Johnson takes job
as Badger coach
Former Husker
setter starts coaching
job on Friday.
By Shannon Heffelfinger
Staff Reporter
Personally, Christy Johnson
will take on new challenges when
she becomes an assistant volleyball
coach at Wis
consin on Fri
day.
The
former setter
for the Ne
braska volley
ball team has
never been to
Wisconsin, and
coaching at the
JtfeKM collegiate level
is something she regarded as a
long-term goal.
But Johnson will not be break
ing new ground. The road from
Lincoln to Madison, Wis., has beat
traveled before. Badger Coach John
Cook was an assistant under NU
Coach Terry Pettit during the 1989
and 1990 seasons before taking
over the Wisconsin program.
Teaming up with another prod
uct of the Cornhusker program will
help to ease the transition, Johnson
said.
“I don’t think I would take a'
chance like this unless I was really
comfortable with the program and
the coach,” Johnson said. “He runs
his program a lot like Coach Pettit
does, and it will be nice to have
those similarities.”
Those similarities were also on
Cook’s mind when he considered
Johnson for the position . Although
Cook never had the chance to coach
the two-time All-American, he is
confident that Johnson formed a
good work ethic while at NU.
“Subconsciously, it played a
part in my decision,” Cook said.
“Both of us have been influenced
by the tradition at Nebraska, and I
think that we will work well to
gether. We will probably look at a
lot of things from the same view
point. It should be an easy fit.”
Not surprisingly, Johnson and
Cook looked to their old ties at Ne
braska before entering into their
new partnership. Before offering
Johnson the position, Cook dis
cussed the move with Pettit, his
good friend and former boss.
“We talked through Christy and
some of the other candidates,”
Cook said. “But Coach Pettit would
never make my decision for me.
That’s just the respect we Have for
each other and the nature of our
friendship. After I hired her
though, he totd me I had made a
great decision.”
Johnson also discussed her op
tions with her former coach. Pettit
said he was supportive of the pos
sibility of Johnson coaching for
UW.
“Everything Christy does, she
does exceptionally well,” Pettit
said. “She combines commitment
and passion with a tremendous
amount of energy. She will be an
exceptional coach.”
Of all the candidates, Johnson
was the youngest and had the least
experience. Johnson coached her
alma mater Millard North High
School to a 15-12 mark in her first
season.
Johnson is also the math teacher
at Millard North but will not com
plete her contract because her new
position requires her to take over
in two days. Her main responsibil
ity with the Badgers will be to work
with the setters and to recruit in the
Midwest.
“Even though I can’t even stay
the full year,” Johnson said, “I’m
so grateflil for the opportunity I had
there. I learned so much about
coaching. There is such a big dif- ,
ference between coaching and play
ing, and I never realized how
much.”
Whatever Johnson lacks in ex
perience, Code said, she makes up
for with her character.
“When I need to hire someone,”
Cook said, “I look for someone who
is an exceptional person. Excep
tional people have success. They set .
goals, focus mi the big prize and
get things done.
“Christy is that type of person.
She accomplished something at
Nebraska that none of their other
great setters ever could by winning
a national championship.”
■ U|k 111^ l||KjHl | MB |U||Fk|HBfe|iH|Vl^j V^h
DAHWWMBblMHlflHIHMIHMMHHHHHHIHHHMHl
Dear Women Students,
The first 100 full time female students at the
Nebraska Women's Basketball game will
receive free Chanel perfume gift bags. 24
students will then be chosen to compete in a
halftime shoot-out, winning a
$250 Chanel gift basket, courtesy of Dillard's.
So come on out to watch the 23rd ranked
Women's basketball team take on the Baylor
Bears Wednesday at 7pm and take home
gifts from Chancd!
Sincerely,
0H*£***Aa'
P.S. Remember all students get in FREE with
their student LD.
Lavy strives to soar higher
By Vince D’Adamo
Staff Reporter
Emerging from the shadow of
NCAA indoor high-jump champion
- Petar Malesev has not been easy for
Nebraska high
jumper Shane
Lavy.
But this
season, Lavy, a
sophomore from
Glasco, Kan., has
jumped out from
Malesev’s shadow
by leaps and
bounds.
Lavy Last Fri
day, Lavy posted a career-best clear
ing 7-feet 514-inches at the Nebraska
Iowa Athletic Conference Invite. The
leap was the best by any collegian
posted this season.
The week before in the Frank
Sevigne Husker Invitational, Lavy
scaled the bar at 7-5 tying his personal
best.
Despite nursing a sore knee and
ankle, he finished first, a position Lavy
has become accustomed to this season.
“I feel more healthy right now,”
Lavy said. *Tm just tiying to keep it
strong.”
It marked the second straight year
Lavy triumphed in the high jump at
the Husker Invite, duplicating
Malesev’s accomplishment.
“I didn’t know that Petar had done
it for two years in a row,” Lavy said.
“I’d like to keep the streak.”
This weekend Lavy will be hop
ing for another personal best when he
competes in the Big 12 Conference
championship meet at the Bob
Devaney Sports Center.
In his last two meets, Lavy has just
missed clearing the 7-614 mark which
will set a Nebraska school record.
Lavy, who was an NCAA indoor
All-American after finishing sixth as
a freshman, said clearing the mark in
future meets is not farfetched.
“I think the problem was that I was
clearing too soon,” Lavy said.
Otherwise, Lavy said, he has im
proved in all aspects of his high-jump
ing ability.
