Sports
Track meet will include Tour conferences ?
By Darran Fowler
Staff Reporter_
Four conferences will be repre
sented when the Nebraska men’s and
women’s track teams compete in a
quadrangular meet Saturday at the
Bob Devaney Sports Center.
Nebraska track coach Gary Pepin
said he is looking forward to the meet
because the three teams that the
Comhuskcrs will face should provide
good competition. He said the Ne
braska athletes are looking forward to
meeting the challenge.
Joining Nebraska for the 3 p.m.
meet are Western Athletic Confer
ence rival Wyoming, Pac Ten com
petitor Washington and Missouri
Valley foe Wichita Stale.
“Wichita State isn’t a deep team,
but they have some talented ath
letes,” Pepin said. “Wyoming is a
strong team in the Western Athletic
Conference and has been at or near
the lop of the W AC the past couple of
years. Washington is an extremely
well-coached team, and has been in
the upper half of the Pac Ten the last
few years.”
Nebraska will be competing in its
second meet of the season, the first in
which scores will be kept. The Husk
ers opened their indoor season by
competing in the Nebraska Open last
Saturday.
Pepin said he hopes Nebraska can
build on its performance at the Ne
braska Open.
“Overall, I was pleased for the
first meet of the season,” Pepin said.
“For several of our athletes, this was
the first time they’d competed in a
Nebraska uniform, and that caused
for some nervousness.
“We’ve got some areas of im
provement, but with three meets to go
before the conference meet, there’s
plenty of time lor that.”
Washington women’s coach Orin
Richburg said he is looking forward
to lacing Nebraska. He said the
Husker women, who have won nine
straight Big Eight indoor titles, will
introduce Washington to the type of
competition that it will face in the Pac
Ten. The Pac Ten is “very, very
tough from top to bottom,” he said.
Richburg said he hopes Washing
ton benefits from Nebraska’s com
petitive nature. He said he also hopes
that the Huskies gain knowledge and
experience from competing against
teams they don’t normally see.
‘‘We hope to have a decent per
formance,” Richburg said. ‘ We’re a
really young team going against a
predominately strong team year in
and year out. It will be a good compe
tition for our young kids.”
Richburg said his most impressive
performer is Angie Tasker. He said
Tasker is a mainstay because she
competes equally well in a variety of
events.
Richburg said hurdler Joyce
Schweim, 3,000-meter runners Jen
nifer Draughn and Jennifer Gillette,
middle distance runners Randi Evans
and Januka Peterson and high jumper
Celia Evans are also good athletes.
Washington men’s coach Ken
Shannon said the strength of his team
is in sprint events. He said the Hus
kies are also bolstered by several
football players.
Shannon said the lop football
player who will compete for Wash
ington is Dana Hall, a former Califor
nia state champion in the high
hurdles. He said sprinter Eugene
Harris and long jumper Aaron Pierce
will also compete.
Orlando McKay, the Arizona state
champion in the 100,200and 400 last
year, supports the Huskies’ sprinters,
he said.
Shannon said Washington’s dis
tance runners will be bolstered by
Bruce McDowell, who led the Hus
kies to their second-consecutive na
Doug CarrolbSpecUJ to th« Daily N*brtaken
Nebraska’s Linetta Wilson relaxes after competing in the 500-meter run.
lional championship in cross country,
arrl Atle Nacshcim, an All-America
selection in the steeple chase.
Shannon said the only area where
Washington can’t compete with
Nebraska is in the long jump.
Wyoming coach Duane Schopp
said he doesn’t know how many
events his teams will be competitive
in. He said his top athletes will not
compete in the meet because they
will stay in Laramie, Wyo., to train
and prepare for the Frank Scvignc
Husker Invitational. That meet will
be Feb. 10 and 11 in Lincoln.
“We’re bringing a pretty good
squad,” Schopp said. ‘‘They’re
middle-of-the-road and just need a
little more experience.”
Schopp said the top performers
competing for Wyoming are hurdlers
Tom Garrison and Brenda Frost, both
who are defending WAC champions,
and Julie Burgess, a top-notch high
jumper.
Schopp said Wyoming’s women’s
team, which finished 2nd in the WAC
last year, should be competitive this
season. He said the Cowboys’ men’s
team’s success depends on the im
provement of its distance runners.
Wichita Stale coach John Korncl
son said his team will be small on
Saturday because it lacks condition
ing. He said two of the Shockers top
competitors -- sprinters Semi
Akinremi and Isaac Adcnayju - will
not compete. Akinremi was involved
in a car accident earlier this week,
wjjjle Adenavju, who finished fifth ip
the semi finals of the lOOat'i/iefTfyr#
pics last summer, is not in very good
shape, he said.
Schopp said Wichita State will
bring a full crew of good distance
runners. He said hurdler Henry Van
derweth is also a strength for the
Shockers.
Lack of Sooners stifles meet s competition
By Steve Sipple
Stall Reporter__
Injuries and academic problems
incurred by Oklahoma gymnasts
have taken the luster off of Sunday’s
Big Eight meet in Norman, Okla.
The meet, which features Ne
braska, Oklahoma and Iowa State,
begins at 2 p.m. at the Lloyd Noble
Center.
Oklahoma, considered one of the
nation’s best teams during the presca
son, has lost four gymnasts to injury
or academic problems. Only four
Sooners will participate in the meet.
Nebraska ana Iowa State will lake
eight gymnasts to Norman. Only the
lop five scores are added in each
event. Thus, Oklahoma will get one
zero in each event.
his team can’t compete against tradi
tional-rival Nebraska with such lim
ited numbers.
