Big Day for Loper Throws
Kearney, Neb. – The Nebraska Kearney track and field team won 24 events and had several more national list efforts Friday night at the annual Charlie Foster Classic in Cushing Coliseum.
The non-team scoring meet also featured Hastings College, Garden City (Kan.) C.C. and Dodge City (Kan.) C.C. UNK's final indoor home meet comes on Feb. 17 with the Loper Tune Up. The banner event for the Lopers was the weight throw where the men went 1-3 and the women finished first and third. Recording career-best throws was Giltner redshirt junior Alex Goracke (1st/64-1), McCook redshirt sophomore Mackenzie Smith (1st/58-2) and Kansas redshirt junior Evan Prohaska (2nd/62-9.50). Kearney redshirt freshman Lily Novacek (55-11.25) and Bridgeport redshirt senior Connor Wiggins (60-8.75) each came in third, respectively. Goracke (8th), Prohaska (12th) and Wiggins (22nd) are all in the Division II Top 25 at the moment with Goracke moving up two spots to second in UNK history. Brett Wetton had a toss of 66-1 back in February 2001. Finally, Prohaska moves up three spots to fifth with Smith fourth in Loper lore and 20th nationally. On the track, Fremont sophomore Mara Hemmer came in second (2:15.36) in the 800 with Kearney redshirt sophomore Nicole Messbarger third (2:16.85). Messbarger's time puts her ninth on the Top 10 list but her converted time of 2:14.64 ranks her 17th nationally with Hemmer (2:13.17) sixth. UNK's other national marks came in the men's high jump, shot put and vault. Three-time All-American Brayden Sorensen cleared 6-11.50 to win and now ranks sixth in D2 with Kearney sophomore Richard Harbols going 6-7.75 to tie for second and rank 30th nationally. Prior to his big effort in the weight throw, Goracke won the shot with a season-best 54-7.25. That ranks him 24th in D2. In the vault, Creighton sophomore Alex Homan is now 23rd thanks to a winning height of 15-7.25. Kearney fifth-year senior Haley Schall joined Goracke as a double winner as she took the 60-meter dash (career-best 7.74) and the long jump (17-4.75). Her time in the 60 moves her up to second in school history; Randi Furman-Kuhn managed a 7.64 in February 2006. Finally, on the women's side, Gothenburg junior Hannah Anderson won the 1,000 with the sixth-best effort (3:02.70) in UNK history, David City redshirt sophomore Gabrielle Oborny cleared 12-0.75 for the second straight week and two-time All-American Abby Everitt was one of three Lopers to go 5-1.75 in the high jump, despite using her off leg. The men saw Alliance sophomore Brock Brass (7.01) literally edged Ravenna sophomore Jack Drahota (7.02) for first in the 60 with Drahota taking the 60 hurdles (7.30) and Firth freshman Tanner Cooper winning the 800 (1:57.3) again. Finally, Kearney sophomore Colby Spangler took gold in both the long (21-9) and triple (46-1.25) jumps. UNK heads to Concordia (Friday) and Nebraska (Friday-Saturday) next weekend.
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