Women ‘silently second1
Huskers take No. 2 slot
By Chris Hopfonsperger
Senior Reports; _
After spinning its wheels in last
place last year, the Nebraska women’s
basketball team has raced toward the
lop of the Big Eight rankings this
season to little fanfare.
The Comhuskers, who finished 10
18 overall and 2-12 in the conference
in 1989-90, took sole possession of
second place in the Big Eight Wednes
day night by running over Missouri,
87-60, in front of fewer than 2,000
people.
“We’re silently second,” Nebraska
coach Angela Beck said, referring to
the lack of publicity surrounding the
women’s ranking.
On Sunday, the Huskers have a
chance to win second place outright
when they meet Oklahoma, one of the
teams they left at the starting line of
the conference race.
Beck said the Huskers’ turnaround
was a combination of factors, includ
ing the introduction of freshman
Meggan Yedsena.
“I think Meggan’s a key and (sopho
more Karen) Jennings’ improvement
is a key,” Beck said. “ You need to get
a couple of key players and build
around the nucleus.”
Beck said the team also has bene
fitted from having four seniors’ expe
rience on the team and the improve
ment of role players like Sue Hesch,
Kelly Hubert and Carol Russell.
“Everybody is finding their niche,”
Beck said.
At 9-17 overall and 3-9 in the Big
Eight, the Sooners are in seventh place
in the league, but because of a sched
uling error the Sooners will not play a
full 14-game conference schedule.
Oklahoma’s game at Iowa State
that was scheduled for Wednesday
was cancelled because the Sooners
slated too many games this year.
NCAA rules, limiting college teams
to a 28-game regular season sched
ule, count postseason conference
tourneys as one game. Thus the Soon
ers, with 26 games so far and a game
remaining at Iowa State and one at
home against the Huskers, would have
exceeded the limit by participating in
the Big Eight tournament.
The conference solved the prob
lem by calling off the Sooners-Cy
clones match up. The cancellation will
not affect the two teams’ schedules,
but for seeding purposes in the Big
Eight tournament Oklahoma will take
a loss and Iowa State will be awarded
a win.
Beck said she thought the Sooners
should not have canceled a game until
they exceeded the 28-game limit That
would have barred them from the
conference tourney.
“They definitely benefit from (the
decision),” Beck said. “They a get a
week to rest before they play us and
they get to play in the tournament.”
Beck said she was upset with how
the arrangements were handled. None
of the coaches were informed of the
decision until Tuesday, when league
commissioner Carl James made the
announcement.
“We can’t change the decision,
but I think it was kind of insensitive
that we were left out of the decision
making,” Beck said. “I don’t think
the men’s coaches would be left out
of something like that.”
Coach: Oklahoma gymnasts tough
By Todd Cooper
Staff Reporter __
Saturday night in Norman, Okla.,
the Nebraska men’s gymnastics team
will face what Francis Allen consid
ers the toughest team in the nation
“on paper.”
But when Oklahoma’s in the gym
“I don’t know what to tell you,”
Allen said.
Nebraska has beaten Oklahoma two
out of three times this year, although
Allen said the Huskers might not have,
had Oklahoma competed with their
best gymnasts.
“If you look at Brian Halstead,
Jarred Hanks and Jeff laitz—if they’re
in the all-around and you’ve got a few
of these other guys that Oklahoma
has, I’d say they’re the strongest team
in the country.
“For some reason, they’ve never
put all three of those guys in the all
around.”
And Allen hopes they don’t com
pete with them Sunday.
“They’re awfully good gymnasts,
and I don’t know why they’re not
using them," he said. “If they’re hurt,
that’s fine with me, I hope they stay
hurt.
“I just do not think that if they ’ re at
full strength, a team can beat them.”
But after defeating Minnesota by
more than five points Feb. 10, Allen
isn’t quick to count his Huskers out.
“We’re feeling pretty dam good,"
Allen said. “We murdered them on
the first three events, and I really
thought we’d score over 280, but we
let up.”
Allen will throw everything he can
at the Sooners.
Allen plans to compete Josh Saeg
eit, who broke his leg in November,
on the pommel horse. Saegert wasn’t
expected to return to the team this
year.
“It’s important to get him back in
the lineup,” he said. “He’s going to
give everybody a little lift, whether
he misses or not, and I don’t think
he’ll miss.”
That boost could lead to a victory
over the Sooners.
“If this team of mine happens to
get hot, I mean as hot as they ’ ve been
all y ear, I think we’ re unbeatable also.
“But I would go with Oklahoma
five out of seven days.”
Rec Scoreboard
Results from Wednesday’s games.
Men’s basketball
Fraternity C
Phi Kappa Psi 73, Pi Kappa Phi 32;
Alpha Gamma Rhc by forfeit over Delta
Upsilon.
IndependentB
The Strabes 81. Pure Athletes 43:
Islanders 44, Sooba Alpha Bisque 39;
Midnight Blue 86. Trousers 54.
Independent C
Mod Quad 66, NROTC II 23; CAS
Express 79, The Quack Attack 47;
Sweeet by forfeit over Army ROTC; Red
Raiders 60, Geem’s Jammers 56; Thun
dering Herd 48, The Flintstones 38; Bus
Drivers-Grote 55, HB 48; Swamp Rats II
57, Muthas 55; Untouchables 60, Bork
Beards 55; Back court Surfers 44, Rene
gades 25.
