Big Eight championships # nr i
Gymnasts hope to rock in quest for fourth title
By Todd Cooper
Staff Reporter
Senior co-captains Ted Dimas and Brad
Bryan will be going for a sweep at this week
end’s Big Eight men’s gymnastics champion
ships at the Bob Devaney Sports Center.
“I want to finish out in a bang,” Dimas said.
“I want to go through winning all four champi
onships.”
The Comhuskers will be competing with
Oklahoma and Iowa State. Compulsories will
begin at 7 p.m. today, with optionals starting at
the same time Saturday.
Nebraska has won the Big Eight champion
ship the past three years. But they’ve never
faced the quality of this year’s Oklahoma Sooners,
the No. 1 team in the country, according to
Dimas.
“This is by far their best team,’’ Dimas said.
“They have three experienced seniors who arc
really talented gymnasts.”
Jarrod Hanks, Bryan Halstead and Jeff Lutz
will lead the Sooners against the youthful
Huskers. Besides Bryan and Dimas, Nebraska
competes five freshmen.
“We, by far, have one of the most talented
groups in the nation,” Dimas said. “It’s inexpe
rienced, but if we can hit our routines, we have
the capability of beating them. ’’
Dimas said he will use his past experience in
the Big Eight championships to convince the
freshmen of that,
“They want to win a Big Eight champion
ship, but they still lack a little confidence,”
Dimas said. “I don’t think they realize what
kind of team we have.”
Dimas said the younger Huskers compare
favorably with the group that won the national
championship last year.
“If you look at Patrick (Kirksey), Mark
(Warburton) and Bob (Stclter) in their fresh
man year, I would take this team over them, he
said. “They’re going to be the powerhouse of
this country.”
To be a powerhouse Sunday, Nebraska will
have to be consistent, Dimas said.
“We have to start off the meet as gangbus
ters,” Dimas said. “If we can get everyone
rocking on the floor, that will just get us going.”
Head Coach Francis Allen said Dimas will
do some rocking of his own today and Satur
day.
“I think this meet you’re really going to see
him come in true form,” Allen said. “He’s been
really solid the past month. He has started us
off extremely well in each of his events this
month.”
And Allen said he’ll need that to beat the
No. 1 team in the nation.
“If we put pressure on them early, they
could get rattled,” Allen said. “They’ve come
in here before and got their ass kicked, so they
know we’re capable.”
Hosers explode in game
to close perfect season
By Brian Busenbark
Staff Reporter
The Hosers capped a perfect intra
mural basketball season with a per
fect second half in defeating Beta
Theta Pi 58-36 Thursday night at the
Lee & Helene Sapp Recreation Facil
ity.
Both teams had trouble shooting
in the first half, struggling to combine
for 26 points with two minutes left
before halftime.
Jamar Johnson, who led the Hos
ers with eight points in the first half,
said the Hosers just couldn’t get into
their game plan early on.
“We just weren’t getting the ball
to the right places,’’ Johnson said.
“We weren’t able to work it into the
middle, and so that didn't open up the
outside cither.”
Despite giving up a lot of size to
the Hosers, the Betas controlled the
paint in the first half, largely because
of Doug Hcnningsen. Henningsen
grabbed eight of his 11 rebounds in
the first half.
With 2:25 left in the first half, the
Hosers began to get into synch. Down
17-9, they ran off eight unanswered
points to tie the score at halftime and
set the stage for their second-half
explosion.
That’s when Johnson took control.
Johnson scored 15 more points in
the second period and sparked the
Hoser transition game to a quick eight
point lead five minutes into the sec
ond half.
“Give a lot of the credit to Dave
Lutz,” Johnson said. “He told me at
halftime that they were susceptible to
pressure on the ball. He’s the one that
forced a lot of the turnovers that started
the break.”
Johnson said that the Hoscrs de
cided at halftime to distribute the ball
evenly, taking advantage of the Beta
zone.
“Kenny (Walker), Brent (Pick) and
Jake (Young) did a great job inside,”
Johnson said. “And that opened it up
for Doak (Ostcrgard) and the guys to
pop from the outside.”
The exclamation point of the
Hoscr’s victory came with 2:15 left in
the game,on Kenny Walker’s breaka
way monster dunk.
Rick Harris led the Fraternity A
champions with 11 points.
Tennis team Florida-bound
By Jeff Singer
Staff Reporter
and Paul Domeier
Senior Editor
The Nebraska men’s tennis team
is taking a complex trip to Florida for
spring break.
The what: The Comhuskcrs will
play six dual matches, starting Sun
day against Southwest Missouri State.
The where: Outside, for the first
time this spring, in Miami.
“It'll be good for us to play out
doors,” Nebraska coach Kerry McDer
mott said. “We’re going to use the
trip to prepare for the elements of the
sun and wind.”
The who: In addition to Southwest
Missouri State, Florida International
and Barry and Boca Raton, Miami
Dade and Palm Beach community
colleges.
The when: A week before the Big
Eight season begins. The Huskers will
face defending conference champion
Oklahoma State April 6.
The why #1: Recruiting.
The players from the three com
munity colleges could transfer to
Nebraska someday.
The why #2: To set the starting
lineup for Big Eight play.
The fourth, fifth and sixth singles
positions are up in the air, to be fought
over by Joey Salerno, Anthony Ko
tarac and Karl Falkland. McDermott
said that the lineup for the conference
season will be set when Nebraska
returns.
