Sports
Husker track teams sweep weekend meet
By Darren Fowler
Staff Reporter
The only competition that the
Nebraska men’s and women s track
teams could find Saturday in a quad
rangular meet at the Bob Devancy
Sports Center was among them
selves.
Nebraska track coach Gary Pepin
said he was pleased with the Com
huskers' performance in their second
meet of the season. He said the per
formance was especially pleasing
because Nebraska was uncontcsted in
a lot of events.
The Nebraska women tallied 94
points to outdistance 2nd-place
Washington, which finished with 63.
Colorado State finished 3rd with 31
points, while Wyoming tallied 21 and
Wichita State 14.
The Nebraska men also outdis
tanced the five-team field, as they
won nine events to finish with 108
points. Washington finished 2nd with
53 points, while Colorado State was
3rd with 29. Wyoming and Wichita
State rounded out the scoring with 25
and 20 points.
“All of them did it on their own,
without much competition,” Pepin
said. “In some events it was us
against our own guy.”
Pepin said the Huskers still have
room for improvement
“Both teams have a lot of poten
tial and we have enough good ath
letes lo w in the conference meet,” he
said. “But we're going to have lo get
better and improve and get some
people healthy.
“1 thought we did better than we
did a week ago and I thought most of
our athletes trained pretty hard
through the week.”
Pepin said freshman Yvonne van
der Kolk and Joanne Gomez had
outstanding performances. Gomez
qualified for the NCAA champion
ships by leaping 40-11 1/2 in the
triple jump, while van der Kolk
joined her as an NCAA qualifier by
running 800-meters in 2:08.16.
Pepin said van der Kolk’s and
Gomez’s performances were impres
sive because they weren’t competing
against a lot of tough competition.
‘‘Yvonne’s was a national quali
fying performance absolutely on her
own,” he said. ‘‘And it was kind of
the same with Joanne Gomez. She
was ahead by more than two feet of
the whole field in the triple jump and
qualifies for nationals, so that was a
heck of a performance.”
Pepin also praised the perform
ance of senior Lineua Wilson.
Wilson won the 400 with a time of
55.14 and anchored Nebraska’s
1,600. She teamed with freshmen
Denise Lucas, Fran tenBensel and
Tanya Lidy to win that event in
3:54.06.
See PEPIN on 10
WHNam Lauar/DaHy Nabraskan
Nebraska freshman Brad weishaar competes in the pole vault event. Weishaar failed to place
in the competition, which was won by Wyoming’s Beecher St rube.
Dutch freshman qualifies for NCAA track championships
By Paul Domeier
Staff Reporter
Yvonne van dcr Kolk qualified for
the NCAA Championships Saturday
in her first indoor race as a member of
the Nebraska women’s track team.
Van der Kolk, a freshman from
Hilvcrsum, Netherlands, ran the 800
meter dash in 2:08.16 minutes, nar
rowly finishing under the NCAA
qualifying time of 2:09. She said,
however, that she was not satisfied.
‘'It’s terrible,” van der Kolk said.
“I expected to run a 2:07 or 2:08. If I
wouldn’t have qualified, then I would
have really been upset.”
Van der Kolk said she ran the 800
in under 2:05 last year. She said she
hopes to reach that mark by the con
clusion of Nebraska’s indoor season.
Van der Kolk said she skipped
Nebraska’s season-opening meet last
weekend because she suffered from
jet lag during her first days back from
Christmas break, and then injured her
hamstring. She said that she decided
to run in this meet on Thursday, and
never gave a thought to holding back,
even though she finished nine sec
onds ahead of her closest competitor.
Her hamstring feels fine now, she
added.
The meet was van der Kolk’s first
indoor meet, but not her debut as a
Husker. She said she ran in four cross
country meets last fall to face some
competition and to help the team.
But van der Kolk’s experience
extends far beyond those five colle
giate meets. When she started run
ning at age 8, she won her first meet,
and she’s been running international
events since 1985.
Van der Kolk said she was con
tacted by Nebraska two years ago.
Last April, she went on a recruiting
trip, and she chose Nebraska over
Boston because of the coaches, facili
ties and a major that the university
offered.
**I want to be an international i
business major,” van der Kolk said.
“Studying is as important as running
— maybe more important than run
ning.”
Van der Kolk said her best events
arc the 800 and the 1,500. She will be
running her first mile, the indoor
equivalent of the 1,500, in a couple of
weeks, she said. She expects to qual
ify easily for that event, too, now that
she has the first race under her belt.
“My first race is always kind of
Jifficult,” van der Kolk said.
I
NU defeated by Tigers;
Big 8 record falls to 0-4
By Nick Hodge
Senior Reporter
The frustration of the Nebraska
men’s basketball team continued
Saturday when Missouri defeated
the Comhuskers 89-72 at the Bob
Devancy Sports Center.
