Baseball team
splits in tourney
From Staff Reports
The Nebraska baseball team
dropped its final two games of the
Rawlings Spring Training Tourna
ment in Phoenix. -
The Comhuskers (5-2) lost 6-3
to in-state rival Creighton on Sun
day. Nebraska lost 16-7 to North
ern Iowa on Saturday.
NU began the tournament with
a win over Northeastern and a 3-0
win over the Blue Jays. Against
Creighton, Husker pitcher Steve
Fish tossed a one-hitter to earn the
win. Fish took a no-hitter into the
seventh inning before giving up his
first hit of the game.
The Huskers open Big 12 Con
ference play with a doubleheader
at Kansas Tuesday.
Husker women
lose first match
From Staff Reports
The Nebraska women’s tennis
team suffered its first loss of the
season Saturday losing to No. 27
Texas A&M 7-2.
The Aggies won all six singles
matches to lead them to victory.
The only match that went three sets
was at No. 3 singles, where A&M’s
Lisa Dingwall defeated Husker se
nior Annie Yang 6-4,3-6,6-2.
Nebraska's only victories came
at No. 1 and No. 2 doubles. Sandra
Noetzel and Jennifer Thoste won
their No. 1 doubles match 8-5 over
Lisa Dingwall and Nancy
Dingwall. Lisa'Hart and Yang won
at the No. 2 spot 8-6 over Leslie
Dees and Kathryn Scott. Neither
doubles team has lost this season.
The loss dropped Nebraska to
4-1 on the season.
NU golf team
finishes third
From Staff Reports
The Nebraska men’s golf team
had a strong second day perfor
mance to finish in third place at the
Crown Classic in Lufkin, Texas
this weekend.
On the first day of the tourna
ment the Comhuskers shot a 313
as a team leaving them in ninth
place. Nebraska turned things
around on day two, shooting a day
low total of 299.
The two-day score of 612 was
good enough for third place, fin
ishing five strokes behind No. 1
Arkansas and two shots behind
Texas-San Antonio.
Sophomore Josh Madden led
the Husker charge with a two
round total of ISO. Madden, from
Gold Coast, Australia, finished in
a tie for fifth (dace in the individual
competition. His second-round
score of 74 was the best individual
round by a Husker in the tourna
ment.
NU gymnasts
lose to Sooners
From Staff Reports
The Nebraska men’s gymnas
tics team lost to No. 7 Oklahoma
228.575-227.60 on Friday.
^ NU’s Derek Lei ter won the all
around with a score of 56.85.
Marshall Nelson won the parallel
bars with a score of 9.85 and won
the high bar with a 9.75.
f ' -J-:.
By Andrew Strnad
Staff Reporter
For Nebraska middle distance run
ner Sherri Elwood Macfee, the inau
gural Big 12 Indoor Track and Field
Championships
will be remem
bered as the high
point of her ca
reer. .
- Macfee
claimed her first
conference title by
winning the 1000
meter run with a
time of 2:49.99.
At the Big 12
meet, she was the
lone Comhusker to win a race as the
NU women won the first-ever Big 12
title.
Macfee, a senior from Oberlin,
Kan., set the tone for the first three
laps before Colorado’s Carrie Messner
took the lead on lap No. 4.
Huskers
shock ISU
UPSET from page 7
him do what he had to do.”
The one shot that Lue missed
in the final minutes led to the
completion of NU’s comeback.
Willoughby sank two free throws
with 37 seconds left, giving ISU a
64-61 lead. Lue then launched a 3
from near the top of the key, and
the ball caromed off the backboard
and the rim to Moore, who stood
four feet from the basket in the lane.
“When I got that rebound, I
turned and Bernard (Garner)
hollered my name,” Moore said. “I
looked at him in his face, and he was
set in ready position for tftfe shot.”
From the right baseline directly
in front of the Husker bench, Gar-,
ner buried the shot with 24 secdhds
left, tying the game for the first
time since the 13:01 mark.
“I just ran out to the comer and
they gave me the ball,” Gamer said.
