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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (March 26, 2001)
NCAA status in limbo for gymnasts after third place finish ■ Nebraska's men's gymnastics team will find out today if its third-place finish at tire MSPF championships is good enough to put it into the NCAA championships. BY KRISTEN WATERS A haze of uncertainty hovers over the Nebraska men’s gymnastics team concerning its odds of reaching the NCAA championships after scoring a 205.325 for a third-place finish at the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Championships during the weekend. The Huskers finished behind defending MSPF champions No.l ' Oklahoma, which racked up a score of 217.725, and No. 6 California, which pulled in a 213.925 to finish in front of the Comhuskers. No. 11 Stanford finished in fourth place with a score of203.555, followed by Air Force and UC-Santa Barbara. In a do-or-die battle to keep the season alive, the Huskers did what they needed to do in beating the Cardinals, but because of NU’s low score, the win may not be enough for Nebraska to be a shoe-in for nationals. “It would have been nice to score a 210 or something, but we did n't,” senior Jason Hardabura said. “I don’t know what I should feel because I didn't care how we did as long as we made it to nationals.” Despite the low score, the No. 14 Huskers put on a strong per formance. Leading the way for the Huskers were seniors Grant Clinton and Hardabura, who both finished third in two events in Saturday's finals competition. Clinton posted an 8.95 on rings and an 8.70 on the parallel bar while Hardabura scored an 8.85 on the pommel horse and an 8.70 on the high bar. Hardabura ended Friday's competition with a third place finish in the all-around with a score of51.275. Junior Martin Fournier finished fourth on parallel bars with a Women take Texas Tech; Men struqqle once aqain ■The women's tennis team picks up clutch singles victory while the men dropped their sixth one point loss. FROM STAFF REPORTS The 49tlr-ranked Nebraska women’s tennis team evened up its Big 12 record with an impressive win at Texas Tech. Led by their singles play, the Cornhuskers (14-2,2-2) picked up their sixth consecutive win with a 6-1 decision over the Red Raiders on Sunday. Despite starting down a point by losing two of three doubles matches, NU recov ered by sweeping the singles competition. At No. 1 singles, freshman Leslie Harvey controlled No. 80 Irina Tereschenko, win ning 6-1,6-2. Ndali Ijomah's 6-2,4-6, 6-0 win at the No. 3 spot marked the only three-set match in a dominating singles performance by the Huskers. ^ Up next for the Huskers is a match at 48th-ranked Kansas State on April 1. The NU men, however, didn’t fare as well as their counterparts, as they once again dropped a close dual match. The 4-3 loss at San Diego State (6-8) on Sunday marked the sixth one-point loss of the season for the Huskers (6-10). On a positive note, the loss marked the first time the Huskers won the doubles point in a one-point loss. The duo of Lance Mills and Jorge Abos Sanchez led the Huskers, defeating the No. 2 team ofTravis Hasson and Matt Bere, 8-2. Despite taking the doubles point, the Huskers were not able keep the lead as they went on to drop four of six singles matches. The loss to the Aztecs marked the third loss of the weekend for the Huskers and * 10th in their last 11 matches. The Huskers fell to 64th-ranked San Diego (8-6) on Saturday, 5-2. In die loss, NU was led by Mills at No. 1 singles, who defeated Mattias Tangerfjord, 6-2,7-5. The win snapped a six-match los ing streak for Mills, who picked up his 10th win of the season. In the first match of the weekend road stand, NU dropped to 0-3 in the Big 12 with a 5-2 loss at No. 15 Texas (11-2, 2-0) on Friday. Men's coach Kerry McDermott was upset with the one-point loss to San Diego State, marking NU’s fifth straight loss. “We finally got the doubles point and I thought we had a litde momentum going,” McDermott said. “We have the confidence that normally we are going to get one or two of the matches in the bottom half of the lineup, but unfortunately that wasn't the case today.” Huskers can't get any breaks; Mizzou handcuffs NU hitters initio from page io the second inning. Unfortunately for Nebraska, it was Mike Sillman who gave up two early runs, made a few costly walks, then set up the bases for Nebraska pitcher Brian Rodaway's balk to advance in a nut Three runs were all Mizzou would need for a 3-2 victory. A chilled crowd of 1,207 watched Tiger freshman Shaun Marcum throw a complete game, in just his third start, against one erf the hottest hitting teams in the nation. Astiflf wind from the north helped knock down some Husker hits into line outs, and then, when the wind wasn’t a factor, the Huskers seemed to hit the ball exactly to Mizzou position play ers, “It's kind of the breaks of the game,” said Coach Dave Van Horn, who was thrown out of the game in the top of the fifth. “Still, you have to give credit to Missouri and their pitcher” Marcum kept Nebraska off balance early by getting ahead in i foe count, pitching away from left handers and in on righties. His “spots” were on in warm-ups, which foretold a good day. *1 just told myself to keep hit ting them,” Marcum said. “Trf and get them to put the ball on foe ground.” The freshman did that, though Nebraska, after falling behind 3-1, threatened plenty of times. Several balls, including two nit by designated bitter Matt