Ratings 'shaken up'
at Husker Invitational
by Jeff Apel
* Senior Editor
and
Tim Hartmann
Staff Reporter
Arizona State men’s swimming
coach Ron Johnson and Nebraska
women’s coach Ray Huppert said a
shake up of the national rankings was
in order Sunday following the conclu
sion of the Husker Invitational at the
Bob Devaney Sports Center.
Johnson, whose Sun Devils entered
the meet with a No. 8 ranking, said the
No. 10-ranked Comhuskers were
underrated after he saw Arizona State
, drop a 807.5-781 decision to Ne
braska.
Wyoming finished third with 440
points, while Iowa State was fourth.
Missouri, Drury College, New Mex
ico, Air Force, St. Olaf, and North
Dakota rounded out the men’s compe
tition.
In the women’s competition, Ari
zona State defeated Nebraska 1,075
924. Colorado State finished third,
followed by Iowa State, North Da
kota, New Mexico, Missouri, Wyo
ming, and Air Force.
Johnson said Nebraska deserves
more national recognition than it has
received in the past. He said the Husk
ers don’t get any respect on the na
tional level despite possessing strong
relays and several outstanding indi
viduals.
“I think Nebraska is underrated,”
Johnson said. “The Nebraska team is
real powerful and 1 think they would
give any team in the country a good
meet. 1 think they’ve got an excellent
chance to finish in the top 10 at the
NCAA’s.”
Nebraska men’s swimming coach
Cal Bcntz said he was pleased with the
meet’s outcome because the Huskers
were able to perform well on the way
to defeating some strong competition.
He said Nebraska was able to use its
strong balance of swimmers and di
vers to post the victory.
“We had an opportunity to swim
against a great team,” Bcntz said.
“We’ll take a look at what we did,
make some changes and go from
there”
Bcntz said he was particularly
pleased with the meet’s outcome
because the Huskers were able to
quality 15 individuals for the NCAA
championships. The NCAA champi
onships will be held in Indianapolis,
Ind., on April 7-9.
The top individual qualifier for
Nebraska was Ed Jowdy, a senior from
Glastonbury, Conn. Jowdy broke his
own sports center record in the 200- ,
yard backstroke when he posted a
1:49.41 clocking. Jowdy also quali
fied in the 100-yard backstroke and
teamed with Peter Williams, Sean
Frampton and Ed Rief on Nebraska’s
400-yard medley relay.
Joining Jowdy as multiple-event
winners were Mike Irvin, Williams,
and divers Lewis Meyers and Law
rence Roddick.
Irvin broke his own sports center
record in the 200-yard individual
medley when he posted a 1:49.15
clocking, and also qualified for the
NCAA championships in the 400IM.
Irvin also teamed with Dan Novinski,
Rick Havckost and Williams on
Nebraska’s 400-yard freestyle relay.
Williams also qualified in the 50
yard free, while Meyers and Roddick
qualified in the 1- and 3-meler diving
competitions.
Bentz said the only disappoint
ments in the three-day meet were that
Frampton failed to qualify in the 100
yard breaststroke and Nebraska’s
800-yard freestyle relay team missed
qualifying oy sevcu-iciiuis ui u sec
ond.
Huppcrt said he remained optimis
tic even though the Nebraska women
qualified only three individuals.
Those individuals included All
America Erin Hurley in the 1 (X)- and
200-yard breaststroke, freshman
Deanna Wilbourn in the 100-yard
backstroke and Amy Aarscn in the 1 -
and 3-mcter diving competitions.
Huppcrt said he wasn’t concerned
about the lack of NCAA qualifiers
because the Huskcrs are barely miss
ing their cuts. He said he feels confi
dent that Nebraska will make some of
its cuts when it travels to Iowa City,
Iowa, to face the Iowa Hawkeycs on
Friday.
“We’re so close that there is not a
question in my mind they are going
to come to us,” Huppcrt said. "Those
cuts arc so damn tough, but we’ll get
them.”
Huppcrt said the meet convinced
him that the Huskers deserve to be
ranked higher than the No. 16-ranking
they currently own. He said he would
rank Nebraska No. 12 this week.
Huppert said the Sun Devils are
deserving of their No. 6-ranking.
Men's gymnastics team
takes first step to the top
By Richard Cooper
Staff Reporter
The Iasi time the Nebraska men’s
gymnastics team scored 280 in the
opening meet of the season was 1982,
when the Cornhuskers won their fifth
consecutive NCAA Championship.
Saturday night, the Husker gym
nasts took their first step toward win
ning their first NCAA title since 1983
at the Bob Devaney Sports Center,
scoring a 280.7 to win the Big Eight
Invitational.
Nebraska was Ipd by seniors Tom
Schlesingcr and Kevin Davis, who
finished 1-2 in the all-around compe
tition. Schlesingcr, last year’s NCAA
all-around champion, compiled a
score of 111.40, and Davis finished
with 110.05.
Schlesingcr finished first in thestill
rings and parallel bars, and tied for
first with teammate Bob Warburton
on the high bar. Davis finished first on
the pommel horse with 9.8.
