Pack Roundup: Nevada's Smith named to All-Freshman First Team

Women's Basketball News Service named University of Nevada standout Kate Smith to its All-Freshman First Team on Thursday.

Smith, a 6-foot-2 center from McQueen High School in Reno, was one of 10 players from across the nation selected to the first-team. She is the first Nevada player ever named to the All-Freshman First Team.

Smith has averaged 19.4 points per game while helping the Wolf Pack compile a 17-9 overall record and earn a berth in the Big West Conference Tournament, which will be held March 8-11 at Lawlor Events Center in Reno.

"Kate has had an excellent freshman season and it's not over yet," Nevada coach Ada Gee said. "Her success has clearly been a huge factor in our team's success. We are proud of her accomplishments. She is truly deserving of this prestigious honor, which recognizes her as one of the top 10 freshman players in the nation."

This is just the latest honor for Smith, who was named to the Nevada Classic and Arizona State Tournament all-tournament teams earlier this season and has earned Big West Player of the Week honors three times.

Smith has scored in double figures in each of Nevada's 26 games to date and has been the Wolf Pack's leading scorer in 20 of those games. She is shooting 49.6 percent from the field and 77 percent from the free-throw line.

Nevada plays again Saturday when it hosts North Texas in a 4:30 p.m. contest at Lawlor Events Center.

Women's golf

VALLEJO, Calif. - Carson City's Lynda Upton and Kristina Yeskie helped the University of Nevada women's golf team finish eighth at the 16-team Bay Area Classic on Tuesday.

Upton shot 8-over par 79 for her final round to finish at 139 for the 36-hole event at Blue Rock Springs Country Club, tying for 39th on the individual board. Yeskie, a freshman finished 89th with a 200.

Nevada finished with a 639 score to finish eighth. Pepperdine captured the team title at 587, 19 strokes better than San Diego State.

Freshman Meghan Ingalls led the Wolf Pack with her 153 score, good for 15th, while Angie Yoon finished tied for 33rd at 161. Yoon had won four straight tournaments leading up to the Bay Area Classic.

The Wolf Pack competes again at the Bruin/Pioneer Classic March 13-14 at Menifee Lakes, Calif.

Track and Field

Two University of Nevada athletes, including Carson City high jumper Alyssa Anderson, have received invitations to the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships on March 10-11 in Fayetteville, Ark.

Anderson joins pole vaulter Jennifer Ashcroft to give Nevada its first NCAA Indoor qualifiers. Beth Sandy qualified for the 1999 NCAA outdoor meet in the javelin.

Anderson, a senior who graduated from Carson High in 1995, earned her invitation this past Saturday thanks to a personal best and school record jump of 5-11 during the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Championships held at the Reno Livestock Events Center.

Anderson placed second in a talented field, losing on fewer misses to Washington State's Whitney Evans, a Canadian Olympic prospect who took fourth in the high jump at the 1999 NCAA outdoor meet. The third-place finisher was UCLA's Darnesha Griffith, the niece of Jackie Joyner-Kersee and Florence Griffith-Joyner. Fourth was taken by Tayyiba Haneef, who helped lead Long Beach State to the NCAA volleyball Final Four last fall.

Ashcroft, a Reed High graduate, qualified in the pole vault with her 12-8 mark on Feb. 12.