Staci McKee/Daily Nebraskan
Nebraska's Rich King shoots over Northern Illinois’ Donnell
Thomas during Monday night’s game. King tied the Ne
braska record for most points scored in a game with 40
points.
Nebraska avoids
nightmare defeat
By John Adkisson
Staff Reporter
The night of Rich King’s life almost
came with his team’s biggest night
mare.
King scored 40 points, tying a
Nebraska men’s basketball single
game scoring record, and led the
Comhuskers tc a comeback 82-73
victory over Northern Illinois on
Monday.
A crowd of 13,698 spectators at
the Bob Devaney Sports Center
watched the Huskers teeter on the
edge of a loss for 35 minutes before
they caught the Huskies and tore away
with 20-5 run to end the game.
Husker coach Danny Nee lauded
King’s effort and emphasized the
importance of his big man.
“Rich King did a superlative job,”
Nee said. “Wc needed that kind of
performance, or otherwise Nebraska
gets beat.”
Despite 17 first-half points, King’s
presence did not begin to be felt until
the second half, by which time the
See KING on 8
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NU walk-on stands out
Swimmer turns triathlete
By Erik Unger
Staff Reporter
Sean Larson was glad when
swim practice started.
He was tired and needed a
break.
He was looking forward to
concentrating on swimming. Just
swimming, without having to put
a lot of miles on the bike or
running.
Larson’s “off-season” training
is swimming for the Nebraska
men’s swimming and diving
team. His “season” begins with
the first triathlon of the year.
Larson has competed in 30 tri
athlons nationwide over the past
six years.
Despite swimming all of his
life and competing in the 100 and
200 backstroke for the Corn
huskers, Larson, a senior from
Omaha, said he has found his
greatest success combining his
speciality with running and riding
a bike in competitive triathlons.
Larson said being a walk-on
swimmer doesn’t let him show
case his taients, something that
triathlons do.
ror once, I stand out, he
said. ‘That’s my sport.”
He is successful, having never
placed lower than third in his age
group. Last summer, in his first
triathlon in a mountain region, he
finished 13th.
About half of his triathlons are
in Nebraska. Larson said he usu
ally competes in standard triaih
j Ions, which include a one-mile
| swim, 25-mile bike ride arid a 10
kilometer run. His best time is 2
hours, 12 minutes.
But his dream is to compete in
the Ironman, the annual Super
Bowl of triathlons, which is held
in Hawaii. It requires a 2.5-mile
swim, 112-mile bike ride and a
26.2-mile run, the equivalent of a
marathon.
Larson said he started cycling ’
six years ago, primarily for con
ditioning. He said he thought that
with his swimming background,
he could be a successful triath
lete.
He started competing soon af
ter and has entered several races
in Maryland, Minnesota, Ne
braska and Kansas.
Knowing that swimming
offers few options after college,
Larson said he is hoping to make
a career out of triathlons.
“But I’m taking the realistic
route,” he said. “I'm not good
enough yet to go pro and make
any money.”
Many triathlons include some
prize money, usually offering a
few hundred dollars to the
winner.
That 13th-place finish last
season puts him just outside the
pro ranks — if a triathlete can
finish in the top 10, he is
considered good enough to
compete professionally.
Until he reaches professional
level, Larson said he will
continue to swim w hen not
competing in triathlons.
Collegiate swimming differs
from triathlons in more than just
the training, he said.
“In a swim meet, you are
nervous for 10 seconds, but it’s
over in two minutes,” he said.
Triathlons last two hours, so
both the preparation and strategy
are different, Larson said.
Triathlons are as much a mind
I
game as a physical activity, he
said. Because it’s a battle of
mental frustration and pain, it’s
much easier to hold something
back, he said.
But being a collegiate
swimmer does have its advan
tages.
Larson said his strong
swimming helps him sprint the
first 300 yards to separate
himself from the pack, where
awkward swimming styles can
create havoc. Being one of the
first out of the water can give a
psychological boost, he said.
He said his strong swim and
consistent cycling guarantee him
a top-10 spot off the bike. But,
he said, running is his weak spot
— one that swimming doesn’t
help.
“During the season, I focus
on swimming and keep my
running to a minimum,” he said.
During the off-season, Larson
See SWIMMER on 8
t
Sean Larson towels off Friday after competing for
Nebraska against Southern Illinois.
Off-season prompts turnaround of women s basketball team
With one week left in the regular
season, the Nebraska women’s bas
ketball team has proven it is capable
of just about anything.
