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Sports
Thursday, March 14, 1996 Page 7
—
Trevor Parks
Schultz’s death
to impact all
at tournament
When the NCAA Wrestling
Championships get under way in
Minneapolis March 21-23 at the
Target Center, a mass healing will
take place.
Since Feb. 2, the wrestling com
munity has been mourning the loss
of a very important member, Dave
Schultz. Schultz won a gold medal
at the 1984 Olympics in the 163
pound class and was a favorite to
make the 1996 Olympic team at age
36.
He was killed that Friday in Feb
ruary, however.
He was shot on the estate of one
of the most prominent wrestling
supporters in the United States,
John du Pont. Du Pont is a famed
member of the wrestling commu
nity who built a training facility for
future Olympians tin his own prop
erty.
At the NCAAs, Schultz’s influ
ence will be felt all around.
Oklahoma State coach John
Smith wrestled with Schultz at the
1986 Goodwill Games. Smith said
not a day went by when he didn’t
think about his teammate. The
meets must continue, however.
“If all the teams can put on a
good show, that would be some
thing he’d like to see,’’ Smith said.
Two Cornhuskers, assistant
coach Brad Penrith and graduate
assistant Matt Demaray, wrestled
on du Pont’s Foxcatcher wrestling
all-star team.
wnctner it oc tne wrestlers or
their coaches, almost everyone in
Minneapolis next weekend has
some tie to Schultz. Minnesota
coach J Robinson said by getting
everyone together, more people
outside the sport could learn about
Schultz.
“This is different in that in the
sport of wrestling we’ve never lost
someone who was that young,”
Robinson said. “A lot of people will
be talking about what happened,
and this will be a good healing pro
cess.”
That makes these champion
ships more important than the ones
held in the past.This year, it doesn’t
make any difference that Iowa is
supposed to dominate again.
The time will be spent honoring
one of the sport’s legends and re
living a lot of fond memories. No
matter if someone gets pinned or
records a takedown, everyone there
has some other purpose besides
wrestling.
On the night Schultz was killed,
Iowa was to wrestle Minnesota.
Minutes before the meet, both
teams decided not to cancel the
dual. The reason was: Schultz
would have wanted them to wrestle,
Iowa coach Dan Gable said.
“It is a good chance for all of us
to get together in one place and ex
press our feelings to other people,”
Gable said.
I’m sure Schultz would be glad
to sec the sport he loved going on
without him.
Park* Is a seaior aews-editorial ma
Jor aad a Dally Nebraskaa seaior re
porter.
NU wants to run against Rams
By Trevor Parks
Senior Reporter
The Nebraska basketball team be
gins the beginning of the end tonight
in Fort Collins, Colo.
The Cornhuskers, 16-14, play
Colorado State, 18-11, at 8:30 p.m. at
Moby Arena in the first round of the
National Invitation Tournament.
If Nebraska loses, a season in
which the Huskers lost 10 of their last
11 games after having a 15-4 record
on Jan. 24 will finally be over.
With a win over the Rams, Ne
braska would play the winner of
Thursday night’s Washington State
Gonzaga game in the second round on
March 19 at a site to be determined.
Coach Danny Nee said playing
Colorado State would be a bonus for
his team after struggling throughout
the season.
1
“The philosophy that I have, and
that we’ve approached in our program
in our eighth postseason is that it’s a
reward. It’s fun. We shorten the prac
tices. We get after it, and then it’s time
to play basketball,” Nee said.
Against the Rams, Nebraska needs
to play extremely well to win, Nee
said.
Colorado State is led by All-West
crn Athletic Conference guard David
Evans. Evans is averaging 19.3 points
per game, and seven times this season
he has scored 28 or more points in a
game.
From behind the 3-point arc, Evans
is dangerous. He is shooting 40.5 per
cent and averages three 3-pointers per
game. As a team, the Rams average
six 3-pointers per game on 15.6 at
tempts._
See NIT on 8
Basketball Starters^)““
Nebraska (16-14) HL Wt Class PPG RPG
C TyronnLue GO 165 Fr. 8.6 3.1
G Jaron Boone GG 195 Sr. 14.2 2.7
¥ i EricfcStrtdkland ••• 6-5 210 Sr. i4.3 4.9
F Bernard Gamer 6-7 225 Jr. 10.6 6.4
220 Fr. 9.0 5.5
Colorado St (18-11)
*
- Sr...4. 9.4' L6 -
G David Evans 6-1 180 Sr. 19.3 2.5
IfiiHHBS Wp'
F Matt Barnett 6-8 210 So. 8.3 6.5
mmmmMmMmmmmwai—
Scott Bruhn/DN
Nebraska quarterback Scott Frost runs the 40-yard dash Wednesday afternoon at Cook
Pavilion. Frost, a junior next fall, was timed at 4.62 seconds.
