Net?mskan
Monday, February 26,1990
NU swimmers capture Big Eight title
By Jeff Apel
Senior Editor
An attitude change helped the
Nebraska women’s swimming team
end a two-year drought and claim this
year’s Big Eight title.
Nebraska swimmer Michelle
Butcher said the Comhuskcrs used a
determined attitude to end Kansas’
two-year reign as conference cham
pions. She said that attitude was criti
cal because it prevented Kansas’
psychological warfare from taking its
The Huskers claimed their confer
ence crown on Saturday at Ames,
Iowa, by tallying 654 1/2 points. Kansas
finished second with 610, while Iowa
State was third with 363 1/2, and
Missouri was fourth with 234.
Butcher said Nebraska’s attitude
this year was a sharp contrast to the
sentiments that the Huskcrs felt be
fore last season’s Big Eight meet.
“People believed that we could
win it this year,” Butcher said. “Last
year, they wanted to win it, but they
didn’t really believe they could.”
Butcher and Nebraska women’s
swimming coach Ray Huppcrt said
Kansas tried to dash the Huskers’ title
hopes by employing a vaiety of mind
games. They said the mind games
included an abundance of cockiness
and taunts that were meant to punish
opponents mentally.
Huppert said the Jayhawks entered
the meet in a cocky fashion, then
appeared surprised as Nebraska battled
them on a nearly even basis after the
first day of competition on Thursday.
He said Kansas appeared to be more
and more surprised as the meet pro
gressed because the team began to
realize that its chances ol winning
were becoming more remote.
Huppert said he was not impressed
by the 15lh-rankcd Jayhawks.
“Kansas, I thought, looked flat in
certain events,” Huppert said. “They
I
just had a few kids swimming well.”
Huppert said Nebraska had a vari
ety of individuals swimmimg well,
including Butcher. The freshman from
Alpine, Calif., was named the meet’s
outstanding performer after captur
ing Big Eight titles in the 500- and
1,650-yard frccstylcs and the 400
individual medley.
Butcher finished the meet with Big
Eight records in the freestyle events
and also set a multitude of school
records that Huppert had not finished
tallying by Sunday afternoon.
But believe it or not, she said she
was not overly pleased with her per
formance.
“I didn’t do as well as I wanted,”
Butcher said. ‘‘My time in the mile
(the 1,650) was 16:26 (minutes) and I
would love to get it under 16:20.”
Nebraska also received boosts from
senior Carole Johnson, who won her
fourth-consecutive Big Eight title in
the 100 backstroke, Jcnell Garcia and
Kristen Neuenfeldt, who won the 100
butterfly and 200 freestyle events and
Amy Aarsen, who captured the 1-and
3-meter diving titles.
The Huskers 400-yard freestyle
relay team of Neuenfeldt, Mindy
Mathcny, Lynne Braddock and fresh
man Christine Frederick also finished
first.
-1
Loss drops Comhuskers
into tie for seventh place
By Paul Domeier
Senior Reporter
The Nebraska women ’ s basketbal 1
team lost the battle for sixth place in
the Big Eight to Iowa State on Satur
day, losing 84-78 to the Cyclones at
the Bob Dcvaney Sports Center.
Iowa Stale, now 13-14 overall and
3-11 in the Big Eight, took the lead
for good with 8:37 left in the second
half and held on for the win in the
teams’ regular-season finale, which
was scarred by 87 free-throw attempts.
The Comhuskers, 10-17 and 2-12,
hit 32 of a Sports Center-record 47
free throws, and fouled out four Cy
clones. But they still couldn’t avoid
their seventh-straight loss.
Nebraska led for most of the first
half, but Iowa State’s Tynnetta Rashced
threw in a 30-foot shot at the buzzer
to put the Cyclone’s up 45-43 at
halftime.
Nebraska coach Angela Beck said
the buzzer-beating shot took all the
momentum away from the Huskcrs.
