Ilves Wins Big Ten Long Jump Crown

GENEVA, Ohio – Nebraska freshman Lishanna Ilves claimed the Big Ten women’s long jump title on day one of the Big Ten Indoor Championships at the SPIRE Institute on Thursday. 

Ilves led the Husker-dominated event with an indoor personal-best jump of 20-9 1/4 (6.33m), which tied her for seventh in school history. She became the first Husker woman to win the Big Ten long jump gold medal since Tierra Williams in 2016. Ilves achieved her winning mark on her third of six attempts and it was enough to hold off teammate Ieva Turke, who was the runner-up for the second straight year with an indoor personal-best mark of 20-3 1/2 (6.18m). Turke’s silver medal was the fifth Big Ten medal of her career. Darby Thomas placed fourth in the event with a jump of 19-8 (5.99m), giving the Husker women a total of 23 team points in the event. 

The Husker women are in second place with 26 points, trailing Minnesota with 37.

“I was super happy to win, but at the same time I am hungry for more,” Ilves said. “The key to my new personal best today was that I managed to put it all together. It feels great to share the top five with Ieva and Darby. I am so proud of them and super excited that we have such a good group of jumpers. It keeps pushing me harder.”

Marika Spencer added three team points for the Big Red women with a sixth-place finish in the weight throw. Spencer recorded a career-best throw of 62-11 1/2 (19.19m) on her third attempt to move up to No. 7 in school history in the event. 

For the men, Micaylon Moore had a career day to finish fifth in the long jump. Moore topped his indoor personal best three times on the day to finish the event with a mark of 24-3 1/2 (7.40m) and score four team points. On the track, George Kusche scored five team points for the Husker men with a fourth-place finish in the 3,000 meters. Kusche finished with a time of 8:06.06. Darius Luff qualified for Saturday’s men’s 60-meter hurdles final with a time of 7.90 in prelims.

Moore and Kusche combined for nine team points for the Husker men, which has them tied for sixth overall. Iowa leads the men’s race with 30 points.

The heptathlon completed four of seven events on Thursday, and Zach Podraza is in sixth place with 2,804 points while Kolby Heinerikson is in ninth place with 2,679 points. Podraza set seasons bests in the 60 meters (7.28), long jump (21-10 3/4, 6.67m) and shot put (41-1 3/4 (12.54m). Heinerikson tied his personal records in the 60 meters (7.42) and high jump (5-11 1/2, 1.82m), and he set a big personal best in the shot put at 41-6 (12.65m). 

The heptathlon kicks off day two at 9:30 a.m. (CT) on Friday. Track events will begin at 10:35 a.m., and the first field event – the men’s triple jump – will begin at 11 a.m. All the action will be streamed live on BTNPlus.com.