplechase (Godwin, McQuillen, Skelton)

Saturday, March 26

12:30 p.m. – Women’s Triple Jump (McElmurry)

2:30 p.m. – Men’s Javelin (Patterson, Brown)

to follow – Women’s Javelin (Harris, Kulisic, Lueger, Miller)

3:00 p.m. – Women’s Shot Put (Meyer, Diew, Rosvold)

to follow – Men’s Shot Put (Shubert, Otterdahl, Ronnfeldt)

7:05 p.m. – Women’s 1,500m (Abanses)