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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 10, 1985)
Thursday, October 10, 1985 Daily Nebraskan Page 13 Sporf v v Photo courtesy Dave Bentz Mike Morosln of the UNL Water Polo team moves with the bail in a recent match at the Coliseum. Water polo club's success hidden by more recognizable team sports By Chuck Green Staff Reporter Nebraska's athletic program is filled with perennial top 20 teams, mostly dealing with sports of high recognition such as football, volleyball and base ball. But the best-kept secret on campus is a group that isn't registered as an actual team. The Nebraska water polo club, coached by Mike Morosin, is trying to make a name for itself in the Corn husker athletic department. "Water polo is one of the tougher sports around," Morosin said. "Players who play water polo have to be good athletes." One member of the team is Jeremy Connor. Connor was involved in an automobile accident last summer and suffered brain damage. Morosin said Connor's father contacted him to see if he could "help Jeremy's swimming and bring more positive aspects into his life." "Being a member of the team helps Jeremy feel like one of the group, and not different from the other kids. Being around the other team members also helps him to socially interact more," Morosin said. Junior Co ranks in t By Jeff Apel Staff Reporter Just as Nebraska is considered a powerhouse of major college football, toffeyville Junior College in Coffey ville, Kan., is considered to have one of the top junior college football programs. Coffeyville, which has a total enroll ment of only 900, finished in the top 15 among junior colleges for the last 10 years under coach Dick Foster. Included in that success string was ajumor college national championship loir 40(1 a rurrier-up finish in both JW5 and 1983, when former Nebraska ning back Mike Rozier led the Red Havens to the No. 2 spot. Despite his team's past success, I X er said this year's S(luad the same caliber as past teams. Last year, 1 2 of our kids went on to Py major college football but this year qT; think we have a sin8le kid who uiat caliber of a player," Foster said. v i Same with Nebraska comes at a rial a time fcir us because we Just vma two big games in a row and we "J eremy's parents say he comes home tired now and doesn't fight with his brothers and sisters, so we've started to break through in that aspect, too," he said. The team played a game last Sunday against the Air Force Academy, the seventh-ranked team in the nation. "We were tied at seven with 40 seconds left," Morosin said. "We fouled them inside the 4-meter line with 22 seconds left to play, which gave them a free-throw. They made it and held on to win, 8-7." "We had a lot of disadvantages, though. They had 20 players and we had seven (including Morosin), so we didn't have anyone to substitute. Plus, we were swimming at an altitude of 7,050 feet and to top it off, we arrived at midnight on Friday. The game was at 9 a.m. the next morning. But we still lost by only one point. Last year they beat us 14-2 and 7-2," he said. The team took third place (out of five teams) at the meet, but the other four teams were in the top 20 nationally. Connor played well in the meet, Morosin said. "We put Jeremy in and he did real well," Morosin said. "He got beat a few times, but that wasn't due to lack of trying. It was because Jeremy just wasn't as fast a swimmer as some of those other players yet." "Before the match, Jeremy came to me and said he wasn't sure he was ready to play. I said, 'yes you're ready' and he accepted that. He held his own, so that's just one more barrier we've pushed back." "Water polo puts kids with problems into real-life situations, where they'll have to deal with their problems on their own," he said. "There are lots of good programs, but not all of them help kids enough to where they can go out onto the streets and hold their own." "Jeremy's a real challenge to my coaching, but he also gives me the opportunity to experiment with differ ent situations. I set up this club to pass along skills to normal kids, as well as not-so-normal kids, and I'm able to take the kids one at a time," Morosin said. "Someday, I'd like to put together an entire team of kids like Jeremy. These kids are just as able to function in the real world," he said. "Hopefully, a pro gram like this will help other programs for special people. Maybe other pro grams will look at what we've done here and use it as an inspiration. They can say, OK, they did it now let's do it here." football ege s e top 15 for are physically beat up right now." Cnffewille. which has Droduced such well-known pro athletes as Rozier, Ron Springs of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Ted Watts of the New York Giants and Mel Gray of the Arizona Outlaws in the USFL, has compiled a 4-1 record so far this season. Even so, Foster said, the Red Ravens may be badly over-matched on Friday against a 1-0 Husker junior varsity squad. "1 saw a film of their (Nebraska s) win over Iowa State and I thought it was their varsity," Foster said. "They're awesome. I have never seen a freshman team that is so good." Although Coffeyville's squad currently contains no Nebraskans, Foster said he feels loyalty toward the Huskers after they allowed him to shelter Rozier for a year while Rozier overcame academic problems. "In the past, Division 1 schools were always willing to help us out by sending players down to us," Foster said. "Lately, however, only Purdue has been real cooperative in terms of helping us out. pro a decade If we are exDected to remain competi tive we are going to need that help in the future from the big schools." Freshman coach Dan Young, who last season watched his squad over come a 24-10 deficit going into the second half to post a 31-26 victory, said he is expecting a down-to-the-wire game, regardless of Foster's comments "I think his (Foster's) comments are what a typical coach might say," Young said. "He's trying to downplay his team although I'm expecting one exciting ball game from him." Young said the freshmen will be without defensive end Broderick Thomas and kicker Chris Drennan. Both will make the trip to Oklahoma State with the varsity. Young said his junior var sity squad will be more than prepared for Coffeyville. "We've had almost a month off now since our game with Iowa State so our players are ready to hit someone in a different colored jersey," he said. "We've been looking forward to this game and I'm sure we will be up for it." Letters Scholarships deserved It seems as if Bill Allen demises student athletes without consider ing the overall aspects of our colle giate careers. He believes we do not deserve our athletic dining and study areas or our academic counse lors and tutors. The costs of these benefits are absorbed by the athletic department and booster donations as well as dedication and hard work by athletes. Students do not pay for these functions. Gymnasts practice five hours each day, six days a week to accomplish their personal and team goals. This vigorous routine has been continu ous since grammar school. All sports require very taxing schedules, which proves that our scholarships are well earned. Allen also stereotypes student athletes into a category of academic cheaters and failures. Athletes are subject to the same penalties for plagiarism as everyone else, which deters us from cheating just as it deters others. Cheating is present at many universities, and studies show that it is done by a large var iety of students, not just student athletes by any means. As for aca demic failures, non-athletic students drop out of school just as some student-athletes do. Allen's thought of taking over Ursula Walsh's job as academic counselor is completely ridiculous. He couldn't come close to filling Walsh's shoes. The athletes at NU hope Allen doesn't write any more columns based on his narrow, personal opin ions, because it takes too much of our study time to write these re buttals. Neil Palmer Wes Suter NCAA Gymnastic All Americans The DRUMSTICK presents a fun & wild weekend with i (( L L . 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