The Nevada Sagebrush

TRACK AND FIELD
Wolf Pack takes first in four events

The women’s track and field distance team excelled at the United Heritage Invitational in Boise, Idaho. on Friday and Saturday.
On the first day of competition, junior Janet Martinez won the 3,000-meter race with a time of 10:19.33, almost eight seconds faster than second place.
In day two of competition, freshman Tara Dines won the 5,000-meter run with a time of 19:27.40, 14 seconds ahead of second place.
Sprinter/hurdler Gina Deckard continued to perform strongly and won the 60-meter dash with a time of 8.67.
The four by 400 meter relay team of Deckard, Christy Works, Jackae Bridges and Christina Hibbert took first as well with a time of 3:56.12 to round out Nevada’s first-place finishers.
Senior Mandy Russ took second overall in the 1,600-meter run with a time of 5:12.27, but was the first collegiate finisher overall.
Nevada’s next meet is Friday when the team takes on Boise State at Boise.
The following day, the Wolf Pack will compete at the Husky Classic in Seattle, Wash.

WOMEN’S TENNIS
Wolf Pack falls to Sacramento State

Nevada fell to Sacramento State 5-2 on Saturday, the team’s third consecutive loss of the season.
Sacramento State, which was ranked 59th in the nation going into the match, took the doubles point after winning two of the three doubles matches to go up 1-0.
In singles play, Maria Mizyuk defeated Maria Meliuk 6-4, 6-2 and Aline Laurioux beat Aileen Tsan 6-1, 6-1 to pick up Nevada’s two points.
Junior Florence De Vrye fell to Katrina Zheltova 6-3, 6-2. Zheltova is ranked No. 26 in the nation.
The match was the Wolf Pack’s third straight loss since opening the spring season with a victory over Hawaii.
Nevada travels to Albuquerque, N.M. to take on New Mexico on Saturday.

BASKETBALL
Babbitt named to All-District team

Nevada forward Luke Babbitt was named to the College Sports Information Directors of America/ESPN the Magazine Academic-All District 8 university men’s basketball first team Friday.
Babbitt has a 3.51 grade-point average and is a pre-business major.
Babbitt leads the Wolf Pack in both scoring and rebounding, averaging 21.4 points and 9.9 rebounds per game.
Babbitt also ranks fourth in the nation in double-doubles with 14.
Babbitt is now on the national ballot for the Academic All-America team, which will be announced later this season.
If chosen, Babbitt will become the first Nevada men’s basketball student-athlete to earn Academic All-America honors.
Three other players from the WAC were named to the All-District team. Boise State’s Kurt Cunningham, Fresno State’s Nedeljko Golubovic and Utah State’s Tyler Newbold each earned a spot.

SOCCER
Nevada signs four recruits for 2010

The University of Nevada soccer team signed four student-athletes for the 2010-11 season.
Nevada signed Danielle Green from San Clemente, Calif., Chivon Crump from Sunnyvale, Calif., Kori Disarufino from San Louis Obispo, Calif., and Aleina Dominguez from Hacienda Heights, Calif.
First-year head coach Missy Price said she was excited to welcome the new student athletes.
“We are thrilled to have Danielle, Aleina, Kori and Chivon join the  Wolf Pack soccer family,” Price said in a press release. “They are all tremendous student athletes who will positively contribute to the growth and development of our soccer program.”
Last season, the soccer team reached the championship game of the WAC Tournament.

SWIMMING & DIVING
WAC to stream Championships

The WAC, along with its partner JumpTV Sports, has announced it will stream the finals of the 2010 WAC Swimming & Diving Championships Feb. 24-27.
The championship will be held at the Josh Davis Natatorium in San Antonio.
To sign up, viewers can go to www.WAC.tv.
Viewers can purchase a one-night pass for $5.95 or the full championship package for $9.95.
The finals begin 3:30 p.m. each day.
Nevada will be looking for its fourth straight WAC Championship.

MEN’S GOLF

Men finish in eighth place at tourney

In the team’s first tournament of the spring season, the University of Nevada golf team finished in eighth place at the Arizona Invite.
California won the 14-team tournament after scoring a 29-under par 823, good for a one-stroke victory over Arizona, which recorded a 28-under-par 824.
The Wolf Pack shot a team-score of three-over-par 855. Senior Ryan Hallisey, the team’s top performer, finished tied for 20th after shooting a two-under-par 211 for the tournament.
Nevada’s Scott Smith and Travis Esway tied for 33rd after shooting a two-over 215.
Jared Becher finished tied for 43rd and Taylor Coffman finished in a tie for 48th to round out the finishers for the Wolf Pack.
Nevada’s next match is Feb. 17-19 when the Wolf Pack travels to Honolulu to play at the John Burns Invitational.

