Huskers
vault past
Minnesota
By Gregg Madsen
Staff Reporter
It was another day at the office for
the Nebraska men's gymnastics team
Sunday afternoon at the Bob Devaney
Sports Center.
The third-ranked Comhuskers de
feated Minnesota in workman-like
fashion, 230.175-225.15.
NU Coach Francis Allen said the
Huskers, who hit 88 percent of their
routines, grinded out the victory with
a complete team effort.
This isn t a team of ten stars,
Allen said. “We’ve got some blue
collar workers that are doing the job.
, We have some stars, but we have some
good blue-collar workers.”
Nebraska gymnasts won or tied
each event and as a team the Huskers
scored above a 38 on every event but
the still rings.
Despite dominating the Golden
Gophers, junior Bill Mulholland said
the Huskers didn’t have their best per
formance of the season.
“It was a day at the office,”
Mulholland said. “Things started off
a little slow, but we didn’t let up, we
kept fighting. Some days are better
- than others, but we came through.”
Mulholland, a North Plainfield,
N.J., native, won his third all-around
of the season with a 57.25. He finished
second on the floor exercise (9.6), and
third on the high bar (9.675).
Freshman Derek Leiter was third
in the all-around (56.325) behind
Minnesota’s Frank Tlcknor (56.75).
.Sophomore J.D. Reive had his best
meet of the year. He finished second
on the parallel bars (9.775) and won
the pommel horse and the vault with
a 9.7.
Reive’s vault, which he was per
forming for the first time this season,
was the highest-scored Husker vault
this season.
“I haven’t really done that vault in
about six months,” Reive said. “I’ve
done about five of them this past week
into a soft mat. I definitely wasn’t ex
pecting to do that coming in here.”
Allen said Reive, who competed in
five events Sunday, should add floor
exercise to his repertoire before the
Huskers host the Mountain Pacific
Sports Federation Championships
March 28-29.
For the second meet in a row,
Marshall Nelson won the floor exer
cise (9.65) and the high bar (9.85).
Nelson also won the parallel bars with
a 9.8 and tied Mulholland for third
on the vault (9.5).
Senior Ted Harris tied Tlcknor for
first in the still rings at 9.675.
Lincoln native Ryan McEwen was
second on the high bar (9.775) and
third on the pommel horse (9.65).
Mulholland said it didn’t matter
that the Huskersdidn’t have a block
buster performance.
“Things are proceeding in the right
direction,” Mulholland said. “We get
better just about every meet. In a way,
this meet was better because we had a
little bit of a rough day and were still
over 230.”
Daniel Luedert/DN
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Thompson wins;
Huskers fourth
By Antone Oseka
Staff Reporter,
COLUMBIA, Mo. — Going
into the Big 12 Conference Wres
on Saturday,
everyone
knew Okla
homa State
was a shoe-in
to win the
title.
N e -
braska was
hoping to fin
ish second.
That
didn’t happen
for Comhuskers as they fin
ished fourth out of the five teams
that wrestle in the Big 12.
jNeorasKa neavyweignt tony
Thompson was the only Husker to
return to Lincoln with an indi
vidual championship.
Thompson cruised to his third
conference title by earning a 16-1
technical fall over Iowa State’s
Trent Hynek only 3:18 into his
semifinal match, and defeating
Oklahoma’s Trey Swan 13-3 in the
finals.
Both ISU and OU beat Ne
braska in the team race, however.
The Cowboys won the meet with
92 team points followed by the
Cyclones who scored 78. OU was
third with with 55. points, Nebraska
came in fourth with 41.5 and Mis
souri was last with 20.
The only other Husker to make
the finals was 134-pounder Brad
Canoyer. Canoyer finished second,
losing 6-4 to Oklahoma State’s
Steven Schmidt on a last-second
takedown in the third period. With
his second-^ljace finish, Canoyer
guaranteed a spot at the NCAA
Championships later this month.
OSU Coach John Smith said he
was happy with the victory.
