Problems plague Sooner gymnast ics team
Allen Schaben/DaHy Nebraskan
Nebraska’s Ted Dimas competes on the parallel bars.
By Mike O’Malley
Staff Reporter
Hard times that have fallen on the
Oklahoma football team have also
plagued the Sooner men’s gymnas
tics squad.
Oklahoma, which was once a
powerful foe with talented gymnasts
like Olympic gold medalist Bart
Conner, will not bring a full team to
Sunday’s triangular meet against
Nebraska and Iowa State.
The Nebraska men’s meet will be
preceded by a women’s competition
that pits the Huskers against UCLA
and Michigan State in the Masters
Classic. That meet begins at 2 p.m. at
the Sports Center.
Oklahoma men’s gymnastics
coach Greg Buwick said the Sooners'
problems center around five gym
nasts who will not be competing
because of various reasons. Those
gymnasts include Kevin Crumley,
who will miss the meet with a back
injury, Carlos Sabino, who is sitting
out after being granted a hardship
year. Matt Harvey and Scott South,
who were both declared academi
cally ineligible. In addition, Jeff Lutz
- the team’s top all-around competi
tor - quit the team after suffering a
career*ending wrist injury.
The Oklahoma football program
has also lost several players recently,
as quarterback Charles Thompson
was suspended from the team after
allegedly selling 17 grams of cocaine
to an undercover FBI agent. Three
players -- Glen Bell, Nigel C lay and
Bernard Hall -- were suspended after
being arrested for an alleged iape,
while another -- defensive back Jerry
Parks - was suspended for allegedly
shooting teammate Zarak Peters fol
lowing an argument
“We’ll be bringing individuals
because we don’t have enough
people to have a full team,' ’ Buwick
said. “We approach the competition
more for our individuals to do well,
instead of working as a team.’’
Nebraska men’s gymnastics
coach Francis Allen said he had high
hopes for the Sooners before the loss
of the gymnasts. He described the
loss as “devastating.”
Oklahoma’s top individuals are
Tom Vaughn, a two-time All-Ameri
can. and veterans Brian Harstad and
Jarret Hanks.
Allen said Nebraska will concen
trate on improving its score against
Oklahoma and Iowa State. The No. 2
ranked Huskers have been averaging
277.38 points per meet, while top
ranked Ohio State has a 277.72 aver
age.
“We’ll be going out trying to
break 280, which no team has done
this year,” Allen said.
Nebraska’s Mark Warburton said
a 280 score will be tough to reach this
season.
“The scores always drop the year
after the Olympics because there are
new scoring rules,” Warburton said.
“It usually takes three years to get
used to the new rules and maximize
your scores.”
Nebraska's Bob Slelter said that
score will also be tough to reach
because the depth of this year’s team
doesn’t match up to last year's squad
that captured the national champion
ship. He said the graduation loss of
All-Americans Tom Schlesinger and
Kevin Davis has hurt Nebraska’s
team.
“Going into UCLA, we didn’t
know what to expect because wc are
lacking the guys this year,’ ’ he said.
“This year, we have six all-aroun
ders. Last year, when we had eight,
we could decide who was the best on
each event. We can’t do that this
year.”
Allen said a back spasm that has
hampered Ted Dimas won’t make the
depth situation any easier.
“Dimas is still hurling,” Allen
said. “I don’t think he’ll improve this
week. Right now it doesn't look like
he’ll compete, but he’s a tough kid.
He’ll probably find some way to
compete Sunday.”
The Nebraska men’s meet will be
preceeded by a women’s competition
that pits the Huskers against UCLA
and Michigan Stale in the Masters
Classic. That meet begins at 2 p.m. at
the Bob Devaney Sports Center.
Husker radiates leadership, Sanders says
By Jerry Guenther
Suff Reporter
Nebraska outfielder Bobby Ben
jamin drew cheers and praise while
playing for the United States Base
ball Federation Winter Olympic
Team, but was a target of distrust off
the field.
