KU meet last chance for swimmers
By Vicki Burge
Stuff Reporter
Members of the Nebraska men’s
swimming team will get a last chance
to make NCAA qualifying times
today. The Huskers will meet Kansas
today at the Bob Devaney Sports
Center pool at noon.
One week after the Big Eight
Championships, Paine said the
Huskers have been continuing their
taper in preparation for the NCAA
Championships.
“Some of the sprinters needed
another week to sharpen up,” assis
tant coach Rick Paine said. “This
should give them a new lease on
life.
“It’s now or never. And really,
if they couldn’t make it (qualifying
marks) by this weekend, then they
shouldn’t even go.”
The team is in its fourth week of
tapering, and Paine said if too much
time is spent resting, they will lose
the momentum gained during that
time, including winning the con
ference meet.
And with this being the last
chance to qualify for nationals, the
Comhuskers will swim for times,
not points.
| “Kansas will swim their prime
events and we’ll swim ours,” he
said. “But we’re really not con
cerned with what the score will
be.”
With the possibility of making
qualifying standards, Paine recom
mended they shave, but left the
final decision up to them.
“I think if they want to shave
they can go ahead,” he said. “They
certainly don’t have anything to
lose by doing it.”
The 200- and 400-yard medley
relay teams will be among the
swimmers going after their life
time bests. Paine said swimmers in
the 200 freestyle would be teamed
to form the 800 freestyle relay team.
Senior Ryan Bell and sopho
more Peter Giraudeau will swim
for a qualifying time in the 100
butterfly, junior Martin Hewes the
100 backstroke, senior Richard
Johansson will a swim a leg of the
800 freestyle relay team and junior
William Campbell the 400 indi
vidual medley, 200 breaststroke
and a leg 400 medley relay.
Freshman Justin Switzer will go
after a U.S. National qualifying
time in the 1,650 freestyle.
To qualify for the NCAA meet,
swimmers must compete in a le
gitimate collegiate dual between
two conference teams. Paine said
because all swimmers are differ
ent, the time they need to taper to
reach their peak varies.
So for some the liming of the
Big Eight Championships was off.
Today’s meet will give some the
opportunity to rebound from their
Big Eight performance, Paine said.
“It happens all the time,” he
said. “Richard and William are good
examples of that. They both arc
looking better this week than last.”
Underdogs challenged to make history
Associated Press
Towson State, Montana, North
eastern and Georgia State will try to
do something today that’s never been
done before — beat a top seed in the
opening round of the NCAA tourna
ment.
Since the field was expanded to 64
teams in 1985, no No. 1 or No. 2 seed
has lost its opening game. Six No. 3
seeds have fallen in the first round
under the current formal, including
Missouri’s shocking loss to Northern
Iowa last year.
Although Montana is 23-7 and
champion of the Big Sky Conference,
no one gives the Grizzlies much of a
chance in the West Regional against
defending NCAA champion UNLV,
which is riding a 41-game winning
streak.
“If wc lose, that’s what everybody
expects,” Montana guard Roger Fast
ing said. “But if for some strange,
weird, once-in-a-lifctimc shot wc
should win, it would be one of the
greatest upscLs in sports history.”
It won’t be the first meeting be
tween Montana and UNLV in the
NCAA tournament. The last time the
Grizzlies were in the tournament, in
1975, they lost to the Runnin’ Rebels
in the consolation game of the West
Regional.
“I don’t know anything pbout
Montana,” UNLV coach Jerry Tar
kanian said. “We’ll get some film of
them.”
Towson State (19-10) knows that
Ohio State (25-3), its first-round
opponent in the Midwest Regional,
enters the tourney on a two-game
losing streak. But even a slumping
--
if we lose, that’s what
everybody expects.
Fasting
Montana guard
-99 ~
Big Ten power is expected to beat a
challenger from the little-known East
Coast Conference.
“I think mentally we’ve been pre
pared to play,” Ohio State coach Randy
Ayers said. “I just don’t know if we’re
not a little tired at this point.”
North Carolina (25-5) has won 10
of its last 11 games, including a 22
point rout of Duke in the final of the
Atlantic Coast Conference tournament
So North Atlantic champ Northeast
ern (22-10) has little or no chance
when they meet in the East Regional.