“This is a stepping stone to
something bigger,” Smith said.
“This was our first real test since
the National Duals.”
Oklahoma State qualified wres
tlers in all 10 classes for the NCAA
Championships March 20 through
22 in Cedar Falls, Iowa. Nine of
the 10 qualified by finishing in the
top three, and heavyweight Ben Lee
— although finishing fifth in the
meet — received a wild-card spot.
Nebraska will send six wrestlers
to the NCAA Championships, two
on wild cards. Todd Beckerman
(118 pounds) qualified with a wild
card after finishing fourth in the
bracket with a 22-15 record. At 126
pounds, Jeramie Welder also re- y
ceived a wild card.
Welder finished fourth in the
hardest bracket in the tournament,
where there were four ranked wres
tlers competing.
Jason Kxatt finished third at l is
pounds, qualifying for the NCAA’s
after an early loss in the meet to
OU’s Byron Tucker. Kraft worked
his way back to earn his third place
spot.
Freshman Charles McTorry
will also wrestle at the NCAA’s.
McTorry finished third at 177
pounds. Canoyer and Thompson
round out the Husker qualifiers.
NU Coach Tim Neumann said
he had hoped for a higher finish
by the Huskers.
“We wrestled to our talent and
experience level,” Neumann said.
“I hoped we’d come out here and
upset people. We didn’t do that.”
Neumann said Oklahoma State
is the team to beat at the NCAA
Tournament. Of OSU’s 10 qualifi
ers, six were conference champi
ons, one finished second, two were
third and one was a wild card.
Oklahoma State 177-pounder
Mark Smith was named one of the
two most outstanding wrestlers for
the tournament. He upset the Cy
clones’ top-seeded Barry Weldon in
overtime in the finals. Smith shared
the award with 150-pounder Chris
BonoofISU.
NU winless in March
bKID from page 10
Sanders said. “He’s really playing
hard and playing well with emotion
and giving everything he has.”
Lambert (3-1) then held NU hit
less until the eighth when the Husk
ers added a run on a single by sec
ond baseman Kevin Harrington.
Lambert started for the Bears in
the last meeting between the two
teams and held the Huskers score
less through 7 1/3 innings in a 1-0
win on March 11,1995, in the Irish
Classic in San Antonio.
“I’ve just improved all the way
around since then,” Lambert said. “I
throw a little harder and I mix my
pitches a little better than I did back
then ” * .
With eight strikeouts on Sunday,
Lambert tied Baylor career-leader
Glenn Nevill with 225 career
strikeouts. Lambert said he threw
mostly fastballs against NU.
“Kris, a year ago, was almost ex
clusively a fastball pitcher,” Baylor
Coach Steve Smith said. “He’s re
ally worked hard on his changeup
and his breaking ball.”
The loss extended Nebraska’s
losing streak to 11 games, but Sand
ers remains confident the Huskers
will improve.
“It’s still relatively early and we
still have a lot of games,” Sanders
said. “We have a chance to catch fire.
The pizza just doesn’t taste very good
after the games.”
Thompson wins crown
SHOT from page 10 ,
weekend, Thompson took a back seat
to no one.
“I knew I was going to win,” Th
ompson said. “Even though she beat
me before, I knew she wasn't going
to beat me. This was going to be my
week.”
Besides winning "the title,
Colligan said, setting a collegiate
record this year has put Thompson
in an elite class of throwers.
“Championships are forever and
records are made to be broken,”
Colligan said. “It’s a moment of im
mortality when you break a record.
But it’s immortality forever when
you win a championship.
“It’s undescribable when you’ve
been planning for something for four
years and it becomes a reality. It’s
like nothing else.”
For years, former NU shot putter
Paulette Mitchell helped set the pace
for Thompson. Colligan said
Thompson’s success was a journey
— not a destination.
“It’s definitely been motivation,”
Colligan said. “TYessa has always
looked at the talent ahead of her and
said, 'Well, why can’t I be that
good?’ She hasn’t let little hurdles
and stumbling blocks get in the way.”
