FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Ashton Eaton’s teammates tried to keep quiet as he approached a world record in the heptathlon — as if the Oregon senior was somehow unaware of how close he was to Dan O’Brien’s mark.

“I think everybody thought I didn’t know. At least my teammates were trying to be like, ‘Shhh, don’t tell,”’ Eaton said. “I was like, ‘Come on, you know something like that.”’

Eaton broke O’Brien’s 17-year-old mark Saturday at the NCAA Division I indoor track and field championships, finishing the seven-sport event with 6,499 points.

Eaton’s performance wasn’t quite enough to lift Oregon to the team title, which went to Florida. Oregon did win the women’s title, although the top performance of the night was probably by Hampton’s Francena McCorory, who set an American record of 50.54 seconds in the 400.

Meanwhile, Nebraska produced three All-America performances Saturday to give the Huskers five All-America awards at the two-day meet as the Husker men tied for 26th and the women placed 27th.

NU junior high jumper Paul Hamilton captured his first career All-America honor with a third-place finish at 7 feet, 4-1⁄2 inches

The Huskers’ Lehann Fourie added a seventh-place finish in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 7.84 to earn the first All-America honor of his career.

Senior Leandra McGruder was the last Husker to earn All-America honors, placing 13th overall and eighth among American jumpers with a triple jump of 41-10-3⁄4.

The Huskers’ Natalie Willer came close to earning her first All-America honor but fell short with a 10th-place finish in the women’s pole vault at 13-11-1⁄4.

NU’s Bjorn Barrefors started day two of the men’s heptathlon in third place and had a shot at repeating as an All-American in the event, but he finished 11th.

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