NU women picked to take championship
Nebraska’s Toyia Barnes competes in the shot put.
By Darran Fowler
Su»ff Reporter
The year was 1983, and the Ne
braska women’s indoor track team
accomplished what no other
women’s squad in the Big Eight had
ever done.
That was the year that the Com
huskers became the first Big Eight
women’s track team to win four-con
secutive conference indoor crowns.
That tradition has continued, as
the string of consecutive titles has
now stretched to nine - all in this
decade. The Huskers, who have the
same winning-suing in outdoor
track, could capture their 10th title at
the Big Eight championships this
Friday and Saturday at the Bob Deva
ney Sports Center.
The women’s portion of the meet
on Friday begins at 9:30 a.m. with the
60-meter hurdles and the pentathlon.
The men’s events begin at 6 p.m .with
the long jump competition.
Salunlay’s events begin at 1:30
p.m. with the men’s pole vaulting
competition. The competition will
conclude at 5:10 p.m. with the run
ning of the 1,600 relay.
“I don’t know how much 10 in a
row means to the kids,” Pepin said,
“but I think they have a lot of confi
dence.” Pepin has guided the Huskcr
women to eight of their nine champi
onships. He also led the Nebraska
women to three-suaight national in
door titles from 1982 through 1984.
Pepin said he doesn't spend much
lime thinking about past champion
ships. He said the only time he spends
reflecting is at the start of a new
season.
“Those victories are short-lived
because success for a coach can
change in a hurry,” Pepin said. “For
someone like me, hours after the (Big
Eight) meet, I’m already trying to
figure out how we can have a better
team next year.”
The Nebraska men have been
equally impressive since Pepin took
over for the late Frank Scvignc in
1984. The Huskier men have captured
three of the last four Big Eight titles.
Their lone blotch during that streak
was a 3rd-place finish in 1986.
Pepin said Nebraska is different
from other Big Eight schools because
the coaching staff emphasizes the
entire men’s and women’s programs.
He said Nebraska looks for balance in
indoor and outdoor track as well as
cross country.
“It starts with outstanding ath
letes,” Pepin said. “If you don’t have
great athletes, I don’t care how good
the coaches are, you aren’t going to
have success and continued success.
“It’s the accumulation of a lot of
things but it has to start with good
athletes.”
Pepin said he recruits athletes who
fit in with the program’s philosophies
and system.
‘‘We don’t only have good ath
letes, but we have athletes who arc
interested in getting a degree and
interested in academics,” he said.
Pepin said he also credits Ne
braska athletic director Bob Dcvaney
for his success. He said Dcvaney has
supplied the program with its finan
cial needs.
4 ‘An athletic director can cither be
a friend or a foe to a program as to
whether it is going to be given the
opportunity to be successful,” Pepin
said.
Pepin said he expects both teams
to meet strong challenges this week
end even though they have beer
tabbed as the favorites entering tin
meet. A poll of the conference’scigh
coaches picked the Nebraska women
lo edge Missouri and Kansas State for
the title, while the Husker men were i
narrow favorites over Iowa Slate.
The Nebraska women were tabbed
the pre-meet favorites after receiving
seven lst-placc votes and 49 total
points. Points were aw arded on a one
through-seven basis, with seven
points awarded to teams receiving
lst-placc votes.
Missouri was tabbed second in the
women’s competition with one lst
place vole and 41 points, followed by
Kansas Slate with 39, Iowa State with
30, Oklahoma with 22, Oklahoma
Stale with 19, Colorado with 16 and
Kansas with 8.
The Nebraska men received six
lst-place votes and 48 points, fol- 1
lowed by Iowa Slate with two lst
place voles and 43 points. Oklahoma
was picked to finish 3rd with 34
points, followed by Kansas Stale with
33, Kansas with 22, Colorado with
21, Missouri with 14 and Oklahoma
State with 9.
Pepin said he would have voted for
the Nebraska men and women if the
poll would have allowed him to do so.
Coaches were not allowed to vote for
their own teams.
*4 Whether or not the other coaches
selected us to win the meet or not, in
some cases it doesn’t mean quite as
much, because you can’t vote for
your own team,” Pepin said. ‘‘So,
some of those coaches may have fell
like their teams could well have won
the meet.
‘‘At the same time, the most im
portant thing to me is not whether or
not they think we can win, but
whether or not our athletes feel we
can win the meet.”
i Pepin said he is optimistic about
; his team’s chances.
__ ^
See PEPIN on 8
Hastings inducts Osborne into halt of fame
By Mark Antonietti
Staff Reporter
Nebraska football coach Tom
Osborne returned to his alma mater
Wednesday to be inducted into the
Hastings College Athletic Hall of
Fame.
Osborne, a three-sport standout at
Hastings in football, basketball and
track, joined eight others and the
undefeated 1954 Broncos football
team as the charter members of the
newly founded Hall of Fame.
Robert Bocrigtcr, the director of
athletics at Hastings, said that all the
inductees had two traits in common.
