Weekly Release

This Week in Mavs Cross Country
The UNO cross country team runs at 10 a.m. in McCook Lake, S.D., on Saturday, Oct. 6 to compete in the Briar Cliff Invite.

Mavs Take Seventh at Rocky Mountain Shootout
The UNO cross country team finished seventh overall at the 26th annual Rocky Mountain Shootout in Boulder, Colo. on Saturday.  Amanda Vorthmann finished first for the Mavs for the second consecutive race and was 39th overall.

The Mavericks finished with 135 points which put them fifth among the other Division I teams in the race.  Colorado won with 16 points, earning five of the top six spots.

Vorthmann finished with a time of 23:40 over the 6K course in the mile high altitude of Boulder. Freshman Mikayla Peck raced to second place for the Maverick squad with a time of 24:24, her highest team finish this season. Freshman Kristin Rogers finished 64th overall and third for the team with a time of 24:41. Finishing fourth for the Mavericks was junior Brittany Phillips. She recorded an 81st place finish with a time of 25:15. Sophomore runner Kayla Fenske finished fifth for the Mavs with a time of 25:42, good for 93rd overall.
    
UNO Cross Country Team Finishes 13th at Woody Greeno/Nebraska Invitational
The UNO cross country team competed in its second race of the young season at the Woody Greeno/Nebraska Invitational. The team finished 13th overall with junior Amanda Vorthmann leading the way.

The Mavericks earned 368 points en route to their 13th place finish.  Out of the 25 total teams, Nebraska finished first with 42 points, Air Force was second with 55, Wichita State finished third with 78 team points.

Vorthmann led the Mavs, placing 32nd overall with a time of 22:54.  Freshman Kristin Rogers was the second fastest runner for UNO after leading the way at the UNO/Creighton Classic on September 3rd.  Rogers finished 70th overall in Lincoln with a time of 23:40. Lydia Martin finished third for UNO with a time of 24:12, good for 99th overall. Rounding out the top five for the Mavericks were freshman Mikayla Peck and junior Nicole Behm. Peck and Behm finished 110th and 143rd overall with times of 24:25 and 25:02, respectively.

Mavericks Finish Third in UNO/Creighton Classic
The UNO cross country team kicked off its season at home running at the annual UNO/Creighton Invitational. The Mavericks finished third, led by the promising performance of freshman Kristin Rogers.

The Mavericks earned 84 points in the six-team race.  Nebraska won with 18 points followed by South Dakota at 44.  Creighton came in fourth with 89 followed by Iowa Western Community College at 155.  Peru State did not receive a team score.

Rogers posted a time of 20:06, good enough for eighth overall and first for the Mavs.  Amanda Vorthmann came in second for the Mavs, completing the 5k race with a time of 20:19, which put her 14th overall. Rounding out the top five for the Mavs were runners Lydia Martin (21st), Mikayla Peck (25th), and Nicole Behm (27th).  They finished with times of 21:06, 21:28 and 21:36 respectively.  This was a strong start to the season for a young team that features five freshmen.

UNO Roster Showcases Area Talent
The UNO Cross Country team currently has eight runners from Nebraska and three runners from Iowa.  Six of these runners make up the freshman class. In all, seven different Nebraska high schools and three different Iowa high schools are represented on the roster. Seven of the high schools are located within an hour of the Omaha area. There is only one member of the roster outside of the Nebraska/Iowa area...way outside. Katarina Zarudnaya comes all the way to UNO from Belgorod, Russia to join the Mavericks. The Mavs'  roster consists of one senior, three juniors, two sophomores and six freshmen.

The Coaches
Steve Smith is in his sixth season as the head coach of the UNO cross country program after more than two decades of success as an assistant in Kansas, Nebraska and UNO.  Smith was named the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association indoor Coach of the Year after guiding the Mavericks to a stunning win in the 2009 MIAA Indoor Championships.  Four Mavericks earned indoor All-American status under his direction. Smith repeated that feat the following year, earning Coach of the Year honors for another MIAA Indoor Championship.

In 2007, Smith guided the Mavericks to their first North Central Conference Indoor title since 1981 and he was named the 2007 NCC Indoor Track and Field Coach of the Year for his efforts. Under Smith's guidance, UNO athletes won 11 NCC titles in 2007 and had six athletes earn All-American accolades. Before UNO, Smith coached at Barton Community College in Kansas, Nebraska, and Wichita State.

Marc Bierbaum is in his second season as an assistant coach for the UNO cross country and track and field teams. Bierbaum came to UNO from Dana College where he led the distance program for three and a half years. During his short stint at Dana, he led 18 runners to all- conference performances and 30 runners to the NAIA National Championship meets. He coached one All-American and 26 Academic All-Americans.

Prior to coaching at the collegiate ranks, Bierbaum was the head cross country and assistant track coach at Westside High School in Omaha from 2002-2006.  In that time, he coached 50 state qualifiers in cross country and track with nine of them medaling in the state's biggest class.

Bierbaum was a three-time national qualifier at Dana, once for cross country and twice for track.  He ran the marathon in the 2000 and 2001 NAIA National Outdoor Track and Field meets. He finished 9th both years.  He graduated from Dana in 2001 with a degree in K-12 art education. He is a traveling art teacher for the Omaha Public Schools.

Mavericks Reclassify to Division I in 2011-12
Nebraska Omaha announced in March 2011 its plan to reclassify from NCAA Division II to Division I, beginning with the 2011-12 school year. UNO, which was previously a member of the MIAA, accepted an invitation to join the Summit League and will compete as a full-fledged member with a regular-season conference schedule in 2012-13. The Mavericks are not eligible for league or NCAA Championship competition until the 2015 season.

Next Up for the Mavs...
The Mavericks will next run on Saturday, Oct. 15 at the Tim Young Dakota Days Challenge in Vermillion, S.D. The start time is 10 a.m.