Huskers Set to Make Season Debut

>> The Nebraska track and field team begins the 2021 indoor season at home this Saturday with the Husker Triangular. Nebraska will host fellow Big Ten Conference foes Iowa and Minnesota in the non-scored meet. Saturday’s events will begin at 11:30 a.m. While the general public will not be allowed to attend the meet, there will be free live video streams for all of the events available on Huskers.com. Live results can be followed at Results.DeltaTiming.com/Nebraska.

>> The Huskers are taking the track for the first time since February of 2020. Four Husker athletes – George Kusche, Alencar Pereira, Burger Lambrechts Jr. and Kristina Insingo – were at the NCAA Indoor Championships in Albuquerque, N.M. on March 12 when the rest of the indoor season and outdoor season were abruptly ended by the COVID-19 pandemic. 

>> The Huskers return four athletes who have achieved USTFCCCA All-America indoor honors in their NU careers. George Kusche was an All-American in the mile and 3,000 meters last indoor season, and he is the school-record holder in both events. Burger Lambrechts Jr. and Kristina Insingo were both named All-Americans last year after qualifying for indoor nationals in the shot put. Mayson Conner was a 2019 first-team All-American in the high jump after finishing seventh at the NCAA Indoor Championships. 

>> NU’s 2021 indoor schedule features two home meets, four road meets and the Big Ten Indoor Championships in Geneva, Ohio. After the Husker Triangular, NU will head to Iowa City, Iowa for the Larry Wieczorek Invitational on Jan. 22-23. The Huskers are in Champaign, Illinois the following weekend (Jan. 29-30) for the Illinois Combined Event. Nebraska returns to the Devaney Center to host the Husker Quad against Illinois, Iowa and Minnesota on Feb. 6. The Huskers split up between the Hawkeye B1G Invitational in Iowa City and the SPIRE Pre-Big Ten Meet in Geneva, Ohio the weekend of Feb. 12-13. After a weekend off, the Huskers will compete at the Big Ten Indoor Championships on Feb. 25-27. The indoor season concludes with the NCAA Indoor Championships in Fayetteville, Arkansas on March 11-13.

>> The Husker men placed fourth and the women were 10th at the 2020 Big Ten Indoor Championships. Three Huskers captured Big Ten titles: Alencar Pereira (weight throw), Brent Wetovick (600 meters) and Ieva Turke (triple jump). Turke returns to lead the Husker women this year as she owns the No. 9 indoor triple jump mark (43-0 1/2, 13.12m) in NU women’s history.

>> The Nebraska men’s track and field team was crowned the indoor dual meet champions by Track & Field News Magazine for the second straight season in 2020. The Huskers claimed the title on the strength of two home quadrangulars, the Mark Colligan Memorial and the adidas Classic, as well as outstanding running-event balance. Nebraska posted a 6-0 record in dual meets to top No. 2 Indiana (1-0) and No. 3 Texas A&M (2-0) for the top spot.

>> Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Nebraska will only be competing against Big Ten Conference foes this indoor track and field season. Iowa and Minnesota will bring competitive squads to the Devaney Center on Saturday. The Iowa men were the Big Ten indoor runner-up last year, while the Minnesota men finished third. On the women’s side, the Gophers were the runner-up and Iowa was eighth.