friday, february 8, 1980
page 10
daily nebraskan
Tracksters. hpe for NCAA .qroalffiers
By Scott Ahlstrand
The 1980 Husker Invitational this Sat
urday at the Bob Devaney Sports Center
promises to be one of the highlights of the
indoor track season. The meet features
seven teams, and several NCAA champions,
Southern California, Houston, Illinois,
Iowa, Iowa State, Missouri and UNL will
compete.
The Huskers are hoping to bounce back
from a disappointing loss to Kansas last
week. The Jayhawks defeated Nebraska 87
44, but Nebraska Assistant Coach Dick
Railsback feels that the score was some
what misleading.
"We really didn't do that bad," Rails
back said. "It's just that Kansas wanted it
more than us. They just kept nosing us out
for those second and third places."
Although the Husker Invitational is a
very competitive meet for individuals, no
team scores are kept. The format for the
Invitational emphasizes the relay events,
and the lack of team competition takes
some of the pressure off the runners.
Good chance
Nebraska Coach Frank Sevigne feels
that the meet is a good opportunity to
qualify some relay teams for the. NCAA
championships.
"One ot the reasons the invitational was
started was to qualify the relay teams for
the NCAAs," said Sevigne. "The format
allows us to concentrate athletes in one or
two events, and not run them to death to
win a dual." .
Another advantage the Huskers hope to
derive from the meet, is the valuable exper
ience they can gain from watching world
class athletes. "We really have a young field
(events) team this year," said Railsback.
"It'll be a great experience for them just to
watch some of these great athletes com
pete; to see how they handle themselves,
and the poise they sfiow in the meet."
Although Nebraska is young in the field
events, it has some experienced competi
tors, among them junior pole vaulter
Randy Raymond. Raymond, who holds
both Nebraska's indoor and outdoor
records, is expected to finish high in the
meet, Sevigne said.-After clearing 16'6"
against Kansas, Raymond is ready to reach
new plateaus, Railsback said.
Good assets
"Randy combines such a good combina
tion of speed, size (6-1 , 175 pounds), and
strength, I can't see him doing anything
but getting better," said Railsback. "He
gives 110 percent every time. He's gained
consistency, and I think he's ready to start
clearing higher vaults." N
', Raymond is only one of the Huskers
who is expected to do well in the invita
tional. Nebraska returns three runners from
last year's NCAA champion indoor two
mile relay team. They are, senior co-captain
Scott Poehling, junior Brian Dunnigan,
and sophomore Paul Downes.
. Among the other favorites in the Invita
tional, are defending NCAA champions
Mark Baughman, a shot putter from Hous
ton; Missouri's high jump champ Nat Page;
and Southern California's Billy Mullins, the
400 meter champion, and Joao Olivira the
world record holder in the triple jump.
KU gym coach: win
impossible in dual
By Paul Martin
In its first competition since knocking off Iowa State
and Oklahoma at the Bob Devaney Sports Center Jan. 26,
the UNL men's gymnastics team swings back into action
Saturday when they travel to Lawrence, Kan. for a dual
meet with the Jayhawks.
"We had a couple days of letdown after the big win
over Iowa State," Nebraska Head Coach Francis Allen
- said. "But we're starting to put more pressure on now and
we're hoping to score over 275 points against Kansas," he
said.' , . , . .
There is every possibility that the Huskers could do
inst that armrd ino tn Kansas HmH Cnarh Kpn Snnw
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Most talented
"In November they looked a little ragged," Snow said.
"But they're a lot tougher now and have the most talent
ed gymnasts in the conference," he said. "So they're cer
tainly capable of it."
Realistically, Snow said, a win against Nebraska will be
impossible. But he said the meet should help his team
"start getting things together."
"We're not competitive with Nebraska right now and
we know that," he said. "They'll be coming down here to
get a good score but this isn't our goal," he said.
"We going to try to upgrade our routines a little bit
and try to develop the sense that we can compete with
teams like Nebraska and Oklahoma," Snow said.
The two week layoff for the Huskers has been benefi
cial, according to Allen.
"It has been ideal," Allen said. "It has given us a
chance to regroup both physically and mentally," he said.
Bad luck
Kansas has been plagued by bad luck since the begin
ning of the season, Snow said.
"We are pretty well hurting right now "Snow said. "We ,
started the season with a team that was small in number
and have lost some kids who have become ineligible," he
said. VWe've also lost some kids through injuries."
