Huskers Host 35th Annual Frank Sevigne Husker Invitational

Courtesy: NU Media Relations
Release: 02/03/2010


Huskers Host 35th Annual Frank Sevigne Husker Invitational



Lincoln - This weekend at the Devaney Center Indoor Track, the Nebraska track and field team will host the 35th Annual Frank Sevigne Husker Invitational.



Started in 1975 by former NU track and field coach Frank Sevigne, the meet annually draws some of the top talent in the country to Lincoln. At last year’s meet, there were seven NCAA automatic-qualifying performances and another 41 provisional-qualifying marks. This year’s meet is expected to be just as strong as there will be seven USTFCCCA top-25 teams at the Devaney Center, including the No. 6 ranked Husker men and the No. 13 Husker women.



The meet is scheduled to start on Friday at 5 p.m. with the women’s weight throw and then will continue on Saturday at Noon with the women’s mile and women’s shot put.



Fans can purchase tickets on Huskers.com, by calling 1-800-8BIGRED or by stopping by the Nebraska Athletic Ticket Office, located directly west of Memorial Stadium. For more information and a complete meet schedule, as well as information about the rest of the 2010 season, log on to Huskers.com.



Fourie Flashes to Top

Husker hurdler Lehann Fourie took back the No. 1 spot on the NCAA list in the 60-meter hurdles on Saturday, Jan. 30 at the Bill Bergan Invitational in Ames, Iowa. After starting the year with a time of 7.77 on Saturday, Jan. 16, Fourie regained the top spot with a school-record tying time of 7.70. The Pretoria, South Africa, native also became the first hurdler in the Division I to automatically qualify for the 2010 NCAA Indoor Championships.



Willer Hits Auto Mark

In just her second meet of the season, Natalie Willer added her name to the list of automatic qualifiers in the women’s pole vault on Saturday, Jan. 30 at the Bill Bergan Invitational with a leap of 13-11 1/4. The indoor and outdoor school record holder is tied for sixth in the NCAA this season.



Myerscough Back in Lincoln

A four-time NCAA champion at Nebraska in the shot put, Carl Myerscough is set to return to the Devaney Center this weekend for the Frank Sevigne Husker Invitational. Myerscough still holds the indoor Big 12, Big 12 meet, Husker Invitational, Devaney Center and school records in the shot put, with his best throw of 70-6 1/4 coming in 2003. The men’s shot put will follow the women’s shot, which is scheduled for Noon on Saturday.



Spinning Toward History

The men’s weight throw should be one of the most talent field events at the Frank Sevigne Husker Invitational, as the field will include four of the NCAA’s top 25 throwers, including Nebraska’s Brett Suckstorf. Ranked 11th in the NCAA with a throw of 66-6 1/2, Suckstorf will be going after Joe Erdkamp’s 1999 school record of 68-10 1/2. Through three meets this season, Suckstorf has topped the NCAA provisional-qualifying standard of 63-11 3/4 at every meet.



Bullock Soars to New Heights

Senior Epley Bullock locked up her spot at the 2010 NCAA Championships on Saturday, Jan. 23, at the adidas Classic with a personal-best jump of 6-1 1/2. The jump broke Bullock’s previous best by one-quarter of an inch and gave her sole possession of the No. 3 performance in Husker indoor history, after previous sharing the spot with Tammy Thurman (1988) and Kerry Doetker (1997). The mark is tops in the Big 12 Conference this season and ranks her No. 3 on the NCAA list behind Hawaii’s Amber Kaufman (Branham HS, San Jose, CA) and Arizona’s Elizabeth Patterson (North Garland HS, Rowlett, TX), who have each jumped 6-3 1/4.



Home for Hurdlers

The Nebraska track and field team has one hurdler automatically qualified and three hurdlers provisionally qualified for the NCAA Indoor Championships, with two each on the men’s and women’s sides. Lehann Fourie leads the way for the men, as he holds the No. 1 time in the NCAA this season at 7.70 and is joined by teammate Tyrell Ross, who is tied for the No. 22 spot at 7.91. For the women, Arna Erega is tied for 16th at 8.36 and Karyn LaCour is tied for 18th at 8.38.



Pepin back for 30th Season

The all-time winningest track and field coach in the history of the Big 12 and the former Big Eight Conference, Nebraska Head Coach Gary Pepin is entering his historic 30th season at NU. The longest tenured active coach in Cornhusker athletics, Pepin enters his 27th season as head coach of both the Husker men’s and women’s track teams.



For Pepin, last season he also passed Frank Sevigne as the longest-tenured head coach in the history of the Nebraska program, and Pepin is still at the top of his game for coaching athletes to the highest levels of competition. He was named 2009 Big 12 Men’s Outdoor Coach of the Year and the 2009 USTFCCCA Midwest Regional Men’s Outdoor Coach of the Year.



Atop the Conference

After winning 51 Big Eight titles during the conference’s history from 1974-1996, the Huskers have continued to dominate since moving to the Big 12 Conference for the 1997 season. NU has won a league-high 21 team titles over the Big 12’s first 13 years, including the program’s historic 100th conference team title last season at the Big 12 Outdoor Championships, where the men’s team won in dominant fashion with four individual conference champions.



Bullock Back for No. 4

Senior Epley Bullock will look to make history in 2010, as the Allen, Texas, native will have a chance to become the first Husker on the women’s side in school history to earn four All-America honors in the indoor high jump.



Last season, Bullock joined Chris Hall (1991-93) as the only Huskers to achieve the feat three times.



Gordon Goes for Two

After winning just the second indoor long jump national title in school history on the men’s side in 2009, Nicholas Gordon will look to become the first Husker ever to win back-to-back titles in the event.



Carl Myerscough and Ineta Radevica were the last Huskers to win back-to-back NCAA titles, as Radevica took the outdoor triple jump and Myerscough the outdoor shot put, both in 2003 and 2004.