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Manley plans to step aside for Malecek
By Steve Sipple
Staff Reporter
Nebraska heavyweight Sonny Manley, who
won a title at the Big Eight Wrestling Champi
onships Sunday, won’t try to defend his crown
at next season’s league meet.
Manley, a junior, said Monday he will re
dshirt his senior season and wait until 1991 to
defend his title.
Manley’s decision will allow Comhusker
redshirt senior Joe Malecek to step into
Manley’s position in the Huskers’ starling
lineup next season, avoiding a challenge match
between the two.
“That’s the game plan,” Manley said. "I’ll
be in the same boat (Malecek) was in this
year.”
Sunday, Manley decisioned Iowa State’s
Chris Knutsen 5-2 in the finals to win the
championship in the meet at Ames, Iowa.
Manley beat Oklahoma’s Joe O’Mara 5-1 to
reach the finals.
Manley, the lop seed at the league meet, said
his decision to redshirt will help him in the
future.
‘‘I think it will be for the best because I can
get bigger and build confidence as far as per
fecting technique,” Manley said.
Plus, he said, sitting out a season will allow
him to concentrate more on school.
And beating Malecek in a challenge match
would be a tough task, Manley said. He said a
challenge match with Malecek would be de
cided by “a point or two.”
‘‘(Malecek) would probably come out on
the top end of the deal,” Manley said. ‘‘He’s
always been tough. This year will give him an
edge next year.”
Malecek finished fourth at the 1988 Big
Eight meet.
Manley, who’s compiled a 21-14-3 record
this season, said his league championship
didn’t shock him, although he finished with an
8-9 dual record during the season.
‘‘I can’t say I was surprised. It was a realis
tic goal I set at the beginning of the year,”
Manley said.4‘I was just happy to be there and
that the goal finally came true.”
Manley will next turn his attention to the
NCAA Championships March 16-18 at Okla
homa City. He said his next goal will be to gain
All-America status at the NCAA meet. The
meet’s top eight finishers are awarded All
America status.
77/ be in the same boat
(Malecek) was in this
year.’
-Manley
‘‘If I have a good tournament and wrestle
like I’m capable, there’s no reason I shouldn’t
(become an All-America),” Manley said.
At Sunday’s meet, Nebraska finished fourth
in the team standings for the fifth straight year.
Oklahoma State won the title with 95 points,
Iowa State scored 82, Oklahoma State had
64.25, the Huskers scored 39.5 and Missouri
had 14.5.
Nebraska had eight wrestlers reach the
semifinal round, but the Huskcrs lost seven of
those matches. Four were lost by two points or
less.
“All we were lacking was just that edge tc
score one or two more points in each match,
and that was frustrating,” Nebraska coach Tim
Neumann said. “After that first round (semifi
nals), we iooked like the real Nebraska, but the
team race is won and lost in the semifinals.
Although Manley was Nebraska’s only
team champion Sunday, the Huskcrs qualified
nine wrestlers for the national meet.
Five Huskcrs gained NCAA berths by plac
ing among the top three at the Big Eight meet
- Terry Cook at 118 pounds, Jason Kclbcr at
126, Paul Herrera at 150, Jeff Coltvct at 158
and Scott Chcnowclh at 167.
In addition, three Huskcrs received wild
card berths into the NCAA meet, including
Mike Hcmann al 134, Laync Billings at 142
and Cody Olson at 177. Olson won the 177
pound league crown in 1987.
Nebraska sortball coach shocked by team s pertormance
By Darran Fowler
Staff Reporter
Nebraska softball coach Ron
Wolforth took full responsibility af
ter seeing his team suffer what he
described as one of its worst setbacks
in recent history.
Wolforth said he was to blame for
the Comhuskers’ 1-6 record at the
Roadrunner Invitational this week
end in Las Cruces, N.M.
The tournament was hosted by
New Mexico State.
“At the Division I level, you can
trace failure to only one spot and
that’s the coach,” Wolforth said. “It
isn’t like high school where you arc
stuck with what you’re dealt with. In
college, the coach is in charge of
recruiting, technique and motivation.
“The kids worked real hard, so 1
think it was sort of failure on my part.
I still have a lot of faith in these girls
and I still think we’re going to be a
fine softball team at the end of sea
son. We have a lot of talent.’’
Wolforth said he was shocked by
the performance of the 6-10 Huskcrs.
Nebraska posted its lone victory in
the three-day tournament by defeat
ing Nicholls State University of Thi
bodaux, La., 5-3.
Nebraska opened the tournament
by dropping a 3-1 decision to Ari
zona, and then suffered a 2-1 loss to
Wichita State. The Huskers then lost
6-5 to Michigan and 9-0 to New
Mexico prior to dropping 5-4 and 8-3
decisions to Arizona State.
“It was a pretty devastating week
end,” Wolforth said. “I’ve never
went through something like that
before. It was extremely frustrating
for the coaches and veteran players
who have never went through this
before.”
Wolforth said Nebraska’s per
formance in the Arizona Invitational
earlier this season in Tucson, Ariz.,
may have had some effect entering
the Roadrunner Classic. The Huskers
opened the Arizona Invitational by
compiling a 1-3 mark, but regrouped
and posted four wins to finish 3rd.
“We started to win and we may
have just decided this was the way it
was gonna be and forgot to be aggres
sive,” Wolforth said. “Now there
may be some doubting of our abil
ity.”
He said Nebraska s tournament
schedule -- which features competi
tion against top teams early in the
season -- was designed to prepare the
younger players for the Big Eight
Tournament in May. Nebraska’s ros
ter includes nine freshman.
