Sports
NU coach relieved injuries came early
By Lori Griffin
Staff Reporter __
Nebraska women’s gymnastics coach Rick
Walton hopes this is the end.
The end of the injuries, that is._
Walton said Ne
braska’s progress was
slowed earlier this sea
son when sophomores
Tami Bair, Michele
Bryant and Jane
Clemons suffered
shoulder injuries. The
injuries involved irrita
tion derived from the
Comhuskers’ strenuous
workout scneauie.
Walton said he’s Bryant
glad the injuries occurred at the beginning of
season rather than the end. He said the timing
of the in juries allowed enough time for proper
rehabilitation.
Bair, who underwent decompression sur
gery on Dec. 15, credited her non-in jured team
mates with helping in her rehabilitation.
“I think everyone was pretty upset,” Bair
said. “But the team members that were healthy
helped us get back fast, and that helped a lot.”
Bair’s rehabilitation process was completed
sooner than she anticipated. She said the reha
bilitation still requires her to do strength skills
so her shoulder doesn’t weaken.
Bair’s goal for the remainder of the season is
to gain enough strength in her shoulder to
compete in more than one event. She now
works out in every event except the uneven
bars.
.
Bair said her injury was difficult to accept
because the only other serious setback she
suffered during her 10-year career was a knee
injury, which required arthroscopic surgery.
“I guess I’ve just lucked out,” Bair said.
Bair said she hopes her in jury doesn't al feet
the Huskers’ goal of finishing among the top
five teams at the 1988 NCAA Championships
in Salt Lake City. She said Nebraska is out to
prove that last year’s lOth-placc finish at the
NCAA Championships wasn't an accident.
“I think people thought it was an accident
that we got as far as we d id last year,” Bair said.
“I am out to prove it wasn’t.”
Clemons tore cartilage and partially dislo
cated her shoulder in November while attempt
ing a double back flip during tumbling practice.
After undergoing surgery in early Decern
her, Clemons said, she is trying to improve her
arm strength. She is also working on her beam
and floor routines and trying to improve her
dance skills for the floor exercise.
Clemons said her individual goals this sea
son include competing in all four events and
placing in the Big Eight championship meet in
March. She said her team goal includes a repeat
trip to the NCAA Championships, which is
annually accomplished by the top 10 teams in
the country.
“1 just want to go all out and have a really |
good season,” Clemons said.
Walton said he’s confident that Bair, Bry ant
and Clemons can have success!ul seasons. He
said the No. 5-rankcd Huskers received a boost
with their return.
“They’re all back, and that’s the key,” he
said.
----1
JNU s winter conditioning tests:
Huskers are slower, smaller
By Tim Hartmann
Senior Reporter
The results of the 1988 pre-w inter
conditioning testing for Nebraska’s
football team were not outstanding,
Cornhuskcr strength and condition
ing coach Boyd Epley said, but the
work ethic of the team has been.
Epley said the tests showed the
Huskers have room for improve
ment, but he also said Nebraska has
worked hard in the first week ot
winter conditioning.
“The test data indicated that we
have some work to do,” Eplcy said.
"However, the altitude and effort of
the team has been excellent. The first
few days have been really intense.”
Nebraska finished with an aver
age time of 5.07 seconds in the 40
yard dash, which is slower than last
year’s average of 5.06. The Huskers
also had an average weight of 213
pounds, the lightest they have been in
four years.
Epley said Nebraska will try to
improve its speed and weight during
the winter conditioning period.
“This time of the year is the only
time where we can make any signifi
cant progress in the strength area, so
we’ll work on that,” he said. “Two
years ago, we concentrated on agil
ity, and right now we have the most
agile team we’ve ever had. This year
we are going to concentrate on speed
development.”
Epley said he’d like to sec a de
crease in Nebraska’s average 40
time.
Eplcy said Nebraska set team
records in the agility run and the 300
yard shuttle run. He said the results of
the scaled shot put and the vertical
jump were the second best in school
history.
Eplcy said several players had
strong showings in the testing. Tom
Janky, a sophomore placckicker
from Grand Island Northwest, was
one of the big surprises, he said.
“He probably had the best test date
of anyone,” Eplcy said.
Janky set position records in the
40 w ith a time of 4.72, and w ith a 33
inch vertical jump. Quarterback
Steve Taylor broke his own position
record in the 40 w ith a time of 4.52,
and Mike Preston set a quarterback
record w ith a shuttle-run time of
54.46.
Eplcy said freshmen Reggie Coo
per, Mike Croel and Tahaun Lewis
also performed well. Croel and
Lewis set position records in the 40.
Lew is' time of 4.48 broke the corner
back record set by Brian Davis, w ho
now plays for the Super Bow l-cham
pion Washington Redskins. Cooper
set a school record in the shuttle run
with a time of 53.34.
The three highest finishers in each
event were: Agility run - Janky,4.98;
Lance Bobolz, SE, 4.99; Cartier
Walker, DB, 5.04. Seated shot - Bob
Sledge, OT, 32-6; Brian Edgrcn,
MG, 31-6; Mike Griffin, OT, 30-10.
Vertical jump - Kurt Broer.DE, 39.5;
Bill Settles, WB, 38; Dana Brinson,
WB, 38.10-yard dash - Walker, 1.53;
Chip Bahc, SE, 1.55; Janky, 1.55.40
yard dash - Brinson, 4.47; Lewis,
4.48; Steve Taylor, QB, 4.52. Shuttle
run - Cooper, 53.34; Richard Bell,
WB, 53.55; Jamie Worden, WB,
54.12.
Violence, sex, bars, drinking:
Nebraska needs Cornpuckers
Once football season ends, it
seems, Nebraska becomes a dismal
place. Of course, the main reason for
that is the season, but another reason
is the decrease in excitement for
Comhuskcr athletics.