BASEBALL
Wolf Pack picked to finish in sixth place

The Nevada baseball team, which finished sixth last season, was picked to finish sixth this year as well in the Preseason Poll. Fresno State, which finished in fourth last season, was selected to win the conferences.
The preseason all-WAC team had four Nevada players: outfielder Westley Moss, first baseman Shaun Kort, designated hitter Nick Melino and relief pitcher Tyler Graham.
Last season, Melino hit .352 and recorded 58 hits.
Moss hit .304 and had 18 runs batted in. Kort recorded 62 RBIs and had four home runs.
Graham had a 4.75 earned run average and a 2-2 record.
Nevada begins its season Feb. 19 when the Wolf Pack travels to take on Santa Clara for a three-game series.
The Wolf Pack’s first home games are Mar. 5-7 when Nevada hosts Central Arkansas.

SKI TEAM
Wolf Pack records sixth-place finish

The ski team finished in sixth place at the 2010 Jade Enterprises/New Mexico Invitational.
Nevada finished the event with 658 points.
New Mexico won the  invitational with 961 points while Colorado finished in second with 801 points.
Maria Grafenings was the top finisher for the women after winning the 10-kilometer freestyle with a time of 29:16.8.
Kristin Ronnestrand took 10th with a time of 31:56.7 and Ase Carleson finished in 20th with a time of 34:31.7.
The men’s top finisher in the 15K Freestyle was Charlie Smith, who came in 13th with a time of 26:59.9.
Elias Bucher took 14th with a time of 27:07.9 and August Brautigam took 20th with a time of 27:37.2.
In the slalom, Kristina Palovicova led the Wolf Pack after finishing in 17th. Martin Harries led the men after finishing in fifth.
The meet marked the third straight time that Nevada failed to crack the top-five in team scoring.
The Wolf Pack’s next meet is the ASC Sprints Feb. 14 in Auburn, Calif.

BASKETBALL
UNLV defeats No. 12 BYU Cougars by 14

Led by a career-high 33 points from guard Tre’Von Willis, the UNLV Rebels defeated BYU 88-74 Saturday.
The victory put the Rebels in a first-place tie with BYU. Both teams are 7-2 in Mountain West Conference play.
The loss was the Cougars’ seventh straight loss at UNLV including conference tournament games in 2007 and 2008.
Both BYU and UNLV beat Nevada earlier this season.
UNLV defeated Nevada 88-75 in the Wolf Pack’s second game of the season.
BYU beat Nevada 110-104 as part of the Las Vegas Classic. The Wolf Pack held second half leads in both games.

BASKETBALL
Georgia picks up win over top-25 foe

Georgia head coach Mark Fox picked up his second conference victory with the Bulldogs after defeating then 18th ranked Vanderbilt 72-58 Saturday.
The win was Georgia’s first victory since Jan. 23 when the Bulldogs defeated Tennessee 78-63.
The win improved Georgia’s record to 10-11 overall and 2-6 in Southeastern Conference play. The Bulldogs are in last place in the East division.
Fox coached the Wolf Pack from 2004-09 when he amassed a career record of 123-43.
He helped lead Nevada to three straight appearances at the NCAA Tournament and won at least 21 games in each of his seasons with the Wolf Pack. Fox left the program for Georgia this past offseason.

ATHLETICS
Tickets available for Blue Tie Ball

Tickets are still available for the annual Blue Tie Ball, which is set to begin 6 p.m. Friday.
The event benefits Nevada’s student-athletes and proceeds from the event will go to help fund scholarships for Wolf Pack student-athletes.
Tickets are $175 each and groups of eight for $1,400.
The formal attire event will feature cocktails, dining, wine and beer tastings, live entertainment and a live auction.
Nevada student-athletes will serve as the hosts and those in attendance will get an opportunity to meet and get photos taken with the athletes.
More details can be found at www.nevadawolfpack.com/blue tie ball.

BASKETBALL
LA Tech. defeats SJSU 71-64 on Sat.

In a battle of two of the WAC’s top teams, the Louisiana Tech men’s basketball team beat San Jose State University 71-64 on Saturday.
With the victory, the Bulldogs improved to 7-2 in conference play and is in a virtual tie for first place with Utah State (8-2 in WAC play).
The loss dropped the Spartans to 7-2 in the conference as well, creating a three-way race for first place with just more than a month remaining in the regular season.
Louisiana Tech defeated Nevada 77-71 Jan. 2.
The Wolf Pack hosts the Bulldogs on March 6 in the team’s final game before the start of the WAC Tournament.

Lukas Eggen can be reached at leggen@nevadasagebrush.com.

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