Nebraska has built a dynasty in the heptathlon after redshirt freshman Megan Wheatley won the two-day event Saturday at the Big 12 outdoor track and field championships.

Wheatley became the fourth consecutive Cornhusker to win the heptathlon and was one of four Nebraska athletes to finish in the top six this year.

She scored a personal record and Potts field record 5,643 points, winning four of the seven events to beat her teammate Chantae McMillan who finished with 5,444 points.

Nebraska multi-events coach Kris Grimes called Wheatley's win "pretty extraordinary" because she had been dealing with injuries most of the spring and hadn't been healthy enough to work on individual events until three weeks ago.

"It's quite an honor to be number four," said Wheatley, who found her way to Lincoln from Perth, Australia. "It really stamps Nebraska's dominance on the multi-event.

"There are a whole bunch of us and we just work really well together and we are always pushing each other at training."

Grimes, who is in his third year coaching the multi-events and the pole vault at Nebraska, said success has bred more of the same in the program.

"The three girls that have won the four are wonderful athletes," Grimes said. "When you start with great athletes, with high levels of expectations and they're very motivated, they perform well."

The decathlon also was decided Saturday with Texas senior Donovan Kilmartin beating two Missouri underclassmen for the championship. Kilmartin scored 7,575 points in 10 events, also good for a Potts Field record.

Kilmartin also won the decathlon in 2006. The pole vault was the only event in which he finished first this year, and he said he ran the final event, the 1,500 meters, with a pulled groin he suffered in the javelin.

" I kept thinking that all of these people came out and supported me, all of my family, all of my friends, all of my teammates and I could hear them supporting me all the way around the track," he said. "I put that in my head and I could feel the groin real quick on my steps but I just kept running through each step."

Colorado freshman Adam Salzmann finished ninth with 6,437 points, including a first-place finish in the 1,500 meter run.

High flyin'

Nebraska's success in the heptathlon also leads to success in individual events, and that came through in the high jump this year with four Cornhuskers finishing in the top six, led by senior Kim Shubert, who jumped 5 feet, 10.75 inches to earn the championship.

Shubert beat teammate Epley Bullock by 2 inches and was one of five women to record regional qualifying jumps Saturday. Three of those five marks came from Cornhuskers.

"I'm from Lincoln, Nebraska, too, so it is kind of cool to be a local girl from my university and win a championship," Shubert said.

KU rules pole vault

Three Kansas Jayhawks finished among the top four in the women's pole vault finals Saturday. Senior Kate Sultanova won the championship with a vault of 13-5.25. Natalie Willer of Nebraska was second followed by Sultanova's teammates Libby Harmon and Julia Cummings.

Sultanova's mark set a new Potts Field record, but that figured to happen quite a bit this weekend, particularly in events in which the home team has not been traditionally strong. The old Potts Field record in the women's pole vault was 12-1.5. Eleven women beat or tied the record Saturday.

Notable

Kansas State senior Candace Mills won the women's long jump with a leap of 20-10. ... Oklahoma State junior Merritt Dietz won the women's shot put title with a throw of 51-7.75 feet, beating Amy Waggoner of Iowa State by more than 3 feet. LaKendra Greathouse of OSU and Amy Backel of OU also recorded regional qualifying marks in the shot put. ... Missouri senior Nate Englin was one of seven men to record regional qualifying throws in the men's shot put. Englin won the event with a throw of 61-7.75. Harrison Benjamin was second at 60-3.