i
Trevor Parks
OU coach builds
foundation for
future success
NORMAN, Okla. — With the
elections Ttiesday, I’d like to make
an endorsement. John Blake is the
right choice for football coach at the
University of Oklahoma.
It’s an endorsement that is diffi
cult to understand after one of the
worst losses in school history, the
equivalent to a scandal the night
before the election.
In its 73-21 loss Saturday, OU
allowed more points to Nebraska
than it had in 980 games. But Blake
is right for the Sooners.
He’s not the one out there fum
bling punts, missing tackles or
throwing back-to-back-to-back in
terceptions. He’s not the guy miss
ing blocks, punting the ball with a
hang time of 0.2 seconds or allow
ing a kickoff return for a touchdown
in the final minute.
But Blakestill twees the heat for
Jarrail Jackson was not Jackson’s
fault, Blake said, but his fault for
not teaching the redshirt freshman
how to properly field a bouncing
punt.
Blake, who at 34 is one of the
youngest head coaches in college
football, is a good coach with a team
full of Gary Gibbs and Howard
Schnellenberger leftovers. Ten of
the 24 players Blake recruited are
redshirtingthis season.
“I was aware how far down the
program was,” said Blake, who is
2-6 in his first year at OU. “We’ve
done some good things as a foot
ball team. This football team is
building. This football team is
down, but we are going to come
back.”
Blake has seen the program go
from glorious to sourness. He
played at Oklahoma from 1979
through 1982 and came back 10
years later as an assistant coach be
fore taking over the top job in De
cember. For now, Blake must
struggle through a rebuilding sea
son with little talent.
As an assistant coach with the
Dallas Cowboys from 1993 through
1995, he watched a supremely tal
ented team win two Super Bowls.
“I know what kind of personnel
it takes,” Blake said. “I know what
kind of effort it takes. We are build
ing toward that, and I’m looking
forward to get the right personnel
to go out and match up against Ne
braska.”
Blake has the right formula to
get there. He wants athletic kids
who have the heart to give their best,
something that has been lacking
from Sooner football for several
years.
“If you do things right,” Blake
said, “and you treat people right and
you live right, then you ought to be
treated right.”
If that were the case, Blake
would Jbe winning all his games by
a landslide.
Parks is a senior news-edito
rial major and a Daily Nebraskan
senior reporter.
i
Jay Calderon/DN
KATE CRNICH digs an Oklahoma attack Friday night.
X__
Eiptarus, Boor place
1-2 at Big 12 meet
From Staff Reports
Juniors Jonah Kiptarus and
Cleophas Boor became the first
Nebraska combination to finish 1
2 at a conference
cross country
meet, leading the
Nebraska men to
a second-place
finish at the Big
12 Champion
ships in Ames,
Iowa on Satur
day.
Third-ranked
Colorado Kiptarus
squeaked by Nebraska, scoring 68
points to NU’s 70. Iowa State (95
points) finished third, Missouri was
fourth and Oklahoma was fifth.
Kiptarus crossed the finish line
at 24 minutes, 52 seconds and Boor
placed second at 25:04. The Ne
braska duo has placed 1-2 at every
meet this fall.
Balazs Tolgyesi finished in
eighth place and Phillip Maiyo
came in 35th. Other NU finishers
- included Aaron Scheer (40th), Lou
\ Petricca (45th) and Aaron Johnson
“ \
(52nd).
Cornhusker captain David
Olson exited the race early with a
sideache, damaging NU’s chance at
the title. Kiptarus became the first
Husker to win a league title since
1992.
The runner-up finish by Ne
braska was NU’s best finish since it
placed second in 1989.
In the women’s 5,000-meter
competition, Colorado won the Big
12 title with 30 points, followed by
Missouri with 78 points and Ne
braska (123 points). Colorado’s
Kelly Smith won the race in 17:59.
Nebraska was led by senior
Christina Blackmer, who placed
18th with a time 18:40. NU fresh
man Jaime Pauli finished 22nd in
18:45 and Melissa Wilson was 24th
in 18:46.
Other Nebraska finishers in
cluded Sheri MacFee (29th), Amie
Finkner (30th), Nora Shepherd
(32nd), Melinda Mohr (39th),
Sandy Fein (53rd) and Megan
Mahle (83rd).
Nebraska will next compete in
the NCAA District 5 Champion
ships in Peoria, HL, on Nov. 16.