With the loss, the Huskers
stretched their winless Big Eight
record to 0-4. Nebraska has lost
eight consecutive regular-season
conference games dating back to
the final four games of last season.
Nebraska sophomore forward
Beau Paid said he doesn’t under
stand wily the Huskers have been
shut out in league play.
‘it’i frustrating because we
have the people to match up physi
cally with anyone," Rekl said.
Saturday‘I sports center crowd
of 13.066 witnessed a match up
that featured a frustrated Husker
squad against a talented, high
powered Tigers team which is
ranked No. 5 by The Associated
tv—
nCSi,
Nebraska fell to 12-8 overall.
Missouri, which has won its last
nine games, improved to 18-3 and
4-0 in conference play.
Husker coach Danny Ncc said
he is frustrated by Nebraska’s lack
of success in the conference.
"We can’t get consistency in
what we do," Nee said. "It’s re
ally disappointing because we,
have good crowds, and wc have a
lot of enthusiasm, and we just can ’ t
get over the hump."
Nee said Missouii has a very
good basketball team.
"I was thoroughly impressed
with Missouri from top to bottom.
I still feel they're a real quality
team. They have so many ways
they can beat you,” Nee said.
Neither team shot well in the
first half, but Nebraska kept pace
with the Tigers until hilling a dry
spell in the final minutes. The
Huskers scored four points in the
last five minutes of the half to fall
behind 37-31 at halftime.
In the first half, the Huskers
connected on 11 of 26 shots for
42.3 percent, while Missouri made
14 or 37 field goal attempts for
37.8 percent.
Both teams’ shooting improved
in the second half, but Missouri
shot bettor. The Tigers hit 69 per
cent of their second half shots by
connecting on 20 of 39 field goals
attempts. Meanwhile, Nebraska
made 15 of 34 shots for 44.1 per
cent.
However, the Huskers conun- .
tied to baule Missouri in the early
stages of the second half before
foul troubles sidelined centers
Rich King and Richard van Pocl
geest. King fouled out with 13
minutes left and van Poelgcest was
whistled for his fifth foul with 10
minutes left in the game.
Back-to-back three point bas
kets by Reid and Eric Johnson
pulled Nebraska to within a point
of the Tigers at 56-55 with 12:06
remaining in the game.
In less than a minute, the Tigers
reeled off eight-straight points to
take a 63-55 lead with 1K17 re
maining.
Missouri never looked back.
The Tigers steadily increased their
lead, and at one point led 89-66.
Missouri coach Norm Stewart
said his Tigers were able to over
come the determined Husker play
early in the game to win.
The Huskers were led by Reid’s
16 points. Senior forward Pete
Manning added 14 points and van
Poelgcesl scored 13 points.
Manning pulled down a team
—,—„...
high 11 rebounds, white Johnson
contributed a game-high eight as
sists for Nebraska.
Missouri guard Byron Irvin led
the Tigers by scoring a game-high
22 points. Meanwnile, forward
Nathan Buntin added 14, guard
Lee Coward added 13, and guard
Anthony Peeler and forward Mike
Sandbolhc each scored 11 points
for Missouri.
Nebraska will try to vent their
frustrations Tuesday at Ames,
Iowa, when they play Iowa State.
In tut im mi i»u uuuu »i.i. muni
Big 8 victories
build prestige
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -
There’s probably not a Big Eight
official alive who would admit how
he really feels about Kansas State’s
win over Kansas Saturday. It would
be like the governor of Oklahoma
taking sides in an Oklahoma-Okla
homa State football game ~ political
suicide.
But secretly, they must all be de
lighted. They might also, if their in
nermost feelings were known, be
pleased as punch that Oklahoma
Stale beat Iowa State in such con
vincing fashion.
It’s not that anybody’s mad at
Kansas or Iowa State. It’s just that
with all of this NCAA money and
prestige on the line, conference unity
can be hanged.
The NCAA tournament selection
committee is getting ready to make
its annual judgment and fill out its 64
team bracket.
And the Big Eight, which had five
teams in last year's tourney, could be
in dire peril of having its representa
tion shrink to two.
After that, who knows? The best
chances would seem to be Kansas
State and the young and talented
Oklahoma State squad.
But with plenty of action still to
come, every victory is vital to both
teams. That’s why it was important
for the Big Eight to see Kansas Sl ue
beat Kansas and Oklahoma Stale 1cut
Iowa Stale.
The Wildcals rallied behind bu l . \
Fred McCoy in the second half to b , >
the 18th-ranked Jayhawks 71-70. In
other games involving Big Eight
teams, Oklahoma State defeated
Iowa State 90-88 and Missouri clob \
beredNflbraska 89-72. .*,{< /'
4
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Nebraska's Peter Manning tries to block a shot by
Missouri’s Mike SamSbotbe.