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daily nebraskan
friday, february 17, 1978
World-record holder to run in women's Big 8 meet
By Rick Huls
World-record holder Mary Decker will
highlight the third women's Big Eight In
door Track and Field Championships Sun
day at the Sports Complex.
Decker, from Colorado University, will
compete in the mile and the 880-yard run.
She holds the world record in the 1,000
meter race at 2:23.8 and has the world's
fastest time this year in the 1 ,500 meters
race at 4:13.4.
Decker will warm up for Sunday's meet
by attempting to gain the 880-yard world
record today in the San Diego Jack-In-The-Box
Games.
Joining Decker in the distance events
will be Karen Bridges of Oklahoma State
University, Debbie Vetter of Iowa State
University, and Donna Fox of UNL.
Bridges, who specializes in the two-
mile race, finished sixth last year in the
AIAW (Association of Intercollegiate Ath
letics for Women) national cross country
championships.
ISU's Vetter, a 10th place finisher in the
AIAW national cross country meet, will
run in the 880-yard and 1 ,000-yard events.
Fox, who last week ran a 2:13.5 in the
880, will compete only in the 1,000-yard
run. Fox has won five of six races this year.
Kansas State University will have the
favorite in the 440-yard dash with fresh
man Freda Hancock. The Pueblo, Col.
product ran a school record 56.6 second
time last weekend at Oklahoma City for
the best time for any Big Eight performer
this season.
KSU also boasts the best time of any
Big Eight foursome in the mile relay. The
3:56.94 time the Wildcats posted in the
season-opening Sooner Relays will be
tested by strong relay teams from CU,
Campus buried under barrage
of medal-heavy letter jackets
Anyone who has been on the UNL cam
pus for more than a year should know it's
time to begin bracing oneself for the inva
sion again.
Late February to mid -March are
dreaded times for anyone seriously pur
suing an education at UNL. The population
on campus swells as thousands of high
school athletes and fans (albeit mostly
adoring parents) come to Lincoln for the
state wrestling and basketball championships.
koajmccarthij
mike
You'll know when it's state tourna
ment time in Lincoln. People from exotic
sounding palces like Lodgepole and
Venango wander about campus ("Look at
the tall building. Ma!") with names like
Winnie and Chipper stitched ont their
letter jackets.
And those medals.
Hundreds of shiny little medals hanging
from letter jackets. Lower East Platte Val
ley Conference Runners-Up, they proclaim.
The state high school wrestling champi
onships began today at the Sports
Complex.
Shortly after the conclusion of Wednes
day night's UNL-University of Oklahoma
basketball game, the wrestling mats were
rolled out in preparation for 1 ,200 matches
over the next three days. That's right,
1,200.
Now that's 768 wrestlers, with four
family members and a small entourage of
probably 30 to 40 town cheerleaders which
raises the city's population by roughly
8,500 people (if you'll pardon our math).
Actually, it's not all that bad if you
don't mind sharing your bar stool with a
17 year old with a fake ID.
And the money these people bring with
them to throw about town probably has
the Chamber of Commerce doing cart
wheels. Not to mention UNL's Athletic
Department which will rake in a lot of
bucks on the stale popcorn and bland hot
dogs in concessions.
After the wrestling championships con
clude on Saturday, campus will enjoy a
brief respite until the girl's state basketball
championships begin next Thursday. Then
in another week all will return for the
boy's state basketball championships.
We can see it all now. Wading through
three feet of snow to reach some class you
don't want to go to anyway. All of a
sudden hundreds of thundering footsteps
roar down upon you and splat -into a
nearby snowbank. Your books are'
scattered in countless directions.
A pimply faced kid with a crew cut
peers down at you.
"Hey man." he says. "Where's the K
Mart at?"
"Huh?"
"You know. K-Mart. Blue light specials
and all that. Where's it at?"
You point at Oldfather Hall and they all
thunder off in pursuit of 79-cent T-shirts.
At least we know spring is not far
around the corner.
ISU and UNL.
UNL coach Carol Frost said Sunday's
meet should be excellent although defend
ing champion Iowa State is again the clear
cut favorite to win the title. KSU won the
first gathering of Big Eight schools two
years ago.
"A real battle should be fought for
second place," Frost said. "Colorado, Kan
sas State, Kansas and Nebraska are all very
close in strength."
If UNL scores 70 points or more, Frost
said second place is within reach.
"We're hoping to score in the top three
in four events," Frost added. "We need a
couple of high finishes to challenge for
second place."
UNL already has defeated KU and CU
this year, but Colorado was performing
without Decker who was injured.