“All excelled while on the cam
pus and also distinguished them
selves alter graduation,” Boerigter
said, “lorn Osborne did both of
these.”
Osborne was a 1959 magna cum
laude graduate at Hastings. He was a
four-year letterman in football, bas
ketball and track, and was named the
Omaha World Herald state college
athlete of the year as a senior.
After graduation, Osborne played
professional football for the Wash
ington Redskins and San Francisco
49ers. He later earned a master’s
degree and a doctorate in educational
psychology at the University of Ne
braska-Lincoln.
Osborne joined Bob Devaney’s
coaching staff at Nebraska in 1962 as
an assistant coach. He took over the
coaching duties in 1973 and has led
the Comhuskers to 16 straight lop-10
post-season rankings.
Bocrigter said the Hall of Fame
will induct 10 members in each of the
next 10 years, and then reduce the
number of two per year.
Joining Osborne as inductees
were:
• Frank Prince, a 1916 Hastings
graduate who competed in football,
basketball and track.
• Thurlo McCrady, who was a
three-time all-conference selection
as a quarterback.
• Patty Sitorius, a 1981 graduate
who competed in track, volleyball
and basketball.
• Lynn Farrell, Hastings’ long
time basketball coach and athletic
director. Farrell finished with 462
coaching victories.
• Art Stevenson, who earned
Little All-America football honors in
1939. Stevenson went on to play for
the Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the
Canadian Football League.
• Chuck Slickels, an All-America
basketball selection.
• Tom McLaughin, who earned
eight letters in basketball, football
and track.
• Bill Bechcr, a three-year tennis
singles champion who also earned
all-conference honors in football and
basketball.
• The 1954 football team, which
compiled an 8-0 regular-season rec
ord.
Cyclones coach hopes to
capture the Big Eight title
By Mark Derow itsch
Senior Reporter _
At least one Big Eight women’s
basketball coach wouldn’t mind if
her team finished in the cellar of the
conference.
Iowa State coach Earn Wettig said
she hopes the Cyclones avoid finish
ing eighth even though the conse
quences ot a last-place iimsh
wouldn’t be too bad. The last-place
team will face Colorado in the lirst
round of the Big Eight post-season
tournament March 4, at Salma, Kan.
Iowa Stale will face Nebraska on
Saturday at 1:00 p.m. at the Hilton
Coliseum in Arnes, Iowa. The loser
could end in a three-way tie for 6th
place in the Big Eight, while the
winner could finish as high as 4th.
“I’m not sure, but I wouldn’t mind
it,’ ’ Wettig said. ‘ ‘Colorado has had a
good season, but we’ve always
played well against them.”
Nebraska coach Angela Beck said
the Cornhuskers don’t want to finish
last in the conference.
“After the Iowa State game, I’m
worried about the Big Eignt touma
inent,” Beck said. “We just want to
do the best we can.”
Wettig said she’ll be rooting
against the Buffaloes throughout the
tournament. Colorado has already
clinched the regular-season Big
Eight title, and is ranked No. 10 na
tionally with a 23-3 record overall.
‘ ‘ I hope someone other than Colo
rado wins it,” Wettig said. “Even if
Colorado doesn’t win another game,
they’re going to the NCAA tourna
ment. In order for anyone else from
the Big Eight to make the tourna
ment, they have to w in tlie Bi£ Eight
tournament. And I hope that’s us.”
Wettig said the Cyclones, who
are 14-12 overall and 5-8 in the Big
Eight, have been plagued by incon
sistency this season. She said she
hopes that comes to an end against
the Huskcrs, who are also 14-12 and
5-8.
“We’ve gone through such an
up-and-down season,” Wettig said.
“If we get a good offensive effort,
we slip up on defense. If we play
great defense, then we can’t buy a
$ee BECK pn 10
opponent II Stephens’ Scoring Streak
Minnesota|l*>5 wmmm
Wisconsin-Gr. 35 7 ■pom
U.S. Internal. 105 ■■■■ m
Montana 22 2 mmfmm
Drake 10V mimm
Long Beach S. 27 5 ■■■■
New Mexico S. 17 72 ■■■■
Witchita Sta. 24 5 ■■■■
Boston 27 2 ■■p*
Auburn 14 2 ■■p*
Iowa 29 7 millllim
Nlissouri-Kan. 16i 7 p*"*
Creighton 22| 5
Colorado 26 1 ^■■■^^PPWPWiPP
Oklahoma Sta. 21 6 555?
Kansas 123 5 __
Kansas State 17|4 — '
Oklahoma 16 5 ^
Missouri 14 4 I
Iowa State 15 4
Kansas 37 3 ^^^3|5|^^mm|M|||||||||||||||||^M||||||^M|||^M|| 2
Oklahoma 404 >*
Kansas State 34,3 ■■■■■■■■MAni 8
Oklahoma Sta. 14 5
Missouri,362 yai-—— ...mt I
Colorado.203 -*-■■- - *
-—————-0 1C 20. 3
». i-* t» f; If (< i fm i n » . ■%%»• •• •*’