“We're heavy underdogs, noques
tion,” Northeastern coach Karl Fogel
said. “If we’re going to beat (the Tar
Heels), they have to contribute. They
can’t play their best game.”
North Carolina has reached the
final 16 nine straight years, but the
Tar Heels haven’t been to the Final
Four since 1982, when James Wor
thy, Michael Jordan and Sam Perkins
led the school to its second NCAA
title.
“We’ve been in the final eight
several times and the final 16 about
every time, but we’re not thrilled just
to get there,” North Carolina coach
Dean Smith said. “There’s something
magical about reaching the Final Four.
Georgia State (16-14) is a million
to-one shot to win the NCAA tourna
ment and the odds of beating Arkan
sas (31-3) in the Southeast Regional
aren’t much better.
“The Omni is just three blocks
from the campus,” assistant coach
Ken Roth said. "This is a great oppor
tunity for the people of Atlanta to get
a chance to sec us play and for our
kids to get some national exposure.”
Restrepo
Continued from Page 7
she said. “I guess I passed out
and got really sick after the race.
For a long time after that, I had
sort of a phobia for the 400.”
What happened was that she
won the race, and in a record
time of 55.8 seconds.
But it took a while before she
found the drive to run it again.
Although her high school coach
kept badgering her to run the 400,
it wasn’t until she began collegiate
running that she was back in the
event.
* * * *
Restrepo grew up in Medellin,
Colombia, which just happens to
be considered the locale of the
biggest drug cartel in the world.
That label of her homeland
doesn’t bother her.
“It’s like anything else,” she
said. “At first everyone com
plains about it, but after a while
you get used to it.
“If they say you can’t go out
on Fridays because it’s too dan
gerous, then that’s fine. I just
won’t go out — no big deal.”
Restrepo competed in track
and field in high school, running
the 100, 200 and 400. She also
was captain of the basketball
team.
High school track was kind of
a drag until Restrepo started to
make a name for herself.
“I didn’t like it at the begin
ning,” she said. “I thought it was
kind of boring.”
Boring until she was chosen
for the Colombian national team,
and was named the most valuable
performer in her first interna
tional meet. In 1986, at age 17,
Restrepo, competing against
athletes of national teams that in
cluded Venezuela, Ecuador, Co
lombia and Panama, won the 200
and shared a leg on the winning
400 and 1,600 relays. She avoided
running the 400.
“It was nice to compete for
my country,” she said. “I was
really young and internationally I
won three gold medals. It was
really exciting.”
Restrepo realized her talents,
and her boredom became just a
phase. She went on to compete in
the Junior Pan American Games
and the Junior World Champion
ships, but without a coach.
“In Colombia, they don’t
really help you out with working
out and going to school at the
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Jays to play Seton Hall
Creighton upsets
15th-ranked Aggies
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) —
Creighton’s Chad Gallagher scored
18 points as the Missouri Valley
Conference champions beat frigid
shooting, 15th-ranked New Mexico
State 64-56 Thursday in the first round
of the West Regional.
Duan Cole scored four points and
L,atrell Wrightscll three in the final
1:16 to preserve the Bluejays’ first
NCAA tournament victory since 1974.
Cole scored 17 and Bob Harstad
13 as Creighton (24-7) won its eighth
in a row and 16th in its last 17 games.
Gallagher, the player of the year in
the Missouri Valley Conference, scored
six during an early 11-0 spurt that
gave his team the lead for good, then
kept the Bluejays in control with three
consecutive baskets late in the second
half.
Randy Brown was the only New
Mexico player in double figures with
12 points, ail in the second half.
The Bluejays play 13th-rankcd
Seton Hall in Saturday’s second round.
The Pirates advanced with a 71-51
victory over Pcppcrdine.
New Mexico State (23-6) finished
the season with two straight losses.
The Aggies were beaten by Fresno
State in the first round of the Big
West Conference tournament.
New Mexico State, which shot 31
percent from the field for the game
and 22 percent in the first half, never
led after the first five minutes in a
game mostly marked by offensive
futility. Creighton was just 41 per
cent from the field.
