Nebraska gymnasts head into NCAA meets
Coach confident, but cautious
By Mitch Sherman
Senior Reporter
Francis Allen was not his normal
self this week.
The colorful coach of the Nebraska
men’s gymnastics team, usually full
of bold predictions, was uncharacter
istically cautious heading into the
NCAA Championships this weekend.
The meet begins 6 p.m. today at the
St. John Arena in Columbus, Ohio.
Individual and team qualifying
competition will be held today, with
team finals on Friday and individual
event finals on Saturday.
Three teams will advance from to
day to Friday’s final round. Also the
all-around champion will be crowned
today.
Allen, who has won eight national
championships in 17tripstotheNCAA
See REPEAT on 13
NCAA Gymnastics
Men’s and women’s
gymnastics teams’ NCAA
finishes since 1987
1994 1st
Gymnasts looking to improve
By Trevor Parks
Staff Reporter
The Nebraska women’s gymnas
tics team has kept improving all sea
son.
Now the Comhuskers look to fin
ish up this improvement at the NCAA
Championships today.
The ninth-seeded Comhuskers be
gin competition at noon in the first
session of the meet at Athens, Ga.
Also competing m the first session
will be defending NCAA champion
Utah, the host Georgia, Michigan,
Louisiana State and West Virginia.
The finals will be Friday night, and
individual event finals will be Satur
day.
Coach Dan Kendig said his team
couldn’t be in better shape for its first
NCAA meet since 1990.
See ATHENS on 12
Husker bats wake up soon enough to split with Creighton
\ Jay Calderon/DN
Nebraska pitcher Angela Blackwood throws during the Huskers’ first game in a doubleheader against Creighton Wednesday night
at the NU Softball Complex. Blackwood came on in relief of starting pitcher Stacie Stafford and pitched five innings of shutout
baseball. Blackwood also picked up her 14th win in the second game.
By Trevor Parks
Staff Reporter
The Nebraska women’s softball
team woke up its bats one inning too
late against Creighton Wednesday
night.
And when the bats did wake up, the
Comhuskers walked away with a split
of a doubleheader against Creighton
at the NU Softball Complex in front of
a crowd of 320.
The 32-16 Huskers scored eight
runs in the first two innings of the
second game and went on to win 9-1 in
five innings.
But in the first game, Creighton’s
Stephanie Byrge tossed a five-hitter to
pace a 3-0 Bluejay win.
It was Nebraska’s second shutout
loss of the year, with the first a 1 -0 loss
at Sacramento State.
First baseman Gloria Von Rentzell
said Nebraska needed to come back
after a dismal first game.
“We knew we nad to come out
stronger in the second game,” Von
Rentzell said. “We needed to hit, and
that was our problem in the first game,
and that’s what we did in the second
game.”
Nebraska’s onslaught began with
the first three batters scoring in the
second game.
Amy Offenbacker led off with a
walk and scored when Von Rentzell
hit her third home run of the year.
Tobin Echo-Hawk followed Von
Rentzell’s blast to center with a walk
and, after a stolen base, scored on Ali
Viola’s single to center.
The offense continued to roll in the
second inning.
Rachel Dunham began the inning
with a bloop single and moved to
second when Karla Knicely was hit by
See SPLIT on 12
No one plans a party like the NU athletic department
It’s going to be a big party.
It’s Nebraska’s football season
rolled into one event.
And you can’t miss it.
More than three months after
Nebraska won the national title, the
celebration is finally starting. Or
else it’s rekindling its fire.
The athletic department is having
a party to celebrate the national title
cm Friday, and it’s about time.
Fans have lost interest in Ne
braska football—not the real fans,
but those fans who jump cm the
bandwagon when wins start rolling
around. There’s no more clamor
about that special Sports Illustrated
issue.
Nebraska national championship
shirts are going at discount prices.
AH the coffee mugs, national title
books and Orange Bowl highlight
tapes are being threatened by
extinction.
But it’s time to start the “Save
the National Championship”
crusade. The athletic department is
launching one last effort to get
people excited about the national
title again.
In January, Comhusker fans were
dancing in the streets—or country
roads—celebrating the title.
Now, toward the end of April,
they have a chance to bring out the
party hats one more time. They have
one more chance to hang on to the
past.
And this celebration offers that
chance.
You can see the Huskers roll
over West Virginia in the Kickoff
Classic. You can see Brook
Berringer lead the troops to victory
while Tommie Frazier is gone with a
blood clot.
You can see the 17-point victory
over Colorado at Memorial Sta
dium. You can see the Huskers’
road win at Oklahoma. And most
importantly, you can watch the
Orange Bowl—or at least high
lights from the fourth quarter.
And this all can be done at one
place and one time—Memorial
Stadium Friday night.
A bit much?
To more than 25,000 fans, it’s
more than enough. The athletic
ticket office has already sold 26,000
tickets to the event. That's more
than some schools' average atten
dance in a year. Some schools are
happy to have 26,000 fans go to a
game.
This party starts at 7:30 Friday
night. But the gates will be opening
at 5 p.m. It’s kind of like game day
in Lincoln. Bring out the tailgaters.
And bring out the rings. And the
Sears national championship trophy,
the Associated Press trophy, the
National Football Foundation Hall
of Fame Mac Arthur Bowl and the
National Association of College
Football Fans trophy.
Hey, you can even bring out the
one-of-a-kind Husker postmark.
Even the Lincoln Post Office is
joining in an the hysteria. Employ
ees will be on hand to offer the
special postmark.
Again, a bit much? '
Not to Nebraska ticket manager
Cindy Bell.
“We almost expect a little more
(people),” she said. “A lot of it is
going to depend on the weather.”
And if the weather’s nice,
Nebraska baseball coach John
Sanders could be smiling broadly.
Could you imagine 26,000 fans at
Buck Beltzer Stadium? Now there’s
a party.
According to the agenda, the
national title celebration will
conclude at 8:37 p.m. with a laser
light show. And it just so happens
that Nebraska’s baseball game with
Iowa State was moved to 8:30 p.m.
And all those 26,000-plus
football-frenzied fans could file in
through the gates of Buck Beltzer
around 9 p.m. The fans will see the
Huskers’ title-winning punter in left
field.
There will be some of that
national championship spirit on the
baseball field because Darin Erstad
will be playing. The addition of all
these fans should make Sanders a
happy man.
“We think that at least some
people would at least stop by to see
what’s going on,” Bell said.
That could make for some
seating problems at the 1,500-seat
stadium, but Sanders surely
wouldn’t mind.
Put the crowd in both bullpens.
Put them in the dugouts. The record
crowd of 3,154 fans who showed up
almost a year ago today for a game
against Kansas would be shattered.
But could it be a bit much?
No, just a darn good scheduling
scheme.
You have to give the athletic
department a hand. Two teams, two
parties, one night. It can’t get any
better than that.
Pearson Is a Jailor news-editorial ma
jor aad the Daily Nebraska! sprats editor.