Big Red Adds Eight to 2004-05 Track and Field Recruiting Class

<?xml:namespace prefix="st1" ns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"?>Lincoln ? The Nebraska track and field squad has signed eight additional student-athletes to National Letters of Intent to bring the 2004-05 recruiting class to 16 members, Coach Gary Pepin announced Wednesday.<?xml:namespace prefix="o" ns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"?>

 

“We felt like we have had a good recruiting year to this point, but we are a long way from being finished,” Pepin said. “We have a number of in-state athletes who are going to help us and we look forward to having them join the team. It has been a strong recruiting year, but you never really know how good it is until they have been here a year.”   

 

The class includes Nebraska standouts Jack Lemke, an Omaha native and Benson High School prep athlete, Patrick Burke, a Bellevue West high jumper, and Amanda Benson, a Scribner native and Logan View High School high jumper.

 

Lemke leads the state of Nebraska in 2004 in the 800 meters with a time of 1:51.13, the winning time at the 2004 Metro Championships. He also clocked an impressive personal-best time of 4:20.37 in the 1,600 meters as a freshman in 2001.

 

Lemke has won four Nebraska gold medal championships over the past two years, including the title in the 800 meters, as well as leading the Benson 4x400-meter relay team to a victory as the anchor. He also anchored the 4x800-meter relay team that finished second in 2003 at the state meet and opened the relay in 2002 when it earned runner-up finish. Lemke’s best cross country finish was a second-place showing at the Nebraska state championships as a freshman. He also finished third in the 800 meters in the young men’s division at the Youth Athletic National Championships.

 

Burke has a career-best mark of 6-9 in the high jump and tied for sixth place in the Nebraska Class A state championships by clearing 6-2 in 2003. He currently leads the state with a leap of 6-9 earlier this season.

 

Benson is the defending champion in the Nebraska Class B high jump. The Logan View standout won the state title clearing a height of 5-6, but has since set a personal-best mark of 5-8. Benson currently leads the state in the girl’s high jump with a leap of 5-8.

 

The Huskers also signed two middle-distance standouts from South Africa who will arrive in January 2005. Chanelle Olivier, a Springs, South Africa, native joins the team as the South Africa Schools Under-17 (2002) and Under-19 (2003) champion in the 1,500 meters. Olivier currently ranks second in the South Africa junior ranks (ages 19 and under) in both the 1,500 and the 800 meters, and is sixth in the 1,500 and seventh in the 800 among all ages. She has clocked a career-best time of 2:06.80 in the 800 meters and 4:22.37 in the 1,500 meters.

 

Peter van der Westhuizen will transfer to join the Huskers from the University of Pretoria in January as well. The Kempton Park, South Africa, native finished second in the 2003 South Africa Junior Championships in the 1,500 meters and was eighth in the 2004 Senior Championships. He has posted a career-best time of 3:44.00 in the 1,500, which ranks sixth in South Africa, and a time of 1:50.35 in the 800 meters.

 

Dace Ruskule comes to Nebraska as an established discus thrower from Vecumnieku Pagasts, Latvia. Ruskule threw a career best mark of 181-8 last weekend, which would have won the 2004 Big 12 Championships by nearly 12 feet, and would currently rank seventh in the NCAA. Ruskule took sixth place in the 2003 European Junior Championships with a throw of 171-7. She also competed in the 2000 World Junior Championships and the 2001 European Junior Championships, but did not advance to the finals at either event.

 

Diane Dietrich will join the Husker sprinters in 2005 from Kingston, Jamaica. She has clocked personal-best times of 11.76 in the 100 meters and 23.65 in the 200. Both times would have placed in scoring position at the 2004 Big 12 Outdoor Championships. Dietrich will compete to qualify for the Jamaican World Junior Championship team that will travel to Italy for the World Junior meet later this summer.

 

Rounding out the 2004-05 class is Lacy Baxter, a Lawrence, Kan., native who pole vaults for Free State High School.

 

The Huskers will travel to College Station, Texas, May 28-29, to compete in the NCAA Midwest Regional. The NU women claimed the 2003 Regional title and 23 Huskers qualified for the 2003 NCAA Outdoor Championships at the regional meet. The 2004 NCAA Outdoor Championships are slated for June 9-12, in Austin, Texas.