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Senior Pete Studenski is one of the nation's top competitors in the still rings.
Wrestling meet Friday
Athlete stresses confidence
By Pete Wegman
Coaches and athletes constantly stress the
importance of confidence in athletics and
sophomore Bill Hoffman, a 177 lb. wrestler on
coach Orval Borgialli's Husker squad, is no
exception.
"I think confidence makes a big difference,"
Hoffman said. A wrestler since seventh grade,
Hoffman said he lost his confidence after losing
his first three matches this season.
Last week, Borgialli said Hoffman has
improved more since Christmas break than any
Husker wrestler. While Hoffman failed to make
such a claim, he said he felt he had improved
recently.
Ankle injury
Plagued by an early season ankle injury, his
record was 2-4 when the semester break began.
Since then he has raised his overall mark to 10-6.
Hoffman and nine of his Husker teammates
will be facing South Dakota University Friday
night at 7:30 p.m. in the Coliseum. Last year
Nebraska defeated South Dakota, 33-13.
"We should be able to beat them easily, but I
guess you never can tell," he said. Hoffman said
he had thought the Huskers would beat Missouri
easily Saturday, but the Huskers needed a
Missouri forfeit in the heavyweight division to
defeat the Tigers, 21-16.
Hoffman, who posted a 31-2 record at
Atlantic, Iowa, as a high school senior, said he
decided to come to Nebraska because it was the
only Big 8 school where he could have wrestled
as a freshman.
Worst of the best
"Nebraska was the worst of the best," he said,
adding that he thinks the Big 8 is the best
wrestling conference in the nation. He was 11-14
last year as a freshman.
As an Iowa high school student, Hoffman had
a chance to attend Iowa State, the NCAA
wrestling champions at the time ofhis
graduation. Hoffman said, however, he would
nave spent two years on the Cyclone bench.
With the Big 8 tournament and his chance to
face Iowa State still three weeks away, Hoffman
said he thinks the team's attitude is down a little
from what it has been. He attributed the drop in
attitude to the long season, but added that the
overall attitude will pick up as the tournament
nears.
"The return of Bob Johnson will really pick
us up," Hoffman said. Johnson, the Huskers'
leading point scorer last season, has been absent
with a knee injury, but worked out with the
team Monday for the first time in a month.
Hoffman, who finished third in the Big 8 beat
season and went to nationals, must beat
defending 177 lb. champion, Rick Jones of
Oklahoma State, to win the tournament.
Gymnasts' KSU meet
to be 'matter of pride'
By Scott Jones
If UNL's gymnastics team adopted a slogan, Pete Studenski's
proposal might sound something like this:
We may not be much when we come here, but we're going to be
the best we can before we leave.
Still-rings specialist Studenski and his teammates will host
Kansas State Saturday in Henzlik Hall at 2 p.m. Although the
Wildcats were last in the Big 8 last year, Studenski promises to do
his best.
"It's a matter or pride," he said. "If you're putting something in
front of the public you want to do your best."
Studenski's best has been better than that of most of his
competition this year. He won blue ribbons in the still rings at two
large invitational meets, in Denver and Chicago, in addition to
the Big 8 Invitational and the East-West All Star meet.
Although he finished second to Iowa State's Keith Heaver
Saturday during the Husker's 215.80 to 210.90 loss, he has won
four of his seven meetings with the defending national champion.
But unlike Heaver, who was an Illinois state champion,
Studenski's gymnastic development has been slow. At Omaha
Burke High School, he started in gymnastics as a junior and placed
seventh in the still rings as a senior at the state meet.
"In high school I wouldn't let my parents come to meets
because I was so bad," he said. "There really was no coaching at
Burke at that time. Most of the gymnastics I learned was from
Francis (Husker coach, Allen) during clinics in the summer."
As a Husker sophomore, Studenski was fifth in rings at the Big 8
meet. Last year he missed a third place finish, and a ticket to the
national meet, by only .005 of a point.
Although he weighs only 145 pounds, the muscular Studenski
said that is heavy for a still rings performer. He said Heaver is 5 feet
tall and weight about 110 pounds.
"Bulk is not really what you want," he said. "You want the
most strength per body weight. If you have less weight it's easier to
move it."
He said he gets his strength from doing push-ups and other
exercises on the rings but he doesn't lift weights.
Studenski, a computer science major, and Lincoln native Jim
Unger are the only seniors on the Husker squad. He said he is
hoping this year to profit from his hard work.
