Starting in early 1994, I worked for my first-ever newspaper, The Northern Student, the student newspaper at Bemidji State University, where I attended and received my bachelor's degree in mass communication. Over three years, I would be a staff writer, news editor, managing editor and editor. I wrote everything from news stories to feature stories to sports stories to opinion pieces. It was the greatest training ground a journalist could ever have, and I am grateful to the many talented people I worked alongside in my years at The NS.
Feb. 14, 1996
By Devlyn Brooks
With two weeks left before the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference indoor track championship the BSU track teams are hitting their stride at an opportune time, said head track coach Craig Hougen.
Both teams have conceivable hopes of claiming the NSIC title for the first time in a while, Hougen said. And both teams have been competing well in the final stretch of the season.
In their last two meets -- the Bison Open Feb. 10 and the St. Cloud Husky Open Feb. 7 and 8 -- the track teams have made great improvements physically and psychologically, Hougen said. Both meets were large meets in which BSU was competing against tough competition, and if BSU can hold its own against teams such as North Dakota State, University of North Dakota, South Dakota State and St. Cloud, Hougen said he thinks his teams will fare well against conference rivals.
"Those were pretty big meets, against pretty big teams," Hougen said. "I think, as a whole, we made one more step forward."
At the Bison open, the men's team placed two individuals in the top six, one of those being junior Cley Twigg's first place finish in the 3,000 meter run. The other was a fifth place finish by Todd Williams in the pole vault.
"Twigg was All-Conference last year in the steeplechase," Hougen said. "He's been running really well and should perform well at the conference meet."
For Twigg's efforts at the Bison Open, he was also named the NSIC make track athlete of the week after the meet.
"It was a shock (to be named athlete of the week). When coach told me I thought, 'Wow,'" Twigg said. "Its been a decent season. I've had some not fast times, but my training has been stepping for the first time in my life. The training is there, and that one race everything came together."
The women's team fared even better at the Bison Open. The women had four individuals or relay teams that placed in the top six. Sophomore Jennifer Hollatz and senior Lori Leibhan stole the limelight with their third- and fourth-place finishes, respectively.
Hollatz captured third in the long jump with an 18' 2" jump.
"That was two inches short of qualifying for nationals," Hougen said. "And she still has one month to improve two inches. However, when you get that far, two inches is a lot."
Hollatz also captured the NSIC athlete of the week honors for her placing.
She said that if she keeps jumping as well as she has, she will have a good chance of taking home the conference title. "There are some good jumpers from the University of Minnesota-Duluth," she said. "However, I usually get lucky around conference time."
At the Husky Open, the men's team improved over their previous outing. At the end of the meet, the men had placed five individuals or relay teams in the top six. Junior Ralph Beers led the team with a first-place finish in the 55 meter high hurdles, and the 4x800 meter relay team placed second.
"I did better than I thought I was going to do," Beers said. "Indoor track is really the weakest part of my running. I ran pretty well, but I still don't feel like I ran my best race."
Sophomore Charlie Nichols also placed sixth in the shot put, but Hougen said he through the farthest for BSU in a "long, long, long time."
The women's team also improved their showing from the week before at the Husky Open. Five individuals also grabbed top six finishes. Hollatz was back in the spotlight with a sixth-place finish in the long jump and a fifth-place finish in the 200 meter dash. Leibhan also had a stellar meet. She placed second in the shot put, two places better than the previous week.
Hougen said that one interesting twist to the St. Cloud meet was that freshman Pam Gibbs placed third in the pole vault. This is the first time BSU has had a woman competitor in the pole vault competition because previously pole vaulting was not sanctioned as a women's event. Hougen said the event was only an exhibition, but more and more meets are adding the event to comply with gender equity mandates.
Both teams are readying themselves for the upcoming BSU open which will be held Feb. 17 at the BSU indoor track facility. And Feb. 23 and 24, BSU will host the NSIC Championship, which Hougen said both teams are looking forward to.
"At this time of the year, you break things down that will help with a couple two, three inches, or a couple less tenths of a second," Hougen said. "They need to prepare and to have some goals and work toward them."
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