Sports
NU women finish 2nd at regional
By Jeff Ape!
Senior Kdilor
Nebraska women’s gymnastics
coach Rick Walton touted his team
lor the national championship after
the Comhuskers finished second at
the Midwest regional.
Walton said he was pleased with
Huskers’ performance Saturday at
Salt Lake City because they over
came a hostile crowd and some con
troversial judging.
Utah won the meet with a 192.80
score, followed by Nebraska at
192.40. Oklahoma and Arizona State
tied for third at 190, followed by
Arizona (188.90), Utah State with
(188.30) and Brigham Young (187).
Walton said Nebraska should have
won the meet. He said Utah used its
home-floor advantage to edge the
Huskers.
“We won the meet,’’ Walton said.
“It was a road meet for us and Utah
had the advantage of being at home.
That’s worth tenths of a point, and
that’s what they beat us by.’’
Walton said the narrow loss will
not affect Nebraska as it prepares for
the NCAA championships on April
14-15 in Athens, Ga. He said the
Huskers proved they are legitimate
NCAA title contenders by narrowly
losing to Utah. The Utes won six
consecutive NCAA utles from 1982
to 1987.
Nebraska will enter the 12-team
NCAA competition seeded fourth in
the final rotation. UCLA earned the
competition's top seed, followed by
defending national champion Ala
bama. Utah, the Huskers. Georgia
and California-State Fullerton.
‘ I think w e have a chance to w in a
national championship," Walton
said. “If we go down and hit our
routines and let things fall as they
will, we could win it.”
Walton said Nebraska was
plagued throughout the regional meet
by controversial judging. He said the
judges began the meet by awarding a
w ide range of scores for similar per
formances, then attempted to solve
the problem by holding conferences
before issuing their scores.
Walton said the judges hurt Ne
braska because they gave the Huskers
a low score each time a discrepancy
arose. He said he attempted to solve
the problem by talking with the meet
referee, who told him that there was
nothing she could do because the
scores were within range.
“We lost every time.” W'alton
said. “There were seven conferences
— four on the last event. We just
didn’t understand why all die scores
were being conferenced.”
Walton said Nebraska could solve
the problem by staging future re
gional competitions at the Bob Deva
ney Sports Center. He said the Husk
ers have been burned by scoring for
the last three regional competitions.
“This has been three years in a
row,” Walton said. “We need to put
in a serious bid to host the rcgionals
so we can get some better judging.”
Walton said Nebraska’s second
place finish was a total team effort.
The Huskers were led by sophomore
Lisa McCrady, who finished third in
the all-around with a 38.60 score.
Utah’s Patti Massocls and Okla
homa All-American Cassie Frey tied
for the all-around title with 38.75
scores. Nebraska’s Michele Bryant
and Angie Burdette tied for fifth with
38.40 totals, while the Huskers’ Tami
Bair was 10th with a 38.10 mark.
“1 think we did a good job,”
Walton said. “It was an outstanding
meet for us.”
Robinson, Rockenbauer qualify for NCAAs
By Darran Fowler
Staff Reporter
Nebraska’s Renita Robinson and
Nora Rockcnbauer didn’t waste any
time qualifying for this year’s out
door track and field championships.
Robinson and Rockcnbauer
turned in NCAA-qualifying perform
ances during Nebraska’s first outdoor
meet of the year at Tucson, Ariz. The
Comhusker men, behind double win
ner Mark Perry, finished second.
Nebraska won the women’s com
petition with 188 points, followed by
Arizona with 123. Colorado finished
third with 92 1/2 points, while Cali
fomia-Irvine was fourth with 67 1/2
points.
Nebraska was second to Arizona
in the men’s competition. The Wild
cats tallied 178 points compared to
the Huskcrs’ 151. California-Irvine
was third with 115 1/2 points and
Colorado was fourth with 102 1/2.
Robinson, who qualified for her
second national meet, won the triple
jump with a leap of 41 feet 5 1/4
inches. Rockenbauer, a freshman
form Budapest, Hungary, won the
javelin with a throw of 187-4.
Nebraska assistant and distance
coach Jay Dirksen said he considers
Rockenbauer to be a contender to win
the javelin at the NCAA meet in
Provo, Utah.
“She’s an outstanding javelin
thrower,” Dirksen said. “It was a
good opener for her, but she’s (going
to) throw a lot further than that by
season’s end.”
Dirksen said because more teams
compete outdoors than indoors, the
standards for qualifying outdoors arc
more difficult. But based on the per
formance of some athletes in their
first outdoor competition, Dirksen
expects others to soon qualify.
Dirksen said junior Joanne Gomez
missed qualifying in the triple jump
by one centimeter and the women’s
400-mcter relay team of Tanya Lidy,
Linetla Wilson, Ximcna Restrepo
and Prema Govindan missed qualify
ing by one-tenth of a second. Their
winning time was 45.44 seconds.
