Sports
Thursday, January 18, 1996 Page 7
Tim Pearson
Coach preps
his wrestlers
for life’s mat
Tim Neumann has built a pow
erhouse — both on and off the mat.
The Nebraska wrestling pro
gram is mentioned in the same
breath as Iowa. But the national title
has eluded the Cornhuskers. This
year, that title could become real
ity. But the road must pass through
Iowa.
This weekend at the National
Duals at the Bob Devancy Sports
Center, the elite will go to battle,
and we’ll find out if Neumann’s
team has what it takes for a title.
The Huskcrs have been down
this road before.
Three years ago, the Nebraska
wrestling team made school history
at the National Duals. The Huskcrs
pulled off the biggest upset in Ne
braska history by defeating then
No. 1 Iowa.
After tha^night, Nebraska wres
tling Ijad made its mark. The Husk
crs had cemented their place among
wrestling’s elite programs.
No longer would the wrestling
world look down on Neumann’s
Huskers. They went on to win their
first Big Eight title since 1949 and
finish third at the NCAA Champi
onships.
SixAll-Americans. John Buxton
at 118 pounds, Tony Purler at 126,
Frank Velazquez at 134, Mike
Eicrman at 142, Corey Olson at 177
and Rulon Gardner at heavyweight.
And one national champion.
Purler.
i nai team s starring iu nau a
mission, Neumann said.
“They worked for five years to
get where they were,” he said. “That
year’s team, all they thought about
was wrestling.”
But that was then. This is now.
Three of them are still wrestling;
two are coaching. The other five
have continued on without wres
tling.
In Tulsa, Okla., Buxton is a com
puter programmer and Tommy
Robbins is a financial consultant.
Olson got married, gave up
wrestling and now owns a landscap
ing firm in Rochester, Minn.
Ovanes Oganisian is teaching
Russian via satellite to high school
students across the United States.
Rick Coltvet is an electrical en
gineer in Norfolk.
Purler and Velazquez are both
assistant wrestling coaches.
Velazquez at Nebraska and Purler
with Great Britain’s Olympic team.
Eicrman is still wrestling at Ne
braska.
Matt Lindland and Gardner both
are training for the 1996 Olympics.
Those 10 wrestlers epitomized
Nebraska wrestling. Forget the hon
ors on the mat; Neumann probably
is more proud of the fact that nine
have graduated, and the other one,
Eierman, is a senior this year.
The 1993 team set an example
for this year’s team to follow. That
team had a mission that extended
beyond wrestling into life.
Pearson is a senior news-editorial
major and the Daily Nebraskan copy desk
chief.
Nebraska rolls over Kangaroos
OSU up next
for Huskers
By Todd Waikenhorst
Staff Reporter
Three of the past four years, Mis
souri-Kansas City has played Ne
braska within three points. Wednesday
night at the Bob Devaney Sports Cen
ter, the Cornhuskers hopped over the
Kan
garoos.
N e -
braska ended its nonconference sea
son with an 87-69 victory over UMKC
to raise its record to 13-4 on the sea
son.
“To get our nonconference sched
ule over with is a big relief," Nebraska
coach Danny Nee said. “We ended up
12-3 in our nonconfcrencc schedule.
I thought very easily we could have
been 14-1."
The Kangaroos tried to get an up
set bid going early by jumping to a 7
3 lead. But with 16:19 left in the first
half, Nebraska junior center Mikki
Moore tied the game at seven with a
slam dunk. Guard Erick Strickland
nailed a 3-pointcr to complete an 11
0 run, putting the Huskers up 14-7.
They never trailed again.
“I was pleased with the game,” Nee
said. ”1 thought we came in with the
right attitude, got off to a good start
and took control of it.”
Strickland, a senior from Bellevue,
finished the game with 15 points, three
assists and two steals in 22 minutes.
All the Husker starters saw limited
action in the second half as Nebraska
held a 47-28 lead at halftime.
True freshman Venson Hamilton,
who scored 11 points and grabbed six
rebounds, was Nebraska’s second
leading scorer.
“1 was also pleased that we had the
opportunity to get to our bench and
get a lot of guys playing time,” Nee
said. “I wasn’t worried about how
many points we were going to win by,
but I wanted to try to get people off of
the bench and get some playing time.”
Redshirt freshmen Andy
Markowski, Leif Nelson and Chad
Ideus all saw at least 13 minutes of
playing time, combining for 16 points
and 11 rebounds.
Every Husker saw action and ev
ery player scored except senior guard
Jason Glock.
The Kangaroos cut the Nebraska
lead to 14 points early in the second
See UMKC on 8
Travis Heying/DN
Nebraska point guard Tom Wald hammers UMKC guard Erin Washington. Wald made the shot,
was fouled and completed the 3-point play. Washington had to leave the game and required
stitches in his lip.
Huskers to face CU powerhouse
By Mike Kluck
Senior Reporter
Over the past few years, dominance
in the Big Eight Conference has be
come synonymous with the Nebraska
football team, the Comhusker volley
ball squad and the Colorado women’s
basketball team.
i ne uurraiocs
have been the
measuring stick
of Big Eight suc
cess, winning
three straight
regular-season
conference cham
pionships, com
piling a 14-0 Big
cagm ictuiu last
Barry season and win
ning the conference tournament.
The Buffaloes, who play host to
Nebraska at the Coors Event Center
in Boulder, Colo., Sunday at 1 p.m.,
are ranked No. 12 in the nation. They
have a 16-3 overall record and have
won all three of their conference
games.
Over the past four seasons, Colo
rado has qualified for the NCAA Tour
nament every year, twice advancing
to the Elite Eight.
But with all of its success on the
court, Colorado coach Ceal Barry said
it’s what the Buffalo coaching staff
does off the court that keeps her team
at the top of the Big Eight.
“It’s a combination of things,”
Barry said, “recruiting and a lot of hard
work — a lot of hard work.”
Part of the hard work at Colorado
is trying to lure recmits to Boulder.
Because Big Eight games aren’t
shown on television, many recruits’
parents, Barry said, don’t want their
daughters to go to school where they
can’t see them play.
Although recruiting at Colorado is
difficult, Barry still was able to recruit
Shelly Sheetz, whom the coach said
was key in developing the success the
Buffaloes are now experiencing.
Sheetz, who played for the Buffa
loes from 1991-1995, is second in ca
reer points at Colorado with 1,775.
Sheetz was Big Eight newcomer of the
year in 1992, and was a first-team all
Big Eight pick the next three seasons.
Barry is quick, however, to point
out that Colorado’s success comes
from more than just its players. It also
comes from fan support.
Last season Colorado ranked
eighth among Division-I schools in
home attendance, averaging 5,338
fans per game.
Even with the difficulty in recruit
ing at Colorado and the success the
Buffaloes have experienced, Barry
said although she had been offered
other coaching opportunities, she’s not
interested in leaving Colorado.
“I’ve had people tell me that I
would never win a national champi
onship at Colorado," Barry said. “I
don’t know if we can win a national
championship, but I’m very commit
ted to our athletic director. Bill Marolt.
My goal is to stay in it one year at a
time.”
CU coach
announces
resignation
BOULDER, Colo. (AP) —
Colorado basketball coach Joe
Harrington’s decision on Tues
day night to resign left the Big
Eight with its first major shake
up of the basketball season.
One year after the debut of
four new conference coaches,
Harrington, who said the deci
sion was his own, said the foun
dering Buffaloes needed a
change at the top.
The change came immedi
ately after Harrington an
nounced his decision before
Colorado’s loss to Southern
Utah. The Buffaloes lost the
game, their sixth straight — an
See HARRINGTON on 8