Gorton Tracks Down Another Title

LINCOLN, Neb. - Sara Gorton won her second title in two days as the Buffaloes closed out the Big 12 Indoor Track Championships here Saturday.

Gorton, a junior, won the women's 3,000-meter run in a time of 9:23.11. Gorton led a trio of Buffs who swept the top three spots in the race with senior Molly Austin taking second (9:30.87) and junior Natalie Florence coming in third (9:31.00). The Buffs had five of the top 10 finishers as senior Brianna Torres (9:43.77) came in seventh and freshman Jackie Ziegle (9:50.80) finished eighth.

Freshman Christine Bolf finished 14th (10:00.68) and junior Kendall Grgas-Wheeler had a time of 10:23.44 to close out the Buffaloes in the race at No. 25.

For the men's team, senior Ed Torres was the high finisher as he came in at No. 2 in the men's 3,000-meter run with a time of 8:11.38. Torres led a pack of Buffaloes in the race as eight Buffs competed. Freshman Billy Nelson (No. 8, 8:20.90), freshman Casey Burchill (No. 12, 8:24. 01.), junior Jon Severy (No. 17, 8:29.12), freshman Brett Schoolmeester (No. 26, 8:36.89), freshman Payton Batliner (No. 32, 8:43.18), junior Andy Knutsen (No. 40, 8:49. 70) and sophomore Matt McCue (No. 42, 8:51.46) all finished the race.

The men's 4x400 relay team of Brandon Johnson, Sam Napp, Reggie Whisenton and Chris Abaun finished eighth in their race with a time of 3:18.75.

In the field events, the women placed four athletes while the men placed one. For the women, sophomore Liza Negriff finished 12th in the triple jump with a leap of 11.71 meters while teammate freshman Maxine Marlow came in 17th (10.81). Sophomore Andrew Miller finished at No. 14 in the men's event with a Jump of 2.08 meters.

Freshman Tiffany Colvin and sophomore Anna Magle placed 18 and 19 in the high jump respectively, each jumping 1.62 meters.

In the team standings, the Buffs fell in the final day's competition. After leading at the conclusion of Friday's events, the men's team dropped to eighth in the final standings. The women fell from a second-place tie to sixth. Texas took home the women's title with host Nebraska capturing the men's.

The Buffs next test comes on March 7 when they travel to Ames, Iowa, for the Cyclone Invitational.

2002 Big 12 Indoor Track Championships
Final Team Standings

Women
1. Texas, 167
2. Nebraska, 142
3. Kansas State, 87
4. Kansas 57.5
5. Baylor, 56
6. Colorado, 52
7. Missouri, 50
8. Iowa State, 45
9. Oklahoma, 38
10. Texas A&M, 28.5
11. Texas Tech, 15
12. Oklahoma State, 2

Men
1. Nebraska, 132
2. Texas 131.50
3. Kansas State, 86
4. Missouri, 81
5. Texas A&M, 57.83
6. Baylor, 57
7. Texas Tech, 50.33
8. Colorado, 38
9. Kansas, 36.33
10. Oklahoma State, 36
11. Oklahoma, 22
12. Iowa State, 12