They had only been outdoors
one lime to practice their handoffs
and so they should qualify,” Dirksen
said.
In addition to winning the 4(X)
relay, Lidy and Wilson also contrib
uted team points in other events.
Lidy, a freshman from Pampa,
Texas, won the 100 in 11.96 and the
200 in 24.89. She also combined with
Restrepo, Susan Hedrick and Wilson
to win the 1,600 relay in 3:48.04.
Wilson won the 400 hurdles in
1:00.23.
Teammate Sammie Resh won the
5,000 in 17:20.84.
‘ ‘We have a tremendous women’s
team with a lot of quality athletes and
depth,” Dirksen said.
The men’s team was without some
of its key performers and had just one
entrant in some events which hurt the
Huskers in the team scoring, Dirksen
said.
“It was a pretty close meet,” he
said. “The women pretty much
dominated, but the men’s was a lot
closer than the score looked.’
Perry won the 100 and 2(X), lead
ing the men with times of 10.48 and
21.43.
Also winning for the Huskers were
Scott Parker in the triple jump with a
leap of 48-3 1/2 and Joe Kirby in the
steeplechase with a time of 8:59.61.
In addition, Jeff Hooper won the
discus with a heave of 176-4 and
Roddy James captured the javelin
with a throw of 204-4. Ken Waller,
Dale Burrage, Jerry Marscc and Mark
Jackson teamed to win the 1,600 re
lay in 3:11.03.
“We got off to a good start and we
were really encouraged by what we
saw,” Dirksen said. “We have two
really fine teams.”
interim coach in
unlikely position
SEATTLE (AP) - Steve
Fisher has brought as much at
tention to the word interim as he
has to the Michigan basketball
team he has been coaching for
the X five games.
storybook career of in
terim ends tonight when
Fisher’s Michigan Wolverines
face Seton Hall in the champi
onship game of the NCAA tour
nament. The game, which will
be televised by KMTV (chan
nel 3) begins at 8:13 p.m.
i ne imai game oi me col
lege basketball season is an
unlikely place for an interim
coach to be. Until last season it
was just as an unlikely place for
a Seton Hall team to be.
Fisher’s story started 48
hours before the tournament
began when Bill Frieder was
Fired by Michigan after agree
ing to take over as the coach at
Arizona State next season.
Since then, the Wolverines
have not only not lost but they
have played their best basket
ball of the season and their best
of any recent NCAA tourna
ment
“Timing is everything and I
jumped in at the right time,”
Fisher said. “We have not been
lucky in the tournament the last
six years. Balls bounced off
instead of in. We’ve gotten
lucky but the players have put
inciii^v. ui pMuuu iu wih
games.”
The five victories included
Saturday’s 83-81 victory
against Illinois.
Seton Hall advanced to to
night’s championship game by
using a tough defense to defeat
Duke 95-78. The Pirates* de
fense has shined throughout the
tournament, as no team has
managed to shoot better than 40
percent in the second half,
id *'We’re able to wear teams
DaryH
Cards will win N.L. East without Cox
Hope is the byword for baseball
fans today. With only 162 games left
to play, all the things that could go
wrong with a team haven’t yet. The
Major League fantasy begins again
and lasts until October.
_I-Z-1
I
Of course that fantasy will be
more pleasant for some fans than
others. But the race for the National
League Eastern Division pennant
should be exciting enough to chase
the boogieman out of Cubs’ and Phil
lies’ fans worst nightmares.
Step aside New York Mets. Here
comes the 1989 N.L. Eastern Divi
sion champions — the St. Louis Car
dinals.
Starting pitching is the only weak
ness on this Cardinal team. Danny
Cox is out for the season with a blown
elbow but the Cards still have a re
spectable rotation that includes Jose
DeLeon, Joe Magrane and Scott
Terry.
This is the healthiest staff Cardi
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nals manager Whiiey Herzog has had
on opening day in years. Count on
him to work his rotation magic.
DeLeon showed promise last sea
son of becoming the pitcher he was
predicted lobe since his early years at
Pittsburgh. Look for him to win 20
games this season. The bullpen has
solid middle relief with Ken Dayley
and Frank DiPino and closer Todd
Worrell rarely falters.
The baiting order is the best in the
majors with an incredible balance of
speed and power. With Vince Cole
man, Ozzie Smith, Willie McGee,
Pedro Guerrero, Tom Brunansky,
Terry Pendleton, Tony Pena and Jose
Oquendo, the Cards will lead the
majors in stolen bases, and lead the
league in visiting home runs.
That lineup also includes three
Gold Gloves. They’ll stop scoring as
well as produce runs. '
But the Cardinals had better not
look over their shoulders or the Mets
might slip by.
