friday, may 1,1981
daily nebraskan
page 17
mther signs with Iowa Stn to
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Husker gymnast Bowers latest Sokol success
By Ward VV. Triplett III
vnn Mike Bowers arrives at the UNL cnmniic in Aim.
f I t tv - - ui t lUU"
ust, the folks who run Sokol Hall in South Omaha will
have been responsible for yet another top-notch gymnast
wearing a Cornhusker uniform.
Bowers, a 17-yearold senior at Omaha Northwest,
was the only recruit for the national champion Huskers.
He will follow Jim Hartung, Phil Cahoy and Chuck
Chmelka as graduates of Sokol, which is run by Cahoy's
father.
"I started seriously in gymnastics down at Sokol,"
Bowers said. "My sister and my brother were both in
gymnastics, and when one of my best friends, Justy Reed,
started going there, we just went along with him."
The Nye' Bowers referred to was he and his twin broth
er Mark. In 1979, the Bowers twins and Reed combined
to win five of the six events in state to hand the state
championships award to the Huskies.
State champions
In 1980, while Husker fans were still lamenting
the Big Red football teams' loss to the Oklahoma Sooners
earlier in the day, Bowers was winning the floor exer
cise, rings, and high bar, finishing second on the parallel
bars and side horse, and taking third on the vault.
Bowers easily won the all-around title, and after a repeat
performance on the high bar, from which he fell earlier,
was given a standing ovation from the crowd of some
3,000.
"Winning at state was pretty good," Bowers said. "But
I'd have to say my biggest thrill in gymnastics was getting
a scholarship to Nebraska. They could have chosen a lot
of other people, but they chose me."
Bowers said he never really planned on going anywhere
else. His exposure at the national high school champion
snips, with the United States Junior National team and
the AAU Junior Olympics helped a lot of college coaches
see him perform, but most were sure they were fighting
a losing battle.
WA lot of coaches figured I would sign with Nebraska,
so they didn't compete that hard. I looked at Minnesota,
(where Reed is a scholarship athlete) and Iowa State,
and I got letters from people like Ohio State, but most
of them knew I was coming to UNL," Bowers said.
Tm going there because I've been on a team with
Jim Hartung and Phil Cahoy before, and I really want to
be a teammate of theirs again. Plus, I've worked with
Francis (Allen) about three years now."
Along with their weekly schedule of practice at Sokol
or Northwest, Bowers said the twins practice in Lincoln
under Allen's guidance every Sunday.
Mark to Iowa State
Mark signed a letter, of intent with Iowa State about
the same time Mike signed with Nebraska.
Diver from Colorado
joins Nebraska team
Nebraska diving Coach Jeff Huber has announced the
signing of Wendy Lucero of Denver, Colo., to a national
letter of intent to compete on the Nebraska women's
swimming and diving team in 1981-82.
Lucero is attending Thomas Jefferson High School
where she has been coached by Dennis Hartman.
This past season she was the state runner-up in the one
meter diving board, and recently she placed 15th at the
Senior U.S. National Diving Championships and has
qualified for the Summer Nationals in Columbus, Ohio.
The competition was the first senior national for
Lucero and she will become one of the highest national
finishers for the Husker recruiting program.
"Of course, we are very happy to have signed her
here at Nebraska. We had signed her just before the senior
nationals, and after her high school finish she has been
getting more looks from some of the other schools,
Huber said.
Lucero will join a Husker program that includes
Ann Stahlnacker, an AIAW National qualifier, and swim
mer Sherri Hayward, a two-time Ail-American.
Correction
A typographical error in yesterday's Daily Nebraskan
caused a story to read that the UNL women's basketball
team, had recruited a 7 foot player. Sonya Nelson a
recruit from Kansas City Central lligh School, actually
is 6-feet tall.
"People may think that's going to be hard, going
against each other, but I don't think so. We've always
competed against each other, and In the Junior Olympics,
it came down to just him and me, with nobody else in
volved. It won't be that big of a thing," Bowers said.
Mark's back injury let him work only the pommel
horse at state the previous year, and another back prob
lem that arose this year was the cause of the separation,
Mike said.
"Nebraska had only one scholarship open, and Mark
was still injured when they came to us," he said.
Bowers, whose best score of the past year was a 9.7
on the parallel bars, said the new USGF ruling which
limits a team to four all-arounders and one specialist
per round, may hurt him.
"I don't think It will be hard to find a spot on the
team," Bowers said. But it will be tough to be an all
arounder when they only can have four. IU probably
be a specialist in a couple of events.'
Bowers first choice would be the pommel horse,
except, he said, Nebraska already has two people at that
who are really good (Frank Ilibbits and John Balluf).
Bowers said he'd like to work on the high bar and rings
his first year, and move on to all-around later.
Bowers is looking forward to coming to Nebraska,
saying it is time to move on.
"My senior year is going pretty good," Bowers said.
"Northwest has been a nice place, but I'm kind of looking
forward to colllege."
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People Make The Difference
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w' o AV s0is& m 7
COORS CO-RECREATIONAL
INTRAMURAL SPORT FESTIVAL
The second annual Iowa-Nebraska Coors Co-Recreational
Intramural Sports Festival was held April 4; this year's
host school was the University of Nebraska-Omaha. The
festival is a non-competitive event, designed to bring
students together in an atmosphere conductive to
interaction through physical activity. UNL chose to
participate in innertube water polo, volleyball and softball.
Congratulations to the Kappa Sigma innertube water polo
team, Denver Comets volleyball team, and the Lambda
Chi Alpha-Gamma Phi Beta wiffleball team, pictured above,
which earned tho right to represent UNL at the festival by
winning their rcspoctivo intramural events.
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