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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 17, 1987)
Tuesday, February 17, 1987 Daily Nebraskan Page 5 J5j Women gymnasts defeat Ambnam; prepare for By Rich Cooper Staff Reporter Auburn women's gymnastics coach Robert Dillard said he doesn't like los ing, especially to former assistant coaches. That was the case, though, Sunday night at the Bob Devaney Sports Center as Nebraska defeated Dillard's team 183.40 to 178.80. Nebraska coach Rick Walton was an assistant coach for Dillard during the 1980-81 season at Jacksonville State before moving on to coach at Georgia. While at Georgia, Walton defeated Dil lard twice. Sunday's victory was Wal ton's third in a row. "Ever since Rick left me and went to Georgia, I haven't been able to beat him," Dillard said. "I don't know if I Huskers land Central star Flowers By The Associated Press OMAHA Omaha Central High School running back Leodis Flowers signed a letter of intent Monday to attend Nebraska. With Flowers' commitment, Nebraska has obtained the signatures of 22 foot KU gives By Tim Hartmann Senior Reporter " In their final tuneup before post season competition the Nebraska men's and women's swim teams posted victo ries over Kansas Saturday at the Bob Devaney Sports Center. :,..,,;;:.,: The men won by a 69-44 margin, and the women posted a 60-53 victory. Nebraska men's coach Cal Bentz said he was pleased with the victory, but added that his team will have to continue to work hard in preparation for the Big Eight Conference meet, which will be March 5 through 7 in Lincoln. "It was a good meet and we were pleased to do well, Bentz said. "We've got a lot of things we've got to focus on." Bentz said he was particularly pleased with the swimming of freshman Jaco Kruger, sophomore Mike Irvin and jun ior Ed Jowdy. Tob wrestler still not satisfied, wants By Steve Sipple Staff Reporter Mike Traynor, Nebraska's top 190 pound wrestler, said he isn't satisfied with his season yet. This is probably bad news for oppo nents he'll face on the rest of the Corn huskers' schedule, including the Big Eight Conference tournament. To be satisfied, Traynor said he wants to win in the Huskers' last three duals, to place in the top two in the Big Eight and to win a couple of matches at nationals. Nebraska has duals with North Dakota, Wyoming and Drake before the conference tournament in Stillwater, Okla., March 7, Traynor says he expects three dual victories heading into the tournament, where he'll probably be the No. 2 or No. 3 seed. The top four finishers automatically qualify for the national tournament at the University of Maryland, March 19 through 21. If Traynor, a redshirt freshman with an 18-15 record, reaches his goals, he will have had a year that would likely satisfy most upperclassmen. For a freshman, reaching these goals would be exceptional. But Traynor downplays his achievements. "I've been up and down," he said. "I haven't had that good a season. Hope fully I'll do good in the Big Eight." With three more dual victories and wins in the conference and national rematclk with Sooneir like that too much. Everybody seems to think that I taught him how to coach, but that's not true. I just gave him an opportunity to start coaching, and he's come a long way since those days at Jacksonville." The Cornhuskers opened up a big lead in the fifth rotation by scoring a 46.9 on the vault while Auburn scored a 44.15 on the uneven bars. Jeaneane Smith tied the Nebraska record by scoring a 9.6 on the vault. Smith fin ished second behind teammate Crystal Savage in the all-around with a 37.40. Savage scored a personal best of 37.50. Still, he said, the score of 183 gives Nebraska the fifth-highest scoring aver age in the country and the third highest average in the Midwest regional behind No. 2-ranked Arizona and No. 1 Utah. Walton said he didn't understand ball recruits this month. The 5-11, 188-pound back chose Nebraska over Oklahoma and Iowa. Flowers gained 1,203 yards in seven games his senior year. He missed two games because of injury, but rebounded to rush for 326 yards in his final high- swimmers "I think Jaco Kruger swam well," Bentz said. "He had a good 1,650 (-yard freestyle), a good 400 (-yard) IM, and a good 500 (-yard) free. Mike (Irvin) was good and Ed Jowdy swam well." Kruger finished second in both the 1,650 freestyle and the 500 freestyle and placed fourth in the 400 individual medley. Irvin won the 400 IM, and Jowdy finished second in the 200-yard backstroke