Weekly Release

This Week
The UNO track & field team will compete in two meets this week.  The Mavericks head to Wayne State for the Wildcat Classic on Saturday, March 31 at 10 a.m.  UNO's multi-eventers will head south to Maryville, Mo. to take part in the Northwest Heptathlon/Decathlon at Northwest Missouri State on Saturday-Sunday, March 31 and April 1 at 1 p.m. both days.

The Coaches
Steve Smith is in his sixth season as the head coach of the University of Nebraska Omaha track program.  He served as an assistant for one year prior to taking the head coach's position.  Smith was named the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association Indoor Coach of the Year in 2009 after guiding the Mavericks to a stunning win in the MIAA Indoor Championships.  He earned the award the next winter, guiding the Mavs to a repeat as MIAA Indoor Champs.   Overall, Smith has guided the Mavericks to three conference championships and three top-five finishes at the NCAA Division II Championship including a fourth-place finish indoors in 2010. Smith is assisted by Chris Richardson (jumps and pentathalon/heptathalon), who was named  the USTFCCCA South Central Regional Assistant Coach of the Year in 2011.  Marc Bierbaum coaches the distance events, and Rich Emsick handles the throws.

Last Meet
The Mavericks set a new school record and a number of personal bests at the Bobby Lane Invitational at Texas-Arlington on March 24.

Amanda Vorthmann took second in the 3,000 meter steeplechase with a time of 10:51.20, a new school record.  The old mark was 11:13.03 set by Molly Miller in 2004.  It was the first time Vorthmann had competed in the event.  Teammate Nicole Behm was seventh at 12:13.10.

Kathie-Lee Laidley won the long jump in a distance of 19-10 1/4.  Teammate Denneil Shaw also hit a new PR with a distance of 18-04 which was good for 10th place.

Laidley earned a sixth-place finish in the 100 meter hurdles with a time of 14.58.  She was competing in the event for the first time.

Shaw also took seventh in the triple jump with a leap of 37-08 1/2, another personal best.

Vorthmann also clocked a time of 2:19.26 in the 800 meters, another first-time event for the junior.  She finished 17th in the field of 38 runners.

Kristin Rogers, running the 5,000 meters outdoors for the first time, finished in eighth place with a time of 18:35.08.  Teammate Kayla Fenske set a new personal best in the event, posting a time of 20:07.55 to finish 29th.

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 qualifier list during the indoor or outdoor season.  However if UNO's indoor marks were included, Sami Spenner's personal best pentathlon score of 3,810 earned at the Jack Jennett Invitational at Northern Iowa on Jan. 27 ranked 40th in the nation.  Outdoors, Vorthmann ranks 13th with her school record time of 10:51.20 in the 3,000 meter steeplechase.  Laidley also ranks 13th for her 19-10 1/4 season high in the long jump.

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
The Mavericks return to Maryville, Mo. next weekend to take part in the Student Body Northwest Open on Saturday, April 7.