GENEVA, Ohio – Burger Lambrechts Jr. climbed the all-time Nebraska track and field record book on his way to winning the Big Ten indoor shot put gold medal at the Big Ten Indoor Championships on Saturday.
Lambrechts shattered his previous personal best with a winning throw of 67-4 3/4 (20.54m) on his fifth attempt, which won the event by more than two feet. Lambrechts had never topped 20 meters before in his career, but both his fifth and sixth (20.47m) throws on Saturday went well beyond 20 meters.
“It’s very exciting. I definitely took the long way up,” said Lambrechts, who in four career Big Ten indoor shot puts rose from 10th to 4th to second to first. “To get the title and 20 meters on the same day was years of training coming together and it was very special.”
The Big Ten runner-up last year, Lambrechts climbed to No. 2 in school history behind only Carl Myerscough’s school record of 70-6 1/4 (21.49m). Lambrechts ranks fifth in the nation in the event and will qualify for the NCAA Indoor Championships like he did last year, though this will be his first time competing at the NCAA Indoor Championships after last year’s meet was canceled due to COVID-19.
“I feel good about that. Only big Carl is ahead of me now,” Lambrechts said. “I feel good and I think I can throw further at nationals and maybe be a contender for a medal.”
The Husker men finished the three-day meet with 71 points to finish in fourth place. The Husker women totaled 50 points and finished sixth. Iowa (119) won the men’s team title, while Minnesota (138) took the women’s team title.
Michael Hoffer capped a breakout indoor season with a silver medal in the men’s high jump. Hoffer cleared 6-11 (2.11m) to earn his first Big Ten medal. Hoffer, whose best finish was sixth in three previous Big Ten Conference Championship meets, finished either first or second in all five competitions this indoor season. Mayson Conner also added team points for the Husker men with a sixth-place finish at 6-9 3/4 (2.08m).
George Kusche was the silver medalist in the men’s mile in a photo finish with a time of 4:05.46. He trailed Minnesota’s Owen Hoeft (4:05.45) by just .01 seconds.
Kevin Shubert placed fourth in the shot put with a throw of 62-3 (18.97m), a six-spot improvement from his 10th-place finish as a freshman last season.
Three Huskers represented the NU men in the 60 meters final. Matthew Brown (6.78) and Chris Ramsey (6.86) both scored team points by finishing seventh and eighth, respectively. Lorenzo Paissan took ninth place in 6.91.
Darius Luff placed sixth in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 7.93, while Tony Nou placed sixth in the 400 meters in 47.52, as both scored three team points.
Kayla Hugg earned seventh place in the 400 meters with a collegiate best of 54.82 to score two team points. A run of 16:34.08 gave Erika Freyhof a seventh-place finish in the 5,000 meters, also securing two more points.
Madison Yerigan paced the Husker women in the high jump with a sixth-place finish, clearing a season-best 5-7 3/4 (1.72m). Andy Jacobs and Jessica Gardner both cleared 13-3 1/2 (4.05m) in the women’s pole vault. Jacobs finished in the scoring column in eighth place. Gardner, whose vault was a personal best by more than nine inches, placed ninth overall. Garrison Hughes led the NU men in the pole vault, finishing ninth at 16-2 3/4 (4.95m).
Emma Bresser placed ninth for the Husker women in the 800 meters final with a time of 2:13.28. Dais Malebana took 10th place in a talented men’s 5,000-meters field with a personal-best time of 14:04.22, the third-fastest time in school history on any size of track.
The women’s 4×400-meter relay team of Hugg, Emma Algarin, Emily Ellis and Bresser ran a season-best time of 3:50.20 to finish ninth.
The NCAA Indoor Championships will be held March 11-13 in Fayetteville, Arkansas. The top-16 student-athletes in each individual event will qualify for the NCAA Indoor Championships.
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