and teamed with Sean Frampton, Doug Hubner and Dan Novinski to win the 400-yard medley relay. The divers also had strong perfor mances, Bentz said. "The divers must have done really well, even without Eric Ognibene," he said. Ognibene, an NCAA qualifier in the one- and three-meter diving events, was competing in the America's Cup II Div ing Championships in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. In his absence, junior Wes Zimmer man picked up the slack and won both tourneys, Traynor will have achieved marks that few freshmen manage at Nebraska: a winning record of more than 50 percent and more than 20 vic tories. By comparison, Nebraska's senior 134-pounder, Gil Sanchez, who has consistently been one of the top-ranked wrestlers in his class, won 15 matches as a freshman. "Anybody who goes over .500 will be an All-American twice," coach Tim Neumann said. "He will be dominant as a junior and senior." But Traynor has taken his lumps this year, which could explain his dissatis faction. He attributes many of his losses to inexperience, as he has wrestled primarily juniors and seniors the entire year. With more experience, Traynor expects more success. "I've lost a lot of close matches because I just wasn't ready," he said. "A lot of it's mental. The older you get the stronger and mentally tougher you get. "You've got to stick with it. Pretty soon instead of losing close matches you'll win them." As an example, he mentioned last weekend's loss to Northern Iowa's Jeff Weatherman, who pinned Traynor in., 2:22. Weatherman is a fifth-year senior. Neumann thinks the tables will be turned in matches like last weekend's as Traynor gains experience. "He is wrestling mostly juniors and seniors," Neumann said. "He'll be more why his team had problems on the bal ance beam and uneven bars. "After the vault," we were on a 186 (point) pace," he said. "But it seemed like everything seemed to fall apart on the beam and bars. Even though we came away with a win tonight, I'm unhappy we didn't score higher, be cause it's not how many wins you get, it's what your scoring average is that gets you into the NCAA finals." Walton said that Nebraska will be tested during the next couple of weeks by tougher competition. The Huskers will travel to Tulsa next weekend to face Oklahoma in a dual meet. Nebraska defeated the Sooners 184.90 to 182.20 in the Heartland Invi tational Feb. 7. Nebraska's next home appearance after the Oklahoma dual will be on March 6 against Iowa State. school game against Council Bluffs Thomas Jefferson. Flowers gained 3,119 yards in his prep career, scoring 39 touchdowns. Nineteen high-school players and two junior-college players already have signed letters of intent to attend Nebraska. tuneup events. Nebraska also received first-place finishes from Pat Klaren in the 500 yard freestyle, Tom Stus in the 200-yard butterfly and Hubner in the 100-yard freestyle. The Cornhuskers dominated the 50 yard freestyle. Tony Poleo finished first, Novinski second, and Marty Amsler third. Kansas coach Gary Kempf said he was impressed with Nebraska the No. 16-ranked team in the country, and he said he knows his men's team will have to swim well to defeat the Huskers in the Big Eight meet. "We have to come in here and swim better than we ever have in our life," he said. Kempf said that even though Ne braska will be the favorite, his team will swim hard and push Nebraska. "We're coming here to make it a close race," Kempf said. "We're going to do everything we can do to make them better." dominant than he has been dominated. "He'll be as good or better than any body he has wrestled." These high hopes are what ex-coach Bob Fehrs and Neumann had in mind when they recruited Traynor out of Ellsworth High in Ellsworth, Wis. There he compiled a 61-3-0 record, including a state championship and a runner-up finish. He was one of the most highly recruited 190-poundcrs in the nation his senior year, Neumann said. Louisi ana State, Michigan and Minnesota also recruited him. In Traynor, Fehrs and Neumann were impressed with the physical strength and exceptional technique he used to dominate opponents. Neumann knows firsthand of Traynor's strength. He wrestles him daily in practice. "He's one of the strongest individu als I've ever wrestled," Neumann said. His dominance in high school may be one reason for Traynor's dissatisfac tion now, Neumann said. "He's a competitor," Neumann said. "He came out of high school with an 'I can kick anybody's butt' attitude. If he was satisfied