Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 16, 1990)
Gymnasts face troubled Houston Baptist team By Jeff Apel Senior Editor A troubled Houston Baptist men’s gymnastics team will face Nebraska on Sunday. Nebraska men’s gym nasties coach Francis Allen said Houston Baptist has been rocked this season by a pair of investigations which led to the suspension of three persons associ ated with the Huskies’ program. Those individuals include Houston Baptist coach Hutch Dvorak and All-Amer ica selections Alfonso Rodrigue/, and Miguel Rubio. Benny Agosto, the Huskies’ sports information director, said the three individuals were suspended for the season after an internal investigation revealed alleged irregularities. He said the irregularities centered on airplane tickets and housing costs. Agosto said Dvorak was suspended after Houston Baptist officials learned that one of the athletes had allegedly been given a free plane ticket so he could return to his native homeland of Spain. He said the ticket allegedly was purchased so that the athlete - whom he refused to identify - could attend to “a personal matter.” Agosto said the internal investiga tion also revealed that Dvorak had allegedly provided free housing for a second athlete before the start of an academic term. He declined to reveal any specifics of either matter, saying only that the NCAA would act on both allegations sometime after March 10. Allen said the allegations have taken their loll on Houston Baptist. Ne braska will find out how much of a toll when it faces the Huskies a> 2 p.m. at the Bob Devancy Sports Cc t r. All University of Nebraska-Lin coln students who present their stu dent ID cards will be admitted free. The meet will be the final home competition for Comhusker seniors Patrick Kirksey, Bob Stelter and Mark Warburton. Allen said Houston Baptist will have trouble competing against Ne braska without Rodriguez and Rubio. “If we are healthy and they are healthy, they cannot beat us,” Allen said. “They’re good and they have a couple all-arounders that can com pete with our top guns, but I believe that we’ll be too much for them.” Allen said Houston Baptist is led by All-America selection Mike Wil liams, who placed third in the vault ing competition at the 1989 NCAA championships. “Williams is a good gymnast,” he said. “If he and some others can fill in their holes, they can have a respect able team. I really believe that.” Allen said Nebraska, 15-0, showed how respectable it is last weekend by winning the Cal Stalc-Fullerton and UCLA invitationals. He said the Huskers’ performances should leave no doubt as to who the best team in the country is. “We pretty much convinced ev eryone that we have an awfully good team,” Allen said. “If we get one of our top all-arounders hurt or we have an off day, we can get beat. 4 4 However, if we keep performing like we have been, we’re unbeatable.” Allen said a key factor in Ne braska’s success this season has been the performance of its three senior All-America selections. He said the seniors have provided steady leader ship while turning in top perform ances. Kirksey’s best perfonnance oc curred last season, when he won the all-around title at the NCAA champi onships. In the five all-around com petitions that the native of Tucker, Patrick Kirksey Kirksey, a native of Tuck, Ga., won the 1989 NCAA all-around competitions this year, including a rematch against Ohio State’s Mike Racanelli, last year’s NCAA mimer up. lit the Husker-Buckeye dual in Lincoln, Feb. 4, Kirksey scored a 57.45 to edge Racanelli (57.40). Kirksey scored a season high 57.475 at the UCLA meet to win the all-around. Bob Stelter Stelter, a native of Burbank, Calif., posted a career-high 57.40 all around mark at the UCLA Invite to place second. He won the aU~annmd competition at the sea son-opening Big Eight Invite in November. Mark Warburton Warburton, a native of Dunbarton, N.H., won the all-around at Fullerton State (56.50). He won the high bar against Ohio State and at UCLA meet as he posted a career-high 9.8. I___ ''_ Source: Nebraska Sports Information, j John Bruce/Daily Nebraskan Ga., has competed in this year, he has won three. Stelter’s career highlight came when he won the all-around competition in the Big Eight Invitational in Novcm ber. The Burbank, Calif., native also finished second in the all-around race at the UCLA Invitational with a ca reer-high 57.40 mark. Warburton,a native of Dunbarton, N.H., won the all-around title at the Cal State-Fullerton Invitational. He won the high bar competition at the UCLA Invitational with acarccr-high 9.8 marl Indecisiveness hinders recruiting process Last week Carl Richardson, a highly recruited high school comerback, changed his mind. He decided to play football for Nebraska instead of Miami. On Monday, he changed his mind again and decided Miami was the Nick Hytrek place for him after all. Allen Wallace, a recruiting ana lyst and publisher of SuperPrep Magazine, had named the 6-foot-l, 185-pound Dallas native to his All America team. Wallace rated him as the second-best, all-purpose prospect in the country and a player who could make a solid contribution to any var sity team next year. Even though it is uncommon for most recruits to change their mind as Richardson did, it should not be al lowed to happen. It shouldn’t happen even though die football powerhouses such as Nebraska and Miami aren’t affected by this sort of action as much as weaker teams like Kansas State or Northwestern. These weaker teams recruit top players to make an