“I didn’t think about it. I just let it
go. I knew it was good when it left
my hands.”
Iowa State called timeout and
point guard Jacy Holloway held the
ball until the final five seconds be
fore passing to Kenny Pratt, who
shot over Moore from 4 feet. The
ball hit the right side of the rim,
bounced over the basket and fell to
the floor as time expired.
In overtime, Nebraska took a
68-65 lead with 3:23 to play on a
12-foot Lue jumper. Bankhead and
Willoughby scored for ISU, and
Moore hit a shot and sank two free
throws for Nebraska before
Willoughby’s fatal error with 18
seconds to play.
I was trying to play aggressive
defense an him,” said Belcher, who
guarded Willoughby when he
dribbled off his foot. “Coach Nee
had told us if we needed to foul,
then to go ahead and foul. I just
told myself to play good enough
defense where I didn’t have to foul.
I think it worked out for the best.”
Nebraska out-shot the Cyclones
53 to 38 percent, and the Huskers
used a 13-4 run to lead 26-16 late
in the first half and 28-23 at the
break. Before Lue took charge in
the final three minutes of the sec
ond half, Iowa Skate scored 26 of 36
J points—including a 14-2 run—to
lead 55-47 with 3:47 remaining.
Willoughby led Iowa State (18
6 and 9-5) with 22 points,
Bankhead scored 13 and Kelvin
Cato added 11 points, nine re
bounds and seven blocked shots.
. “We worked too hard to let it
slip away,” said Lue; who scored
more than any individual against
Iowa State since Oklahoma State’s
Bryant Reeves in 1993. “We cel
ebrated more in the locker room
here today than we did when we
won the NIT championship.”
“The plan was to take the leadearly
on,” Macfee said, “and then if some
body got ahead of me, I would just
push diem.”
Entering the fifth and final lap,
Macfee said she heard the crowd roar
ing and she refused to let someone beat
her on her home track in possibly the
last indoor meet of her career.
“During that last lap, I knew in my
mind that I was going to win the race,”
Macfee said. “She wasn’t going to pull
away, and once that crowd got going,
I said, 'nobody’s going to beat me on
my own track.’”
Coach Jay Dirksen, who coaches
NU’s distance runners, said Macfee
needed to believe in herself and in the
end that pushed her across the finish
line in first place.
“It’s never been a lack of talent,”
Dirksen said. “Sherri has the talent.
It’s a question if she’s mentally ready
to race.”
One thing that helped Macfee ma
ture mentalily was her marriage last
66
During that last lap, I knew in my mind
that I was going to win the race.”
ShebbiMacfee
NU middle distance runner
summer. She married Darren Macfee
and she said he has been a big con
tributor in her run to the Big 12 title.
“It’s just great to have him here in
the stands,” Sherri Macfee said. “He’s
really kept me stable.”
But during the race, Darren said,
his nerves were on edge while his wife
made a come-from-behind victory.
“I was pretty excited before and
during the race,” Macfee said. “Then
after she won, I was just speechless.”
Before her half-a-second win over
Messner on Saturday, Mac fee’s pre
vious best was a third-place finish at
the 1995 Big Eight indoor meet.
Macfee now turns her attention on
qualifying for the NCAA Champion
ships as a member of NU’s distance
medley relay team. Her event, the
1000-meters is not run at the NCAA’s.
“This is definitely the high point
of my career,” she said, “but I hope
that I can continue to succeed like this
during outdoors.”
Dirksen said Macfee’s victory is a
testament to her focus and determina
tion on and off the track.
“Sherri’s an excellent student, and
a truly great person,” he said. “I’m just
so proud of her. She deserved this.”
Iowa State
blows by NU
ISU from page 7
NU missed a 3-pointer but grabbed
the offensive rebound and found an
open Jami Kubik whose 10-footer with
18 seconds left tied the game at 55.
On Iowa State’s next possession,
Julie Hand missed a 3-point attempt
but Janel Grimm grabbed the rebound
and made a putback with three sec
onds remaining to give Iowa State a
57-55 lead.