“This is the toughest schedule
we’ve ever played,” he said. ‘‘Bui
we haven’t responded quite as well as
I thought we might.”
Freshman Deanna Mays was
named the top hitler of the tourna
ment after collecting 10 hits in 16
attempts.
Wolforth praised the perform
ances of freshman Amy Killman and
senior shortstop Jane Kremcr. Kre
mcr hit .380 in the tournament, while
Killman stole four bases.
Nebraska’s next competition is on
March 17 through 19, when the Husk
ers travel to Tallahassee, Fla., to
compete in the Florida State Invita
tional. ...
NU could still
earn NIT berth
By Mark Derowitsch
Senior Reporter
Last week, Nebraska men’s
basketball coach Danny Nee said
he thought the Cornhuskers
needed one more win just to get a
berth into the National Invitational
Tournament.
But Nee now hopes he has
enough going for him to get into
the tournament without that win.
“It’s nice to know people in
New York,” said Nee, a native of
Brooklyn, N.Y. “That never hurts.
They have given it to .500 teams
before and they have given it to
teams like ourselves. Our power
rating is attractive, so that’s a good
sign.”
Nee said the Huskers, who are
ranked 71st in the latest power
ratings with a 16-14 overall record,
will likely play at the Bob Devaney
Sports Center if they make the
NTT
“That’s the whole attraction,”
he said *T think we’ll play here, at
least in the first round.”
Nee said there are two reasons
that the NIT will give the Huskers
a first-round game'in Lincoln.
“I feel very good about our
situation here at the University of
Nebraska,” Nee said. “We’re a
very attractive package for the
NIT, One, is our proven attendance
record. Two, is our administra
tion’s cooperation with the NIT.
“They know we have the abil
ity to sell tickets, we have the right
management, and we efficiently
run a game. When everyone takes
over, it’s like dialing an 800 num
ber. It’s connected.”
The last time the Huskers were
in the NIT was 1987, Nee’s first
year as coach. Gary Fouraker, the
assistant athletic director for busi
ness affairs, said the crowds aver
aged about 13,000 for the games
against Marquette, Arkansas and
Washington.
Fouraker said Nebraska gave
the NIT about $90,000 for each of
the three games.
Nee said, the NIT would send a
regional team into Lincoln to face
the Huskers if a game was staged in
the Sports Center.
Nee said Wichita State, Colo
rado State and Creighton would be
likely first-round opponents.
William Lauer/Daily Nebraskan
Nebraska’s Rich King blocks a shot by Oklahoma
State’s Thomas Jordan.
Two Husker coaches win
national coaching positions
By Jeff Apel
Senior Editor
Nebraska volleyball coach Terry
Pettit and assistant coach John Cook
made their summer travel plans and
took steps towards enhancing their
careers by earning national coaching
positions for the summer.
Pettit was named the United
States’ women’s coach for the World
University Games. That competition
will be Aug. 19 through 30 in Sao
Paulo, Brazil, and will be preceded
by a training camp Aug. 1 through 15
in Colorado Springs, Colo.
Cook was selected to coach the
North women in the Olympic Sports
Festival that will be July 21 through
30 in Oklahoma City. The tryouts for
that competition will begin on July
15.
Cook said he is looking forward to
his coaching position. He said his
participation will help promote vol
leyball and enhance his coaching
career.
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experience as a stepping stone to a
possible coaching position. He said
he does not mind spending his sum
mer vacation in Oklahoma City be
cause it will help his career.
“It’s important for my career,”
Cook said. “It will be a hectic sum
mer for me and Coach Pettit, but it’s
well worth it.”
Cook said he earned his position
after serving as an assistant coach in
the Olympic Festival two years ago.
He said the assistant coach is gener
ally sejccted as the coach in hopes of
earning the coaching position for the
World University Games.
Cook said his position will be a
challenge because the Olympic Festi
val rosters will include four, 12
player teams who will come from all
regions of the counpy. He said the
teams will be comprised from a pool
of players who will try out at camps
located in North Carolina, Oklahoma
and California.
Cook said a unique aspect about
the Olympic Festival is that players
are not assigned to their respective
teams based on their geographic re
gion. He said this means a player
from Texas could play on the East or
West squad, while a player from
California could be on the North or
South.
“They try to make it as competi
tive as possible,” Cook said. “It’s
like the football draft. They want to
make sure each team has a good
quarterback.”
Cook said one of the biggest chal
lenges he will face is trying to de
velop team chemistry. He said he
plans on sending out mailings and
talking to his players on the telephone
so they can become more familiar
with him and each other.
“I want to get the process going so
the players aren’t all strangers,”
Cook said.
Cook said team chemistry is not
easy to develop.
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“You have to feel your way to get
there.”
Cook said four Nebraska players
will try out for the Olympic Festival.
These players include Val Novak,
Cris Hall, Sara Hesch and Janet*
Kruse.
Cook said his coaching the North
squad will “not help the Nebraska
players. He said what will help the
Comhuskers is their excellent liadi
tion in the Olympic Festival and the
strong volleyball tradition at Ne
braska.
Nebraska’s previous participants
in the Olympic Festival include Lori
Endicott and Angie Millikin.
“All of the past Nebraska players
were very good players to coach,”
Cook said.
Cook is confident about the four
Nebraska players’ chances of making
the Olympic Festival roster.
“All four of them have a good
chance of making it,” he said. “We
feel they have a real good chance.” 1