impact right away so that their programs might make it to the top. When a top recruit gives an oral commitment to attend, these schools arc satisfied and recruit play ers for other positions. When a recruit backs out of his oral commitment, as Richardson did, these weaker teams are crushed. A gaping hole is left in their recruiting class and they are forced to sign play ers with considerably less talent. The powerhouses are not affected as much when players back out of oral commitments because they are after five or six players who are just as good. Several things could be done to keep players from back ing out of their commitments. One possible solution is to have an early signing date for football recruits before the season starts. It does work. College basketball teams can sign recruits for a one week time span that begins on the first Wednesday of November. Since the early signing date works for basket ball, it should be given a trial run in football. Set aside the last week of July as the early signing period in which high school football players can sign a national letter of intent. By signing early, the high school player would have the recruiting hassle over with. They also would be able to devote more lime to their school work because they would not be visited by college recruiters every night. The player would be able to con centrate on his upcoming senior sea son without the pressure of having to impress scouts by performing like an All-America selection every time he steps on the field. The colleges would benefit in dif ferent ways. An early signing date would allow colleges to start filling holes that will be left by graduation. By signing some top position play ers in July, thecollegcs wouldn’t have so many positions to recruit for in the spring. They would then be able to concentrate on signing the top play ers at other positions. An early signing date also would make spring recruiting less hectic. Instead of having to secure up to 30 oral commitments, a school might have only 20 to get, depending on how many incoming players the col lege wants to give scholarships to and how many players were signed dur ing the early period. One foreseeable problem with an early signing date is what to do if a player who has signed a letter of intent suffers a serious or career-end ing injury. One possible solution to that prob lem would be to offer that player a full academic scholarship if lie wants it. If the player decides to accept the academic scholarship, the college would be awarded an additional foot ball scholarship. If the player docs not accept the academic scholarship, he can be re leased from his commitment and can go to any college he wishes. An early signing period would not totally eliminate the problem of hav ing players change their minds, but it might help. It would be a permanent commitment and after a player signs his letter of intent, other colleges will have to leave him alone and not be able to persuade him to change his mind. This sort of thing has been known to happen before. Just ask Richardson. Hytrek is a sophomore news-editorial major and a Daily Nebraskan sports reporter and columnist. _^ LAST CHANCE! _VE GOTW) CALL TODAY' i don't mr J0BC5TKKIN . ^ r. iUNCOLNVJ DATTOKA BEACH -W SOUTH PADRE ISIAHD *129 STEAMBOAT PORT UUDER0A1E -•»*' HI1TON HEAD ISIAHD -*IR7' CORPUS CHRIST!/ musumkisuho *99 oowt mir tii iri no un CALL TOLL fffff TOMK 1-800-321-5911 _ 'Depending on Drejt fates and lengtn of stay "V_____. Seniors Continued from Page 6 will miss the seniors, all of whom have earned All-America honors. While Stus earned academic All America honors by compiling a 3.688 grade point average in electrical engineering in 1988, Williams and Frampton earned their achievements bv recording top finishes at the NCAA championships. Williams is a six-time All-Amer ica selection who shocked the swim ming world by recording a then-world record time of 22.18 seconds in the 50-meter freestyle at an all-comers lime trial in 1988. The senior from Port Elizabeth, South Africa also is the defending Big Eight champion in the 50 freestyle. Frampton is a four-time, honor able-mention, All-America selection who hails from Cape Town, South Africa. He is the Big Eight’s three time defending champion in the 100 and 200 breaststrokes. Bent/ admitted he was surprised by the seniors’ accomplishments. ’ ‘All three fellas lived up to all our expectations,” he said,‘‘and proba bly surpassed most of them.” Stus said he exceeded the expecta tions he set for himself four years ago. ‘‘Since I’ve come here, I’ve got ten a lot better,” Stus said. ‘‘It has taken a lot of hard work, but I ’m glad I had a successful career here.” Bent/ said the seniors need to have a successful home dual farewell if they are going to lead their team mates to a victory against the eighth ranked Iowa Hawkcycs. He said Iowa, 6-0, is a dangerous team that is strong in the middle-to-distance freestyle events. < Stus said he and his teammates will be ready for Iowa. ‘‘It’s a pretty big rivalry, so we’ll be psyched up for them,” Stus said. ‘‘We’re definitely looking forward to facing them.” VALENTINO’S DELIVERS THE GOODS When you’re ready for pizza...take advantage of these delivery specials: $Q 99 • Two medium cheese pizzas only ^ • $Q 99 • Large single topping pizza and four Cokes only *Z7 • 99 * Medium single topping pizza and two Cokes only KJ. \ ‘Additional toppings extra \fp||\ can 467-3611 *^Steistino& \ ^ sr^Y "r - The Pizza Restaurant * Other menu Iteme evetlebte * That Didn’t Stop With Pizza