The men’s and women’s basket
ball teams provide excitement a
couple of nights a week, and the
wrestling team has an occasional
home meet, usually on Saturdays.
The swimming and diving teams have
a meet now and then, too, often on
Saturday and Sunday afternoons.
But what’s to do on Tuesday,
Thursday and party-less Friday
nights? Not loo much, other than
going to the bars. But that’s only for
those of us who arc 21 and older, and
that can gel pretty expensive after a
while.
The University of Nebraska-Lin
coln needs a hockey team.
As soon as you stop laughing, slap
around a few points. Hockey is an
exciting sport, albeit hard to under
stand at first. And the mere fact that
hockey fans arc often worked up to
the point of being able to kill another
human being at any given moment of
a good game seems like a fascinating
concept to me.
Has anyone ever seen the movie
“Slapshot,” starring Paul Newman?
That’s what it could be like around
here. Violence, sex, drinking, vio
lence, hockey theme bars, violence,
something to do until spring football
drills begin, new athletes to write
letters to the Daily Nebraskan about
how rough they have it here and more
violence.
Oh, what a place to be! It would
almost make the winters bearable in
this stale.
And the climate is ripe for a
hockey program, too. Nebraska’s
arctic weather could lure some hot
shot Canadian players and maybe a
few others from various European
See HOCKEY on 10
Butch Ireland Daily Nebraskan
Dimas
Persistence, U.S. Olympic training camps
pay off in the end for Nebraska gymnast
By Richard Cooper
Staff Reporter
Nebraska gymnast Ted Dimas
wore a frustrated look as he sat on
the parallel bars, sweat pouring
from his face.
For the past hour, Dimas had
worked on a trick in his compulsory
routine—and had little success at it.
But Dimas’ persistence paid off.
He kept working at it, and after three
unsuccessful tries, he finally did it
right. He jumped off the parallel
bars, sat on a mat and breathed a sigh
of relief.
“I love gymnastics and every day
I challenge myself to improve,”
Dimas said. ‘‘1 try and think of cor
recting myself. Some days I come
into the gvm and I’m so tired, but I
want to keep going no matter how I
icci.
“I know 1 have to do every single
skill perfect to be good. (Nebraska
gymnastics coach) Francis (Allen)
gave me this tape of the Russians at
the World Championships, and I’ve
been watching it a lot, and it’s
helped me a lot.”
Allen has given Dimas more than
just a training tape. He also gave the
freshman from Albuquerque, N.M.,
a chance.
A year ago, Dimas wanted to
compete for Nebraska, but Allen
hadn’t invited him to Lincoln for a
recruiting trip.
“Francis hadn’t called me, and
then oneday a friend of mine told me
Francis thought I had already signed
with Stanford,” Dimas said. ,fSo I
called him and told him that the
rumor wasn’t true, and the next
weekend I was on my way to Ne
braska.”
Dimas was impressed by
Nebraska’s reputation in the gym
nastics world.
“When I look at Nebraska’s rec
ord in the last seven or eight years 1
think, Wow... five straight NCAA
Championships and (later) three
straight second-place finishes,
that’s incredible,’” Dimas said. “I
think Nebraska’s success is because
of (us) coaches.
“They probably have the best
combination in the nation.”
Allen said he recruited Dimas
because he had good work habits.
“When I recruited him, I knew he
was going to be very consistent from
day one,” Allen said. “He’s not
afraid to work hard, and he’s a tough
kid. He comes from a gym where he
had to work hard, and because of his
work ethic, he has gotten better
tvu y yuu.
Allen used lo go to the United
Stales Olympic team training camp
and watch Dimas, who was then 14.
“I used lo see Ted every summer
at the U.S. Olympic Training Cen
ter, so I knew how good he was,”
Allen said. “When 1 would watch
him, the coaches would tell me how
hard of a worker he was.
“Every year he got better and
better, and by the lime he was 16, he
was one of the top kids in the coun
try.”
Allen said Dimas joined the
Senior National team when he was
15. The senior team consists of the
top 18 gymnasts in the country.
Former Nebraska gymnast Jim Har
tung also was on the team.
Allen said he doesn’t want to
compare Dimas lo Hartung.
It s not fair to rank Ted up there
with Hartung because Jim was
probably the best collegiate gym
nast to ever compete for us,” Allen
said. “Ted has some faults, but he’s
good and has the potential to be an
Olympic gymnast.
“Ted's fault ispommcl horse, but
in every event he scores 9.5s and
he’s working on pommel horse.
When Scott Johnson was a fresh
man, he scored a 3.3 on pommel
horse, and look what he turned out to
be like.”
Dimas said he and Hartung have
talked about some of their common
characteristics.
“The other day 1 was talking to
Jim about pointing my toes and he
said he had a toe-point just like
mine,” Dimas said. “He was telling
me that our body structures are a lot
alike and he was giving advice on
how to improve.”
Johnson, a former teammate of
Hartung’s, said he secs a lot of simi
larities between Dimas and Har
tung.
“Ted has the same body as Jim —
a big chest, big shoulders and strong
fegs,” Johnson said. “He is a very
strong kid, and he also is very fast.
And nowadays, that’s a perfect
combination.
“He has a lot of potential,”
Johnson said. “He just has to clean
up his form a little bit. Who knows,
m ay be he ’ 11 be on the Olympic team
this year. You never know what
could happen in the tryouts.”
Dimas said he can make an im
pact on Nebraska gymnastics this
year, just as Hartung did during his
freshman year.
“I’m used topressurebecau.se it’s
been around me for so long,” he
See DIMAS on 10
