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Sophomore Elkhorn native Natalie Willer broke her own school and American Junior pole vaulting record Friday with by clearing the bar at 14 feet, 4 1/2 inches at the Corncordia Twilight in Seward, Neb. Willer now leads the NCAA by a half-inch over Katie Stripling of Arkansas, and will go for the Big 12 outdoor title this weekend in Lubbock, Texas, to go along with her indoor title.

The World Junior record is 14-8 1/4. Were Willer to clear that mark, she'd be in Olympic qualfying territory. Willer's vault was the fifth-best in America this year.

And now, Willer has been named USA Track and Field's Athlete of the Week. She's the first Nebraska athlete to be picked in the eight-year history of the award.

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On one of the biggest stages of outdoor track, Natalie Willer not only became the best women’s pole vaulter in Nebraska history, but the best American women’s pole vaulter under 20 years old.

Willer, the Elkhorn native who started the indoor season by clearing 14 feet, continued her record-breaking sophomore campaign with school-record vault of 14 feet, 3 ½ inches at the Drake Relays Saturday. She cleared the bar on her third and final attempt.

The clearance broke the NU school record, previously held by Brysun Stately by ¼ of an inch. It broke the American junior record – that’s any American woman under 20 years old – by 2 ¼ inches. It broke the Drake Relays record by nearly a foot. And it was good enough to slay 2004 Olympian Jillian Schwartz, who failed to clear the 14 3 ½ mark.

“This is such a prestigious event that’s been around for 100 years,” Willer said. “I am really proud to be able to call myself a Drake Relays champion. I’ve got my eyes set on reaching 4.50 meters (14-9) this season. By the way I’ve been progressing lately I think it’s definitely within sight.”

The 14-9 mark, by the way, would be a World Junior Record. It was also the qualifying benchmark in the 2008 Summer Olympics, and would have been good for 10th place. The current World Junior mark is 14-8¼, held by Germany’s Silke Spiegelbug, who finished 7th in the Olympics.

Nebraska’s women also set a school record in the mile relay at Drake, as Rachel Carrizales, Lara Crofford, Jen Pancoast and Ashley Miller finished with a combined time of 19 minutes 41.97 seconds.

The other half of NU’s team headed to the equally prestigious Penn Relays. The NU men’s 110-meter relay bunch continued to excel, as Tyrell Ross, Lehann Fourie, Eric Lund and Kirkland Thornton set the school record with a time of 54.90 seconds. Thornton, who has emerged as NU’s best hurdler, then tied the school record in the 110-meter hurdles with a time of 13.50 seconds.

Nebraska high jumper Epley Bullock, who had struggled through the last half of the indoor season the first part of the outdoor campaign, busted through with the best jump of her career at 6 feet, 1¼ inches. Bullock is now No. 2 in the nation in the high jump, behind Texas national champion Destinee Hooker.

“I’ve never been to this meet before,” Bullock said. “I didn’t know how much people love it. Our next big meet is our conference meet, so I am going to try and maintain whatever I did today. I will try and remember what I did today and keep working so I can get to the 6-2 bar.”

Nebraska will host its last outdoor meet of the year on Saturday in the Nebraska Quad, to be held at the Ed Weir Track.

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Nebraska's track and field team will send 13 athletes to the NCAA Championships in College Station, Texas, hoping for top 15 finishes in both the men's and women's competitions. The meet begins Friday at 10:00 a.m. It will be streamed LIVE on ESPN360, which you can access on UNL's campus, among other places. Check your local cable company.

The men will have nine competitors, and a legitmate shot of finishing inside the top five if the chips fall right:

High jumper Paul Hamilton: No. 1 in the nation with a jump of 7-4 1/4, Hamilton had a poor Big 12 meet in the same A&M building, but he'll return with as good a chance as any jumper in the nation of winning

Long jumpers Nicolas Gordon, Chris Phipps and LeRon Williams: The most formidable trio in the collegiate ranks, all three - especially Gordon - enjoyed terrific Big 12 meets and have a shot at All-American honors. Gordon broke the Big 12 meet record with a jump of 26-1 1/2 and ranks No. 3 in the nation. Phipps and Williams are tied for 10th.

