Page NebiasKai.
# lJJ I ¥ vJX. LSl Tuesday, January 24,1989
Swimming teams win over Iowa State
By Jeff Apel
Senior Hditor_____
Nebraska men’s swimming coach
Cal Bent/, refused to make any pre
dictions about his team’s chances in
the Big Eight alter seeing the Corn
huskers crush Iowa
State 74-39 Satur
day in Ames, Iowa.
Bent/ said he
nco
VV/UIU ilWfc
meet as a fair meas
uring stick of how
dom inant Nebraskt
will be this year
because he expects Bell
each team in the Big Eight to be
competitive. He said the Huskcrs,
who have captured nine straight Big
Eight titles, should expect a tough
rh-illenoe each time thev swim
V
The bench on the Memorial Sta
dium sideline is still warm at the spot
occupied by my butt for the last two
years. There is still some blood from
a scraped knee near the south 20-yard
line.
I left with a Big Eight champion
ship ring, two watches, a slight limp,
two souvenir jerseys, three pairs of
turf shoes and all the gray T-shirts I
could carry. I also managed to
smuggle out some memories.
While the memories are still in my
By Nick Hodge 1
and Mark Derow itsch
Senior Reporters_
Wyoming men’s basketball coach Benny
Dees probably won’t listen to any more recom
mendations from die Nebraska student section.
After being assessed with his first technical
foul, Dees said he look the adv ice of the Corn
husker students silling behind the Cowboy
bench and proceeded to gel hit with two more
technicals, giving him an automatic ejection.
Nebraska forward Beau Reid hit all six
technical free throws to give the Huskers a 55
40 lead with 4:17 remaining as Nebraska went
on to post a 71-58 victory at the Bob Dcvaney
Sports Center Monday night.
“The students talked me into it (giving the
referees a choke signal),’’ Decs said. "They
said, ‘Go tell him he choked.’ I said, ‘Thanks
guys.’”
“1 bet I had 200 students offer me a beer.
Despite Nebraska’s 15-point lead after Reid
converted the free throws, Huskcr coach
Danny Nee said the game’s outcome was still
in doubt
“I did not think the game was over until I
substituted with about a minute left,’ ’ Nee said.
“Thev could have come down and hit three
three-pointers and they were back in the game.
With the shooters they got, I think they’re a
very dangerous team.
Dees said he had encountered difficulties
with Western Athletic Conference official
Richard Ball in the past. Ball nailed Dees with
the three technicals against the Huskers.
“We have had problems with him before.
This didn’t start tonight. What I don’t under
stand is why the WAC Conference would send
Richard Ball on the road with a split crew with
Wyoming knowing the way we feel about
him ’* Dees said. “I don’t understand that. But,
anyway, I thought he was horrible. But,
thought the two Big Eight officials were good
— sure did. ”
Nee said he wasn’t concerned about Dees
problems with ^officials.
^ “I tuve my owniAouse to take care ot and
I’m barely surviving in there, Nee said.
In d£ first half Wyoming* slow-paced
against conference competition.
Nebraska women’s swimming
coach Ray Huppert said his team al
ready knows it will face a tough chal
lenge when it competes against Big
Eight competition. He said the Husk
ers learned this when they posted a
64-49 victory against Iowa Slate on
Saturday.
The Huskcr women also dropped a
192-108 decision to Minnesota Fri
day in Minneapolis, Minn.
Huppert said the most pleasing
aspect about his team’s performance
was its ability to come back from its
loss to Minnesota. He said the Husk
ers did not show any effects of the
loss to the Golden Gophers while
competing against Iowa State.
“I’m very pleased with the way
they turned around Saturday,” Hup
pert said. “Our kids did a super job.
Thai’s pleasing.”
Huppcrl said Nebraska placed it
self in a vulnerable position entering
the meet against Minnesota because
it had beaten die Golden Gophers
each of the last ihrcc years. He said
Minnesota used superior depth, plus
the revenge factor, to defeat Ne
braska.
“I think our inexperience
showed,” Huppert said, “but it wc
can leave a meet feeling like we
learned something, that’s what
counts.”
Huppert said the top performers
for the Nebraska women were Carole
Johnson, Lynne Braddock and Alli
son Barker. Johnson swept the meet’s
2(X)-yard backstroke competitions,
while Braddock claimed a pair of 50
freestyle titles. Barker, a sophomore
from Cambridge, England, won the
2(X) butterfly competition against
Iowa State.
Bent/ said the top performers lor
the Nebraska men were Tom Stus and
Ryan Bell. He said Stus looked
“awfully good” while winning the
2(X) butterfly in 1:54.24, while Bell
won the 1,(XX) freestyle in 9:35.72
and the 2(X) freestyle in 1:42.46.
Bent/ said Bell’s performance
was the best of the day for Nebraska.
“Not only did he win,’ Bent/
said, “but he swam reasonably good
times.”
The Huskers’ performances
against Iowa State were hampered by
the Cyclones’ pool, which is well
kept but not fast, Bent/ said.
“It’s a reasonably good facility.
It’s adequate,” he said, “but it’s not
all that big.”
Bent/, and Huppert said their
squads will welcome the upcoming
open weekends. The Husker men will
take a week-long break from compe
tition before facing Utah on Feb. 3 in
Salt Lake City, Utah, and Arizona
State and Stanford on Feb. 4 in
Tempo, Ariz.
The Nebraska women will return
to action on Feb. 4, when they face
Arkansas in Fayetteville, Ark.
