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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 8, 1983)
10 Daily Nebraskan Tuesday, February 8, 1983 -- 1 7 II-' V . . - J A, "Sufi photo by Craig Andresen Felix Konat delivers the knockout punch to Carlos Santistevan. Santistevan was the defending Midwest Champion in the 165-pound class. U Oy .-' Stall photo by Craig Andresen The parry's over for Santistevan. He was counted out at 2:58 in the first round of his fifth t with Konat. UNL's Konai swatfs 'The Fly' m districi Golden Gloves horn ( t -SV ) - y y .... -X Staff photo by Craig Andresen Konat attempts to help Santistevan to his feet after the knockout. Santistevan, while in another realm of reality, had tried to crawl through the ropes at ringside. CoacGn Uub By Chris Wclsch Willi a short right hook, Felix Konat swatted the fly. Konat, of the UNL boxing dub, knock ed out defending Midwest Regional champ ion Carlos "The Fly" Santistevan at the Southeast District Golden Gloves cham pionship Saturday night at Pershing Audi torium. Konat struck the winning blow 2:58 into the first round. He then knocked out Shahid Salahudin after 2:54 in the second round to win the 165-pound division cham pionship. Konat said he avoided fighting "Sa li tis! evan's fight" - a close-in brawling style. Instead he stayed out of Santiste van's reach, returning each of Santistevan's blows with two-punch combinations. "I saw Carlos come in with a long right hook," Konat said. "1 leaned forward and came in with a short right hook. He hit me, but obviously mine had more power." Santistevan said he was trying a new style and Konat's aggressiveness caught him off-guard. "I'm a brawler," he said. "I tried a new style tonight. I tried to take my time and box him, but it didn't work." Konat fought Santistevan in last year's Southeast championship and was defeated. Konat floored Salahudin with a punch to his mid-section. Both Salahudin and Santistevan are of the Suite 9 Club. UNL boxing coach Randy Nelson said he was pleased with the performance of the UNL team. "We had a good time" he said. Marc Grimmingcr of UNL won the 178- pound division championship. Grimmingcr won his f irst fight against Suite l) Spencer Ivory. The referee called the bout 2 02 into the first round. Grimmingcr went on to defeat Charlie Canfield of Beatrice lor the Southeast title. The referee called the fight 2:2b into the third round. UNL's John Krolikowski won the heavyweight championship by knocking out Steve Sackett of Suite 9. Krolikowski floored Sackett after 59 seconds of the first round. It was Krolikowski's first fight for UNL and his first knockout. "I can still feel that punch," he said after the fight. "My face hurts though; he caught me once." Carl Von Rien won the superheavy weight division uncontested. All of Satur day's champions will advance to the Mid west Regional Golden Gloves champion ships March 4 and 5 in Omaha. UNL's Dan Lonowski lost a decision to Wayne Fisher of the Suite 9 Club. Lonowski, boxing in the 139-pound class, had a cast removed from his hand 10 days before the fight. Fisher went on to defeat Daryll Mum of Fremont in the bloodiest fight of the evening. Curt White of UNL lost his 119-pound class fight when the referee called the fight after 2:41 in the second round. White knocked Ed Uhart of the Menefce Boxing Club down once in the first round, but Uhart came back and stopped White. Other Southeast district champions were: George Fisher at 132 (Suite 9), Mike Deloach at 147 (Suite 9), who de feated UNL's Tim Huston and Doug Kalu za at 156 (Suite 9). By Mark Quandahl Nebraska Diving Coach Jeff Huber laughed when he gave his reason for com ing to Nebraska five years ago. "I came here to get out of the smog," he said. 'T really enjoy living in the Mid west and I really enjoy Lincoln." "But," Huber continued, "that was only half the reason." The quality of the facilities at the Bob Devaney Sports Cen ter and a financially sound athletic prog ram at UNL also influenced his decision, he said. Under Huber, the Nebraska divers have dominated Big Eight action by snagging six out of eight conference championships. The team's first Big Eight crown in 1979 probably was the biggest thrill of his coaching career. "We were the surprise winners," he said, "but not only that, it gave us the feeling that our diving team could con tribute towards winning the champion ship, just to come through on the last day and win - that was really exciting and IH never forget that." Huber said freshman Eric Ognibene has done a super job during his first year i helm Aem j on the team. Ognibene, who is recognized as being one of the most outstanding athletes in the country, was last year's Texas State High School Champion. "We battled for him pretty hard over the University of Texas," Huber said. "We were lucky to get him." Ognibene, who is deaf, said one major reason he decided to go to UNL is be cause of their excellent services for the handicapped. Also, he said, it was because of Coach Jeff Huber, who Ognibene cal led "a really good diver." "Right now I'm really happy," Ogni bene said. "I've learned a lot of new dives. Jeff Huber has really improved me a lot." Ognibene said his handicap is actually an asset when it comes to diving. "As a matter of fact, I can concentrate better," he said. "A lot of people have noises, but I don't even hear it. I guess that's one thing I'm lucky about." Huber said he doesn't know exactly how he recruited 1980 Olympian Rey naldo Castro, who is a sophomore this season. "All the other coaches say I go out and play raquetball during the day, then come back and sign another recruit," n e (Dioinniiiniaiie Huber said. "I'm sure there's a lot of luck involved and a lot to do with the facility." Castro said he signed with the Corn huskers because he knew and competed against most of the Nebraska divers, so he thought it would be a very interesting place to be. "Plus the school," he said. "All the facilities are close. I really enjoy the place and it's a nice town." Castro said he thinks this year's team has a lot of potential. "It's a matter of work and making things work together," he said, "not only physically, but mentally." He said his own goals for this year are to qualify for Nationals on both diving boards, like he did last year. Junior Mike Heaton said he came to Nebraska because he thought he could reach his full potential here. "Mike's doing great," Huber said. "Right now if we stopped, Mike gets the 'most improved diver' for the year." "We're looking forward to a good finish," Heaton said. Both Heaton and senior Dave Good win extolled the virtues of the Sport i Center pool and the Husker swimming and diving program. "The facility is a great luring agent," Goodwin said. "They've started to put some money in the program and it's really developed." "It's been a real nice thing to have Dave Goodwin on the team," Huber said. "He's been a real hard worker and he's set some good examples." Goodwin was a bit more modest in his self-appraisal. "Generally, I've had fun the whole time here," he said. "This whole year I've been doing a lot better than I have in the past," Good win said. "I'd like to definitely make AU-American at NCAA's." Last year Goodwin placed third on both the three and one-meter boards at Big Eights and qualified for NCAA's on both boards. "Looking at it from the Big Eight perspective we've really been a great team," he said. "We've really been going out there and getting to it." Huber said the Big Eight dominance was simply "a matter of us being good and the conference being down."
