Nebraskan
Monday, January 24, 1994
Sports
Page
5
Fifth-place finish at duals pleases coach
By Tim Pearson
Senior Reporter
The Nebraska wrestling program reached
new heights after last year ’ s upset of top-ranked
Iowa at the National Duals.
And the stage was set once again for the
Comhuskers to take their program up another
step at the National Dual Meet Championships
this weekend at the NU Coliseum.
Although the Huskers didn’t do as well as
last year’s second-place finish, coach Tim
Neumann was encouraged by his team’s fifth
place finish. Seven of the nation’s Top 10 teams
were at the meet.
“As a team, we wrestled the best we have all
year,” he said. “That’s what we were hoping to
do since we try to peak for this.”
The Huskers, wrestling with six freshmen in
their lineup, finished the duals with a 4-2 mark.
They lost only to ranked teams Oklahoma State
and Penn State.
Oklahoma State, which won the dual title
with a 17-15 win over Iowa in the finals, came
into the meet as the top-ranked team in the
country. But the Huskers gave them all they
could handle before falling 23-12.
A 30-10 win over Ohio State Saturday morn
ing in the first round propelled the Huskers into
the second-round rematch with the Cowboys,
which had defeated Nebraska 27-13 Jan. 7.
Even though the Huskers lost to Oklahoma
State, Neumann said he knew his team was
better than it showed in the first matchup.
“Anybody who watched this knows that
Nebraska is better than the 11 th-ranked team in
the country,” he said.
The Huskers started quickly against the
Cowboys, almost pulling out two overtime
wins at 118 and 126 pounds.
Junior Steve Baer came within four seconds
of pulling off the upset of the tournament over
top-ranked Nick Purler at 126. Baer held a 9-7
lead before Purler came up with a two-point
takedown to tie the match and send it into
sudden-death overtime, which Purler won.
Oklahoma State’s Alan Fried came into the
duals as the top-ranked wrestler at 142 pounds,
but was almost beaten by Nebraska’s Justin
Ware, a redshirt freshman.
Ware, who has split time with All-American
Mike Eierman at 142, hung with Fried before
losing 12-9.
Neumann said the Oklahoma State match
gave him and others a good indication of how
good his team could be.
“Our freshmen are really starting to grow,”
he said. “They were in some heated one-point
Travis Heying/DN
Nebraska wrestler Mike Eierman finds himself in a tight spot against Dunyasha Yetts of Ohio State in the first round of
the National Dual Meet Championships at the NU Coliseum Saturday morning. Eierman, who wrestled with a fractured
bone in his hand, lost the match 16-7.
competitions, and they kept their cool.
Neumann said his team deserves to be in the
Top 10, if not higher, after victories over No. 12
Arizona State and No. 13 Iowa State.
“I think we’ll be ranked in the top six,” he
said. ‘‘We beat Iowa State without our two All
Americans in the lineup.”
After losing to Oklahoma State, the Huskers
defeated Arizona State 25-12 Saturday and as the Nittany Lions rallied from a 14-12deficit
Central Oklahoma, a Division II team which to win 24-14.
had beat No. 4 Michigan, 25-12 Sunday morn
ing.
The two victories pitted the Huskers against
Penn State in a rematch oflast year’s National
Duals final.
And the outcome was no different this time
The loss moved the Huskers into a battle for
fifth place against Big Eight foe Iowa State.
Nebraska trounced the Cyclones 32-11, despite
wrestling without its two injured All-Ameri
cans, Frank Velazquez and Mike Eierman.
NU hopes to tame Big 8 leader
By Jeff Griesch
Senior Editor_
The Nebraska men's basketball
team has stumbled, but the
Comhuskers will try to brush them
selves ofT and gel back on top in the
Big Eight when they play Missouri at
the Bob Dcvaney Sports Center to
night.
The 12-3 Comhuskers, who had
their 11-game winning streak snapped
on Wednesday at Colorado, must try
to rebound against the best in the Big
Eight. The Tigers arc 13-2 overall and
4-0 in conference play.
Nebraska coach Danny Nee said
the Huskers might have been looking
past Colorado toward the showdown
with Missouri, which will be tele
vised at 8:30 p.m. as part of ESPN’s
Big Monday.
“I did not feel at the time that we
were looking past them, because we
came out and got a lead,” Nee said.
“But looking back I think maybe you
could say that. We never really hit our
stride against them. We just looked
like we were playing in snowshoes.”
Despite the loss to Colorado, Nee
said, he doesn’t feel the Huskers have
lost the momentum from their win
ning streak.
“If we go on a long losing streak,
then I would say we lost momentum,
but right now it is just too early to
tell,” Nee said. “We can’t expect to
win all of our road games.”