The play was eerily similar to
Monday night’s Nebraska loss at
Texas. Against the Longhorns, NU—
which led by one in overtime — lost
the game when Angela Jackson put
in an offensive rebound with three sec
onds left.
“I thought Grimm really took it to
our inexperience inside,” Beck said.
“We need to have an animal inside
guarding them, and we couldn’t find
one on our bench. We really need some
body tough to guard Grimm late.”
The Huskers had one last chance,
but DeForge’s running 20-foot jump
shot at the buzzer hit the back of the
rim and fell out.
DeForge led all scorers with 20
points —- including 13 in the second
half — but missed her final seven at
tempts from the field.
Scott Bruhn/DN
ANGELA BECK reaMves her ceatdarlafllU’s 57-55 less te leva State Saaiay
afteraeea at the Bab Devaey Sperts Ceater. The Hashers are 18-6 sveraH
ad 8-6 ia the Bip 12 Ceafereaee fallawiag the lass.
Huskers smash record
RECORD from page 7
beam.
Nebraska Coach Dan Kendig said
he isn’t surprised by Bartlett’s perfor
mance.
Bartlett, from Spokane, Wash., fin
ished in a three-way tie for first on
the vault (9.875) and a five-way tie
for first on the floor exercise (9.9).
“Shelly did a great job again,”
Kendig said. “I know in her heart she
knows she can do a better bar routine
and a better beam routine. But as far
as going out and hitting four events,
she did that.”
Kendig said Brink, who wasn’t
expected to compete in the all-around,
turned in a gutsy performance despite
an injured foot.
Chi the vault. Brink finished in a
three-way tie with teammates Misty
Oxford and Bartlett (9.875). Brink set
another career-best on the uneven bars
(9.875).
ASU Assistant Coach Kristin
Smyth said she wasn’t disappointed
with the loss — only the second de
feat this season for the Sun Devils.
“We came in here and hit our sets,”
Smyth said. “After coming off the
meet on Friday night, we were pre
dicting a 195 or mid-195. We came
out with that. We could not be hap
pier.”
The Sun Devils, who defeated the
Bears 195.95-192.925 Friday night,
School record
The Nebraska women's
gymnastics team scored a
school-record 196.625 on
Sunday. Here are NU's top five
alt-time scores:
2.195.75 v& Souftem Utah, 1996
4.195.46 atSEMbsouriSL, 1997
were without their top all-arounder
Meagan Wright.
ASU’s Bridget Sandman won the
uneven bars at 9.95. Bartlett tied Sun
Devil Meagan Wright for second (9.9),
and Nebraska senior Kim DeHaan
came in fourth (9.875). DeHaan also
joined Bartlett in the five-way tie for
first on the uneven bars.
Bartlett said Nebraska was moti
vated by a lackluster 194.4-192.05
defeat of Denver last Saturday.
“We came in to workout on Mon
day and we were really psyched,” she
said. “I don’t know, we just wanted to
get after it and [rove that this wasn’t
a team that went really good at the
beginning and then went down from
there.”
NU sweeps
track titles
TITLE from page 7
the season. Topps, a junior from
Decatur, 111., had been nursing a
hamstring injury this season, but
he turned on the jets long enough
to win the 55-meter dash with an
effort of 6.24 seconds.
“It was anybody’s race,” Tbpps
said. “You can’t come into my
house and get a victory.”
After the race, Topps was so
fired up that he waved his arms to
the crowd and knocked over a trash
can. Pepin said an emotional out
burst like that gave the Huskers a
shot in the arm.
Long jumper Chris Wright did
all of the right things to earn a first
place finish with a leap of 25-7%.
High jumper Shane Lavy narrowly
missed clearing the 7-6% mark,
which would have tied a Devaney
Center record. However, his leap of
7-4% sufficed to win the event
Scott Warren topped the 35
pound weight throw with a heave of i
66-2%. Warren said it was his event
to lose.
“Unless I threw relatively
lousy,” Warren said, “I pretty much
figured I'd get the win. I wanted to
throw a little bit further, but it sets
me up well for nationals.”