“I feel more advanced in my ap
proach, my form and my aggressive
ness,” Lavy said. “I think the indoor
season is a big practice session for the
outdoor season.
“I would definitely like to be on
66
I would definitely
like to be on top in
the Big 12.”
Shane Lavy
NUhighjumper
top in the Big 12.”
Pepin said Lavy’s development
starts with Lavy’s productive work
habits.
“He’s had a real good season so
far,” Pepin said. “He has prepared bet
ter in every area. He is a year better
and more mature.”
Lavy’s personal indoor best last sea
son was a 7-5, which he jumped at the
Husker Invite. He struggled in last
year’s Big Eight indoor championships
clearing only a height of 6-11, good for
a third-place finish. Lavy improved
enough to jump a 7-5 and win the final
Big Eight outdoor high-jump title.
Lavy said he wants to use his re
cent success as a springboard for the
Big 12 Championship meet.
“I’m going to hit it hard,” Lavy said.
Bears, NU on skid
BEARS from page 7
in the 1983-84 season.
Against Baylor, Beck said she
hopes to get the same type of perfor
mance the Huskers gave Monday
night against the ninth-ranked Long
horns. Nebraska had eight different
players score against Texas, and the
Huskers won the battle of the boards
47-44.
Freshman center Charlie Rogers
grabbed a career-best 12 rebounds,
including seven in the first seven min
utes, and scored 10 points. Beck said
the 6-foot-2 Rogers out-played Tfexas
All-America candidate Angela Jack
son.
“We wanted to attack Jackson in
side so we put Charlie Rogers back
inside and she had a great game,”
Beck said.
Since Jan. 7, Rogers has started 10
of NU’s last 12 games, and for the sec
ond straight contest die will have her
hands full in the post. This time
Rogers battles Baylor’s 64 sophomore
center Kacy Moffitt.
Moffitt leads the Bears in scoring
averaging 10.5 points per game and
12.7 points in conference action.
Beck said the Huskers might have
a slight disadvantage having played
Monday night and using only one day
to prepare for the Bears.
“I'm not real concerned about the
back-to-back thing,” Beck said.
“We’ve been put in a difficult situa
tion because they played on Saturday.
But we’re kind of taking the Big Eight
attitude. When we were in the Big
Eight Conference and played Friday
Sunday we had a one-day turnaround.
Our team is capable of putting a one
day turnaround together and playing
well.”
Brandt awaits Huskers I
BRANDT from page 7
is a big factor in the game.
“hi this conference, you definitely
have an advantage to be the home
team,” he said.
Baylor is 13-2 at home this sea
son, its two losses coming to Kansas
and Colorado. Nebraska is 2-7 on the
road this season and has yet to win a
league road game.
Nee said the Bears’ home record
shows they are a difficult team for any
one to face.
“They’re a very, very good basket
bad team at home,” Nee said. “The
road has not been very good to us, and
we’re just going to have to find a way
to play a consistent 40 minutes.”
One of two seniors on the Bears’
roster, Brandt said his experience has
helped the Bears reach a higher level
of consistency this season.
Brandt has led the Bears in scor
ing four times this season, including
a 20-point effort in the Bears’ 76-72
overtime win over Texas last month.
He will have his hands full against
Nebraska’s Mikki Moore and Venson
Hamilton. The 6-9 Hamilton averages
10.7 points and 8.6 rebounds per
game. The 6-11 Moore averages 11.5
and 7.8 boards a game.
“We had seen him play and we
thought he was a player with a lot of
potential,” Nee said. “And he abso
lutely does a great job for them now.”
But it hasn’t been just this season
that Brandt has been a vital piece of
the Baylor lineup.
“I’ve been lucky enough to start
every game since I’ve been here,”
Brandt said. “So the experience has
definitely been a factor.”
W 4SSS SB*S£ |
Angels move Erstad to first base
ERSTAD from page 7
when outfielder Jim Edmonds
sprained his thumb last June. Erstad
was promoted to Anaheim, where he
got his first taste of major league base
ball. Two months lata, Erstad found
himself back in triple-A Vancouver.
“It was a good learning experience,”
Erstad said. “I had the opportunity to
go up to the big leagues before I could
eva imagine. Getting sent down was a
humbling experience, but it taught me
not to take anything for granted.”
In Septemba, when major league
teams can expand their rosters to 40
playas, Erstad was recalled by the
Angels.
“It was nice when I got back.”
Erstad said. “It felt like I was part of
the team. They were great to me —
very supportive and always willing to
help. Obviously, being a rookie, you’re
going to take your heat.”
Erstad was the first pick of the 1995
June-draft and after signing a then
record $1.575-million bonus, he made
his way from rookie-league ball in Mesa
to class-A Lake Elsinore (Calif.).
After boasting a .363 average at
Lake Elsinore, Erstad hit .344 in the
Arizona Fall League, which earned
him a trip to his first major league
5
spring training camp last February.
This winter, Erstad said he worked
out in his hometown of Jamestown,.
N.D., and is eager to get back on the
playing field. Erstad spent the first two
weeks of this month practicing with
the Nebraska baseball team.
‘Tve been working my tail off for
three months now,” Erstad said. “I’m
in the best shape of my life. I’m faster
and stronger than I’ve ever been.
There’s really no excuse for not doing
what I’m capable of doing.
“If I do my job at first, I don’t see
why I shouldn’t be starting on open
ing day. That’s my goal right now.*’