Snorts
Nebraska women’s swimming coach Ray Huppert and new assistant coach Mike
McManus discuss strategy during a workout Wednesday at the Bob Devaney Sports
vWllWb
New assistant coach McManus
will emphasize 'stroke efficiency'
By Jeff A pel
Senior Editor
It took a little influence and a
big cut in pay, but new Nebraska
assistant women’s swimming
coach Mike McManus has finally
entered the collegiate coaching
ranks.
McManus, who replaced Mike
Hayhurst as the Comhuskers’ as
sistant coach and recruiting coordi -
nator, said he chose to end his 16
year coaching career at the high
■ school and club levels in Minne
sota to take his position at Ne
braska because he always dreamed
of becoming a collegiate coach.
McManus said his decision also
was influenced by Kristen Nenen
feldt, a Husker freshman whom he
coached while she was with the
Mach III Flyers club team in Min
neapolis. He said Neuenfeldt al
ways called to see if he had made a
decision on whether he was com
ing to Nebraska.
u was a continuous process,
McManus said. "1 finally decided
that I had to get off my butt and
make the change."
McManus said his transition to
Nebraska has been both smooth
and rough since his arrival in mid
August
He said the most difficult aspect
he had to conquer was the chal
lenges presented by the academic
tutoring he voluntarily performs
twice a week. He said he used the
10 years of teaching experience he
acquired while coaching at Apple
Valley High School in Minneapo
lis to overcome the problems.
“What I like to do is break down
the material,” McManus said. “I’m
pretty good at that, I guess.”
McManus said his adjustment
was also rough because his annual
salary of $9,600 is “about half’ of
what he earned while teaching and
coaching in Minnesota. He said his
social life also has suffered since
moving to Lincoln.
“There hasn’t been a whole lot
of social activity,” McManus said,
“but slowly that aspect will start to
pick up.”
McManus said all the members
of the Nebraska women’s swim
ming team have helped him ease
into the transition by being recep
tive to his new ideas. He said he has
been surprised by how cooperative
the Huskers have been.
The transition also was
smoothed, McManus said, be
cause he knew Nebraska women’s
swimming coach Ray Huppert
through previous recruiting visits.
He said ne was also familiar with
the Husker program because five
swimmers he coached at either the
high school or club levels attended
Nebraska.
“I felt it was time for a change,”
McManus said, “and this seemed
like the ideal situation.”
Huppert said McManus was
chosen from a wide field of appli
cants because of his previous
coaching experience. He said
McManus’ experience at the high
school and club levels placed him
“head and shoulders” above the
rest of the applicants.
“Any time you take someone
with head coaching background
you’re that much further Song,”
Huppert said. “We lost a very good
coach in Mike Hayhurst, but we
also gained a very good one ”
Huppert said McManus will
give the Huskers strong recruiting
ties in Minnesota. He said there is
a “strong possibility” that more
swimmers from the Minneapolis
area will be coming to Nebraska in
the future.
Huppert said McManus had an
immediate impact on the Husker
program because he introduced
stroke efficiency. He said that was
an area neither he nor Hayhurst had
emphasized m the past.
“I needed a boost in that area,”
Huppert said.
McManus said he has empha
sized stroke efficiency throughout
his coaching career. He said it is
through proper training that leads
to stroke efficiency that swimmers
can see drastic improvements in
their times.
NU women’s soccer club
triumphs in first match
By Lori Griffin
Staff Reporter
In its first competition, the Ne
braska women’s soccer club recently
defeated Benedictine College with a
score of 4-1. The club, a brain
child of University of Nebraska-Lin
coln sophomore Tricia McGill, has
been proposed by several students the
last two years, said Stan Campbell,
director of Campus Recreation and
soccer club adviser.
McGill said she contacted
Campbell in early September about
forming a club. She said about 40
women attended an organizational
meeting where the members decided
on a practice schedule and planned
matches. The club now has about 20
members who attend practices regu
larly, she said.
Campbell said he liked the idea of
having a women’s soccer club.
“I think that it is an appropriate
time to survey the interest,” Campbell
said. He said that with the help of the
interest shown by McGill, it became a
reality.
The team will be competing in fall
and spring seasons. A Big Eight tour
nament will be held in conjunction
with the men’s club during the spring
season, Campbell said.
McGill, a transfer student who
played varsity soccer while attending
Quincy College in Quincy, 111., said
getting the club together has been hard
on the pocketbook. She said club
members are required to pay $10 to
$15 per trip, and are also expected to
pay any annual expenses that exceed
the $200 allotted by the Office of
Campus Recreation.
The funding the club receives from
campus recreation is used for referee
fees and some equipment, McGill
said. She said the team is in the process
of purchasing uniforms.
All club sports arc required to pay
at least 50 percent of their funding,
Campbell said. McGill said the
women’s team is trying to get a fund
raising project together, but has not
decided what it will do.
