pago 14
daily nebraskan
Wednesday, august 31, 1977
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Randy Garcia
Tom Sorley
Jeff Quinn
Photos by Ted Kirk
Garcia, Sorley battle daily for fop position, style
By Jim Kay
Huskers Randy Garcia and Tom Sorley are battling one
.another for two top Husker positions-the first for the top ,
quarterback spot, the second for tops in style.
Garcia's take charge attitude as team leader has been
rivaled daily in fall drills by Sorley's quiet, assuring role.
Garcia is listed as the number one signal-caller on the
latest Husker depth charts with Sorley a close second. But
Garcia feels the pressure of being number one only will
come from outside influences.
"The pressure will always be there," he said. "But I'm
not going to put any more on myself. I'll get enough
(pressure) from the upcoming season and the coaches.
It's here now and whatever happens, happens."
Garcia's new found take charge attitude stems from
the attempt to avoid any self-applied pressures and from
confidence.
"It's a kind of attitude I think is a reflection from the
other guys on offense," Garcia said. "They show confi
dence in me, and when tilings start off right, we have
confidence in each other. It's not something you can work
on."
Confident quarterback
Sorley is also confident of his quarterback ability.
"There are still a couple of weeks left," Sorley said.
"I'm pushing as hard as I can. I'm confident I can
still do it."
Sorley added he feels some pressure, although not as
much as last spring when there was a five-way race for
the starting job.
"I've gained some confidence back," he said. "Its
been awhile since I've played but I've been throwing and
running a lot and reading defenses. The pressure evens
up with the pre-game butterflies."
Garcia said the five-way "dead heat didn't help any at
the end of spring, but it also didn't change' my summer
Husker women's
crystal ball cloudy
Flip a coin, draw a straw or just take a guess. May be
the way to predict the success of the Husker Women's
Cross Country team, according to head coach Carol Frost.
Frost predicts the team vill be "considerably better
than last year."
"Last year was our first year," Frost said. "We never
fielded a full team. Due to injuries and few people, we
couldn't keep a record."
Frost said the team has four returning starters and
eleven total members.
Sophomore Kelly Iliatt of Fremont will be the top
returner along with seniors Cindy Dixon of Utica, Doris
Hitz of Lincoln, and sophomore Cindy Vickers of
Farnam, Frost said.
"We feel the women are coming into this w'eek's prac
tices in good shape," Frost said. "Most of the women have
been running all summer."
Iliatt finished 65th, in a field 'of predominately male
competitors in this summer's Omaha Marathon.
The Huskers open their season Sept. 24 at the Grinnell
Invitational in Grinnell, Iowa. The next meet is the
Kearney Invitational Oct. 1 which is followed by the
South Dakota State University Invitational in Brookings
Oct. 8.
Last year's national champion, Iowa State University
(ISU) will be tough competition for the Huskers, Frost
said.
"ISU will be tough and Kansas State University was an
easy second last year," she said. "After than, it's about
anybody's guess where we will end up."
UNL will host the Husker Invitational Oct. 15 at
Pioneers Park. The Big 8 Conference Meet follows in Man
hattan, Kan. Oct. 22 with the Southeast Community Col
lege Invitational scheduled for Oct. 29 in Fairbury.
The legion-Is will be held at Ames, Iowa Nov. 5 fol
1 ;."CJ !;y t! e i. :!i competition io be held in Austin,
(conditioning) plans. I went home after the spring game
confident but not a sincere confident."
Head coach Tom Osborne, however is not ready to
concede anything to Garcia or Sorley.
Osborne skeptical
"I'm not flat counting any of them out," Osborne said,
"You can never tell what may happen with injuries and so
on. Right now Jeff Quinn is on the third team but he's
probably the best runner among the quarterbacks. He
doesn't look great in practice but he moves the ball in
scrimmages and makes some things happen." . -
Senior Ed Burns and redshirt sophomore Tim Hager
are the other quarterback candidates.
"We hope to give Burns and Hager some more work in
the scrimmages," Osborne said. "There's not a whole lot
of difference between Quinn, Burns and Hager. Ed Burns
is much, much better than he was three years ago and he
just might play a lot. You have to admire him for his
determination."
Sorley, like Quinn, is considered a better runner than
passer but he said the Huskers were looking for more
balance between the two this season.