Even with the lead, though, the
Cyclones almost self-destructed with
the following fouls: Lynne Lorcn
zen’s fourth, with 17:30 left; Laurie
Decker’s fourth, 16:58; Leslie Maple’s
third, 16:39; Vanessa Ward’s third,
15:07; Shelly Coyle’s third, 13:47;
Ward’s fourth, 12:56; Maple’s fourth,
12:36.
The Huskcrs trailed 57-54 after
the last foul.
When the Cyclones worked them
selves into foul trouble, Beck said,
her squad had trouble concentrating
on running the offense while working
lo draw fouls. Nebraska was able to
take the lead twice, but no Cyclones
fouled out until 6:16 left in the game.
But by then, Coyle and Decker were
taking charge.
Iowa Slate played three seniors,
four juniors and two sophomores,
compared to Nebraska’s assortment
of three juniors, four sophomores and
four freshmen. Beck said the game’s
65 fouls frustrated the younger Husk
ers.
One Iowa State senior who stayed
steady throughout the game was Coyle.
She led Iowa State with 22 points and
10 rebounds, and made 10 of 13 free
throws.
“She’s a great player - a hard,
hard worker,’’ Beck said. “She wanted
this a little more than we wanted it.’’
After taking the lead for good, 63
62, the Cyclones went on a 10-4 run.
Decker keyed the streak with two
three-point shots.
“She was a shooter, and we fell
asleep,” Beck said. “We had some
young people that didn’t do a very
good job defensively.”
The Cyclones hit 30 of 40 of their
free throws.
Ann Halsnc led the Huskers with
17 points, 11 of which came in the
first period. Kristi Dahn scored 16
and Karen Jennings added 10.
The loss dropped the Huskers into
a seventh-place tic with Oklahoma. A
coin loss will decide whether Ne
braska will play Missouri or Kansas
State in the first round of the Big
Eight tournament Saturday in Salina,
Kan.
Cyclones’ tall substitutes
drop NU to last-place tie
By Jeff Apel
Senior Editor
The Nebraska men’s basketball
team, which possesses the tallest squad
in the Big Eight, couldn’t handle Iowa
Slate’s height.
Nebraska coach Danny Nee said
after his team's 101-85 loss to Iowa
State on Saturday in Ames, Iowa, that
Iowa State used a multitude of tall
substitutes to drop the Comhuskcrs
into a last-place tic in the Big Eight.
He said the height hurt Nebraska
because it turned the Cyclones into an
aggressive, hard-nosed team.
“I thought when they went to the
big lineup we had trouble with them,’’
Nee said during his postgame radio
show. “That’s when they dominated
the boards.’’
Iowa State forward Phil Kunz was
Nebraska’s main nemesis, as the 6
foot-9 forward came off the bench to
score 21 points. The Cyclones, now
9-16overalland3-9intheBig Eight,
also received 22 points from 6-9 center
Victor Alexander and 14 from 6-7
forward Paul Docrrfeld.
Nee said Nebraska’s defense against
the lanky Cyclones left a lot to be
desired. The Huskers’ record also is
lagging, as they are now tied with the
Colorado Buffaloes for seventh place
in the Big Eight with a 9-16 and 2-10
record.
“The defense was the difference
in the game,” Nee said. “We just
didn’t play it well enough.”
Nee said Nebraska was competi
tive throughout the contest, as it re
peatedly shrunk Iowa State’s lead
before seeing it increase again. The
Huskcrs, after trailing by a 50-37 count
at halftime, cut Iowa Slate’s lead to
six midway through the second half
but could not get any closer.
Nee said Nebraska’s inability to
overtake Iowa Slate was a direct re
sult of defense.
“We kept getting in striking dis
tance,” he said, “but we didn’t play
good enough defense.”
Nebraska was led by forward Ray
Richardson, who tallied 18 points.
Rich King tallied 16 while making
his first career start at forward, while
Dapreis Owens had 14 and Richard
van Poclgcesi had 10.
