Kusche Takes 10th in NCAA Mile Final

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Nebraska track and field junior George Kusche finished 10th in the mile on the final day of the NCAA Track & Field Indoor Championships on Saturday at Randal Tyson Track Center. 

Kusche ran 4:03.23 in the final to earn second-team All-America honors, the fourth All-America honor of his Husker career. His 10th-place finish was the best of his career at the NCAA Track & Field Championships. 

Kusche will have no time to relax, however. He will head straight to Stillwater, Okla., for the NCAA Cross Country Championships on Monday. He will run the 10K at 12:40 p.m. CT at the Oklahoma State Cross Country Course. Erika Freyhof will compete for the Husker women in the 6K at 11:50 a.m. The meet will air on ESPNU.

In the mile preliminary race on Friday, Kusche set a new Nebraska school record for fastest mile on a standard 200-meter track with a time of 3:58.24. The only two faster mile times of his career (3:57.74 and 3:57.93) both came on oversized tracks.

Earlier in the meet on Friday, Burger Lambrechts Jr. highlighted the NCAA Championships for the Huskers with a fifth-place finish in the shot put. Lambrechts Jr., the Big Ten indoor champion, threw 65-0 3/4 (19.83m) on his first of six attempts to earn first-team All-America honors, his third career All-America accolade. It was the best finish by a Husker male in the shot put at the NCAA Indoor Championships since 2004. Lambrechts Jr.’s four team points earned the Husker men a tie-for-42nd finish at the national meet. 

Kevin Shubert (shot put) and Lishanna Ilves (long jump) were named second-team All-Americans in their respective events with 16th-place finishes at the NCAA Indoor Championships. Due to COVID-19 protocols, one Nebraska student-athlete was unable to compete at the meet.