BRIAN CHRISTOPHERSON / Lincoln Journal Star | Posted: Sunday, February 26, 2006 6:00 pm
When the last starting pistol had sounded at the Devaney Sports Center on Saturday, Texas had run away with the men’s Big 12 Conference track crown and used the magnificence of the Hooker sisters (Marshavet and Destinee) to clinch the women’s championship, too.
“Nebraska’s a great team. They have great tradition here. This was our time,” said Texas coach Bubba Thornton, his athletes jumping and shouting and singing behind him.
The final count favored the Texas women 125 to 118 over NU. Here’s the kicker: The Huskers may have lost because Egle Uljas had a cold on Thursday.
According to Husker head coach Gary Pepin, a doctor said the sophomore from Estonia was OK to run. Uljas felt she wasn’t.
This all led to a big mess on Thursday as Nebraska tried to finalize its roster for the meet. “It went down to 45 seconds (before the deadline),” Pepin said. “We had 45 seconds left to make a decision and at that point she said she couldn’t go.”
Consider 20 potential team points left on the table. Uljas’ season-best time in the 600 yards was 2.40 seconds better than Saturday’s winner. Her season-best time in the 800 meters was 1.64 seconds better than Saturday’s winner.
“You can’t second-guess if someone says they’re sick,” Pepin said. “You got to hope they understand the importance of the meet to the team and the school, and I assume she did.”
Despite being shorthanded, the Husker women put up a game fight. The Longhorns, ranked No. 1 in one national poll, did not lock up victory until the final race — the 4x400. Texas led Nebraska by just two points going into the relay.
Unfortunately for Nebraska, that event is more tailored to the Horns, who finished it in second. The Huskers ended the race sixth and that was that.
The final team results came as a real downer to the Huskers, who had won six consecutive men’s indoor conference crowns and two straight women’s championships. In the nine years of previous Big 12 indoor meets, the Nebraska men had lost the title only once – in 1999 to the Longhorns.
“We had great performances all over the place,” said Pepin, his men scoring 100 points to finish second, 27 behind Texas. “We just didn’t have enough of them.”
Husker junior Priscilla Lopes was dynamite, “a warrior” in the words of Pepin. Competing in three races (the 60-meter hurdles, 60 and 200), she scored 26 points for the team in 38.71 seconds of work.
There was no touching her in the 60 hurdles. Well, wait — that’s not totally accurate. “I felt a Texas girl come up beside me and we hit hands a couple times, and I was like, ‘You’re not going to touch me a third time,’” Lopes said.
Lopes promptly said goodbye to that “Texas girl,” Melaine Walker, reaching the tape with a time of 7.92 seconds. That not only broke her previous school record of :07.96 — set when she won the national championship in 2004 — but also set a Big 12 meet and Devaney Center records, and ranks as the No. 1 time in the country so far this year.
Though she was as speedy in the 60 and 200, Lopes met her match in the person of Marshavet Hooker, who scored a meet-high 30 points for Texas.
The Longhorns junior turned it on late to edge Lopes in the 60, beating her by seven-hundredths-of-a-second. Later, she bested Lopes again in the 200, winning by about four-tenths-of-a-second.
Marshevet’s younger sis, Destinee, also put her stamp on the meet. The freshman did her work in the high jump, easily winning by clearing 6 feet, 3½ inches, the nation’s top mark and a new Devaney Center record.
Huskers who won individual championships included Becky Breich (shot put), and, on the men’s side, Ray Scotten (pole vault), Courtney Jones (60 hurdles), Daniel Roper (triple jump) and Dmitrijs Milkevics (800).
Of the disheartening team race, Breisch said: “It’s extremely important, but then again, I tell myself it’s just indoors. When it comes to outdoors, nothing can touch us.”
Of his victory, Scotten said: “I’m friggin’ ecstatic.”
Of total shock value, Milkevics said: “I’m turning pro.”
Yes, indeed, just to add a little more drama to the day, the Husker junior said after setting a school, meet and Devaney record (1:46.46) that he had run his last race for the Huskers. The Latvian native has decided he’s going to compete in the world championships instead of the NCAA championships. The meets are on conflicting dates.
On a far different note, there was Courtney Jones. The Husker senior has battled injuries his entire career, always falling just short of winning a hurdles race in the Big 12 meet.
Until Saturday. In the best race of his career, he hit the finish line at 7.74 seconds, winning by a fingernail clipping.
“It was my last indoor meet here at Nebraska, so I wanted to go out with a bang,” he said. “When you get older and get out of college and look back at what you did in your life, it’s something you can really remember.”
Reach Brian Christopherson at 473-7438 or bchristopherson@journalstar.com.