>> The Nebraska track and field team concludes its indoor home schedule on Saturday with the Husker Quad against Illinois, Iowa and Minnesota. Action at the Bob Devaney Sports Center begins at 11 a.m. Saturday’s meet will have live cameras stationed at every event, and they can be watched on Huskers.com for free. Live results can be found at Results.DeltaTiming.com/Nebraska. Because of health and safety protocols, Saturday’s meet will be closed to the public.
>> Most of the track and field team is returning to action after taking last weekend off. The multi-event athletes traveled to Champaign, Illinois for the Illini B1G Multi-Meet. Zach Podraza earned his first-career win in the heptathlon for the Big Red with 5,130 points. NU’s distance squad competed at the Big Ten Cross Country Championships in Shelbyville, Indiana last weekend. George Kusche became Nebraska’s first-ever Big Ten Cross Country champion, winning the 8K race in 24:01.2. For his efforts, Kusche was named the USTFCCCA National Athlete of the Week. On the women’s side, Erika Freyhof finished in sixth place with a personal-best time of 20:41.2 to earn first-team All-Big Ten honors.
>> 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.
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