TheComhuskers began the season
by winning their first five games.
They captured the title of their own
Wimmer’s Invitational and won the
Ohio State Invite by knocking off the
Buckeyes in Columbus, Ohio.
In Big Eight play, Nebraska beat
Missouri in Columbia, Mo., for the
first time since Angela Beck took
over as coach in 1986 and downed
Oklahoma Stale, already the regular
season conference champions by three
points.
Three times this season Nebraska
has poured it on, scoring 95 points in
wins over Robert Morris, Oral Roberts
and Oklahoma.
Following last year’s six- and seven
game losing streaks, the Huskers have
lost back-to-back games only twice
this season and will not be swept by
any of their Big Eight opponents.
They have not, however, been
perfect.
In the Big Eight opener, the Husk
ers found a way to lose, letting their
lead and the win slip away to Kansas
State at home.
At Colorado, where Beck has yet
to win, the Huskers turned the ball
over 32 times in an 82-69 loss.
In Stillwater, Okla., the Cowgirls
beat the Huskers by 22 in the season
rematch, and nationally-ranked Iowa
ran over Nebraska 80-46 in Iowa City,
Iowa.
The key to the turnaround after
last season’s 10-18 mark and a tic for
the worst record in the program’s
history?
The off-season.
Karen Jennings, who earned the
Big Eight Co-Newcomer-of-the-Year
title and all-Big Eight honorable
mention last year as a freshman, got
even belter over the summer.
Jennings, who led the Huskers in
scoring (13.4 points per game) and
was second in rebounding (6.6 rpg),
is praised constantly by Beck for her
work ethic between seasons.
This year, Jennings leads the Husk
ers and the Big Eight in scoring,
averaging 23.1 ppg since conference
play began. On Saturday, Jennings’
31 points led Nebraska to a crucial
10-point win at Kansas State. The
Huskers needed the win to draw even
with Colorado and Kansas State in
the league race.
Beck also scored big by enticing
Mcggan Yedsena to sign with Ne
braska in November 1989 before the
10-18 record and holding on to her
after the Huskers’ dismal season.
Yedsena, a Street & Smith, USA
Today and Parade Magazine All
American from Mahanoy City, Pa., is
the best ball-handler at Nebraska. Her
flawless dribbling and surgical passes
have helped the Huskers break the
presses that broke their backs all last
season.
Those skills have helped Yedsena
crack the Nebraska record books as
well. Her 149 assists puts her at third
in the Huskcr single season highs, 10
short of second place.
Yedsena’s 81 steals puts her in
fourth in that category, one steal out
ofthirdand lOout of second. Leading
the category is Diane Del Vigna, whose
100 thefts came in a 36-game season.
Backing up the two future All
Americans is a strong cast of role
players that have managed to come
through when the All-Starsarcdown.
Sue Hcsch. who is second in the
Big Eight shooting 60 percent from
the floor, helped lead the Huskcrs to
their two tournamcntchampionships.
Kelly Hubert grabbed 23 rebounds
to keep the Huskcrs close in a 80-74
overtime loss to Wisconsin.
And Carol Russell, who averaged
only 2.2 ppg last season, scored 10 to
hold off Kansas in a 69-68 win.
Not surprisingly, after tying Okla
homa for last place in last year’s
league race, Nebraska was picked to
finish sixth in this season’s preseason
coaches’ poll.
But this week the Huskers, 16-9
overall and 7-5 in the Big Eight, are in
a three-way tie for second in the league
race with only iwo games remaining
in the regular season.
And no one could ask lor two
better games to end a close confer
ence race.
Wednesday nighi, the Huskers will
meet Missouri at home. The Tigers,
last year’s Big Flight champs, are dead
last in this year’s conference rank
ings.
They have won only two of their
last 14 games and haven T won on the
road since a one-point overtime w in
in early December.
Just ahead of Missouri in the league
standings arc the Husker’s last oppo
nent of the season — Oklahoma.
The Sooners, whose program was
nearly cancelled after racking up 7
22 and 2-12 marks last season, are 9
17 and 3-9 this year.
That means Nebraska has a chance
to finish with its best mark in the Big
Eight since the 1987-88 season, when
the Huskers made it to the first round
of the NCAA tournament and fin
ished 22-7.
Hopfensperger is a sophomore news-edi
torial major and a Daily Nebradkan sports
senior reporter.