Campbell said he thinks the inter
est in soccer at the college level will
soar in the future.
Campbell said with the recent pass
ing of the Nebraska School Activities
Association legislation that recog
nizes soccer as a sanctioned high
school sport interest will grow. He
said he hopes high school soccer par
ticipants will continue to play the
game as a club sport at the college
level.
Campbell also said soccer at the
youth level is beginning to grow. He
said growth will continue to increase
over the years, which will help the
sport at the college level.
McGill said she is happy that a
women’s soccer team has formed at
Nebraska.
“It’s about time that it is here,” she
said.
Preconditioning program
I shapes up women athletes
By Kyle Schurman
I Staff Reporter
Five members of the Nebraska
women’s basketball team took a con
ditioning class over the summer that
they say helped them to become
stronger and get in shape for the
team’s preseason program.
Members of both the women’s
basketball team andtheCornhusker
football team took
the class. Ne
braska junior
guard Amy Bul
lock said the pro
gram was differ
ent from others
she has partici
pated in because it
adjusted to fit -
, Fiene
each person s progress.
Nebraska senior guard Pam Fiene
said it was important that the class
adjusted for the individuals because
football and basketball players need
different conditioning.
“Whereas the football players
worked on things that helped them,”
Fiene said, “there was a program
designed for us, too.”
The class consisted of running sta
dium stairs, agility drills and weight
lifting. The class was originally de
signed for football players, but Ne
braska women’s basketball coach
Angela Beck started asking her play
ers to take it when she came to Ne
braska in 1986.
Beck said this is the second year
members of the women’s basketball
team have taken the class.
Beck said Bullock, Fiene, seniors
Maurtice Ivy and Heather Smith, and
junior Kim Harris took the class this
summer. Beck said she started asking
her players to take the class to “try and
keep the players involved with condi
tioning.”
“Those players who took the class
are in better condition,” Beck said.
“They went through a challenging
five weeks ”
Fiene, Bullock and Ivy all said the
weight lifting helped. Fiene said the
weight lifting made her much stronger
and will help make her less injury
prone.
Bullock said the class helped her
get ready for the basketball team’s
preseason.
“It gave me a taste of what it would
be like this fall when we started our
preconditioning,” she said.
Bullock said the class members did
a lot of spring and distance running to
improve agility and condition. She
said she is in better shape than team
members who didn’t take the class.
Bullock said Beck encouraged
everyone to take the class if they could
fit it into their summer schedule.
“This is the best shape I’ve ever
been in,” Bullock said. “I’m glad I
took the class.”
Volleyball team not relaxing, Pettit says
By Mark Derowitsch
Senior Reporter
Nebraska volleyball coach Terry
Pettit said the Comhuskers can’t af
ford to relax die rest of the season ever
though they clinched at least a share ol
the Big Eight championship.
“That’s what we work for,” Pcttil
said. “We don’t want to relax, but wc
want to work harder so no one over
takes us. I think we’ll improve in the
remaining weeks of the season, so I
don’t think there will be a letdown.”
The Huskers also clinched the No.
1 seed in the Big Eight Tournament
with their 15-7, 8-15, 15-7, 15-4 win
against Kansas State Tuesday night at
Manhattan, Kan.
Pettit said although he wasn’t dis
pleased the Wildcats won the second
set, the Huskers could improve.
“I wasn’t disappointed wc lost but
that we missed 11 serves in the game,”
Pettit said. “Kansas State is a good
team, but if we wouldn’t have missed
all those serves we probably would
have won the game.”
Nebraska committed 20 service
errors in the match. Although serving
has been one of the Huskers’ strongest
areas this season, Pettit said the serv
ing wasn’t consistent as it has been.
“Mentally, we were a little too
tight,” Pettit said. “Plus, the crowd
was fired up and it changed our focus.”
Even though Kansas State won the
second set, Pettit said the victory
could have hurt the Wildcats in the
long run.
“I think the second game was just
too long for them,” Pettit said. “It took
a long time to complete and after
wards they were kind of spent emo
tionally."
Kaihi DeBoer led the Huskers with
22 kills. Her 391 kills this season
move her into fifth place on the Husk
ers’ single-season kill list. DeBoer, a
senior from Firth, needs 103 kills to
become the all-time kill leader during
a season.
Carla Baker had 13 kills, and Vir
ginia Stahr added 11. As a team, the
Huskers had a hitting percentage of
.376.
Pettit said the Huskers attacked the
ball well.
“We played well as a team,” Pettit
said. “Lori Endicott had an exception
ally good match. She set the ball very
well, and our middle attack hit well.”
Endicotl had seven kills and no
hitting errors, and added two solo
blocks. She also had 45 setting assists.
Pettit said the Huskers also shut
down the Wildcat offense. Kansas
State hit .184 percent.
“They ’re a real good team and they
played a good team,” Pettit said.
“They have a real good outside hitter
in Shawnee Call.
“We struggled a little but we came
back hard.”