It's not Ron Santo or Pat Hughes, but he's still a Chicago Cubs broadcaster who will be in town.

Former Oakland Athletic, Cleveland Indian, Pittsburgh Pirate and Chicago Cub Dave Otto will be the keynote speaker at this year's NIU Baseball Leadoff Banquet.

The annual event will be Saturday, Feb. 9, from 4-8 p.m. at the Stratford Inn in Sycamore.

Tickets cost $60, which includes dinner, and can be purchased by calling the Huskie Baseball Office at (815) 753-0147 by Tuesday, Feb. 5.

Otto, who played eight seasons as a pitcher in the big leagues, has close ties to NIU. His father Al Otto played baseball for the Huskies from 1961-1964.

During the event, NIU head coach Ed Mathey will also present the 2007 Most Valuable Player, Top Newcomer, Pitcher of the Year, Most Improved, and Top Dawg awards.

Tough track
Tough is how NIU women's track and field head coach Connie Teaberry described the weekend.

The Huskies finished seventh of eight at the Carle/Health Alliance Classic at the University of Illinois Armory on Saturday.

Elizabeth Berquist and Jessica Statler finished first and second in the high jump with leaps of 5-6 1/2 and 5-5, respectively. Berquist's jump marks the senior's first event win of the season.

"Both Liz and Jessica competed well today, and the in-team rivalry helped them push it a little higher," Teaberry said.

In addition to Berquist and Statler, Carolyn Vasquez (800-meter dash), Meagan Guenther (weight throw) and Shoshanna Brown (triple jump), were able to score top-5 finishes.

However, the Huskies were only able to place ahead of DePaul. NIU finished behind Illinois, Southern Illinois, Tennessee State, Illinois State, Eastern Illinois and Lincoln (Mo.) respectively.

The Huskies next meet is Saturday, Feb. 2, at Carthage.

Big Ten-niss
It's not revenge for a Green Bay Packers loss, but it sure seems that Wisconsin took out some anger against NIU this weekend.

The NIU men's tennis team lost a pair of meets to Big Ten schools last weekend, falling to Iowa 6-1 Saturday in Iowa City and 5-2 to Wisconsin Sunday in Madison.
Junior Brian Livingston earned two wins in the loss to the Badgers.

Livingston and senior Adam Ford were also able to upset the No. 26 duo in the nation, Luke Rassow-Kantor and Jeremy Sonkin 9-8 in No. 1 doubles.

The NIU women's tennis team didn't fair much better, as it lost 7-0 to Wisconsin on Saturday.

The women's team will be back in action on Saturday when it takes on the University of Chicago, while the men will take the court again on Saturday, Feb. 9, against Bradley in Peoria.

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