Pereira Wins B1G Title With School Record at Indoor Championships

GENEVA, Ohio – The Nebraska track and field team won one Big Ten individual title, Alencar Pereira broke a school record and the Huskers combined for a total of five medals on the first day of the Big Ten Indoor Championships at the SPIRE Institute.

Pereira made headlines during the men's weight throw with a personal-best throw of 72-6 1/4 (22.10m) to win the title. His mark was good for the best throw in school history, breaking Nick Percy's record of 71-2 (21.69m) set in 2018 and the throw currently ranks No. 9 in the NCAA this season.

"I can't believe it because I was practicing pretty hard and threw my back out three weeks ago," Pereira said. "At the same time, I was expecting it because I wanted to do my job and worked hard. It was crazy that I broke the school record and it was a huge improvement. I think I have qualified for indoor nationals and that is my focus right now."

The Nebraska men scored 22 team points and are currently in third, trailing Indiana (48.5 points) and Minnesota (33 points). The Big Red women are currently in sixth with 18 points.

George Kusche and Kevin Cahoy both captured bronze medals in their respective events. Kusche won the bronze in the 3,000 meters at the Big Ten Indoor Championships for the second year in a row with a time of 8:14.02. Cahoy finished third in the pole vault with a personal-best clearance of 17-3 1/2 (5.27m).

The Nebraska women scored 17 of their 18 points in the women's long jump. Ieva Turke had the best finish on the women's team, earning the silver medal with a season-best leap of 19-11 (6.07m). Darby Thomas was right behind Turke and finished with the bronze with a PR of 19-9 (6.02m). Zionn Pearson also scored points in the event, finishing sixth with a season-best mark of 19-3 1/4 (5.87m).

Judi Jones scored the first points of the day for the Huskers, placing eighth in the 3,000 meters in a time of 9:35.31.

In preliminary action, both Matthew Brown and Brent Wetovick set NU top-10 times in their respective races. Brown automatically qualified for the men's 60-meter final with a season-best time of 6.72, tying the No. 9 time in program history. Wetovick set the fastest time in qualifying for the 600 meters with a PR time of 1:17.44, that time ranks No. 8 on any size of track in NU history.

Chris Ramsey will be joining Brown in the 60-meter final after earning a non-automatic qualifying bid with a time of 6.78.

Luke Siedhoff (7.78) and Darius Luff (7.86) both automatically qualified for the finals of the men's 60-meter hurdles by finishing in the top-two of their respective preliminary heats.

Kusche posted a time of 4:07.85 to automatically qualify for the men's mile final, while Jordan De Spong grabbed a non-automatic bid to the finals with a time of 4:08.85. Elsa Forsberg also qualified for the women's mile final with a time of 4:45.18 in prelims.

After day one in the heptathlon, Zach Podraza is in scoring position. Podraza has 2,864 points and is currently sitting ninth. Podraza's day was highlighted with a PR in the shot put (41-3, 12.57m), a tying PR time of 7.23 in the 60 meters and a season-best in the long jump (21-8 3/4, 6.62m).

Day two of the Big Ten Indoor Championships begins on Saturday with both combined events and field events at 10 a.m. (CT) and action on the track commencing at 11:30 a.m. (CT).