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thursday, november 20, 1980
daily nebraskan
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Craig says he 's not discouraged by competition
By Joni Kramer
As the end of the season draws near,
sophomore I-back Roger Craig said he's
happy with liis season performance so
far, even though lie thinks he still has a
lot to learn.
"I've done pretty good so far, but I'm
still inexperienced and need to learn a lot
of things," Craig said. "I have to change
my running angle and run lower so I'll
take less punishment from the defense."
Because he's just a sophomore, Craig
said that playing third to Jarvis Redwine
and Craig Johnson is no disappointment.
"They've paid their dues and have been
around longer than I have. They know
more about the job," he said. "I knew
there was competition that wouldn't be
easy to beat out."
Despite the competition, Craig said he
never gets frustrated or discouraged.
"Every week I look forward to Saturday
and winning. Looking toward our team
goal, the Big Eight, also keeps me going.
The other players help me realize that I
can't win a game by myself. It's a team
effort," he said.
Part of life
Craig, who has been playing football
since third grade, says the game has be
come part of liis life, so he's stayed with
it.
"I've always thought football was fun.
I like learning different things everyday.
After a while, it became a part of my life
since I've been with it for so long," he said.
In high school, Craig also wrestled and
ran track. He said he decided to concen
trate on football because of its appeal to
him.
Craig, a native lowan, said he chose
to come to Nebraska for several reasons,
ranging from liis brother to academics.
"My brother Curtis, who played at
Nebraska, influenced my decision a great
deal. I felt Nebraska was a better school
all-around than others I visited. Nebraska
puts an emphasis on good academics, and I
liked that. I also liked the winning tradi
tion Nebraska has," he said.
Even though he is from Iowa, Craig says
he has no problems playing against his
homestate schools, Iowa and Iowa State.
No problems with lowans
"Sometimes I feel a bit strange out
there playing against home state people,
but I usually just try to get the job done
without even thinking about that. I
suppose knowing I'm from Iowa, playing
for Nebraska might give the Iowa players
an instinct to get me even more, but I'm
not against them in any way," he said.
Because football is so time-consuming,
Craig said he is forced to cut back on some
activities.
"Football is tough. I'm usually at the
field from 1 until about 5:30 every week
day, then we have games Saturday and
films Sunday. It's a lot of time and work,
so I have to cut back a lot in extra activi
ties, like socializing.
'in the fall you have to cut your hours
to the minimum usually, so you can handle
school and football at the same time.
Second semester is when you have to
carry a heavier school load to keep from
getting behind."
Craig said one of his top priorities is to
finish his schooling before anything else.
"My number one goal is to get my de
gree in criminal justice. I don't really like
to look ahead too much. I just take one
day at a time, because if you look ahead
too far, you'll fall on your face. I just
want to have fun right now. I haven't
thought about playing pro ball, because I
'nven't looked ahead that far."
Champion gymnasts to battle at Windy City Invitational
Although United States Olympic team
members Ron Galimore and Jim Hartung
will receive most of the attention, the 10th
annual University of Illinois Chicago Circle
Windy City Gymnastics Invitational ranks
as the prestige regular season tournament
in the United States because of a talented
group of athletes from the Chicago area.
Nebraska and Hartung along with Iowa
State and Galimore finished one-two in
last year's NCAA championship meet and
are expected to battle for the Windy City
team title Nov. 21 and 22 at UICC's Physi
cal Educational Building.
Approximately 5 1 Chicago athletes are
expected to take part in the 12-team invi
tational. In addition to Nebraska and Iowa
State, U1CC has invited Oklahoma, Michi
gan, Illinois State, Indiana State, Houston,
Southern Illinois, Illinois, Northern Illinois
and Minnesota.
Galimore, who won the all-around title
at last year's Windy City meet, is the son of
the late Willie Galimore, who was a star
running back for the Chicago Bears. Ron
edged Hartung for the all-around title and
Nebraska's Phil Cahoy was close behind.
Bart Conner of Morton Grove, a mem
ber of the 1976 and 1980 U.S. Olympic
teams and 1980 world champion in the
parallel bars, has said he hopes to compete
in the individual finals Nov. 22. UICC offi
cials are trying to make arrangements for
Conner to attend and will make an
announcement this week regarding his
status.