60-meter hurdlers Lehann Fourie and Kirkland Thornton: These two have been battling back and forth all season. Fourie's best time is 7.75 seconds (T-7th nationally) while Thornton is just behind with 7.76 (T-9th nationally). As Fourie told us earlier this year, getting to the NCAA meet is the key. Because in a sprint - and especially in a hurdling event - just about anything can happen.

400-meter sprinter Lukas Hulett: Looks for his third straight All-American indoor performance, which would be a school record. Right now, his time of 46.58 seconds is just outside that top eight, but, again - anything can happen.

Heptathlete Bjorn Barrefors: Just a freshman from Sweden, Barrefors is going to be making his share of trips to the indoor and outdoor NCAA meets over the next four years, and you just might see him in the Olympics. A semester transfer, Barrefors has competed in just a handful of meets at NU, and he's already 7th in the nation.

Pole vaulter Seth Burney: Secured a spot in the NCAA meet with a strong performance at Big 12s, vaulting 17-10 3/4, good for fifth in the country. Certainly in line for All-American honors, don't count him out for top three, either.

The women, meanwhile, are looking to vastly improve on a 67th and 52nd place finish the last two seasons:

High jumper Epley Bullock: Like Hamilton, didn't have her best meet at Big 12s, but remains a threat to finish in the top five. Bullock has a jump of 6-1 1/4 this year, good for fifth nationally, and the way high jump competitions can go, that jump might be good for second this weekend. Texas jumper Destinee Hooker is more or less a lock to win.

Pole vaulter Natalie Willer: Willer's had a consistent indoor season, routinely reaching close to 14 feet on her vaults. Her best is 14 feet itself, good for fifth in the nation.

Pentathlete Megan Wheatley and Chantae McMillian: Both enjoyed great springs and currently ranked 4th and 8th in the nation, respectively. McMillian also got a bid to compete

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Both Nebraska men's and women's track teams lead after the first day of the Big 12 Championships in College Station, Texas; not surprising, since NU typically does quite well in the field events, most of which were waged Friday night.

The Husker women's standings are thus:

1. Nebraska 56
2. Texas Tech 35
3. Iowa State
4. Missouri 21
T4 Oklahoma 21
6. Texas A&M 19

On the men's side:

1. Nebraska 42.5
2. Iowa State 24
3. Texas 22
4. Oklahoma 21
T4 Missouri 21
6. Oklahoma State 19

The Cornhusker women enjoyed a huge day in the field, as Natalie Willer set the meet record in the pole vault, clearing 13 feet, 10 inches. Willer won the Big 12 title long before that when she cleared 13-1 1/2. The Huskers' Rachel Birtles finished in a tie for second.

NU finished first, second and fourth in the pentathalon, with Megan Wheatley taking the title in fashion, scoring 4,211 points, her personal best and good for No. 2 in the nation this year. Later, Lara Crofford finished second in the 5,000 meters, running the distance in a personal best 16 minutes and 28.84 seconds.

On the men's side, the night belong to long jumper Nicolas Gordon, who broke the Big 12 meet record with a jump of 26-1 1/2, which also puts him at No. 2 in the nation. Chris Phipps and LeRon Williams finished third and fourth.

In pole vault, sophomore Seth Burney finished second, but cleared a personal high bar of 17-10 1/2.

Read more of the results here.

Tomorrow are most of the sprints and, yes, the Huskers will come back to the pack, so to speak. Texas A&M remains favored on the women's side, but Nebraska's men may able to hold on for victory if they get wins from high jumper Paul Hamilton and 60-meter hurdler Lehann Fourie, both of whom are expected to compete for the title.

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