Huskers
Go For
Gold_
Courtesy of UNL Photographic Services
Husker senior distance runner Fran ten Bensel (front) and senior middle distance runner Lisa
Graham (back).
Nebraska athletes hope New Orleans leads to Spain
By Jill O'Brien
Staff reporter _
This week, while the Midwest experi
ences the trials of summer storms and
heal, some University of Ncbraska-Lin
coln track and field athletes arc experiencing
the storms and heat of the Olympic trials in New
Orleans.
In preparation for the Summer Olympics at
Barcelona, Spain, U.S. trials began June 19 and
will continue through
June 28.
Gary Pepin, head
coach of track and field,
said several Husker
athletes in track and
field met the qualify
ing standard to enter
the Olympic trials and
were flown to New
Orleans by the U.S.
Olympic committee to
compete in this week’s
trials.
Assistant Coach
Steve Rainbolt, who coaches multi-events and
women's sprints and hurdles, went to New
Orleans with the Husker athletes.
* Rainbolt said there is not as much team spirit
among the athletes this year as he has seen in the
past.
The athletes were very tense, he said, more
so than in other Olympic trials he had attended.
Rainbolt said the controversy surrounding
sprinter Butch Reynolds, the suspended world
* * 4
record holder, could be ihe source of some of
the strain.
Athletes walk around, watching and wait
ing, just “taking it all in,” Rainbolt said.
On Tuesday though, the International Ama
teur Athletic Federation, the world governing
body for track and field, waived its “contami
nation rule” to allow runners to compete against
Reynolds.
Pepin said out of the top eight qualifying
athletes, three will make the Olympic team.
Students who don’t advance to the next round
shouldn’t be discouraged.
“It’s a significant accomplish,’ Pepin said,
“just to make it to the trials.
“It is very, very difficult for a collegiate to
make the U.S. Olympic team, for a lot of
reasons,” Pepin said.
Pepin said one of the reasons it is difficult is
that collegians have already gone through a
|ong season—a long season that isn ’ t necessar
ily conducive to an athlete who wants to make
the Olympic team.
The students arc really at a disadvantage,
Pepin said.
“Not only do they have to go through that
whole season, but they also had school and/or
work to contend with,” Pepin said.
For non-collegians, their daily lives are cen
tered on preparing for the trails and games, but
for students, life is centered on school.
“Academics first, and then track and field,”
Pepin said.
But the Husker athletes arc doing well, in
any case, Pepin said, although it is too early to
anticipate any results.
•Kevin Coleman, a junior majoring in health,
physical education and recreation, will be throw
ing the shot put on Friday.
•Ken Waller, a senior in economics, already
ran two rounds of the 400-melcr, Rainbolt said.
The first round of the 400-meter was post
poned several times while Reynolds brought
his case to court in an effort to get clearance to
compete.
•Rick Schwieger, a UNL senior in speech
communication, will compete in the decathlon.
Schwieger earned All-America honors in the
decathlon for the second-consecutive season at
the NCAA outdoor meet in 1991.
•Lisa Graham, a senior in elementary edu
cation/early childhood education, ran the 1500
meter on Wednesday.
•Fran ten Bensel, a senior in advertising,
finished seventh in the women’s 3000-meter
run and was named the top collegian.
“(She was) a red-shirted collegiate,” Pepin
said, “which means she didn’t compete for the
University of Nebraska outdoors this year."
Ten Bensel is also scheduled to run in the
1500-meter.
•Shanelle Porter, UNL sophomore general
studies major, ran in the 400-meter dash.
Porter ran in three rounds, Pepin said, but
didn’t make it in the final round.
•Cris Hall, a junior in pre-physical therapy,
finished 10th in the heptathlon and was named
the number one collegian. Hall will also be
competing in the high jump.
•Susan Hedrick Rehm, a senior in health,
physical education and recreation, ran one round
in the 400 intermediate hurdles, but failed to
advance, Pepin said.
•Kwani Stewart, a sophomore in pre-medi
. #1
cine, is scheduled to run the 100-mcter hurdle
this week.
•Denise Lucas, a senior in human develop
ment, ran the 100-mcter dash, but failed to
advance. Lucas will compete later in the 200
meter dash.
Kathy Travis, Kim Walker and Andy Meyer,
also in track and field, met the qualifying
standards, but did not go to the trials.
A number of former UNL athletes are also
competing in the trials. They include Linetta
Wilson, who ran two rounds of the 400-meter
hurdles; Stephanie Thomas, who took time off
from the Army to compete in the 100-meter
hurdle; and Harald Graham, who ran in the
3000-meter steeplechase, but did not advance.
A number of former UNL foreign students
are also participating in the trials.
Stephen Golding and Merlene Ouey will be
in the Jamaica trials.
. “(Ouey) is probably the number one ranked
sprinter in the world,” Pepin said.
Other UNL foreign competitors include:
Dieudonnc Kwizera, for Central Africa; Karen
Kruger, Jacques van Rensburg, Jean Verster
and Craig Aiken for South Africa; Roddy James
and Craig Duncan for Scotland; Tamas Molnar
and Nora Rockenbauer for Hungary; Patricia
Nadler and previous Olympian winner Denise
Theimard for Switzerland; Yvonne van der
Kolk for the Netherlands; Mark Jackson for
Canada; Laura Wight for England and Prema
Govindan for Singapore.
Ximena Restrepo will be in the Columbian
trials. Pepin said Restrepos’s husband, Grant
Weil, will be competing in the shot pul for
Chile.