The Huskers’ next game is Wedncs
daty, when they face Colorado. The
game, which will be Nebraska’s final
home contest of the season, begins at
7:35 p.m. at the Bob Dcvaney Sports
Center.
Nebraska’s Ethel Edwards accepts the baton from Juheanne Campbell
NU women win l lth-straight title;
Comhusker men earn second place
By Sara Bauder
Staff Reporter
When the Big Eight Indoor Track
and Field Championships con
cluded, the Nebraska women had
won their 11th-consecutive team
titie, the Comhuskcr men finished
second and Tamas Molnar was a
very happy man.
Molnar, a sophomore from
Nyiregyhoza, Hungary, said he was
happy even though the Nebraska
men didn’t defend their confer
ence title. He had finally beaten
Iowa State's Frankie Atwater in
the 400-meter dash.
Molnar said he wanted to defeat
Atwater on Saturday at the Bob
Devaney Sports Center because he
lost to the Iowa State runner two
weeks ago at the Frank Sevigne
Huskcr Invite.
'‘Two weeks ago, time was the
thing I cared about," Molnar said.
*T wanted to run a qualifying time.
Now that I already had the time, I
wanted to beat him."
He got what he wanted. As
Molnar and Atwater rounded the
final tum in the 400, they were
ruining side by side. With the crowd
on its feet and screaming, Molnar
pulled ahead of Atwater.
‘‘He almost got me at the same
place he passed me two weeks ago,"
Molnar said. "But I was strong.”
Molnar finished the race in a
national qualifying lime of 46.42
seconds, a Big Eight meet record.
He also won the 200 in 21.3 sec
onds, a national qualifying provi
sional mark.
Provisional marks arc set up by
the NCAA to ensure that there will
be a full slate of competitors at the
national meet even if not enough
people reach the actual qualifying
standards.
Dave Harris, assistant track coach
and Molnar’s personal coach, said
-“4 4
He (Molnar) sets a
goal for every race
and really expects
a lot qf himself
He*s running for
himself, hi* team
mates and also for
Hungarian records.
• Harris
assistant track coach
---9 9
Molnar wants to perform his best
in every race he enters.
“He sets a goal for every race
and really expects a lot ot him
self,” Harris said. “He’s running
for himself, his teammates and also
for Hungarian records.”
Kevin Coleman won an indi
vidual championship in the shot
pul wuh a provisional national
qualifying throw of 56 feet, 3 1/2
inches. Huskcrs Jeff Hooper and
Kent Wells took the second and
third placcsrin the shot put.
Molnar’s victory helped the
Nebraska men finish second with
120 points. Iowa State claimed the
title with 156 points, while Kansas
State was third with 73 and Okla
homa fourth with 55 1/2.
Kansas finished fifth in the men’s
competition with 47 points, fol
lowed by Colorado with 36, Mis
souri with 20 1/2 and Oklahoma
State with 18.
In the women’s competition,
Nebraska continued its Big Eight
dominance by winning this year’s
title with 128 points. Kansas State
finished second with 93, followed
by Oklahoma with 89, Iowa State
with 68 and Oklahoma State with
54.
Colorado finished sixth in the
women' s race with 46 poi nts, wh iIc
Missouri was seventh with 33 and
Kansas eighth with 16.
The Nebraska women were led
by Samrnic Gdowski, who won the
3,000 and 5,000 and was named
the most valuable female athlete of
die meet.
Gdowski set Big Eight and track
records for the Sports Center with
ner time of 16*11.61 minutes in the
5,000.
Junior Mercdy Porter equaled
her lifetime be^t jump of 6 feet, 3/
4 inch while winning the high jump.
Porter was the reluming high jump
champion.
Nebraska coach Gary Pepin said
Porter’s win was a great effort
“She was behind the Colorado
girl and then had to tic her lifetime
best to win,” Pepin said.