The why #3: To build the team’s
confidence.
“We should go down and win all
six matches, but if we’re not ready,
we can gel beat,” McDermott said. “1
just want to see us improve al ter each
match we play.”
Big Eight baseball to begin
The Nebraska baseball team will
end its spring break trip by starting its
Big Eight season.
The 11-4 Comhuskers will play
the final four at Kansas next week
end.
Nebraska will play Hardin-Sim
mons in a single game today and a
double-header Saturday in Abilene,
Texas. Hardin-Simmons was 5-24
entering a three-game scries earlier
this week.
The Huskers will face 23rd-rankcd
Texas Tech in single games Monday
and Tuesday in Lubbock, Texas. The
Red Raiders are 27-5 going into a
weekend series with Houston.
Nebraska will play 12-8 Kansas in
one game March 29, two games March
30 and a fourth game March 31 in
Lawrence, Kan.
Last season, Kansas finished in
sixth place in the Big Eight with a 27
31 record, 10-14 in conference play.
The two teams split four games last
year in Lincoln.
Kansas has had some success against
top teams this season with wins over
Texas and Creighton, both ranked in
the lop 10. The Jay hawks were swept
by Arkansas, a team Nebraska split a
double-header with earlier this sea
son. Kansas will open its Big Eight
season this weekend against Kansas
Stale.
— Nick Hyfrek
Michelle Paulman/Dally Nebraskan
Nebraska’s Ken Waller runs a curve during the indoor
season.
Loach expects runners
to score high outdoors
oy jonn uaraner
Stall Reporter
All season, Nebraska track and
field coaches have raved about their
teams being more competitive out
doors.
Now, with Nebraska’s men’s
and women’s teams going to Lou
isiana State for a meet next week
end, they will be proven right or
wrong, and men’s sprints coach
Dave Harris is slicking to that pre
diction.
With the addition of events like
the javelin, discus and decathlon,
the Comhuskcrs arc expected to
score a lot of points, Harris said.
For instance, in the discus, the
Nebraska men have returning All
American Jeff Hooper, who won
the Big Eight outdoor champion
ship last season. Andy Snyder re
turns after placing fifth at B ig Eight
last year. And red shirt freshman
Andy Meyer will compete. Meyer
came out of high school ranked in
the top three in the country, Harris
said.
In the javelin, Eric Leick re
turns after taking third at Big Eight
last season. Hams said Roddy James
will be coming back from surgery
and should be a big help at the end
of the season. Paul Larkin also is a
good thrower, he said.
The decathlon is another added
dimension to the Comhusker squad.
Harris said All-American Rick
Schweigerand Mike Bailey should
score a lot of points.
“Rick (Schwciger) has a good
shot at winning the whole thing
this year,” he said.
Freshman triple jumper Phoup
het Singbandilh also should fare
well outdoors, Harris said.
Then, of course, there are the
men and women sprinters.
“We expect them to carry a lot
of the load,” Harris said. “They
have the potential to score a lot of
points.”
Especially with the return of
Bob Jelks, who did not compete
indoors. Jelks will help fill the void
left by Tarnas Molnar, Harris said.
Molnar, who pulled and repulled
his hamstring during the indoor
season, still is not completely
healthy.
“It’s really killing me right now,”
Harris said. “Whenever it looks
like Tarnas is ready to go, he re
injures his hamstring.”
uymnasts
to pursue
Big 8 title
By Erik Unger
Staff Reporter
Nebraska women’s gymnastics
coach Rick Walton said he is glad
Saturday’s Big Eight championship
is not being held in Lincoln.
The Comhuskers had their best
scores of the season in their final two
road meets. They scored 189.75 points
at Arizona State and finished with a
season-high 189.95 at Alabama.
But, having the Big Eight meet at
Columbia, Mo., still doesn’t make
Nebraska the favorite, Walton said.
“Oklahoma is the favorite,’’ Wal
ton said. “They drew the best rota
tion, the best depth in the conference
and maybe the most skill.”
Walton said Nebraska and Mis
souri aren’t far behind. All three teams
will be advancing to the regionals
following the conference champion
ships.
The only Big Eight team not going
to regionals is Iowa State. However,
Walton said not to count them out.
“Iowa State has a chance to prove
something,” he said.
He said competing so well in Ala
bama bodes well for the team this
weekend.
“I can’t imagine any more pres
sure than down at Alabama,” Walton
said. “No one will fall apart (this
weekend).”
SPORTS BRIEFS
NU swimmers
take 16th place
The Nebraska 200-yard frees
tyle relay team finished 16th to
receive honorable mention All
American status Thursday dur
ing the first day of the NCAA
women’s swimming and diving
championships in Indianapolis,
Ind.
Mindy Matheny, Chris
Gmeiner, Lynne Braddock and
Chris Frederick swam a time of
1:35.12.
Melanie Winner swam a
school-record 2:04.36 in the 200
individual medley but did not
make the finals. All-American
Amy Aarsen finished 17th in 1
meter diving.
Husker rejoins
basketball team
Point guard Jose Ramos has
relumed to the Nebraska men’s
basketball team and is partici
pating in off-season condition
ing.
Ramos left the team shortly
before the Big Eight tournament,
and did not rejoin the team for
the NCAA tournament.