Husker gymnast Jim Hartung
Photo by Mark Billingsley
Wrestling injuries could hamper team showing
By Joni Kramer
Starting out the regular season with
four major injuries and four minor ones has
cut UNL wrestling squad's number down
to 20, which could hurt performances in
the first part of the season, according to
Head Wrestling Coach Bob Fehrs.
"Our practices are going very well now,
despite the several injuries we've had. A
team always has some minor injuries,
but the major ones cut deep into the
team's depth," Fehrs said.
Wrestler Rick Whitehead will be out the
entire season after a knee operation. The
three other severely injured wrestlers will
probably return after a month or more,
Fehrs said.
Not having the team at full strength
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Dtily Nabraskan photo
llu.skrr wrestler Billy Selmon competes against Oklahoma State's Lee Roy Smith in
action last year at the Bob Devaney Sports Center.
could reflect on their Big Eight record,
since the Husker's toughest part of the
season is before Christmas.
"We face three super teams early in the
season," Fehrs said. "Oklahoma, Oklahoma
State and Iowa State were all ranked in the
nation's top five last year. Losses to these
teams would put our Big Eight ranking
at number four or five."
Even though Nebraska may end up four
or five in the Big Eight, Fehrs said his team
should finish in the nation's top 20 for the
season.
"People who don't know a lot about
sports sometimes look at how a team does
by their Big Eight performances, but I
hope people won't do that when it comes
to our season," Fehrs said.
"We will be more compel itive than we
have in the past and are still liable to get
beat by the super teams in the Big Eight,"
he said. "I hope people will realize that we
have quality and I hope they won't judge
us by our early matches. We meet some
super teams at a time when we're not at
full strength."
Some other good teams Nebraska will
face later in the season are Penn State,
Northern Iowa, Missouri and Brigham
Young University, he said.
"We'll have to meet these teams on an
equal basis, wrestling well to beat them,"
Fehrs said.
After a good recruiting year, Fehrs said
he is seeing some good individual perform
ances. "I've got Mark Short sleeve from New
York, who should be starting at 126.
From South Dakota we have two twin
brothers, Jim and Bill Scherr, who are
doing very well." Fehrs said.
November 7 and 8, at the Great Plains
Tournament, Bill Scherr pinned a division
one wrestler in the finals to win.
Un November 15, the Huskers compet
ed in the Bison Open. Johnny Selmon at
142, and Ray Oliver at 158 came out as
meet champions with Bayerd Clausser at
134 and the Scherr brothers at 166 and
177 taking second places. There were also
four Nebraska wrestlers placing third.
"Even though there was no team scor
ing in this tournament. I feel we dominated
the meet. We finished extremely well with
a very good showing," Fehrs said.
Today the UNL squad will meet UNO at
the Sports Center at 7:30 p.m. f ehr said
he is hoping for a good meet and a good
turn out.
"I hope a lot of students attend since
there will be a lot of athletes from Omaha
and Lincoln wrestling that students may
know," Fehrs said. "There will be some
good individual matches but I feel we will
win by a comfortable margin. Omaha has
improved, but we have als improved a lot.
We should win with relative ease."
Despite the numerous injuries, Fehrs
said his team's morale is good.
"Due to recruiting, we have some ex
cellent people with the desire to win and
the confidence to win. The attitude is
good, better than in the past two years,
and the team understands that things get
off to a slow start at first," he said. "Be
cause of the young team members, we have
a good attitude, as well as a good found
ation to build on."
life shorts
The Nebraska crew team will
hold an open house at the campus
boat house this Saturday following
the Nebraska-Oklahoma football
game. The UNL boathouse is located
just north of Nebraska Hall at 1000
N. 16th St.
The 1980-81 school year marks
the 10th anniversary of the founding
of the Husker rowing program.
The team will be serving refresh
ments and the open house will be
highlighted by the christening of two
new racing boats.
The Nebraska women's basketball
team will open its season tomorrow
night in the Bob Devaney Sports
Center. Tip-off for the game with
Kansas is set for 7 p.m.
The Corn Cob spirit organization
is sponsoring a pep rally at the
Nebraska coliseum tomorrow night.
Head Coach Tom Osborne will
speak at 6:30 p.m. A parade will be
held at 6 p.m., beginning in front
of the Nebraska Union.