January 28, 2004

Track at Home This Weekend

First Official Meet on New Track Surface

            Kearney, NE – The Nebraska-Kearney track teams will host the annual Charlie Foster Classic this Saturday in Cushing Coliseum. On Sunday, the team hosts the first of two youth clinics, which will also be held in Cushing.

            These will be the first events on the new track surface. The process of putting the new surface down started in late December with the track team just getting into the facility last week.

            The long process forced the Lopers to cancel its first home meet of the season, the UNK Open, on January 17^th. The team is looking into adding a home meet later in the year to make up for the cancellation.

            Doane College and Fort Hays State will be sending full teams to the non-team scoring event with some other student-athletes coming from various colleges. Field events will start at 10:00 a.m. with running events beginning an hour later. The meet should end around 5:00 p.m.

            For UNK, the story after two meets is the men's shot put. Twelve athletes from across the nation have provisionally qualified for the NCAA Championships in the event with four being Lopers.

            Kansas senior Nate Wheat has the nation's top throw (56-10), which was achieved last Saturday in Lincoln. Wheat earned All-American honors in this event in 2002. 

            Also on the NCAA watch list is Kearney freshman Chase Beideck (5th/54-1), Eustis sophomore Lance Pfeiffer (10^th/53-3.50) and Grand Island junior Kurt Nielsen (11^th/52-6).

            The men's team has two others provisionally qualified in in Grand Island senior Scott Jorgensen in the weight throw (9^th/55-0.75) and Kearney sophomore Drew Tonniges in the 5,000 meter run (4^th/14:36.38).

            The Loper women are also strong in the throws as Butte junior Amber Tiefenthaler (5^th/shot put) and Central City sophomore Shauna Birchard (8^th/weight throw) have also provisionally qualified.

            The clinics will run from 1:00-4:00 p.m. with the second one being held in two weeks (Feb. 15^th). Cost is $40 for both sessions or $ 25.00 for one session. They are for girls and boys ages 13 and up.