Weekly Release

This Week
The UNO track & field team will travel to Seward, Neb. to take part in the Concordia Indoor Invitational on Saturday, Feb. 11 at 10 a.m. at the Walz Human Performance Complex.

The Coaches
Steve Smith is in his sixth season as the head coach of the University of Nebraska Omaha track program after more than two decades of success as an assistant at Barton Community College, Nebraska and at 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 in March. Smith's team also finished the 2010-11 season 20th by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association. Smith is assisted by Chris Richardson (jumps and pentathalon/heptathalon), Marc Bierbaum (distance) and Rich Emsick (throws).

Last Meet
Last weekend, the Mavericks earned a first and two seconds at the Varsity Apartments Invitational at Wichita State.

Kathie-Lee Laidley set the meet record on her way to winning the high jump.  Laidley had a leap of 5-8 to earn the record for the Heskett Center at WSU.  The jump also was a season best for the sophomore who owns the school record at 5-10.  Laidley also had a personal best in the 60 meter hurdles, running a time of 9.09, UNO's best time in the event this year.

Sami Spenner took second in the triple jump on a tie breaker.  She had a jump of 39-6, her second-best of the season, which put her in a tie with Kimsue Grant of Missouri State.  Grant won the tiebreaker because her second-best jump of the day was farther than Spenner's.  Also last weekend, Spenner hit a new personal best in the 60 meters with a time of 7.90.  She has run the top time in the event for the Mavericks this season.  

Amanda Vorthmann shaved nearly six seconds off her personal best time in the 3,000 meters with a clocking of 10:00.93, just 1.6 seconds behind winner Emily Koenig of Texas-Arlington.

Lydia Martin (2:28.03) and Ashley Kildow (2:31.53) both reset their PRs in the 800 meters.  Kristin Rogers reset her PR in the 3,000 meters for the third straight time with a time of 10:46.09 while Mikayla Peck (11:12.50) did the same, knocking nearly 21 seconds off her previous mark.

Jessica Ripp (10.01) and Ckalyn Roth-Clark (10.08) posted new personal bests in the 60 meter hurdles.

NCAA Championship
As UNO begins its transition to Division I, the Mavericks are unable to compete in the NCAA Championships this season.  Therefore, they are not included in the national indoor qualifier list.  However if UNO's marks were included, Spenner's personal best pentathlon score of 3,810 earned at the Jack Jennett Invitational at Northern Iowa on Jan. 27 would rank 21st in the nation.

All-Academic Team
Last season, the UNO track & field team earned an All-Academic Team  honor. Overall the athletes acquired a GPA of 3.19 and had 12 student-athletes on the Dean's List for the fall semester and 10 at the end of the spring semester. To earn all-academic honors, the team must accumulate a GPA of at least 3.00. Eight Mavericks also were named USTFCCCA All-Academic honorees for the 2010-11 academic year. The athletes who made the list were: Jody-Ann Coore, Kayla Koepke, Lianne McNaughton, Maja Mihalinec, Heather Minssen, Anja Puc, Celeste Robinson and Sami Spenner.     

Up Next For the Mavericks
Next weekend, the Mavericks will finish their indoor season at the Nebraska Tune-Up on Saturday, Feb. 17 in Lincoln.