Lightweight
Triangle 48, Chi Phi 1 45; Dawgs 47,
CAS Express 35; Phi Delta Theta 55, Chi
Phi 2 44; Schramm 2 40, Vanilla Gorillas
36.
Small fry
Air Busquits 73, Sigma Nu 64; Dawgs
58, Sigma Phi Epsilon 49; Beer Nuts 98,
Untouchables 77.
Soccer
Fraternity B
Farmhouse B 3, Lambda Chi Alpha 0;
Detla Upsilon 5. Beta Theta Pi B2 3 OT;
Sigma Alpha Epsilon 6, Acacia 1; Delta
Tau Delta bv forfeit over Beta Sigma Psi;
Tau Kappa Epsilon 5, Phi Delta Theta 1.
Residence BC
Fury 5, Vicious Hell Hounds 3;
Steamrollers 5, EX-PTG 4 OT; Oatmeal
4, Soorpions 0.
Residence/Independent A
Schramm 9 3, FCA 1; Roscoe Row
ders by forfeit over International Stars I.
-SPORTS BRIEFS
Rifle club takes honors in competition
The University of Nebraska
Lincoln rifle club finished third
out of 14 teams in the international
rifle competition and won the inter
national air rifle competition last
weekend at the College Interna
tional Rifle and International Air
Rifle Sectional Championship.
Northeast Missouri State won
the international rifle event with
4,195 of 4,800 possible points,
followed by Missouri-Rol la with
4,173 and UNL with 4,070 points.
UNL*s Wayne Patras and Kris Lutt
finished fifth and sixth, respectively.
UNL had 1,328 of 1,600 pos
sible points in the international air
rifle competition. Missouri-Rolla
was second with 1,290 points.
UNL bowling clubs roll to second place
The University of Nebraska
Lincoln men’s and women’s bowl
ing clubs finished second in the
Great Plains Conference competi
tion last weekend. Both teams fin
ished second behind Wichita Slate.
UNL’s Larry Stepp, Paul Flem
ing and Kim Berke were named to
the all conference teams.
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Big Eight
Continued from Page 7
beating Iowa State. They have a lot of upper
classmen in several events.”
Iowa State has eight conference leaders
heading to Columbia and returns two champi
ons, Obinna Eregbu (55-meter dash) and John
Nuttall (3,000 and 5,000).
Dirksen said the Cyclones are strong in the
longer distances. They placed second at the
NCAA championships in cross country last
year and won the year before, he said. These
events alone probably will give them the title.
‘‘No one can touch their top three distance
runners," Dirksen said. ‘‘They’ll annihilate us
in these events.”
Another example of Iowa State’s depth, he
said, is in the field events. Dirksen said the
Cyclones have a 26-foot and a 25-foot long
jumper, two 7-foot high jumpers and two good
pole vaulters.
“The only event I see that they have a
c——" - 1 -
weakness in is the shot pul,” he said. ‘‘They’ll
probably place in just about everything else.”
The Comhusker men, who have never fin
ished lower than third at either the Big Eight
indoor or outdoor meet since Coach Gary Pepin
took over eight years ago, have one returning
champion in junior Tamas Molnar. Molnar,
the 1990 200 and 400 champion, has been
slowed by a hamstring injury but is entered in
both events this year.
“Tamas is a fine athlete," Dirksen said. “He
will probably be at the same level as last year.
But his main disadvantage is the lack of race
experience this year. He’s only been fresh in
maybe two meets.”
Nebraska has one athlete with a top mark on
the Big Eight performance list. Stephen Gold
ing holds the all-time Big Eight best time in the
55-hurdles with a time of 7.19.
Dirksen said the men’s team is in sort of a
rebuilding year with many young athletes.
“We just don’t have the balance that we’ve
had in the past,’’ he said.
Masters
Continued from Page 7
Oklahoma.
“We need to change more than wc like
because we need to be strong at the end of
the year,” Patterson said.
Patterson said Alabama is healthy, which
will help her team in the four-week road trip
that starts this weekend.
Arizona State isn’t so lucky.
The Sun Devils also will compete today,
at California, before making the trip to
Lincoln, but will be without lop all-aroun
der Kelly Cyshiewicz, who fractured her
ribs on the balance beam in practice.
Zeis said consistency has been the key to
success all season and the Sun Devils will
need it to be competitive this weekend.
Arizona State is 8-2 in duals this season
and had a season-high score of 189.4 at
home against Florida. The team is led by
all-aroundcr Michelle Colavin, who Zeis
said is having her strongest year.
Because Sunday will be Alabama’s first
trip to Nebraska and the first for Arizona
State in four years, none of the teams really
know what to expect.
“We arc going in blind because we have
n’t seen them yet,” Zeis said.
Patterson said despite not having seen
Nebraska this season, she was impressed
with the Huskers performance in last year’s
NCAA championships.
Walton said this meet might foreshadow
the national championship and gives top
schools the chance to compete on neutral
ground to see who is the best team.
He said the Huskers, 4-1 in duals, are
motivated and feel no effects from last
week’s loss to Oklahoma.
He said he hopes the competition Sun
day is as good as is expected and that it will
bring out the best in Nebraska’s gymnasts.
The team will add some new tricks, he
said, but the key will be the same — de
crease the number of falls and try to reach
190 points.