Huskers Set for NCAA Outdoor Championships

The Nebraska track and field team will send 11 student-athletes to compete at the NCAA Outdoor Championships in Eugene, Ore., this week. 

The men will compete on Wednesday and Friday at Hayward Field, while the women will take the stage on Thursday and Saturday. Live streams for all events will be available at WatchESPN.com. 

Alex Talley will start things off for the Huskers in the hammer throw on Wednesday at 4 p.m. (CT). Darius Luff will run in the 110-meter hurdles prelims at 7:32 p.m., and Maxwell Otterdahl and Burger Lambrechts Jr. will take part in the shot put at 8:40 p.m.

On Thursday, Maddie Harris and Mirta Kulisic compete in the women’s javelin at 8:45 p.m., while LaQwasia Stepney begins the long jump at 9 p.m. and Axelina Johansson represents NU in the shot put at 9:40 p.m.

Mayson Conner will look to build off last year’s bronze medal in the high jump when he enters the competition on Friday at 7:30 p.m. Luff would compete in the 110-meter hurdles final at 8:42 p.m. should he advance out of the preliminary round. 

Finally, Jenna Rogers and Riley Masten will finish the weekend for the Husker women in the high jump at 4 p.m. on Saturday. 

Talley started the NCAA West Preliminary Round last week by finishing sixth in the hammer throw. Talley’s second throw of 219-9 (66.99m) was enough to qualify him for his third NCAA Outdoor Championships appearance in the hammer throw. The Nebraska school-record holder finished sixth last year in the event while at North Dakota State and was a USTFCCCA First-Team All-American. He placed 22nd in his first nationals appearance in 2019.

Luff posted a time of 13.64 in the 110-meter hurdles at regionals, good for the seventh-best time and a trip to the NCAA Outdoor Championships for the second year in a row. The Lincoln High grad placed 22nd last year at the national meet. His 13.64 was his second-best time this season behind only his PR of 13.59. 

Otterdahl placed sixth in the shot put last week to clinch an NCAA Outdoor Championships bid for the first time, though he was a first-team All-American at the 2021 NCAA Indoor Championships after finishing eighth while at North Dakota State. Otterdahl’s throw of 64-6 1/2 was enough to send the Big Ten outdoor champion to the NCAA Outdoor Championships one year after missing out on qualifying by one spot. 

Lambrechts Jr., the Big Ten indoor shot put champion and fourth-place finisher at this year’s NCAA Indoor Championships, will make another trip to Eugene after finishing ninth at regionals with a throw of 64-3 3/4 (19.60m). Lambrechts Jr. is a four-time All-American in the event and a two-time Big Ten champion.

Harris will compete in the javelin at Eugene for the second year in a row. The two-time Big Ten champion and school-record holder only needed one throw last week, as her first mark of 179-3 (54.64m) was the third-best throw in the regional. Joining Harris in the javelin at nationals for the second year in a row will be Kulisic, who threw 168-3 (51.29m) to qualify with the ninth-best throw. Her qualifying mark also came on her first attempt. 

Stepney qualified for the NCAA Championships for the first time in her Husker career. Her long jump mark of 20-5 1/4 (6.23m) on her first attempt held up as the 11th-best jump at the NCAA West Preliminary Round and earned her a bid to nationals. 

The freshman Johansson will compete at the NCAA Outdoor Championships in the shot put for the first time. Her throw of 58-7 1/2 (17.87m) was the No. 2 throw at the regional and easily earned her one of the 12 bids to nationals. Johansson placed 11th at the NCAA Indoor Championships in the shot put in March. 

Conner, a McCool Junction native, is headed back to Eugene after clearing 7-1 3/4 (2.18m) on his first attempt to qualify for nationals with ease. Conner was the Big Ten indoor and outdoor high jump champion this year, and the four-time All-American had a career-best third-place finish at last year’s NCAA Outdoor Championships in Eugene, where he set a personal best of 7-3 3/4 (2.23m). 

Both Rogers and Masten cleared 5-11 1/4 (1.81m) to finish among the top 12 high jumpers who clinched a bid to nationals. Rogers, the Big Ten indoor and outdoor champion in the event, finished seventh at the NCAA Indoor Championships in March to earn first-team All-America honors. Masten’s clearance was a new personal best and will send her to nationals for the first time.