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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 30, 1987)
Friday, January 30, 1987 cz z--ZZZi - r - : - : 1 - r tti . 'J f u :. r ' if I ' i --4. ' i i - ' CjR"p"V ) ,' . A" vow- Gymnasts on the road By Rich Cooper Staff Reporter The Nebraska gymnastics teams will travel this weekend to Oklahoma and Missouri. The men will compete at the Oklahoma Invitational in Norman, and the women will open their 1987 Big Eight Conference season against Missouri at Columbia. Men's coach Francis Allen said the meet at Oklahoma will be tough because the Sooners scored 280 points last week at home. Allen said he decided to take six gymnasts instead of five because the Sooners want to avenge the six-point loss they suffered to Nebraska at the Big Eight Invitational Dec. 5 and 6. "Oklahoma will be coming after us because we beat them pretty bad in December," Allen said. "Also, if they are going to make a name for themselves, this is the meet they will have to do it." Allen said he expects his three veteran all-arounders, senior Neil Palmer and juniors Tom Schlesinger and Kevin Davis, to score over 57. The meet is one of the four invitationals where gymnasts can qualify for the U.S. Championships June 18 through 21 in Kansas City, Mo. Davis was the first in the country to qualify for the U.S. Championships when he scored 57.05 in the all-around at the Big Eight Invitational. To qualify, a gymnast must record a two-day all around score of 108. Allen said he is worried about the Oklahoma meet because the Corn huskers have not competed since Dec. 14, when they lost to the Japan All-Stars. He said the other three gymnasts going to Norman will be freshmen Mark Warburton, Patrick Kirksey and Bobby Stelter. Warburton, recovering from elbow surgery, will compete only in three events. Kirksey and Stelter will compete in the all-around. Allen said the three events he is most worried about are the floor exercise, high bar and the vault. If anybody falls off these events, Allen said, the Huskers could lose a whole point. "This is going to be a close meet, so we can't afford to lose a full point," Allen said. "It's going to be a good meet, and we should get some good scores from it." The meet at Columbia will be the first of three in 1 12 weeks for the women. Husker coach Rick Walton said he hopes his team can score above 1 8:3 at Missouri and 184 Monday night at Utah. Walton said Missouri is the third best team in the Big Eight behind the Huskers and Oklahoma. Utah, 3-0 and ranked No. 1 in the nation, has posted a season high of 189.0 and has won the NCAA title six years in a row. The Huskers, 3-1, last week defeated No. 7 Penn State and No. 10 Ohio State with 182.25 points. Freshman Tami Bair won the all-around with a career-high 37.1. Walton said Bair should continue to be the "hot" gymnast for the Huskers because she is one of the healthier athletes on the team. Walton said sophomores Crystal Savage and Jeaneane Smith are plagued with iryuries. Savage will compete only on the uneven bars because of a sore ankle and Smith will compete in the all-around, but is not expected to score more than a 37.0 because of a sore instep. See GYMNASTICS on 8 i - - - 1 i j i j S 1 Daily Nebraskan "" f"tN T Nebraska's Keith Neubert goes for a layup ag.inst the Bosnia, Yugoslavia Club in the first game of the 1986-87 season. NemtoeFt says lie's in rigM sport By Tim Hartmann Senior Reporter Because Nebraska forward Keith Neubert stands 6-5 and weighs 235 pounds, some people think he might be playing the wrong sport. "I hear it all the time that I should be playing football," Neubert said. Neubert played football in high school and he performed well on the field. He was an honorable-mention All State pick his sophomore year as a fullback at Fort Atkinson, Wis. Several University of Wisconsin coaches told him they would watch him as a possible recruit. After his sophomore year in high school, Netfbert decided to quit football and concentrate on basketball. Two years later, Wisconsin did recruit Neubert, but it was to play basketball, not football. "I like basketball more," Neubert said, "and I just decided I would stick with that. I didn't want to risk messing it up." He didn't. During his senior year, Neubert led his team to a 19-1 record and a No. 2 ranking in the state's largest class. Neubert averaged 24.5 points and 9.3 rebounds per game, drawing recruiting interest from Ne braska, Marquette, Colorado State, : -"--1 - i , South Carolina and Kansas State. He eventually chose Nebraska for several reasons. "I just like the facilities here," Neubert said. "It wasn't loo far from home, and I thought the Big Eight was a good conference to play in." During his first two seasons at Nebraska, Neubert didn't see much action. This season, he thought, he has been one of the first men off the bench. Before Wednesday's loss to Missouri, Neubert averaged 5.4 points and 3.4 rebounds per game. Going into this season, Neubert said he didn't know where he stood on the team because former coach Moe Iba, who had recruited him, quit and was replaced by Danny Nee. "After I met Coach Nee I thought it was a good move," Neubert said. "I didn't know what to expect, but once I met him I thought he was a good guy and he was going to be a good coach." The Cornhuskers are off to an 11-7 start this season, but they are only 1-4 in the Big Eight Conference. "I think we're doing alright," Neubert said. "I think we have been gradually improving I hope we have been improving but I still think there is a lot of improving we can do." Neubert said he wants to improve his rebounding. Page 7 NIM.P-- Daily Nebraskan File Photo "My shot has been going down," he said. "I have been shooting the ball like I should be shooting it. I just need to be hitting boards a little harder." After playing in several Big Eight games, Neubert said he noticed that the referees are allowing ihe players to be more physical this season. "I love to play physical, but you have to be careful (of fouls)," Neubert said. "That's the only thing 1 can do. I'm giving up 6 inches, 7 inches to all these big guys, so all I can do is band mound with them. "They (referees) are letting us play this year, and that's good," Neubert said, "but we just have to start playing a little more physical. The last few games we just haven't been fighting hard enough, and I think we're going to have to start doing that. I think we will, I really do. We have 5 of the next 6 games including last night's Missouri (game) at home, and I think we play pretty well at home. It's hard to win on the road in the Big Eight. I am looking forward to these home games hope fully we VAn make up some ground." When Nebraska plays at home the crowd often greets Neubert with a loud "Neubert" when he enters the game or scores a point. "I have no ide (why the crowd yells)," he said.