And the Huskers have a tough
stretch ahead. After playing consecu
tive games against Missouri and Okla
homa in Lincoln, they go on the road
to play Kansas and Kansas State.
But Nee said the Huskers would be
ready for the Tigers.
“Traditionally, I think we have
always gotten up more for big games,
so I think we will be ready to play,”
Nee said. “We just have to put Colo
rado behind us and move on.”
The Huskers will have to be ready
to defend their home court, because
Missouri has proven it can win con
ference gameson the road. The Tigers
got their biggest win of the season
Saturday, shocking Oklahoma State
73-68 in Stillwater, Okla.
Nee said one key to Missouri’s
success early in the season had been
itscxpcricncc. The Tigers return eight
seniors from the team that won the
Big Eight Tournament last season.
“They are a veteran team, they are
good defensively, and they take care
of the ball,” Nee said. “They also go
very deep into their bench.... They’re
a Norm Stewart team.”
Missouri at Nebraska
8:30 p.m.
Bob Devaney Sports Center
TV: ESPN Radio: KLIN
Missouri 13-2 (4-0)
G Melvin Booker 6*2 185 Sr.
G Julian Winfield 6-5 185 So.
G Lamont Frazier 6-4 237 Sr.
F Jevon Crudup 6-9 242 Sr.
F Kelly Thames 6-7 207 Fr.
Nebraska 12-3 (2-1)
G Erick Strickland 6-3 210 So.
G Eric Piatkowski 6-7 215 Sr.
G Jaron Boone 6-6 191 So.
F Bruce Chubick 6-7 232 Sr.
F Melvin Brooks 6-8 235 Jr.
DN graphic
NU ends weekend of road games with split
From Staff Reports
Nebraska women’s basketball
coach Angela Beck can finally rest
easy after the Comhuskers defeated
Missouri Sunday 84-71 and improved
to 2-4 in conference play and 10-9
overall.
Beck said last week that Nebraska
needed to split this weekend’s games.
This weekend marked the Huskers’
toughest one on the road this season,
she said.
After being routed 81 -55 by Colo
rado Friday, Nebraska needed a win
over Missouri to avoid dropping to 1
5 in the Big Eight.
Nebraska responded well after the
Colorado loss by jumping out to a 42
37 lead at intermission. Nafeesah
Brown scored 15 of her game-high 32
points in the first half.
Brown, who also led Nebraska with
nine rebounds, made seven of 10 shots
from the floor in the first half.
Missouri came back in the second
half and took a 47-46 lead on an <
Ericka Martin lay-up with 14:43 re- <
maining. Brown converted a 3-point
play to give Nebraska a 49-47 advan
tage with 14:15 left, and Nebraska
never trailed again.
Missouri again rallied to tic the
game at 57 with 9:43 left, but a 12-2
run by Nebraska gave it a 69-59 lead
with only 5:56 remaining in the game.
In the Colorado loss, Nebraska
could not overcome 20 first-half turn
overs. A 17-2 Colorado run at the end
>f the first half helped put the game
>ut of reach.
The Buffs led by as much as 37—
73-36 — during the second half.
Beating the 14-2 Buffs in Boulder,
2ol, is difficult, Beck said.
“This is a tough place to play in,”
she said. “They took us out of the
game. They beat us in simply things.
“We are not doing the little things
we need to be competitive.”
UNL swimmers
down Iowa State
in weekend duals
From Staff Reports__ _
The Nebraska swimming teams
accomplished what they wanted on
Saturday afternoon against Iowa State
in their preparation for the champion
ship part of the season.
The Comhusker men and women
defeated Iowa State in a double-dual
meet at the Bob Devancy Sports Cen
ter. The Comhusker women won 197
to 85.5, while the Huskcr men had to
come back from a 20-point deficit to
win 130-112.
“We’re doing what we have to do,
and it’s just a matter of time ‘til we get
it done,” Nebraska swimming coach
Cal Bent/ said.
For the Husker women, sopho
more Jane Glazebrook led the team
with victories in the 100- and 200
meter backstrokes and a second-place
finish in the 100 butterfly. The Husk
ers had seven other top finishers on
the women’s side, including Julia
Russell (100 butterfly), Melanie Dodd
(50 and 200 freestyle), Penny Heyns
(100 and 200 breaststroke), Anja
Margetic (200 butterfly), BriAnna
Wilkins (1,000 freestyle), Marci
Bodner (400 individual medley), and
Julie Grimmer (1-meter and 3-meter
diving).
The Nebraska men had three top
individual finishers: Chris Ford (200
meter backstroke), Laren Tiltmann
(100 freestyle), and Justin Finney (200
butterfly).
The 400-metcr medley relay team
also finished first.