The Mets still have the dominate
pitching that has made them the dec
ade’s winningest team. The rotation
of Dwight Gooden, David Cone, Ron
Darling, Sid Fernandez and Bob
Ojeda has only one weakness - the
defense behind them.
Manager Davey Johnson insists on
playing Howard Johnson at third
base, no matter how many teeth he’ll
lose, for another season and moving
Gregg Jeffries out of position to sec
ond base. If this doesn’t work
Johnson plans to give HoJo more
time at shortstop. Center fielders
Lenny Dyksira and Mookic Wilson
could run 15 40-yard sprints a game
to field grounders missed at short.
The once feared power lineup of
the Mets has wasted with age. Gary
Carter’s bat has no more long-ball.
Darryl “Mr. Attitude” Strawberry
and Kevin McReynolds carried the
team through some lean low scoring
summer months last season and will
have to do it again this year.
The Mcts have the pitching and
enough offense to repeat as division
champs, but inconsistency in the field
and the heralded tension in the club
house will slop them.
The spoiler this season will be the
Pittsburgh Pirates. A great defensive
team with catcher Mike LaVallicrc,
shortstop Rafael Belliard, second
basemen Jose Lind and center fielder
Andy Van Slykc up the middle, will
not allow many cheap runs against
them.
The Pirate pitching is solid with
starters Doug Drabek, Mike Dunne
and relievers Jim Gott and Jeff
Robinson.
Offense will be a problem in Pitts
Montreal Expos. Loaded with of
fense players including Tim Raines,
Andres Galarraga, Hubic Brooks and
Tim Wallach, they will be a fun team
to watch.
The Expos finally improved their
defense with the addition of shortstop
Spike Owens. Their pitching is at the
middle of the pack with the average
Kevin Gross acquired to complement
the average Dennis Martinez, Bryn
Smith and Pascual Perez. The bull
pen isn’t deep and will lose some
games.
The most painful thing in all base
ball is to be a Chicago Cubs fan in the
winter. That’s when the Cubs trade
their proven, talented young players
for unproven pitchers.
So long Rafael Palmeiro, hello
Mitch Williams from Texas; a re
ported 90 mph plus hurlcr who occa
sionally gets it over the plate. Of
‘The Cubs’lineup doesn’t have the power of
years past, with Andre Dawson being their
only legitimate long-ball threat. ’
burgh. The Pirate pitching staff com
bined for more RBls than the Pirate
shortstops last season (17 and 16 re
spectively).
Switch hitter Bobby Bonilla is an
impressive offensive threat bin needs
help. Van Slykc is as good as Straw
berry against right handers but can’t
hit lefties. Look for some low-scoring
games in the heat of July.
The enigma of the National
League East will once again be the
I
course if Lee Smith was stilt in Chi
cago instead of Calvin Schiraldi (who
knows where A1 Nipper will be), the
Cubs might have a bullpen. The Cubs
cooked Rich “the Goose” Gossage
last season and are smart enough not
to want leftovers.
There is some promise on the staff,
however. Rick Sutcliffe has lost
weight and Greg Maddux starts the
•season' ■with-’a' fresh' arm. ■ Maddux
shouldn’t poop-out after the All-Star
break this season. The brightest spot
will be rookie Mike Harkey. Harkey
will start the season with the Cubs’
AAA club in Dcs Moines because of
a rocky spring training, but he’ll be in
the big leagues soon and win Rookie
of the Year honors.
The Cubs’ lineup doesn’t have the
power of years past, with Andre
Dawson being their only legitimate
long-bail threat. But the Cubs will be
fun to watch with the best defensive
infield in the major leagues. Rync
Sandberg will win his lOlh-consccu
tive Gold Glove and 1989 is the sea
son Shawon Dunslon will replace
Ozzic Smith as the best shortstop in
the league.
__i..__..u •_i
t iiv/ urn; j/oiu turn V/Uuiu iivai
being a Cub fan is being a Phillies fan
in 1989. Philadelphia will be the
worst baseball team this season.
The Phillies’ starting rotation won
19 games in 1988. Their best second
baseman, Juan Samuel, plays in ccn
terfield. Their double-play combina
tion of Dickie Thon and Tommy Herr
has the range of an orthopedic reha
bilitation nurse. My worst fear this
season is turning on the television
some late summer evening and the
only game on is Philadelphia against
Atlanta.
The predicted finish:
Win* Lone* Garnet back
St. Louis 102 60
New York 95 67 7
Pittsburgh 85 77 17
Montreal 79 83 23
Chicago 71 91 31
Philadelphia 62 100 37
Laucr is a Junior news-editorial major
from Lincoln and is a Daily Nebraskan pho
tographer and baseball predictor.