Hopper, were knocked down by the wind, and first baseman Dan Johnson sent one ball well over 350 feet, only foul And then there was the sev enth inning, where NU made a sustained run at the Tigers. Catcher Jed Morris doubled with one out Then shortstop Brandon Eymann walked. Center fielder Jeff Leise then hit Morris in after second baseman Will Bolt flied out With Eymann at second, left fielder Adam Stem found an out side pitch he liked and hit it hard right at the Missouri third base man. "We did that a lot, hitting it right at guys," said Stem, who added he iarriy got a pitch on the inside half of the plate. Nebraska never seriously threatened in the ninth. Van Horn, who watched the. last few innings from the lower dugout steps, sensed a few Huskers were in hitting slumps going into the series. He tried to play them out of it. They didn’t come out. The weather, a cold bluster, didn't help. "But both teams had to play in it,” he said. Nebraska will next be in action on Wednesday in a doubleheader against Wisconsin-Milwaukee, a team that’s won nine in a row and win be pitching its top staff mem bers, Van Horn said. * "We’ve got to be ready to do what we can," he said. "They’ll be loaded." Collins stars in scrimmage after release from suspension SCRIMMAGE from page 10 e<L* Solich also said that he believed the scrimmage gave recently converted players the chance to exhibit their skills. “Well go a little further with looking at players who have A changed positions before mak ing a decision,” Solich said. “But you can start to all of a sudden see what is happening at the position and how instinctive the player might be. It really ended up being the type of day that we thought it might be.” Texas Tech takes Knight as new basketball coach KNIGHTfrompaqelO 'I’m not right all the time, but when it comes to this game, I’m right most of the time,” Knight said. Big 12 coaches have praised Tech's hiring, while at the same time expressing disappoint ment at Dickey’s firing. Nebraska Coach Barry Collier, who was 1-4 against Knight while at Butler, said he had had nothing but positive interaction with Knight. Baylor Coach Dave Bliss said “die Big 12 just got better/ while Oklahoma , Coach Kelvin Sampson said he wasn't worried about Knight’s temper and past transgressions. “Too often we judge people on certain things/ Sampson said. “I’m sure Coach Knight’s done things he regrets, just like we’ve all done/ The Associated Press con tributed to this story Third place sectional finish leads NU to bowling nationals FROM STAFF REPORTS The Nebraska bowling team paved its way for another national title this weekend at its sectional qualifier in Kansas City, Mo. The Nebraska women’s team qualified by finishing in third place in its sectional behind Central Missouri State and Wichita State. The Intercollegiate Bowling Championships will be held April 18-21 in Grand Rapids, Mich., and Nebraska will be one of 16 teams vying for a champi onship ring. The national championship, just like this weekend’s qualifier, will be held in Baker format in which the first bowler completes frames No. 1 and 6. The second bowler completes two and seven and so forth until all five mem bers have bowled two frames. Visit us online! \ www.dailyneb.com ^HHHHHHL EARN $700 TO $2,100 CALL 474-7297 ASSIST MEDICAL E ! score of 8.50 and also scored a 8.10 on floor after Hardabura sat out with a sore knee. Freshman Josh Rasile finished Friday’s competition leading all competitors on vault with a season-high score of 9.20 and posted a 8.95 on Saturday night for a fifth place finish as well as scoring a 8.55 for fifth on floor. “He did an awesome job on vault. He’s a tough kid * Hardabura said. Sophomore Ryan Sneed and freshmen Steven Friedmen walked away with seventh-place finishes as Sneed scored an 8.80 on vault and Friedmen an 8.55 on rings. The question now remains whether the team will qualify for nationals. The Huskers won’t know until today’s practice whether their season continues. “Waiting feels like a one-legged man at an ass-kicking contest," Hardabura said. “It sucks. It sucks real bad." Men's track starts hot in Arizona heat, takes first place FROM STAFF REPORTS The Nebraska men's track team looked to be in midseason form on Saturday at the Jim Click Shootout in TUcson, Ariz. Competing in the first out door meet of the year, the Comhuskers scored 192 points in defeating Arizona (150.5), Oklahoma (147.5) and Georgia (138). The Nebraska women placed third in the meet behind Arizona and Georgia. Neither NU team took all of its athletes. The Huskers were led by senior sprinter Chris Chandler. The returning All-American captured the 100- and 200 meter dashes in times of 10.35 and 20.83 seconds. Freshman Frank Tolen also took first in two events. Tolen jumped 7.41 meters in the long jump and 14.72 in the triple jump to take the top spot in both events. Chandler and Tolen were also part of the second fastest 400-meter relay time in school history. Nebraska’s time of 39.62 is an NCAA provisional qualifying maiic. Other NU event winners included Mike Kamm in the 1,500-meter in 3:53.88. Aaron Carrizales in the 3,000-meter, and Mike Josephson in the javelin. The NU women were paced by Krisztina Kovesi in the triple jump and Emily Wolken in die javelin. Due to the cancellation of the Nebraska Open on April 7, the track squads are not sched uled to compete again until April 14 against UCLA and Cal State Northridge in Los Angeles. 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