Nebraska gymnastics coach
Francis Allen said the team score of
280.7 would surprise many coaches
around the nation.
“They’re going to look at our score
and say, ‘They scored a 280 without
Patrick Kirksey?”’ Allen said. “But
some of the top teams in the nation
know we’re going to be tough because
we have depth.”
Kirksey didn’t compete Saturday
because of lower back spasms. Allen
said he doesn’t know how serious
Kirkscy’s injury is.
“The doctors told me to not let him
compete and sec if he improves from
that,” Allen said. “It really is kind of
strange about the way he injured it. He
must have just slept on his back
wrong.”
Allen said he was pleased with the
performances of freshmen Ted Dimas
and Brad Bryan. Dimas finished sev
enth in the all-around with a 103.75.
“Ted’s a fighter,” Allen said. “He
goes after everything with 100 per
cent. He’s a killer, and he saves noth
ing. Brad, on the other hand, is very
smooth and very beautiful, so with the
two of them we’ve got ourselves a pair
of great gymnasts.”
Allen said the Huskcrs set two
goals at the beginning of the season: to
win every meet and to win the NCAA
Championship.
“We want to go unbeaten this
year,” Allen said. “If we can do that,
then we ’ 11 be pretty tough to beat at the
NCAA’s in April.”
Doug Carroll Daily Nebraskan
Nebraska’s Eric Johnson shoots over the outstretched hand of Ohio State center John
Anderson.
NU weaknesses, Ohio State guard
give Huskers a second-place finish
By Kent F.ndacott
Staff Reporter
It showed.
Nebraska men’s basketball
coach Danny Nee said his team’s
weaknesses showed up late in
Saturday’s 72-63 loss to Ohio
Stale in the championship game of
the Aineritas Cornhuskcr Classic
Saturday at the Bob Devaney
Sports Center.
Nebraska made a laic run at the
Buckeyes, pulling to 62-66 with
4:46 left in the game. But the
Huskers’ chances ended when
they turned the ball over tw ice and
failed to con vert free-lhrow oppor
tunities.
“We played a typical Nebraska
game,” Nee said. “We fought, we
scrapped, but weaknesses showed
up, like poor free-lhrow shooting
and droughts on the offense.”
Nee said his team’s lack of
poise and Ohio State guard Jay
Burson’s ability to deliver when
the rest of the Buckeyes struggled
offensively were the differences.
Burson, a 6-foot, 155-pound
guard, made shambles of the Ne
braska defenses, which were spe
cially designed to stop him. Bur
son hit 1 Oof 15 shots from the field
and six of six from the free-throw
line to finish with 28 points. Bur
son was named the Most Valuable
Player of the tournament.
“We couldn’t shut down the
penetration of their guards, and
Burson really dominated the game
with his penetration,” Nee said.
“We tried everything to stop him,
hut nothing seemed to work. We
threw everything but the kitchen
sink at him.”
Ohio State opened the game in
a full-court /one press, which the
Huskers were able to beat. Derrick
Vick scored the firsleight pointsof
the game off the last break.
“They were the fastest team
we’ve played so far, and we ad
justed to that,” said Ohio Suite
coach Gary Williams. “We
wanted them to play a half-court
game to Like them out of their
offense.”
With 7-ldot-2 freshman Rich
King playing in the middle of the
Nebraska /one, the Huskers shut
down the Buckeyes’ insidegameto
lead most of the first half. But Jerry
Francis kept Ohio State in the
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one for three points. Francis hit a
jumper with 3:33 left in the half to
give the Buckeyes a lead for the
first time. Ohio Stale led 38-34 at
the half.
In the second half, Peter Man
ning and Eric Johnson combined to
score six straight points to pull the
Huskers to42-43. With 6:43 left in
the game, Ohio State, 4-0, took its
biggest lead, 64-55, on two free
throws by Francis. Jeff Rckeweg’s
two foul shots brought Nebraska
back to 62-66.
“We gutted it out,” Williams
said. “We had to do something to
take control in the second half, and
everyone came together.”
Despite the loss, Nee said he
was encouraged with his team’s
play — especially that of the
young players. He said he thought
the loss will help Nebraska later
this season.
‘Tm really glad we had Ohio
Stale in our tournament,” he said.
“I think they’re an NCAA tourna
ment team in the future. As far as
our play, I was pleased with the
effort... we just aren’t pretty yet.”
Manning, who finished with
nine points and nine rebounds, said
Nebraska, 3-3, has improved since
the Maui Classic.
“We just went from down to up
here,” Manning said, motioning
with his hand. “It’s really good for
us.”
Nee said the Amcritas Classic is
good for his program. Two more
tournaments arc scheduled, and he
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with Ohio State.
Friday, Nebraska defeated
Lehigh 71 -66, and Ohio State beat
Ball Stale 62-42 in the second
game. Lehigh defeated Ball Slate
72-64 in Saturday’s consolation
game.
Williams said he was im
pressed with the Huskers and Nee,
who is in his second year at Ne
braska.
“Danny’s doing a great job
here,” Williams said. “I think their
program is on the way. He’ll get
the recruits in here that lit in well.
Nebraska plays a great style of
basketball and it’s one we try to
play.”