"This year is the payoff for six years of work," he said. "It's
just getting so I can win. I figure I won't be able to work out next
year or the rest of my life so this is my last chance."
Coach Allen said Studenski now is among the top five still rings
performers in the nation.
Saturday's meet with Kansas State will be the first of four
consecutive home meets for the Huskers since the season opener
Oct. 26 against Iowa State.
"He's been working for this for four years and he's not going to
ease off now," Allen said. "He doesn't drink or carouse like they
do in some of the other sports. He doesn't want to be a star
athlete, he just wants to be as good as he can be."
It follows consecutive Husker losses to Colorado and Saturday's
loss to Iowa State. Allen said subpar performances in the pommel
horse and parallel bars hampered the Huskers against the Cyclones.
spores
Team work keeping Indiana on top
eritrrc
Revenge may be a prevalent
motive tonight when the UNL
basketball team travels to
Lawrence, Kan., for a crucial
meeting with the University of
Kansas.
The Jayhawks came from
behind in the final minutes to
defeat the Huskers, 63-62, at
the Big 8 tourney last
December in Kansas City.
After a 88-74 loss to
Missouri, Saturday, coach Joe
Cipriano stressed that his team
will have to have a top effort
to defeat Kansas at home.
Kansas also lost last
weekend (to rival Kansas State)
and trails the Huskers in the
conference standings with a 3-2
mark.
Both the UNL women's
basketball varsity and junior
varsity teams will be in action
tonight against Midland College
at 7 p.m. in the Women's
Physical Education Bldg.
With the years of UCLA basketball
dominance dead and buried, (I hope) this
season's race ior the national title is a
wide open affair.
The Indiana Hoosicrs are currently a
solid number one in the polls, having
reeled off 21 straight victories. The
Ho osiers must have some smooth
teamwork going for them since they have
no individual stars.
The average basketball fan would be
hard-pressed to name even two players
from that team.
The Louisville Cardinals have done
their best to live up to the national
champion billing accorded them by
Sports Illustrated at the start of the
season. So far they've lost only once,
despite countless close calls.
Defending national champ North
Carolina State lias already lost three
games. The UCLA Bruins have been
tamed twice this season, but still could be
dangerous if they can claw their way out
of the tough Pacific 8 Conference.
Maryland and Notre Dame are two
good teams that could have been the two
best teams in the country had they not
lost eligible players to the pros.
So, who will emerge from this jumble
of talent and ambition?
I'll venture that even with the chips
down, David Thompson and the North
Carolina State Woifpack will walk away
with their second straight national
championship.
A funny thing happened to the
Crcighton Blucjays on their way to the
national Top Ten, After disposing of
Oklahoma City and Oral Roberts, which
then had a 13-3 record, Creighton
dropped from )4lh to 18th in this week's
UPI pool.
steve by or
After listening to the various Top 100
record surveys on local radio stations I
recently decided to take my own poll.
The following are the Top Ten 45 's on
the past year, as recorded by sports
personalities:
1 . Schools Out-Moses Ma'one
2. D.O.A.-George Foreman's next
boxing opponent
3. You're no Good-Colorado
basketball coach Sox Waiseth as sung to
his squad.
4. You are Every ihing-Muhammed Ali
as sung to a mirror
5. Shaft-Michigan Football team
6 w ? 1 ' a Million
Ycars-Ciiampioiisfu'p-hungry fans of the
New Orleans Jazz.
7. Sure as I'm Sitting Here-Ron
Taylor
8. Ring, Ring-Stan Hcgencr
9. My MistakcThc owner of the
Portland Traiiblazcrs, who sank his life
savings into getting Bill Walton
10. No More Mister Nice Guy-Charlie
Finley
Gocrge Forman said Sunday he would
have retired had he defeated Muhammcd
Ali in October.
It is hard to understand why so many
people were cheering for Arnold Palmer
to overtake Gary Groh in the final round
of the Hawaiian Open Monday.
Here was a guy just trying to insure his
family three square meals a day battling a
man who would leave the tournament in
his private jet.
Groh had not won in 61 tournament
appearances. Groh had not nude any
commercials. Nor had he been the guest
host on the Tonight Show, as Arnie had.
Grohs victory earned him $44,000
and, while he's not yet a threat to Johnny
Carson, he no longer has to qualify every
Monday just to earn a spot in a PGA
tournament.
page 16
daily nebraskan
Wednesday, february 5, 1975