• Tickets Donate Shop
  • Auctions Live Video Free Audio
  • Photo Galleries Enews Photo Store Ad
Willer Tops NCAA List with Record Vault
Courtesy: NU Media Relations
          Release: 05/08/2009
Send this article to a friend Print RSS

Seward, Neb. – With the 2009 outdoor regular season wrapping up this weekend, the No. 6 men’s and No. 17 women’s Nebraska track and field teams made the short trip up highway 34 on Friday afternoon for the Concordia Twilight. Sophomore Natalie Willer once again highlighted a meet for the Huskers, breaking her own school and American Junior record in the pole vault with a national-leading jump of 14-4 1/2. Overall, the Huskers took full advantage of the local meet, as the men posted six regional-qualifying marks and the women another five.

 

Willer continued her assault on the record books, taking her NU and American Junior record of 14-3 1/2 up one inch to 14-4 1/2, while also topping the previous national-leading mark of 14-4 by Katie Stripling of Arkansas. The World Junior record is held by Silke Spiegelburg of Germany, who jumped 14-8 1/4 on August 25, 2005. Willer will now set her focus on the Big 12 Outdoor Championships next weekend in Lubbock, Texas, where she will look to improve on her second-place finish from last year and along the way sweep the 2009 indoor and outdoor titles after winning her first Big 12 title during in the indoor season in College Station, Texas.

 

The Husker men were also well represented in the vault, as Seth Burney took his previous personal best of 17-0 3/4 to new heights with a clearance of 17-9, tying him for eighth in the nation with Nick Mossberg of Arizona. The Beatrice, Neb., native was not the only men’s vaulter to have a great day on the runway as senior Zac Holoch broke his previous best of 16-7 1/4 with a vault of 16-8 3/4. The Huskers now own three of the top-five spots on the Big 12 performance list with Burney ranked No. 2, Nate Polacek (16-10) ranked No. 4 and Holoch tied for the No. 5 spot.

 

Sophomore Paul Hamilton then tied Kansas State’s Scott Sellers for the conference lead in the men’s high jump with a clearance at the 7-2 1/2 bar. A three-time NCAA qualifier, Hamilton topped his previous season best by two inches, moving him into a tie with three other jumpers for the fifth spot on the NCAA performance list. Hamilton finished runner-up at the meet to former Husker indoor national champion and 2008 Olympian Dusty Jonas, who cleared a facility record 7-4 1/4.

 

Trey Jordan continued his quest to make his first NCAA Championship meet with a Big 12 leading throw of 60-8 3/4 in the men’s shot put. A personal-best for Jordan, he moves into a tie for 12th on the NCAA list with Javier Villarreal of Northern Arizona. The throw marked the second time this season that Jordan has cleared 60 feet in the shot, after entering the year with a outdoor personal best of 55-4 3/4.

 

In other jumps action, LeRon Williams topped his previous best of 24-11 in the long jump with winning leap of 25-5 1/2. The jump moves Williams to No. 3 on the Big 12 list and to No. 12 on the NCAA list. The Huskers now own three of the top-four spots on the conference list, led by Nicholas Gordon’s conference-leading mark of 25-6 3/4, while Williams ranks third and Scott Jorgenson fourth (25-2 3/4).

 

Chris Nuttelman rounded out the jumps by posting his first regional-qualifying jump of the season in the triple jump with a leap of 49-3 3/4.

 

Arna Erega and Karyn LaCour each posted season-best times in the 100-meter hurdles, as Erega’s time of 13.76 topped LaCour’s time of 13.82. Erega, who had previous qualified for the regional meet, moves up on the NCAA list, while LaCour added her name to the list for the first time this season.

 

The Huskers will now have a short turnaround as they will head to Manhattan, Kan., tomorrow morning for the Ward Haylett Invitational. Scheduled to start at 11 a.m., the meet will take place at R.V. Christian Track. Live results are not expected to be available, so check Huskers.com in the evening for a full recap.

NU Track and Field on twitter
Nebraska Baseball
Advertisement

Sign up to receive exclusive
Nebraska Huskers email updates
Memorial Stadium
Epley Bullock
Position: Jumps
Class: Senior
Recruiting
No. 1 Reason Recruits Choose NU – Coaches
Atmosphere, tradition, strength program, academic support and life skills...
Academic Tradition
Husker Academic Tradition Thrives in 2008-09
Nebraska has a nation-leading total of 269 CoSIDA Academic All-Americans.
Olympic Athlete
Walk-on Tomasevicz Now Olympic Bobsled Favorite
Shelby native and NU letterman and his teammates eye gold in Vancouver's...
Famous Fan
Famous Comedian Is Also a Favorite Husker Fan
Dan Whitney is better known by his stage name, Larry the Cable Guy.
Randy York's N-Sider
Brook Berringer’s Legend Goes Beyond Football
Tom Osborne and Ron Brown tell why quarterback was so special.
Life Skills
Student-Athletes Serve Others with Heart
Sharing develops character and gives Huskers skills for life.
Milestone Game
Our House is a Very, Very, Very Fine House
Watch 300th Sellout Videos, Including Tunnel Walk and Special Messages
Traditional Rivals
Traditional Rivals
Nebraska and Oklahoma, respected rivals, have 1,618 combined wins.
Hall of Fame Honors
Tyrance Earns Spot in Academic All-America Hall
Omaha surgeon joins Karen Jennings and Dave Rimington in Hall of Fame.
NCAA Champions
National Bowling Title a 10 in Every Way
Bill Straub's eighth NCAA women's title at Nebraska made national...
Recruiting
Pepin Hits Recruiting Trail as Hard as Ever
The Big 12's most decorated head coach has been a salesman for decades.
Recruiting
Husker Recruiting Class Ranked No. 2 Nationally
Prepvolleyball.com has ranked Nebraska's incoming recruiting class No. 2.
All-American
Hill Named First-Team CoSIDA Academic All-American
Senior pitcher Molly Hill is one of 11 players named to national team.
Randy York's N-Sider
Belief, Love Define Amanda Gates story
Amanda Gates came out of nowhere to experience a classic Nebraska success story.
Academic Honors
Gates, Sullivan Selected for Big 12 Postgraduate..
Huskers Amanda Gates and Nick Sullivan were among 24 Big 12 student-athletes...
Previous Next