Bentz and Hupper! said they aren’t
worried about taking a break from
competition midway through the
season.
“Early in the season it might have
been a problem, because we have
eight straight weeks of practice and
that lends to be a little boring,’ ’ Bentz
said. ‘‘But we’ll relish this break
because it will give us a chance to rest
a little bit even though we have to
work especially hard.”
Former guard reminisces about NU tootball
head, here arc some notes on what I’ll
miss most about Nebraska football.
I’ll miss running through the tun
nel and onto the field - an experience
that never failed to give me a solid
adrenalinc/bcta-cndorphinc bu/.z.
I’ll miss the feeling of contact on an
open field block, chasing down a
defensive back and having that split
second of impact when everything
turns white, then comes into focus
again.
I’ll miss the travel, too. Since I’ve
been here, we’ve traveled toCalifor
nia, Arizona, New York City, Miami,
Colorado, Iowa, Kansas and, of
course, Norman, Okla. On some oc
casions, l even made it out ot the
hotel long enough to see these places.
Usually, though, tune was spent
like coaches spend their time - in two
worlds. One world is a dark cave
where images flicker on a screen,
forward and backward - films. The
other world is a stadium. Stadiums
with different sizes, colors, bands and
exit signs, but all measuring 100 X 53
yards.
I’ll miss the bowl trips when I did
get away and see things: The art deco
district in Miami, Miami Beach with
it’s fat, leather-skinned old men and
tanned, topless Euro-peoples and
“Woodies by the Beach.”
I ’ll miss seeing people I saw day in
and day out. Some became friends,
others became acquaintances, all
became fixtures in a place in which I
spent 40-plus hours per week. I’ll
miss people talking to me because
I’m on the team, even i f it’ s only to try
to badger me into telling them
whether we’ll beat the spread this
week or if Steve’s shoulder is belter,
or “Why can’t Tom Osborne revamp
the offense or get a new hairstyle?’
I’ll miss breaking the huddle and
running up to the line thinking about
Malaysia, malaise or an old girl
friend (maybe that’s why I didn’t win
the Outland: a lack of concentration).
Hell, I’ll even miss two-a-day work
outs, when I ached in muscles that I
never knew I had and would wake in
the middle of the night to coaches’
whistles heard in a dream.
And the dreams! Don’t gel me
started -- 30-yard line with third
down and seven miles of Dante’s
inferno to go (you know the place:
lakes of fire, disembodied faces . . .
the whole bit).
I got a strange sort of pleasure out
of those days -- an intoxicating mix of
pain, self-pity and hope that the
prayers I had sent to the patron saint
of PT had paid off.
The thing I’ll never forget is walk
ing off the field at the end ol the
Orange Bowl Classic amid taunts of
“fat-ass” and “baldy” directed at
myself and other players by the Mi
ami fans.
“We’re No. 1!” they yelled, 10
feet away from me. “You’re number
two,” 1 replied and laughed.
“Thank God these geeks hadn’t
been served beer,” I thought. “It
could have been worse.”
As I neared the exit tunnel, the
jeers faded away and I looked around
me. It suddenly w as quiet. I looked up
into the stands, and for the first time
in five years of college football, I was
able to spot my parents in the stands.
They waved. I waved back. I waved
goodbye.
Antonietti is a senior Knglish major from
Chicago. He is a former Husker reserve of
fensive guard who transferred to Nebraska
from Notre Dame and a Daily Nebraskan
sports columnist.
Technical fouls provide momentum
as Huskers down Cowboys 71-58
jffensc had Nee wondering whether the Husk*
;rs would survive this game. Ihe Cowboys,
a hose record fell to 9-9, unexpectedly started
the game with a ball control offense despite
their small, quicker lineup.
Dees said he changed his game plan to allow
his1' midgets” to compete w ith the taller Husk
ers.
“Nebraska’s got a pretty goixi team - big
‘ole suckers in there,” Dees said. “We kind of
used (Nebraska) as a guinea pig.”
Nee said he was “shocked” by the Cow
boy’s style of play.
“When they play like that, it’s dangerous.
With the three-point shooters they have, and
then they keep milking the clock and a couple
go in, it could really change the tempo of a
game,” Nee said.
Wyoming connected on 9 of 15 three-point
shots, including three in the first half.
However, Nebraska guard Eric Johnson
scored all of his points on two three-point
buckets in the first half to enable the Huskers to
lead 29-25 at halftime.
In the second half, Wyoming’s six three
point baskets couldn’t make up for the busk
ers’ inside scoring.
With the win, Nebraska raised its record to
12-7, including a 12-4 mark against non-con
ference opponents.
Nee said he was pleased with the progress
the Huskcrs have made throughout the non
conference season, but he said he’s looking for
improvement against Big Eight teams.
“I was pleased in the respect that we ended
our non-conference schedule 12-4 - I feel
good about that, ’ ’ Nee said.4 4 If you told me at
the beginning of the season we’d be 12-4 in the
non-conference, I’d be happy about that. I just
told the players that.
“Now, we’ve got to regroup. We’ve got
four days to get back into the Big Eight Confer
ence. There’s no reason this basketball team
can’t gel better.’’
The Huskers were led by Reid’s 16 points,
despite hitting 3 of 10 shots from the field.
Center Rich King and forward Ray Richardson
added 11 and 1 z points respectively for Ne
braska
Df.vtd Frana/Crt«iiy Nebraskan
Wyoming’s Kenny Smith and Nebraska’s Richard van Pcelgoesi wrestle for
control of the ball. Nebraska won the game 71 to 58.