Hurdler Nancy Kindig is the only in
jured player on the UNL team. The
Hastings St. Cecilia graduate is still having
leg problems from the broken leg she suf
fered at the girl's state track meet last year.
Despite her injury, Kindig has the con
ference's best time of 8.15 seconds in the
60-yard hurdles. Challenging Kindig will be
two-time defending champion MarJean
Nielsen of ISU.
Pacing UNL in the sprints will be Cindy
Tatum, who has won the 60-yard and 300
yard dashes in two of three meets. Tatum
will face the defending conference cham
pion in both events, Sheila Calmese of KU.
Calmese is the only runner to defeat Tatum
this year.
Other outstanding performers will be
Cecil Hansen of OSU, who has heaved the
shot over 50 feet for a national record in
her native Norway, Shawn Corwin of KU
who has cleared 5-feet-6-inches in the high
jump, and Patti Gleason of UNL who has
jumped 5-feet-4-inches.
The UNL mens track team will also
compete this weekend as they host Okla
homa State, Colorado State and Wichita
State universities Saturday at the Sports
Complex.
The men will be warming up for next
week's Big Eight Championships at the
Sports Complex. Several Huskers already
have qualified for the NCAA champion
ships which will be in Detroit, Mich, on
Mar. 10-11.
Freshman Everad Samuels has quali
fied in the 60-yard dash, sophomore Scott
Poehling in the 660-yard run and junior
Jeff Lee in the high hurdles. The mile and
two-mile relay teams also have qualified
for nationals.
V 1
SO, WHAT DO YOU TWENTY-FOUR YEAR 0LD9
WANT IN YOUR HIGHBALLS!!!
Women gymnasts hoping for weekend Big 8 championship
By Mary Ryan
The UNL women gymnasts are hoping
to equal their top score of the season this
weekend and walk away with the Big
Eight championship.
The gymnasts will face the Big Eight
schools' top gymnasts at 7 p.m. today at
the NU Coliseum.
Coach Judy Schalk said the Huskers
hae the opportunity to nab the Big tight
title tthey top their season high of 135.90
recorded against Wichita State two weeks
ago.
UNLS strongest competition will be
from Colorado t&iiversity and Iowa State
University, Schalk ibud.
"I don't knowwhat CU is doing,"
she said. "I haven't Vqen their individual
scores. It is kind of upsetting, we are going
m there bund.
Colorado has a torWr Olvmnian on
its team , Debbie Wilcox .
"Her season high is 38.2 which averages
out to 9.55 for each event," Schalk said.
'She is definitely out-distancing everone
else in the conference and will be tough.
"But, it takes four scores (per event)
and one person can't do it alone."
Schalk said she did not expect any
trouble from ISU, the defending confer
ence champion.
'The last time we met ISU it was a
disaster," Schalk said. "We had injuries
and all the other meets where we would
have competed against ISU at the (Rocky
Mountain Open and Windy City Invita
tational they didn't make it to the compe
tition so we have not met them with a
full team this year."
Hopefully, UNL will have a full team
for the meet, but that is still in doubt,
Schalk said.
Patty Carmichaei, sophomore all
arounder, is recovering from an ankle
injury received before the ISU meet.
"I am hoping she can go all-around, but
we won't know until the day of the meet,"
Schalk said.
Carmichaei, the best all-arounder on the
team, will compete in the floor exercise,
Schalk said, but she is doubtful in the
vault .
To win the meet, UNL will have to
perform well in the balance beam and be
consistent in other events, Schalk said.
They have been averaging one fall a person
in the beam, which costs a total of two
points of the score. A half a point is
assessed for each fall.
"Vaulting is the strongest." Schalk
said. "Even though we have not always
proven it. we are strong in it. But we need
the fourth score (Carmichaei) With her.
wc have a super vaulting team."
Hosting th meet at the Coliseum
should help, the Huskers, she said.
"The hometown crowd, our own
equipment, no hassles adjusting to a new
environment, the support of the Booster
Club and the men's team are great factors
psychologically for the team, I think."
Schalk said she thinks the team is
excited about the meet, although the gym
nasts may feel they need more time to
train.
"You never feel ready for a big meet."
she added.
UNL all-arounders will include fresh
men Jeanne Concannon and Katie Vogel,
Sophomore Crissy Robertson, junior Peggy
Liddick and senior Sandy Czaplewski and
possibly Carmichaei.
The preliminaries begin Friday when
team all-around titles will be determined.
The top eight competitors in each event
will vje for the top individual honors
Saturdav.