I'd be worried. It's good he's unsatisfied. He'll get better." With improvement, Neumann said, he feels Traynor has the physical tools to be an All-American in the future. For now, Traynor has his sights set on the remainder of the schedule and the Big Eight tournament. He wants satisfaction. Traynor's main competition in the Drake trips up NU By Mark Darowitsch Staff Reporter The Nebraska women's tennis team's spring home opener was spoiled by Drake over the weekend as the Bulldogs defeated the Corn huskers 6-3. Drake captured five of six singles matches and one doubles match. The Maskers' lone singles win was by Cari Gr:e, v;!.r !cf:irod Jennifer Paslcy 6-1, G 0 in Die No. 4 singles match. Nebraska rebounded after the singles matches to tike two cf three doubles matches. Doneta Ihlr.aa and Vickie Martin defeated Iehd McClelland and Giselo Eauin 3 6, 6-1 and 6-0. Jenny Dic'-ich and Anno Stevens defeated Jenifer Pasley ar.d Sara Arnold 7 6, 3-6 and 6-2. Nebraska coach Ktthy Kr.'.Hns sc'.d she v;zs disccir.i.'d ty the I "'"4 fa I-'Va t;--"A fx a T'-.-'-r-j ;:!r.c:;t d:iz: led then L.tL'l. "We drcjod five of the s.ix jin gles matches and that was the match right there," Hawkins said. SwimmeFS By Jeff Apel Staff Reporter Attention immediately turned to the upcoming Big Eight Conference cham pionships Saturday after the Nebraska women's swimming team's 60-53 vic tory against Kansas. Nebraska coach Ray Huppert said that although he was glad to see the Cornhuskers defeat archrival Kansas, he was concerned because he doesn't know what impact the victory will have on Nebraska's preparations for the Big Eight championships. The Big Eight championships will be March 4 through 7 at the Bob Devaney Sports Center. Huppert said his greatest fear is that Nebraska's victory will have such an emotional impact on the 4-2 Jayhawks that Kansas will be more determined than ever to win this year's Big Eight title. Huppert also said that he has to make certain the victory doesn't go to the Huskers' heads. "A win can make a team cocky, but I'll see to it that we don't become cocky," he said. "We've got to make to win last Big Eight will likely come from Iowa State's No. 2-ranked Doug Voelkers. Voelkers will be the No. 1 seed and Traynor will have to beat him for the championship. But he thinks a victory Doug CarrollDaily Nebraskan Nebraska's ISO-pounder Mike Traynor works on moves against teammate Sonny Manley during practice Monday afternoon. "I thought we would play Drake much tougher than that. But Drake played very well. They came in ready to play from game one. "I though we definitely could (beat Drake). One of the doubles I thought we should have won, and I thought we could have won two or three singles matches." After losing to Drake, the Huskers defeated Tulsa 8-1 to raise their dual record to 4-2. Nebraska won five of the six single matches. The Huskers swept all three doubles matches. "1 was surprised in the set scores," Hawkins said. "I thought we could beat them 8-1 or 9-0. In the individ ual matches, we went through thera very quickly." Haw kins said that she was pleased with the Diedrich and Stephens' doubles play. They won both cf their matches. "They played fairly well together," Hawkins said. "They are a new com bination, tut they communicated well together." "Overall, they all played well in two out of the three sets," she said. set record sure we spend the next couple of weeks training so we are bound and deter mined to win." Huppert said the win over Kansas was special because it gave Nebraska its 1 1th win of the season, a new school record. The old record of 10 wins was held by last year's team. "I'm very happy for the team," Hup pert said. "Each team is unique in its own way, but this team is unique in its itself because of (the record)." Huppert said he was particularly pleased with the performances of Erin Hurley and Lee Pennefather against the Jayhawks. Pennefather finished first in the 200 yard backstroke and Hurley overcame the sickness that has plagued her all season and won the 200-yard breast stroke, Huppert said. "Erin came through with a beautiful performance," he said. "That was a key race." Kansas coach Gary Kempf said de spite the loss he was pleased with what the Jayhawks did. "We have some weak spots," Kempf said, "but our biggest thing is just a continued rest factor, so we pick up our speed." three du .s is possible. "We'll be working hard the next two or three weeks in practice and if I'm in good condition, I can beat him," he said.