<?xml:namespace prefix="st1" ns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"?>Lincoln- Eight athletes have signed National Letters of Intent to compete for the Nebraska Track and Field Team for the 2004-05 season, NU Coach Gary Pepin announced Friday afternoon. The list includes four Nebraska natives, including Pius X standout Elizabeth Lange, as well as Dusty Jonas, a top prep high jumper out of Texas.
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“We are really pleased with the people we’ve brought in,” Coach Gary Pepin said. “We also have some other people who could come at the semester that we are looking forward to.”
Lange highlights the recruiting class for the women’s team, coming to Nebraska with seven state championships on the track and two cross country titles in her prep career. The Lincoln native is the Nebraska state record holder in the 1,600 meters with a time of 4:49.3 and holds the second-best time in state history in the 800 meters with a time of 2:09.4. Both times ranked in the top 10 high school times nationally last year.
Lange’s state titles include seven Class A gold medals, including wins in the 400, 800 and the 1,600, and four all-class gold medals.
“I think it’s always important when you have a great athlete in your state that can contribute to your team to get those people,” Pepin said. “I think Liz Lange is a tremendous athlete and is really going to help us. She is a terrific student so we are really pleased to get her.”
Jonas also headlines the class for the Huskers, with a phenomenal leap of 7-3 in the high jump to win the 2003 National Junior Olympics. He claimed the silver medal in the 2003 Texas State Championships, clearing 6-11 for the second-place finish for La Vernia High School in La Vernia, Texas. Jonas committed to Nebraska over in-state schools Texas and Texas A&M, and 2003 NCAA Indoor and Outdoor National Champion Arkansas.
Also signing national letters-of-intent for Nebraska from the CornhuskerState were Greg Peterson (Oakland), Laura Wortman (Crofton), and Joslyn Dalton (Fremont).
Peterson joins the Huskers coming off a 2003 Nebraska Junior Olympics championship in the 800 meters in a time of 1:56.25. He ran an impressive personal-best time of 1:52.71 in the 800 meters at the 2003 Region Eight Junior Olympics Championship meet for the gold at the regional level. The Oakland-Craig prep athlete also won Nebraska State Class C championships in the 800 (1:56.96) and 1,600 meters as a junior.
Wortman will join the Husker throwing crew, coming to Nebraska as the 2003 Class C Nebraska runner-up in the shot put and discus. Wortman has a career-best mark of 43-11 in the shot and has thrown the discus 141-0 in her prep career.
Dalton will be an outstanding addition to the NU distance squad, after winning the 2003 Nebraska High School State Championship in cross country. The Fremont, Neb., native took top five finishes in the 1,600 and 3,200 meters at the 2003 Nebraska Class A Track and Field Championships. She has clocked a personal-best time of 5:08.5 in the 1,600 and a time of 11:12.44 in the 3,200 meters.
The Huskers also signed a key recruit in Frances Keating out of TimiskaminaHigh School in Haileybery, Ontario. Keating is a top Canadian athlete in the 100 and 400-meter hurdles. The prep standout won the 2003 Canadian Junior Championship in the 100 and 400 hurdles, as well as winning the Ontario Provincial Championship in both events.
Keating has posted times of 13.94 in the 100 hurdles and 1:01.52 in the 400 hurdles to make her a valuable addition to the NU hurdlers. She also took a fifth-place finish in the Pan American Junior Championship in 2003.
Diane Dietrich joins the Husker women’s recruiting class as a sprinter from Kingston, Jamaica. Dietrich hails from the same high school, Immaculate Conception, as current long and triple jumper Authea Chambers. She has notched a time of 11.60 in the 100 meters and a time of 23.65 in the 200 meters.
Joining Jonas out of the state of Texas, Nic Watson will be an outstanding contribution to the Nebraska pole vaulting corps. Watson was the 2003 Texas Relays Champion in Section B of the high school pole vault and has cleared a personal-best 15-6.
The Nebraska Track and Field team will open the 2004 season on Jan. 17 at the Northern Iowa Invitational and will play host to its first home meet on Jan. 23-24 for the Holiday Inn Invitational.