Wrestlers battle
weight, injuries
By Antone Oseka
Staff Reporter
The Nebraska wrestling team
has been grappling with an invis
ible opponent every day. It has
haunted the Cornhuskers, even in
the friendly confines of the wres
tling room at the Bob Devaney
Sports Center.
They call it health.
It takes the form of injury, side
lining Nebraska starter Jeramie
Welder since December. Injury also
stopped second-ranked 158
pounder Tcmoer Terry for a short
time.
It takes the form of weight, keep
ing Nebraska starters Brad Canoyer,
Tony DeAnda and Jason Kraft on
their toes for most of the season.
“Stable weight is going to make
the difference in the Big Eight Tour
nament,” Cornhusker assistant
coach Mark Cody said.
On Saturday the wrestlers travel
to Stillwater, Okla., to battle for the
final Big Eight championship.
“This is the lineup that earned a
chance to wrestle in the Big Eight
Tournament,” Nebraska coach Tim
Neumann said.
That lineup will feature a reha
bilitated Welder, at 126 pounds, and
Terry, at 158 pounds. Welder has
been suffering from an ankle injury
for most of the year.
“Welder’s worked harder than
any injured athlete I’ve ever had,”
Neumann said.
Terry recovered from a knee
sprain earlier this year, but lost his
last match at Wyoming on Feb. 24.
“That loss helped refocus him,”
Neumann said.
Focusing on weight control has
been a problem for other Huskers.
Fourth-ranked 134-poundcr Tony
DeAnda has gotten his weight down
to competition level, Neumann said.
A lot is expected from the senior,
he said.
“His best stuff is yet to come,”
Neumann said.
And Brad Canoycr, ranked No.
11 at 118 pounds, is wrestling the
best he has all year, Neumann said.
Jason Kraft, ranked 16th in the
country at 150, has taken advantage
of Nebraska’s two-week break to
get his weight under control and is
now ready to wrestle well,
Neumann said.
Chad Nelson at 167 recently re
turned after suffering back injuries.
He is still ranked No. 15 in the
country.
Nebraska’s last three weights
have carried the load this season.
Erik Josephson, ranked the low
est of the three at eighth, had a 20
match win streak before it was bro
ken by No. 2 Reese Andy of Wyo
ming last month. As Josephson left
the mat, he knew it was a match that
he could have won, Neumann said.
Ryan Tobin is ranked fourth in
the country at 190 pounds. His main
competition Saturday will come
from John Kading of Oklahoma,
the No. 1 190-pounder. Cody said
Tobin was a wrestler to watch at the
Big Eight Championships.
“He has the chance to knock off
the top guy, and he can do it,” Cody
said.
Junior Tolly Thompson, the
nation’s No. 2 heavyweight, is the
defending national champion. Th
ompson has been sitting out since
the Missouri dual on Feb. 14.
He hasn’t been plagued by inju
ries or weight problems, however.
Thompson sat out so he wouldn’t
exceed the maximum number of
days in competition before the
NCAA Championships.
The Nebraska coaching staff, es
pecially assistant coach Brad
Penrith, is optimistic for the final
Big Eight Championships.
“There’s not one weight we can’t
go in and win,” Penrith said.
Minor, Vaughn highlight
coaches’ All-Big 8 team
From staff Reports
Iowa State junior Dedric
Willoughby, Kansas juniors Jacque
Vaughn and Raef LaFrentz and Okla
homa seniors Ernie Abercrombie and
Ryan Minor were named Wednesday
to the coaches’ All-Big Eight team.
All but Abercrombie also were cho
sen first-team All-Big Eight by the
Associated Press. The AP selected
Kansas State senior guard Elliot
Hatcher in place of Abercrombie, who
was the league’s top rebounder this
season,,.*
Vaughn and Minor, the 1995 Big
Eight player of the year, were the only
repeat selections.
No Nebraska players were chosen
to AP’s first or second teams, but se
nior guard Erick Strickland made the
coaches’ second team. He was an hon
orable mention All-Big Eight pick by
the media.
Iowa State coach Tim Floyd was
selected unanimously as the AP Big
Eight coach of the year.
Strickland
Continued from Page 9
nament title in school history.
The year before as a freshman, he
scored six points, but the Huskers
scored only 45 in a two-point loss to
Kansas State.
At last season’s Big Eight Tourna
ment, he scored a team-high 16 points
in a 68-48 first-round loss to Okla
homa State, which went on to advance
to the Final Four of the NCAA Tour
nament.
Strickland said he hoped to have
another good performance in Kansas
City on Friday. He said he was having
fun playing basketball now, which is
a reason he expected another good
postseason performance this weekend.
“Myself and the other seniors are
just trying to go out in these final
couple of games and have some fun,”
Strickland said. “The underclassmen
are starting to notice that, and they are
having fun, too, ana that s important.
During Nebraska’s nine-game los
ing streak, which ended last Sunday
with a win over Kansas State,
Strickland said he was frustrated by
what was occurring on the court.
