Sports
Wednesday, March 29, 1995 Page 7
Sallee petitions for
extended eligibility
By Mitch Sherman
Senior Reporter
Chris Sallee, the backup center on the Ne
braska basketball team, may not be back next
year for a full season.
The 6-foot-10, 230-pound junior from
Scottsdale, Ariz., has filed an appeal with the
semester eligibility exten
sion.
Under Bylaw 30.6.1 of
the NCAA rule book, ath
letes are allotted a maxi
mum of five years to com
plete four years of college
eligibility.
Collo® Vioe
nl
_ three years of college bas
Sallee ketball, has been enrolled
in college for 4 1/2 years. If his request for an
extra semester is not granted, Sallee will not be
allowed to participate in Nebraska’s second
semester games during the 1995-96 season.
Sallee first enrolled in college in the spring
of 1991 at Scottsdale Community College. He
remained at the junior college during the fall of
1991, but did not play basketball. Prior to
the spring semester of 1992, Sallee transferred
to South Mountain (Ariz.) Community Col
lege, where he played basketball for two sea
sons before enrolling at Nebraska in August
1994.
Sallee started four games and averaged 6
points, 4.8 rebounds and 16 minutes per game
this season for the 18-14 Comhuskers, who
lost to Penn State last week in the second round
of the National Invitation Tournament. His 56
percent shooting from the field was the best on
the team.
Nebraska senior associate athletic director
A1 Papik said the athletic department would
submit a request to the NCAA this week. The
30-page report, Papik said, details Sallee’s
medical history, as well as his academic records.
In addition, the appeal contains statements
from three doctors and a personal message
from Sallee.
Once the NCAA receives the report, Papik
said, it will be sent to an eligibility committee
See SALLEE on 8
Volleyball magazine names
NU freshman class No. 1
By Mitch Sherman
Senior Reporter
The four freshmen slated to join the Ne
braska volleyball team in the fall have been
rated as the No. 1 recruiting class in the nation
by Volleyball Magazine.
In its May 1995 issue, the magazine ranked
the Comhusker class first, followed by UCLA,
Long Beach State, Big Eight rival Colorado
and Georgia Tech.
Nebraska’s recruits, who signed letters of
intent on Feb. 8, are: Lisa Avery, a 6-foot-l
inch middle blocker from Shawnee Mission,
Kan.; Jaime Krondak, a 6-foot outside hitter
from Lincoln; Fiona Nepo, a 5-foot-9-inch
setter from Honolulu; and Renee Saunders, a
5-foot-l 1-inch outside hitter from Omaha.
Nebraska coach Terry Pettit said it was nice
to be named No. 1, but he wasn’t overly
excited about ratings at this point of the incom
ing freshmen’s careers.
“We had the second-rated class once,” Pettit
said. “We’ve usually been in the top 10.1 don’t
know of a time when we’ve had the top spot.”
Analysis of recruits, Pettit said, is not al
ways accurate. He pointed out that seniors-to
be Allison Weston, Billie Winsett and Christy
Johnson were not highly touted coming out of
high school.
One Step Above the Rest
The Nebraska volleyball team’s recruiting
class was ranked the top class in the
country by Volleyball Magazine.
■ Jaime Krondak - Mizuno first-team
All-American
■ Lisa Avery - Mizuno second-team
All-American
■ Fiona Nepo - Mizuno third-team
All-American
■ Renee Saunders - Mizuno
honorable mention
“Nobody even rated them or knew about
them,” he said.
Weston and Johnson were both first-team
All-Americans last year, and Winsett earned
All-Big Eight honors.
Each of the four future Huskers signed in
See RECRUITS on 8
On the right track
JeffHaller/DN
Colleen McKinney is bundled up against the cold Tuesday as she practices
hurdles at Ed Weir track. The outdoor track season starts Saturday.
Humble Erstaa may receive baseball’s triple crown
It is impossible to live up to the
label of having unlimited potential.
It is impossible to produce the
numbers expected of the best
player in college baseball.
Darin Erstad is doing both, and
he’s not even trying.
“I can’t try to put up numbers
because they will never be good
enough for everyone,” Erstad said.
“The numbers will come as long as
I focus on hitting the ball hard.”
The past nine games, the
Comhusker junior left fielder from
Jamestown, N.D., has a .634
batting average with 26 hits in 41
at-bats, three home runs, five
doubles, a triple and 22 RBI.
But Erstad doesn’t even think
he’s accomplished the impossible.
“I am not doing anything
different than I was earlier in the
season,” Erstad said. “I am just
hitting the ball hard, and now
they’re dropping in for hits.”
In fact, Erstad somehow man
ages to find fault in his perfor
mance the past nine games.
“I have been having some good
at-bats. I am being more patient
and taking the pitchers into some
deeper counts, but I am still
swinging at bad pitches,” Erstad
said. “I am still getting myself out.
Sometimes I get mad because I
know I can play better.”
Erstad’s quest for perfection
helped him earn first-team all-state
honors in North Dakota eight times
in four different sports.
His desire earned him the MVP
award in the Cape Cod Summer
League, the nation’s premier
amateur league.
It helped nim become one of th<
nation’s best punters as part of
Nebraska’s national championship
football team.
And it is this same obsession
that has made him the projected
No. 1 pick in this summer’s draft.
But he does not allow his
preoccupation with perfection to b
a reason for putting up big num
bers.
“Numbers don’t really mean
anything to me,” Erstad said. “I
don’t want to think I have to hit
this many homers or drive in this
many runs or hit .400 or somethin/
Jeff Griesch
The numbers will take care of
themselves.”
„ Through 21 games, Erstad’s
philosophy has worked to perfec
tion.
Erstad has 45 hits in 91 at-bats,
a .495 average. He also has eight
homers, three triples, eight doubles,
36 RBI and 28 runs scored.
If he continues to assault
i opposing pitchers, he will also
attack the Nebraska record book.
Projected over a 57-game
regular season, Erstad would win
Nebraska’s all-time triple crown for
highest batting average, most home
runs and most RBI in a single
season.
Erstad is on pace to hit .495
with 22 homers and 98 RBI,
crushing Marc Sagmoen’s .454
average in 1993, Bobby
Benjamin’s record of 21 home runs
in 1988 and Mike Duncan’s mark
of 90 RBI in 1985.
He would crush Paul Meyers’
1985 record of 100 hits in a season
by 22 and have a chance at captur
ing the record of 26 doubles and
the single-season mark for triples
with nine.
But even more impressive than
these numbers, any rotisserie fan
will tell you that total bases are the
most important statistic in baseball
At his current pace, Erstad
would have 225 total bases on the
season. That number would crush
Meyers’ 1985 record of 178.
These numbers become even
more amazing because Erstad
would accomplish them in just 57
games. Meyers and Duncan set
their records during a 69-game
season, and it took Benjamin 71
games to hit 21 homers.
Taking these projections a step
further, if Erstad led the Huskers to
the College World Series, played in
75 games like Pete Incaviglia did
in 1985 and continued his total
base production, Erstad would
finish with 296 total bases, break
ing Incaviglia’s NCAA record of
285.
But Erstad is not driven by
records. He just wants to win.
“We’ve been so close to being
an NCAA team the past two years,
but we just didn’t get the job done
when we needed to,” Erstad said.
“Right now I think we’re on the
bubble somewhere, but I feel like
the confidence of this team is
higher than it has been the past two
years. We have a chance, and that’s
all we can ask for right now.”
If Erstad gets a chance to extend
his season, all Nebraska’s offensive
records could fall.
Ciiesch is a senior news-editorial major
aad a Dally Nebraskan senior reporter and
columnist.