Weekly Release
Meet Central

This Week
The UNO track & field team will travel to Kansas for the KT Woodman Classic hosted by Wichita State on Friday  and Saturday, April 13-14.  Live stats and streaming video will be available at OMavs.com.

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 UNO track and field team got first-place finishes from three different athletes at the Jock's Nitch Northwest Open at Northwest Missouri State on Saturday, April 7.

Sophomore Kathie-Lee Laidley earned two wins for the Mavericks.  She won the 100 meter hurdles in a time of 14.92, just ahead of teammate Jody-Ann Coore who was second at 15.05. She also took first in the long jump with a wind-aided leap of 19-10 3/4.

Junior Amanda Vorthmann won the 3,000 meter steeplechase with a time of 10:51.34, less than a second off her school record in the event.  She also took second in the 800 meters with a time of 2:22.54.

Freshman Terri Armstrong took first in the 200 meters with a time of 25.46, just six one-hundreths of a second off her personal best.  She also took third in the 100 meters with a wind-aided time of 12.50.

Fellow freshman Ashley Kildow set a personal best in the 1,500 meters with a clocking of 5:00.61, knocking more than 13 seconds off her previous PR.  She finished sixth overall.

Another freshman, Mikayla Peck, earned a personal best in the 5,000 meters with a time of 19:00.09 which put her in fifth place, just behind teammate Kristin Rogers who was fourth at 18:50.09.

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 85th with her school record time of 10:51.20 in the 3,000 meter steeplechase set on March 24.  Laidley also ranks 41st for her 19-11 season high in the long jump on March 31.

Up Next For the Mavericks
UNO will be in Crete, Neb. next week for the Doane College Relays on Friday and Saturday, April 20 and 21.