An 11-0 run gave Creighton a 21
9 lead with 8:16 left in the first half,
but the Bluejays didn’t score another
field goal before halftime.
Still, the Bluejays held on to the
lead because the Aggies had offen
sive troubles of their own.
New Mexico State, which went
nearly five minutes without scoring
during the Creighton run, scored seven
straight points to pull within five late
in the first half. But the Aggies missed
several opportunities to get closer
before intermission.
Creighton outscored the Aggies
11-5 to start the second half, building
a 35-24 lead. After that, New Mexico
State got no closer than 40-37, on
Michael New’s rebound basket with
11:18 remaining.
Brown’s late scoring kept New
Mexico Slate close. The Aggies still
were within four, 58-54, after Brown
made two free throws with 1:04 re
maining.
But Wrightscll sank two free throws
with 45.9 seconds to go to boost the
lead back to six. Brown’s two free
throws sliced the margin to four again,
then Cole wrapped up the Creighton
scoring with two more free throws
and a basket on a goal-lending call.
; same time,” she said. ‘‘I realized I
had to work hard to be good, so I
started training about twice a week
. on my own.”
In 1988, Rcstrcpo competed in
the Summer Olympics in Seoul,
i South Korea where she was a
little ahead of her time.
“I knew I didn’t have the op
portunity to do anything,” she
said. “I said, ‘I don’t belong at
this place’ so I wasn’t nervous at
all.”
* * * *
Nebraska sprints coach Dave
Harris discovered Rcstrcpo,
; called her and got her to check
out Lincoln. She was impressed.
“At first, 1 hated the cold,” she
said. “But the facilities for the
3 athletes were very nice. Plus,
| they gave me a full scholarship,
so that helped.”
it.”
At last year’s outdoor champi
onships, Restrepo qualified for
the 200 and 400, but reinjured
her hamstring and only competed
in the 400 because it was less
stressful on the injury, she said.
“I was so nervous at this
meet,” she said. “Also, I was
running a race (400) I really
didn’t like and I was scared of
how terrible I would feel after the
meet. I don’t think I was men
tally or physically prepared for
this race.”
Not physically for sure, espe
cially after re-pulling the ham
string she injured during the
indoor season, which kept her out
of the Big Eight and NCAA Cham
pionships.
“I could hardly walk after that
injury,” she said. “I spent a lot of
- H ----
If I can make good money running, I won’t start
working immediately. There’s going to be some big
changes in my life this year, so I’ll have to wait and
CAA
%rvv«
Restrepo
senior on NU women's track team
Also Nebraska track coach
Gary Pepin had no qualms with
Restrepo bringing her high
school coach, Emperatriz
j Gonzales, to help her train.
Restrepo and Gonzales shared
dreams of making the finals of
1996 Olympics together, and
didn’t want to be separated for
four years.
“I talked to coach Pepin and
he said, ‘As long as you perform,
we don’t care who you work out
with,’” Restrepo said.
Gonzales stayed for one
season; the distance from home
got to be loo much, Restrepo
said. The two still remain in
contact with Gonzales sending
Restrepo her workouts.
It was when Restrepo became
a Comhusker that the 400 again
became a part of her life. And
without much choice: The Husker
coaching staff, realizing her poten- !
i tial, stuck her on the 1,600 relay
i team and subsequently, the open
“When I found out I had to
run it (400) twice in one day,”
she said. “I thought ‘No way.’
but I’ve gradually gotten used to I
-99 “
time on the couch. In a way, it
was better that way, though. I got
to rest for a long time and I was
just as strong when I came back.”
She was strong enough to
place fourth in the NCAA
outdoor meet with a time of
51.64, the third fastest time in
school history and a Colombian
national record.
*
Restrepo is a senior broadcast
journalism major and will gradu
ate in May. At this point, she
said, she is like most seniors and
really doesn’t know what the
future holds. One option is to go
into TV broadcasting. Or she
could turn professional.
She plans to run in the Grand
Prix Circuit in Europe next
season.
‘If I can make good money
running, I won’t start working
immediately,” she said. “There’s
going to be some big changes in
my life this year, so I’ll have to
wait and sec.”
And then, of course, there is
the Olympics.
“Hopefully, I’ll advance a few
rounds in the Olympics this
time," she said.