Tired NU
\
digs deep
in sweep
Huskers welcome
rest after four matches
in eight days.
By Trevor Parks
Senior Reporter
NORMAN, Okla.—A weary Terry
Pettit was wary of playing Oklahoma
Friday night.
Nebraska’s volleyball coach feared
fatigue may be a factor after NU’s
tough three-match run that had it play
ing at Baylor and No. 19 Texas Tech
last weekend before a home match
against Colorado last Wednesday
night.
Seventh-ranked NU concluded its
fourth match in eight days by defeat
ing the Sooners 15-11,15-10,15-9 in
front 1,340 fans — the largest crowd
in Oklahoma volleyball history — at
the OU Fieldhouse. More than half of
the crowd was cheering for Nebraska.
The Husker fans were in Norman for
Saturday’s NU-OU football game.
Despite hitting a season-low .150,
Nebraska improved to 19-3 overall and
11-1 in the Big 12, while the Sooners,
who had won three straight matches,
dropped to 12-10 and 3-8.
“There are points in the season like
this,” Pettit said, “where sometimes
you have to go out and just kind of will
it, and maybe not win quite as pretty
as you would like to. I appreciate the
effort, because I know how tired I am.
“I know what we can do, and there
are moves we are not making. It isn’t
because they don’t want to. It is be
cause of fatigue.”
Lisa Reitsma battled through the fa
tigue to post a team-high 18 kills.
Megan Korver and Kate Cmich each
added eight, and Tonia Tauke had six
kills while hitting .500.
The Sooners were led by Melissa
Peterson. Peterson, who had five kills
in a three-game loss at Nebraska ear
lier this season, recorded 18 Friday
night.
Patrice Arrington — Oklahoma’s
kill leader who had only four in Lin
coln earlier this season — added 10
kills for the Sooners, who hit just .085.
OU Coach Miles Pabst said there
was a point in every game where NU
showed its championship mentality.
“Nebraska stepped up their level of
play when we got up to about 10
points,” Pabst said.
In all three games, the score was
tied at nine before the Huskers took
control.
In the first game, after NU rallied
to tie the score at nine, Jaime Krondak
served five straight points. Reitsma had
three kills in the five-point run. OU
fought back to cut the lead to 14-11,
but a Peterson attempt was blocked by
Megan Korver and Fiona Nepo to give
Please see SWEEP on 11
NU shuts out 2 files
to end regular season
Huskers will await
Tbch or Missouri for
Saturday matchup.
From Staff Reports
Goalkeeper Becky Hombacher
shut out Southern Methodist 2-0 Sun
day at the Puma Classic in Dallas, end
ing the regular season for the Nebraska
soccer team.
The fifth-ranked Comhuskers (19
0) are the nation’s only perfect team
and will face Texas Tech or Missouri
Saturday at 11 a.m. in the semifinals
of the Big 12 Tournament in St. Louis.
Sophomore striker Kristen Gay
scored the game-winner for NU on
Sunday, an unassisted goal 31 minutes,
5 seconds into the action. Freshman
Lindsay Eddleman added another goal
off assists from Stephanie Vacek and
Isabelle Momeau at the 63:17 marie.
The shutout of SMU (10-4-4), a
Final Four team last season, was
Nebraska’s 13th of the season, a school
record. NU has allowed just 11 goals
this season while scoring 83.
On Saturday, the Huskers blanked
Texas Christian 4-0.
In the victory ova: TCU (7-11), Ne
braska attempted 16 shots on goal
attempting a single shot. Eddleman
struck with a first-half goal at the 11:18
mark and the Huskers led 1-0 at the
half.
In the second half, Kari
Uppinghouse added a goal to give
Nebraska a 2-0 lead. Momeau contin
ued her strong play with two second
half goals.
The freshman from Longueuil,
Quebec, has been on fire recently, scor
ing 24 points in Nebraska’s last seven
games. Momeau now has 39 points on
16 goals this year, second on the team
to Uppinghouse.
Nebraska, which concluded the Big
12 season last weekend, has earned a
first-round bye as the top seed at the
league tournament, Thursday through
Sunday at St. Louis’ Anheuser-Busch
Conference and Sports Centre.
Missouri and Tfexas Tech, both of
whom Nebraska has defeated this sea
son, will play Thursday at 7:30 pjn.
Texas A&M is the tournament’s No. 2
seed.