After the 78-64 loss to Colorado,
Strickland was wondering if the Husk
ers were jinxed.
For the year, he is averaging 14.6
points, 4.9 rebounds and almost two
steals per game.
One thing that has frustrated
Strickland is the amount of turnovers
he’s committed this season. He’s made
84 turnovers, and he said that was be
cause he had been trying to force
things too much.
Although he has struggled at times,
Strickland said the 70-66 win over
Kansas State had given him and his
teammates confidence to turn things
around.
“We’re confident even though
we’ve had a lot of tough breaks,”
Strickland said. “What’s happened in
the season is over.”
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ISU ready for Huskers
By Gregg Madsen
Staff Reporter
Dedric Willoughby isn’t looking
past Iowa State’s match-up with Ne
braska on Friday in the first round of
the Big Eight Tournament.
Willoughby, a first-team All-Big
Eight selection, said even though Iowa
State was 2-0 against Nebraska this
season, it wasn't planning on another
easy victory over the Comhuskers.
“They’re a team ready to explode,”
Willoughby said. “It doesn’t matter
that we beat them twice. We’re trying
to overlook that. They’re a good ball
club.”
A transfer from New Orleans, the
6-fcx)t-3 junior guard has emerged as
the Cyclones’top scorer. His per-game
average of 20.2 points is second in the
Big Eight to Ryan Minor of Okla
homa.
The match-ups in Friday night’s
contest, slated for a 6:10 tip-off, will
be challenging, Willoughby said.
“They’ll put on an all-out effort,”
he said. “They have nothing to lose.
They want to prove that they’re a bet
ter team than their record shows.”
Solid defense, better shot selection
and more free throw opportunities will
be the keys to the game, Willoughby
said.
The success of the Cyclones this
year, Willoughby said, has not been
surprising. Iowa State entered this sea
son with the task of replacing players
Jay Calderon/DN
Iowa State’s Dedric
Willoughby will lead the
Cyclones into postseason
play against Nebraska on
Friday at 6:10 p.m.
who accounted for almost 95 percent
of its scoring and rebounding from last
year.
“After we all met, we jelled to
gether so quickly,” he said. “We spent
so much time together, we knew that
we would be a quality team.”
The progress of the Cyclones and
the talent of Willoughby were both
evident in Iowa State’s two victories
over Nebraska this season. In the first
meeting on Feb. 3, Willoughby scored
23 points and led the Cyclones to a
75-65 win at the Bob Devaney Sports
Center.
At the Hilton Coliseum in Ames,
Iowa, one week later, he burned the
Huskers for 29 points and five re
bounds in a 74-59 romp. In that vic
tory, he shot seven of 12 from 3-point
range and was six of nine from the
free-throw line.
Willoughby was named Big Eight
player of the week twice this season,
first on Jan. 3 and again on Jan. 30.
The Cyclones, Willoughby said,
felt they had something to prove this
season. They were picked to finish last
in the conference by the media in the
preseason poll.
“It’s just that we all came here with
open minds,” he said. “We felt we had
something to prove to ourselves. We
were the ones out there wearing the
Iowa State uniforms. We were the ones
that had to perform.”
Willoughby said that even though
the Cyclones were now receiving
plenty of attention, the team still had
not lost its focus.
“We aren’t looking toward the
NCAA Tournament at all,” he said.
“We just have the Big Eight tourney
to worry about for now.”
EDGE SALUTES INTRAMURAL EXCELLENCE
— O
MFIM'S BASKETBALL
1. Sigma Alpha Epsilon A
2. Clusters
3. Yellow Jackets
4. Delta T au Delta-B2
5. Nuggets
6. Phi Delta Theta
7. Farmhouse B1
8. And One
9. Schramm 6A
10. Abel 10 r
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
1. Sharks
2. RoUm'Molars
3. Alpha Omicron Pi
4. Rec-ing Crew
5. Hoops Anderson
6. 4U2NV
7. 3L
8. Players
9. Borcher's Bombers
10. Smith 8
Red's Poll
As of March 6,1996
wnMffN'S VOLLEYBALL
1. Huskers (5-0)
2. East Husker Girls (5-0)
3. 4-County (5-0)
4. Schramm 7 (6-0)
5. Kappa Delta (4-1)
6. Them (3-1)
7. AerialAssault (4-1)
8. Volley Girls (3-1)
9. Six Pack (3-1)
10. Alpha Omicron Pi (3-2)
CO-REC VOLLEYBALL
1. Persian Cats (6-0)
2. SMI (6-0)
3. We Want Shirts (7-0)
4. The Beach (6-1)
5. Wailing Shalalies (5-1)
6. Ball Bashers U (5-1)
7. Hot Shots (5-1)
8. Team Elmo (4-2)
9. Mixed Rec (4-1)
10. Get Howe (4-1)
fete
G E ;
NICKS. NICKS. NICKS. NIX