UNO Track, Swimming Ready For National Meets
Mar 11, 2009 | General, Women's Swimming & Diving, Track & Field
OMAHA, Neb. - The UNO indoor track and field team and the UNO swimming and diving team ready for separate championships meets at the NCAA Division II National Winter Festival this week in Houston, Texas. The Mavericks head south boasting some of the fastest runners in the nation while the swim team sends a school record number of qualifiers to the national championship meet.
The track team, led by Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association indoor Coach of the Year Steve Smith, brings five qualifiers to the national meet. Senior #Pinar Saka#, the South Central Region indoor athlete of the year and a two-time MIAA indoor track athlete of the week, has posted the best time in the country in the 200 meters (24.23) and the 400 meters (53.34). Those marks are also school record times for the native of Istanbul, Turkey.
Sophomore #Anja Puc# has the top time in the nation in the 800 meters at 2:09.74 which is also a school record. Freshman #Maja Mihalinec# is ranked tenth in the 60 meter dash with a time of 7.63.
Junior #Shannon Moore# heads to Houston seeded seventh in the pentathlon. She'll join Saka, Puc and sophomore #Kayla Koepke# on the Mavericks' 4 x 400 meter relay which heads to the championship with the nation's fourth best time this year at 3:51.77. Sophomore #Jolene Smith#, who ran in the MIAA-title clinching event for the Mavs on March 1, will be the alternate.
Action on the track begins Friday, March 13.
In the pool, UNO will bring 14 qualifiers to the national meet, a school record. The Mavericks' strength is in the freestyle events. Senior #Lindsey Kline# is expected to do well after standout performances at the Northern Sun Championships hosted by UNO in mid-February. She's seeded eighth in the 500-yard freestyle and 14th in the 1,650 free.
#Cait Hopkins# is ranked 16th in the 100 freestyle. Both Kline and Hopkins are on the Mavs' 800 yard free relay team while Hopkins also swims on the 400 free relay team. Those two quartets are ranked 11th and 14th respectively.
Head coach #Todd Samland# guided the Mavericks to a fifth-place finish last year, the best in UNO history. The swimming and diving championships begin on Wednesday, March 11.
Fans interested in watching both track and swim meets live may click on the webcast links in the “Events” section of the omavs.com home page.