"Right now we have one of our all-arounders, Marshall
Kelly, in the hospital," Snow said. "We've got some
other aches and pains and may not have five routines in
some events." he added.
Snow said the Jayhawks would do the best they could
with what they have.
"Since we're not really competitive anyway, we just
want to work on putting together as many quality
routines as we can." Snow said.
Snow said a few years ago you could get by in the Big
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not the case anymore
Continued on page 1 1
Women eager s lose
65-64 to Missouri
The Nebraska women's basketball team lost to Missouri
65-64 in Columbia Wednesday night.
The Huskers, now 17-13, were led by freshman Kathy
Hagerstrom's 15 pQints and senior Diane DelVigna's 14
points. ' .
Missouri's Jenny Skimbo converted a three-point play
with 1:16 remaining to give the Tigers a 65-63 lead. Del
Vigna was fouled, but hit only one of her two free throws
with :58 seconds left in the game.
The Huskers face Central Missouri State next Friday at
the Bob Devaney Sports Center.
Cagers hope to break pattern
By Ron Powell
Although, Iowa State is at the bottom of the Big
Eight standings, the UNL men's basketball team isn't
about to lpok past the Cyclones. ,
The past two seasons the Huskers have beaten the
Cyclones in Ames (62.56 in 1978 and 72-68 in .1979)
only to lose in Lincoln (65.59 in 1978 and 4846 in
1979). .
The Huskers won the teams' first contest this season
58-50 in Ames and are hoping to break the pattern
when the Cyclones come to town Saturday night.
Husker Assistant Coach Tom Baack said the players
won't need to be reminded of the past two years.
"There's a tendency to think when you beat a team
on the road, all you have to do is show up at home to
win, but it doesn't work that way in this league,"
Baack said, "Hopefully, our-players will recognize
that." -
Lost three straight -The
Cyclones, 8-13 overall and 2-7 in the "
conference, have dropped three straight games since
their Head Coach Lynn Nance was relieved of his .
duties. To make matters worse, the Cyclones' Bob
Fowler, a starter for most of the year, quit after
Nance's dismissal.
Despite the hardships, Baack said beating ISU won't
be an easy task. -
'They're a big, strong team and if we don't hustle
and don't come ready to play, we're going to have
problems," Baack said.
One of those "big, strong" players is center Dean
Uthoff . A 6-1 1 senior, Uthoff is the Big Eight's all-time
leading rebounder and is the current league leader
averaging 93 rebounds-a game. He also is averaging
10.7 points a game. ,
, Another concern for the Huskers is Cyclone senior
forward Chuck Harmison. The 6-9 Harmison is the
conference's ninth leading rebounder, averaging 6.4 a
game and also is the Cyclone's leading scorer, averaging
.12.5 points a contest.
Not that big
"Anytime we have a guy 6-9 or 6-10, we're going to
have problems because we're not that big," Baack said.
"He (Harmison) scored 23 points against us the first
time we played them and hurt us inside."
The other forward is 6-6 sophomore Robert Estes.
Estes is averaging 1 1 .6 points a game and has been
playing well lately, scoring 38 points in ISU's past two
games.
According to Cyclone Co-Head Coach Rick
Samuels, ISU will start junior Jon Ness and freshman
Guy Minnifield at guard instead of regulars Charles
Harris and Lefty Moore. Both Harris and Moore were
given one game suspensions against Missouri for
discipline reasons, but will be available Saturday.
"Minnifield had the best game ever for us against
Missouri, said Samuels, who share the ISU head
coaching job with former assistant Reggie Warford.
"He had 16 points and had three clean steals from
Larry Drew (Tiger guard)."
Samuels said he has been pleased with the Cyclones
effort, but adds that the team has not played "smart.
"We cut a 1 7 point lead to five against Missouri, but
then Missouri went to their delay game to put it
away," Samuels said. 'We just made too many mental
mistakes in the end."
The Huskers face a problem with injuries. Andre
Smith has a sprained finger on his right hand, Tim West
has a sprained wrist and Ray Collins is still hobbled
with a foot injury. However, West and Smith are
expected to start Saturday.
Gametime is 7:35 pjn. at the Bob Devaney Sports
Center.
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Photo by Mitch Hrdlkka
and w? $ Cvg DW,n,rS (22 reaches fo' I ball
KU fe KanMf, Jhn c ford. Nebraska beat
StL r!?i 6,56 Tuesday ni8ht- The Iowa
State Cyclones come to Lincoln Saturday to face
at 7:35 pjn-at the Bob