“There’s no way. We’re not going
to even try,’’ Buwick said. “It’s like
pulling a basketball team out there
with four guys. Two months ago, we
had one olthc best teams in the coun
try. If I had all my guys, I’d say
there’s no way Nebraska could beat
us.’’
Oklahoma will be without junior
Jeff Lutz, senior Mall Hervey, and
freshmen Kevin Crumley and Scott
South. Lutz injured his wrist last
summer and quit school. Crumley
injured his back in practice two
weeks ago and is out for the year.
Hervey and South arc ineligible
because of academic problems. Her
vcy was ruled academically ineli
gible this year, while South failed to
meet the academic requirements of
Proposition 48.
“Nebraska and Oklahoma have
always enjoyed a big rivalry,”
Buwick said. “Now we’re not going
to see one.”
Nebraska coach Francis Allen
agreed Oklahoma’s shortage has put
a damper on Sunday’s meet.
“It’s too bad,” Allen said.
“We’re trying to mentally get our
gymnasts ready to go out and do a
good job and just say ‘to hell with all
that.”’
With Oklahoma’s team depleted,
Iowa State could challenge the de
fending national champion Huskcrs.
But that won’t happen, Allen said.
“Iowa State’s just not recruiting
the kind of gymnasts that are talented
enough to beat Nebraska,’ ’ he said.
Nebraska will now focus on trying
to score well to qualify for the NCAA
meet, Allen said. The NCAA meet
will be held April 13-15 at the Bob
Devancy Sports Center.
To qualify for the NCAA meet,
teams’ top five point totals in meets
held after Jan. 5 arc averaged, with
the top 10 teams qualifying. Throe of
the five scores must come from road
sites.
Scoring well for the NCAA meet
could be all the motivation Nebraska
needs for the upcoming meet, Allen
said.
“We’re ready,’’ he said. “We’re
hungry. We need a meet.”
Nebraska’s last competition was
Nov. 18 and 19 in the Big Eight
Invitational at the sports center. The
Huskcrs, who are 4 0 in first-semes
ter meets, won the five-team meet by
scoring 272.25 points to outdistance
runner-up Arizona State, which tal
y-% -m.
lied 262.3 points. Iowa Slate finished
4th with 248.5 points.
Allen said his gymnasts returned
from their semester break during the
first week of January. Since then, the
Huskers have performed impres
sively during workouts, he said.
“They’re better than I thought
they’d be,” Allen said. “I honestly
think we can reach the finals of the
NCAA’s.
“If we can continue to improve
and nobody gets hurt, we can win the •
NCAA title.
Considering Oklahoma’s prob
lems, Iowa State coach Dave Mickcl
son said Nebraska will be the favorite
to win Sunday’s meet.
“Nebraska definitely looks sharp
from what 1 saw at the Big Eight
Invite,’’ Mickclson said. “I don’t
expect any less Sunday.”
Sooner coach Greg Buwick said
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Cornhusker wrestlers defeat JNotre Dame
By Sieve Sipple
Staff Reporter
Nebraska used late victories by
190-pound wrestler Tommy Robbins
and Heavyweight Sonny Manley to
defeat Notre Dame 24-15 Wednes
day night in South Bend, Ind.
Notre Dame’s loss was its first
dual setback of the season after six
straight wins. Nebraska, ranked No.
10 by Amateur Wrestling News
magazine, raised its record to 8-4-2.
The 13lh-ranked Fighting Irish
had cut Nebraska’s lead to 18-15 with
wins at 167 and 177. At 167, Notre
Dame’s Todd Tomazic won a 4-3
decision against the Comhuskers’
Scott Ctenowoh-Owts Gamcr.w>Q
by disqualification against Ne
braska’* Cody Olson at 177.
‘Jason Kelber and
Layne Billinas
looked the best
they have all year
9 9 9
-Neumann
But Robbins came through with a
9-5 decision against Kurt Engler.
And Manley capped Nebraska’s
fifth straight dual win with a 6^3 dual
.win against the Irish’s Chuck
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Weaver.
“The momentum really swung in
Notre Dame’s favor at 167 and 177,”
Nebraska coach Tim Neumann said.
“But Tommy and Sonny came out
and pul out the fire.”
Neumann also had words of praise
for Nebraska’s 126-pound Jason
Kclber and 142-pound Laync Bill
ings. Kelber, ranked No. 8, jumped to
an 11-3 lead against 18th-ranked
Marcus Gowens before scoring the
pin at 1:55 in the first period.
Billings pinned Shawn Dillon at
4:05.
“Jason Kelber and Layne Billings
looked the best they have all year and
Paul Herrera pulled out the match of
the year with a big move at the end (of
his match), Neumann said.
Herrera, wrestling at 150, scored
on a five-point move with nine sec
onds left to defeat Todd Layton, 9-5.
With the move, Herrera gained two
points for the takedown and three
points for a near-fall.
Nebraska wrestled without ninth
ranked, 118-pound Terry Cook w ho
is expected to miss four to six weeks *
with a broken thumb.
In addition to Cook and Kelbcr,
Nebraska’s Jeff Coltvct is ranked No. f
11 at 158 pounds in the latest rank
ings. On Wednesday, Coltvet scored r
a 8-7 win against Mark Gerardi.
Nebraska’s next match will be \
Feb. 3 against No. 20 Northern Iowa
at Cedar Falls, Iowa. •.
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