"There was a lot of talk Nebraska might go to the run
this year," he said. "But Nebraska has always been a pass
ing team. Coach Osborne realizes we were seventh out of
the eight teams in the league last year in rushing so we're
looking for more balance on offense between the pass and
the run."1
The first game of the season will be at Memorial Stad
ium Sept. 10 against Washington State University. Garcia
and Sorley are approaching that date with different points
of view
"I want the starting job but I know that three weeks is
not a lot of time to reevaluate (the quarterbacks),1' Sor
ley said. "My changes will turn up down the road some
where and I just want to be ready to take over from that
. time on. But we also want the best guy on the field and
I'm sure Randy will say the same thing. If it takes five
quarterbacks alternating, then that's wliat we want. That
and the Big 8 championship."
"I've spent some restless nights," Garcia said, "but not
as many as I used to. There aren't going to be any self
applied pressures."
sports
UNL baseball team gears for spring
man Jeff King (no relation). Sanders compares fall base
ball practice to spring football drills.
"It's a time for strength building, experiment and eval
uation," he said. "We're going to combine running for
cardio-vascular and weights for outright strength."
Sanders said intra-squad games and basic instruction
will be included in the workouts.
"I believe we have a, well-balanced program this fall. I
hope we take the direction we were going when we left
off last spring," Sanders said. "I think the players coming
back believe in the philosophy of work, sacrifice and
winning,"
This season Sanders has two new assistant coaches,
John Johnette of Millard and Dave Underwood of Omaha
Burke. Millard and Burke have won state baseball
championships.
"Johnette and Underwood are outstanding individuals
with super backgrounds," Sanders said. "I know they'll
do a fine job in the organization and I'm proud to be
associated with them."
By Rob Barney
The first game is almost six months away, but the UNL
baseball team is already trying to groom its talent for the
spring season.
First year baseball coach John Sanders and 80 players
had the first team meeting Sunday.
About 57 returning players, recruits and some walk
ons attended the meeting to kick-off fall practice.
General workouts start at 4 p.m. Thursday. Sanders
said walk-ons are asked to attend. Players will meet at the
NU Diamond adjacent to Ed Wier Stadium.
The team has a 30-player limit and chances are slim
that a walk-on can make the team, Sanders said, "But on
the other side of the coin, there have been players who
have made it and there will be again. .
"If a player walks on, we'll certainly take the time to
look at him."
Last year Tom Bceson and Troy King were walk-ons.
Beeson was one of UNL's leading hitters and shared catch
ing duties with Jon Henne. King backed up second base-
Injuries already challenging golfers
Coaches worrv ahnut ininries In nlavpr Rut onlf rnirti
Larry Romjue's case, his worries have all ready begun be
fore the season even starts.
The big problem is a tendon ailment to Sharon Slattery,
Romjue said.
"It is too early to predict how the team will fare," he
said. "But I can say that if Sharon Slattery is not up to
normal, the team will not be as good as hzi year."
Players have been practicing on their own for the last
few weeks and will begin organized practices Wednesday.
The team is in better shape than they were last spring,
Romjue said, because they have had three to four months
of practice. Competition starts against Creighton Uni
versity Sept. 15 at Pioneers Golf Course.
Golf is not as much a team sport as most other athletic
department sponsored sports, Romjue said, but we do
have team strategy. This strategy is director toward golf
courses, he said.
Long hitters are better equipped to play the long
courses while players with excellent shorts games are
better prepared to play courses with sandtraps, water
haards and other obstacles, he said.
"We examine each girl's individual strengths and use
them to the team's advantage," Romjue added." Romjue
wiu m vsvvh icam memDcrs irom lasi year s tourtn place
Big 8 team are expected to reiurn, in addition to a few
freshmen., Nebraska attracts very few outstate girls to the
team, Romjue said, because of a short playing season.
Nebraska weather cuts playing and practice time much
more than other Big 8 schools, he said.
This year's major competition will be Stephens College
in Columbia, Mo. and Oklahoma State University.
sports shorts
Umpires for fall baseball arc needed. Anyone interested
should contact head coach John Sanders at 472-2269.
All varsity crew members must report to the boathouse
at 7 p.m. today for an organizational meeting.