Benjamin said
he has mixed
emotions about
his experience at
the Kaohsiung
(Taiwan) Interna
tional Harbor
Baseball Touma- Benjamin
ment because of the different ways he
was treated. He said the Taiwanese
fans cheered Team USA foroutstand
ing plays on the field, but did not treai
the players as nice off of it.
“It was fun, but it was different,’
Benjamin said. “The people were
pretty mean to you. They didn’t trusi
you.’’
Benjamin led Team USA to a 7-1
record and a subsequent 2nd-place
finish by recording a team-high .72(
batting percentage and hitting twe
home runs.
Benjamin said he spent a lot of hi:
free time shopping while he was ir
Taiwan. But, he said, he didn’t lr>
many foreign foods.
“They tried to set it up for us
where we would eat food that we’d
like,” Benjamin said, “But that
didn’t work out too well.”
Instead, Benjamin said, the team
w
members usually ale at McDonalds,
Pizza Hut and Wendy’s.
“We had plenty of free time,”
Benjamin said. “They let us do about
anything we wanted.”
Benjamin said he enjoyed getting
to know different players on Team
: USA. He said he became close
1 friends with Seton Hall’s Maurice
i Vaughn.
Team USA coach Charlie Greene
i said Vaughn and Benjamin were
“the best two long ball hitters on the
team.” Greene, the baseball coach at
Miami Dade Community College
South in Miami, Fla., said Benjamin
has “plus power” on a major-league
scale.
Greene said Benjamin’s home
runs helped rally Team USA to a pair
of victories. Team USA competed
against squads from Taiwan, Mexico,
Japan, Puerto Rico and the Domini
can Republic.
‘The key for Bobby
or anyone out to
improve is to re
commit to excel
lence..’ ■ ■Sanders
As a freshman last season at Ne
braska, Benjamin led the nation with
91 walks while hitting .288. He also
drove in a team-high 78 runs while
hitting a school-record 21 home runs.
This season, Benjamin said he
hopes to improve his baiting average
while cutting down on his strikeouts.
Nebraska baseball coach John
Sanders said he plans to use Ben
jamin as the 4th-place hitter in the
starting lineup.
“He’ll be hitting in a very impor
tant spot in the lineup,” Sanders said,
“and so he will be asked to show
leadership on the field.”
“His very presence radiates lead
ership.”
Sanders said Benjamin has been
successful because he has good work
ethics.
‘ ‘The key for Bobby or anyone out
to improve is to recommit to excel
lence,” Sanders said. “Bobby has
shown he is very willing to do that.”
Husker women are pre-meet tavonte
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John Bruce/Deity Nebraskan
PEPIN from Page 7
“I think wc have a good chance to
win. That doesn’t mean we will. It’s
going to take a really good team ef
fort,’’ he said. “It’s going to be diffi
cult and I expect a very tough meet.
Pepin said Nebraska will be
healthy for the meet.
“The most pleasing fact heading
into this weekend is that for the first
time this year we’ll have our full team
ready to go,’’ Pepin said. “We’ve
been struck with injuries, a lot of flu
and sickness. Hopefully, we’re over
that now. That should make a big
difference.’’
The defending men’s Big Eieht
champions who will compete in this
year’s meet include Nebraska’s
Frank Graham in the mile, Kansas
State’s Jeff Reynolds in the 600, and
Colorado’s Kyle Hargett and Mike
Macinko. Hargett is the defending
Big Eight champion in the 400, while
Macinko will defend his title in the
800.
Nebraska’s Regis Humphrey, who
won the 880 title at the 1987 indoor
meet, will also compete.
The defending women’s Big Eight
champions who will compete include
Nebraska’s Toyia Barnes in the shot
pul, Rcnila Robinson in the triple
jump, and Linclta Wilson in the 400.
The additional defending conference
champions include Colorado’s Chris
McNamara in the mile, Missouri’s
Natasha Kaiser and Tcri LcBlanc in
the 300 and pentathlon, Kansas
State’s Kim Kilpatrick in the 55
meter hurdles, Iowa State’s Edith
Nakiyingi and Maria Akraka in the
1.000 and 800-meter runs and Okla
homa State’s Jackie Goodman in the
3.000 and 5,000.