Huskers show off skills
By David Wilson
Staff Reporter
The Nebraska football team put
its skills to a pre-spring test
Wednesday
afternoon at
Cook Pavil
ion.
Players
were tested in
the vertical
jump, pro
agility run,
40-yard dash,
and shuttle
run.
Sims Final
points will be calculated this morn
ing to determine if any records were
broken, said Boyd Eplcy,
Nebraska’s director of athletic per
formance.
“From the guys that I saw, there
were several players that improved
personal bests in all four catego
ries,” Epley said.
Players who had personal bests
in three out of the four categories
will receive a patch as a perfor
mance award, Epley said.
Junior-to-be James Sims, an It
back, ran the fastest 40-yard dash
of the day with a time of 4.42 sec
onds.
“I was happy with it,” Sims said.
“Since I’ve been here I’ve just tried
to stay consistent. And I have done
uAs long as I stay prepared and stay focused, Vll be
ready when they call my number. ”
JAMES SIMS
Nebraska l-back
that every time that we’ve tested.”
Sims was Nebraska’s seventh
leading rusher last season, running
for 270 yards and three touchdowns
on 30 carries. His nine-yard aver
age per carry was No. 1 among
Huskcr running backs.
Sims, who took two weeks off
this winter because of his father’s
death, beat his personal best in the
vertical jump with a mark of 41
inches and was one-hundredth of a
second from his personal-best 4.41 -
second 40-yard dash.
“I was real happy with (my per
formance), and the coaches seem to
be happy with it as well,” Sims said.
“I didn’t really get as much of a
chance to improve as some of the
other guys did.”
Epley said he was surprised at
Sims’ performance after he missed
two weeks of winter conditioning.
Epley said Sims probably would be
close to all of his personal-high
marks.
Sophomore I-back Ahman
Green, who set personal bests in the
vertical jump and the pro-agility run
Wednesday, was not at full strength,
Eplcy said. Green, expected to start
next fall, had his tonsils removed
earlier this winter and had blood
drawn from his left arm Wednes
day morning.
“We didn’t expect him to do as
well as he did,” Eplcy said.
As a freshman last season. Green
was Nebraska’s leading rusher,
gaining a freshman-record 1,086
yards and scoring 13 touchdowns
on 141 carries.
Green, who was timed at 4.45
seconds in the 40-yard dash
Wednesday, ran a 4.34-second 40
yard dash on Jan. 19 —just one
hundredth of a second from the all
time Nebraska marie set by Keith
Jones. Green said he had expected
to run well, but was surprised at his
time.
“It was a very impressive run,”
Epley said. “It’s one of the best
times we have seen in our history.”
Spring workouts begin March
25.
NU seeks
to stop
CSU star
By Mike Kluck
Senior Reporter
Throughout its 19-9 season, the
Nebraska women’s basketball team
never has accelerated to full power.
Coach Angela Beck said Wednesday,
“To compete at the NCAA level,
every one of our players have to play?
their best,” Beck said, “I really believe “
my players need to play on all cylin
ders. We need to get all our cylinders
rolling.”
On Saturday, Nebraska s engine
will be tested when the ninth-seeded
Huskers meet Western Athletic Con
ference champion and eighth-seeded
Colorado State, 25-4, at 9 p.m. in the
NCAA Tournament West Region’s
first round in Stanford, Calif.
The winner will play Monday
against either second-ranked and top
seeded Stanford or 16th-seeded
Grambling State, who play Saturday
at 11:30 p.m.
The Huskers’ leading players this
season often have been inconsistent
from night to night, Beck said.
That must end for the NCAA Tour
nament, she said.
In addition to receiving consistent
scoring, she said, the Huskers must
operate efficiently at the defensive
end, especially against Colorado State
freshman guard Becky Hammon.
Hammon is the highest-scoring
freshmen in the nation, averaging 19.6
points per game. She was named to
the WAC all-conference and all-tour
nament teams and also earned the con
ference freshman-of-thc-year award
and the WAC Tournament MVP.
The NCAA Tournament won’t be
Beck’s first opportunity to sec
Hammon. The 5-foot-6 native of
Rapid City, S.D., attended Nebraska’s
basketball camps and was recruited by
the Huskers, Beck said. But Beck
opted to sign two junior college play
ers last year and didn’t offer Hammon
a scholarship.
“Obviously, Hammon is a great
player,” Beck said. “She’s had a tre
mendous freshman year, probably one
of the better freshmen years of any
one in the country. I think we have a
good defensive scheme to help counter
that a little bit.”
That scheme will involve Nebraska
senior Kate Galligan, who will start
the game defending Hammon.
“I got to have a lot of concentra
tion on the defensive end,” Galligan
said. “I can’t let her get hot. If she gets
hot, that’s going to be a real positive
for their team.
“If we can shut her down, they're
going to struggle a little bit.”