Although she has achieved her
goal of winning the indoor title, Th
ompson is reaching for greater
heights.
“I’m going to throw over 19
meters,” Thompson said confidently.
NU is ninth, 18th
TRACK from page 10
I knew.”
Last year, Laster and Robert Tho
mas were among the nation’s lead
ing jumpers, but only scored two
points for the Huskers.
Scoring for the men was sopho
more high jumper Shane Lavy, who
placed fourth with a leap of 7 feet 5
inches. Lavy placed seventh at last
year’s national indoor meet.
“I didn’t care about where I
placed, I just wanted to get 7-6!4,”
Lavy said. “I didn’t do it, I’m not
too pleased, but I’ll look to outdoors
now.”
Scott Warren’s toss of 66-1014 in
the 35-pound weight throw was good
enough to finish fifth.
MI didn’t perform as well as I
wanted to, but coming to nationals
is a good experience,” Warren, a jun
ior, said.
The only Husker runner to score
was Tom Fish who placed sixth in
the 200-meter dash with a time of
21.17 seconds.
“I had a good time,” Fish said.
“A new style of track, atmosphere.
All the hard work paid off and it’s a
great way to end my indoor career.”
On the women’s side, the Husk
ers—who were fourth last year —
finished ninth. NU was led by shot
putter Tressa Thompson, whose
throw of 59 feet was good enough
for a championship meet record and
a national title.
Placing fifth in the long jump was
defending indoor and outdoor cham
pion Angee Henry. Despite compet
ing with a severely injured quadri
ceps, Henry managed to jump 2014
just jumping once.
“Angee is a true warrior,” Pepin
said. “It had to be a bitter feeling for
ho* not to be able to compete at fUU
strength. She definitely showed a lot
ofeourage.”
A bright spot for the Huskers was
a third-place finish by the 4 X 400
meter relay team. The team of
LaTisha Croom, Jill Myatt, Stella
Klassen and Charmaine Burton ran
the third fastest time in school his
tory at 3:35.40.
NU, UW to meet in NIT
NTT from page 10
Nebraska’s third consecutive NIT
appearance after four straight baths
in the NCAA Tournament. With a
victory, NU (16-14) will face either
Fresno State or Nevada-Reno, which
play a first-round game in Fresno,
Calif. The Huskers won at Fresno
State last season in the NIT
quarterfinals.
“I’m not sure how everyone is go
ing to play,” freshman guard Cookie
Belcher said. “I guess it will tell us
if we’ve got any soldiers among us.
It’s kind of like we're defending the
title.”
Oklahoma State is the only other
Big 12 team selected for the 32-team
NIT field. Tickets go on sale today
for $11 and $6. Student tickets are
available for $4.
Huskers
finish 2nd
in Oregon
From Staff Reports
The Nebraska women’s gym
nastics team didn’t defeat eighth
ranked UCLA at the Shanico Inn
Vitational in Corvallis, Ore., but
the Comhuskers still finished sec
ond in the six-team field.
Sixth-ranked NU fell to the Bru
ins, 196.5-194.275. No. 21 Arizona
was third at 193.4 and 13th-ranked
Oregon State was fourth (193.175).
Nebraska Coach Dan Kendig
said he isn’t disappointed with the
loss—only the second of the sea
son for the Huskers.
“I thought the girls did well,”
Kendig said. “I think they realized
there are some things we need to
work on, though*
Shelly Bartlett led the Huskers
with a fifth-place finish in the vault
(9.85). Sophomore Misty Oxford
was sixth at 9.825.
Bartlett finished fourth out of
15 competitors in the all-around
with a score of 39.1. UCLA’s Stella
Umeh won with a 39.325.
Husker freshman Nicole
Wilkinson was sixth in the all
around at 38.9. Wilkinson finished
in a four-way tie for sixth on the
vault (9.8) and led Nebraska on
beam, tying for 10th with a 9.55.