Kearney, Neb. – Redshirt junior Lily Novacek broke a 25-year-old school record in the hammer and Nebraska Kearney won seven other events at the annual Central Nebraska Challenge Friday at Kearney High School.

The meet, co-hosted by UNK and Hastings College, was pushed up due to the impending weather on Saturday. A large meet that featured 25 mile per hour winds began at 11 a.m. and wrapped around 8:30 p.m.

Novacek (Kearney) started a long day by throwing the discus, then went to the hammer before throwing the shot at dusk. The hammer was her best event as she went well past her personal best of 192-0 by starting with throws of 206-7, 201-0 and 209-8. In the finals, Novacek had tosses of 191-10, 193-0 and 201-6 to win by 40 feet. UNK Hall of Famer Janet Boettcher set the Loper standard in the women's hammer back at the 2000 RMAC Championships (194-7.50).  Finally, Novacek now leads D2 and would rank ninth in D1. 

Next, sophomore Nolan Studley (Hastings) battled the winds and went 7-0.50 to win the men's high jump. That just bests his previous top height (7-0.25) and moves him into second place on UNK's all-time list behind six-time All-American Brayden Sorensen (7-1.75). Also in the field, freshman Megyn Scott (Adams Central) and Greta Galbraith (Blair) both cleared 11-9.75 to now be tied for eighth in Loper lore. UNK placed three through six in the event with these two leading the way.

The other Loper winners were Kearney senior Grace Bonsall in the 5,000 (18:55.98), David City senior Payton Davis in the 1,500 (4:01.92), Kansas junior Rylan Basart in the javelin (206-4), Omaha junior Nick Abdalla in the 5,000 (15:27.98), Lexington freshman Will Kulhanek in the 400 (47.65) and the men's 4x4 relay team (3:26.22). That squad consisted of junior Mitchell Deer (Sidney), senior Zach Van Brocklin (Cortland), freshman Carter Diamond (Bennington), and junior Landon Eckhardt (Hastings).

Finally, Kulhanek (Overton H.S.) and sophomore Dillon Miller (Brady) now rank third all-time in the 400 and 100 (10.44) with Kulhanek anchor for the 4x1 relay team with the sixth best effort (41.35) in the annuals. On the women's side, redshirt freshman Aaliyah Franklin (Omaha Burke) ran a 12.10 in the 100 to move into eighth place on the Top 10 list with Kansas sophomore Toree Slavik now ninth in the discus (153-11).

The Lopers head to Seward next weekend.