Tuesday, June 24, 1986
Daily Nebraskan
Page 7
Track coach signs
By Jeff Apel
Sports Editor
The final verdict is still out on how
successful the recruiting season has
been for the Nebraska men's and
women's track teams.
Nebraska track coach Gary Pepin
said he is very satisfied with the 13
athletes he has signed so far. But he's
waiting before he assesses this year's
recruiting class because the Corn
huskers are hoping to sign more athletes.
"We're not through yet," Pepin said.
"We're hoping to sign anywhere from
two to five more guys and at least one
girl."
Pepin said he has had trouble find
ing sprinters for the Husker men's
track team, because of the academic
standards required by the newly-imposed
Proposition 48.
After analyzing almost 100 sprinters,
Much recruited baseball player
satisfied with choice of Auburn
By Jeff Apel
Sports Editor
When Gregg Olson signed a baseball
letter-of-intent to attend Auburn last
spring, most Nebraska baseball fans
shrugged it off by saying that the
Omaha native would be selected in the
major league draft.
But when major league scouts chose
to pass over Olson because of his inflated
contract demands, the same Cornhus
ker fans who had predicted him to be
drafted as high as the first round sud
denly realized what the Husker base
ball program had lost.
Olson, an Omaha Northwest gradu
ate, had compiled a 27-0 record during
his three-year career as a Huskie.
He had also teamed with his father,
coach Bill Olson, to guide the Omaha
Gladiators to the American Legion
baseball title during the summer of his
sophomore year in high school. Olson's
three year pitching record for the Gla
diators was 36-4.
Despite pitching in conditions which
included having more than ten major
league and college scouts at each of his
games, Olson proved himself capable of
cracking any college pitching rotation.
His fastball was consistently clocked
in the 100 mile-per-hour range.
Forty college baseball programs re
sponded to Olson's over-powering fast
ball by offering him a full scholarship
to play baseball.
Nebraska and Creighton were among
the schools on that list. But Olson said
he immediately eliminated all of the
schools in the Midwest because of the
climate.
"I wanted to go someplace where it
was warm," Olson said.
With that in mind, Olson narrowed
down his list of potential colleges to
five colleges.
Texas, Miami, Auburn, Mississippi
State and South Carolina were the
schools on Olson's final list of potential
colleges. Olson said he ended up choo
sing Auburn because of the school's
climate and because of the Tigers
strong athletic tradition.
"I knew I had made the right choice
from the minute I got here," Olson said.
"Things are working out as good as I
expected them to."
Olson said that he had a somewhat
difficult adjustment trying to play the
role of Tigers second pitcher in their
starting rotation.
He is no longer able to consistently
throw his fastball by college hitters, so
Olson said he has made somewhat of an
adjustment in order to be successful
against them.
"I've had to learn to set up my fast
ball," he said. "The times I got hit hard
were the times when I just threw it
right over the plate."
Olson said that he is convinced that
he has a lot to learn about the more
competitive college game looking back
at his freshman season with the Tigers.
After a slow start, Olson managed to
post a 7-3 record with a 5.72 earned run
Pepin said he found only "three or
four" who were able to meet the aca
demic requirements imposed by Pro
position 48.
"It's not by coincidence that all of
those sprinters weren't eligible," Pepin
said. "It's just that's an event where
the overall grade point average just
isn't as high as some of the others."
Pepin said that many Division I col
leges tried to get around the lack of
eligible sprinters by signing athletes
who couldn't meet the NCAA's aca
demic requirements.
Those colleges are gambling that the
athletes will meet academic eligibility
by sitting out their first year of college
athletics. But Pepin said that under
most circumstances he would not con
sider taking such a risk.
"We don't feel that is right," he said.
Pepin said that he is confident that
the eight women and five men athletes
y
V
i
1
Olson
average for the 31-24 Tigers. Fourteen
of his nineteen pitching appearances
were made as a starting pitcher, while
the other five pitching appearances
came in a relief role.
"I am willing to contribute any way I
can," Olson said.
Olson said he considered it a great
honor to be a teammate of Bo Jack
son's, the Tigers' Heisman Trophy win
ning running back.
Jackson spent the early part of the
baseall season with the Tigers but was
declared ineligible by the NCAA after
he took a free trip to Tampa, Florida for
a physical examination by the NFL's
Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Although Jackson knew he would
soon be a wealthy individual, Olson
said he tried to fit in just as any other
student-athlete on the Auburn campus.
"I could tell he got tired of all the
attention he was getting," Olson said.
"Everytime he would walk around the
campus, someone would stop him to
ask him about his athletic career."
Olson said Jackson often tried to
escape the attention he received by
trying to be by himself as much as
possible.
porti
13 recruits so far
he has signed will be assets to the
Husker track and field teams.
This year, Cornhusker coaches chose
to take a close look at each athlete to
whom they were considering offering a
scholarship in hopes of learning as
much as possible about them.
Though the process was extremely
time consuming, Pepin said that it
should lead to a better Nebraska track
and field team.
"We've got a lot of good athletes who
are not only good competitors," he
said, "but they have also got a lot of
character."
Among the athletes the Cornhuskers
signed were:
Sharon Powell, a transfer from East
ern Oklahoma State College. She was
the 1986 National Junior College
Athletic Association champion in the
600 and 800 indoors and the 880 and
mile outdoors.
Photo courtesy Auburn SID
During the baseball season, Olson
said Jackson would often sit and think
in the dugout about whether to pursue
a career in professional baseball or the
NFL.
Now Jackson has made his choice of
choosing to sign with the Kansas City
Royals, Olson said he is convinced
Jackson will one day become a success
in the major leagues.
"He has all the tools," Olson said of
Jackson. "It's just he had so many other
things on his mind when he was trying
to play baseball at Auburn."
tht Tcisrsl Depository
iSraiyPregraia
... ... - I.
Jody Fischer, a junior college transfer
from Taft, California College who com
petes in middle and long distance
events.
Toyia Barnes, a transfer from El
Camino Junior College in Torrance,
Calif., who captured the state discus
championship with a throw of 151-1 1.
Beth Webster, a sprinter-hurdler from
Sanford High School in West Grove, Pa.
Pam Brown, a discus thrower from
Clarks whose best throw (156-1 1) ranks
among the top-five high school throws
in the country.
Juliet Prowse, a distance runner
from South Africa.
Kim Guthrie, a sprinter and jumper
from Amarillo, Texas who captured a
gold medal in the state high school
track and field competition.
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