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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (April 8, 1997)
MITCH SHERMAN ‘School is Cool’ brings out best in NU athletes Wildly waving white hankies and smiling broadly, 11,000 kids packed the Bob Devaney Sports Center Monday morning to see a few of their heroes. Heroes who spent two hours with fourth-, fifth- and sixth-grad ers because they wanted to, not be cause they had to. Heroes who don’t receive the attention of their legally troubled fellow athletes, but deserve more. urant wistrom torn me kios ne wants to become a role model — a role model like the man standing next to him, Trev Alberts. “It’s the small things that make you happy,” Alberts told the often awe-struck children, just one of the r many positive messages conveyed ^ where you came from.” 'V Penny Heyns told the elemen tary-school students to maximize their talents and set realistic goals, moments after the crowd relived her world-record breaststroke perfor mances last summer at the Olym r pic Games in Atlanta. ''l Angee Henry said hard work and good decisions have allowed her to win a pair of NCAA long jump championships. Billie Winsett-Fletcher, the 1996 NCAA Woman of the Year and a member of Nebraska’s 1995 national-cham pionship volleyball team, talked about a balanced life and the ingre dients necessary to be a champion. Lil’ Red danced the Macarena. Tom Osborne said life’s not always fun. “You’re not always going to have things go your way,” Osborne said. And John Walker, the NCAA vYvjiiicii f> ouccci ui utc ictu, stressed the importance of account ability and teamwork. Perhaps the day’s most compel ling speech, however, came from Jared Tomich, the first athlete to take center stage near midcourt of the Devaney Center as a spotlight shone from above. Tomich spoke of his learning disability — atten tion deficit disorder — and he told the children how he overcame it to achieve stardom. “Don’t ever be afraid to ask for help,” said Tomich, a former All America rush end and certain NFL draft pick lata* this month. ‘Don’t be embarrassed. Don’t be ashamed.” All the while, the kids listened. They sat still as UNL’s Scarlet and Cream Singers paid tribute to Brook Berringer after his mother, Jan, honored the first-ever citizen ship team named in memory of the former quarterback. For two hours, we saw a side of Nebraska’s athletes that’s often overshadowed and rarely shown the appreciation it deserves. Sherman is a senior news-edi torial major and a Daily Nebras kan senior reporter. NlTs first baseman is hitting a team best .446 this seasoh. By David Wilson Staff Reporter Since his freshman season in 1995, Todd Sears has seen seven of his Comhusker teammates selected in the June amateur Major League Baseball draft. Sears likely will be next. The junior first baseman from Ankeny, Iowa, leads the Huskers with a .446 average and also ranks - first with nine home runs, 45 RBIs, 104 total bases, a .748 slugging average, 35 walks, and a .563 on base percentage. But Sears — a projected first round pick in two months — has not let his success go to his head. “Right now, I’m taking the atti tude that whatever happens, hap pens,” Sears said. “I’ll think about the draft day when it comes. I’ll try not to think about it during the year and let it affect how I play.” Former Husker Darin Erstad, who was selected as the No. 1 pick in the 1995 June draft by the Ana heim Angels, had the same attitude his junior season at Nebraska, Sears said. As a freshman, Sears cracked the starting lineup and was given the opportunity to learn from some of the best Husker hitters — includ ing Erstad, who roomed with Sears on road trips. “That was big for me,” Sears said. “Everybody in our lineup could hit. We didn’t have any weak hitters. That got me off on the right foot. They all helped me out a lot.” Sears hit .346 with 10 home runs and 50 RBIs in 1995, and was named the Big Eight Co-Freshman of the year. His numbers also earned him a spot on the Baseball America Freshman All-America Team. But Sears was no stranger to such honors. After a stellar season at Ankeny High School in 1994, Sears was named one of Baseball America’s top 100 prospects and was a 19th round draft pick of the Angels. Please see SEARS on 10 .400 ClUd^ Only five players have finished the year batting better than .400 for the Nebraska baseball team. Todd Sears can become the fifth, and can also challenge for the school-record average this season. Name Avg. Year Marc Sagmeon: r v4&; 1393 Steve Stanicek .449 1982 m 199? Marc Sagmeon .446 1992 BobCerv .444 I960 Francis Collins .424 1996 Darin Bstatf .410 1985 * current average NU series canceled From Staff Reports For the second time in two weeks, the Nebraska baseball team has had a midweek game canceled because of an unpleasant forecast. NU’s two-game series beginning today at Buck Beltzer Field with Oral Roberts has been canceled. The Comhuskers (18-19) were to play the Golden Eagles today at 7 p.m. and Wednesday at 1 p.m. The games will not be made up. Nebraska will travel to Texas A&M for a three-game series with the Aggies, which starts Friday. NU’s next home game is against Hastings Col lege next Tuesday. *at* ,, Huskers swine toward regional ^ - By Sam McKewon Staff Reporter The Nebraska men’s tennis team begins its drive toward the NCAA Regionals after mixed re sults over the weekend. The Cornhuskers went 1-2 in a weekend that saw the play on three straight days. NU(9-11 all and 1-4 the Big Conference) lost to 35th-ranked Colorado 5-2 on Friday and No. 17 Kansas 6-1 Sat urday before beating 74th-ranked Wichita State 4-3 on Sunday at the Bob Devaney Sports Center. “The guys competed well for the most part,” Husker Coach Kerry McDermott said. “We just ran into a couple of teams that played better.” On Sunday, NU was the team that played better. The Huskdfs picked up a big win in beating the Shockers 4-3. NU won the doubles point taking two of three matches and then split the six singles matches. The dual came down to the Huskers’ No. 4 singles player Fredrik Riesbeck’s match against WSU’s Dan Sewell. After losing the first game 6-4, Riesbeck rallied winning game two 6-4 and the third game 6-4 to led NU to the win. Riesbeck, a senior co-captain from Ostergotland, Sweden, said the win is important for the Husk ers’ NCAA Regional chances. “If we had not won the Wichita State match,” Riesbeck said, “we would be out of the regional. That was the most important victory we had all year long.” McDermott agreed that the win was very important. “It was a victory we really needed,” McDermott said. “It helps to put us in position for NC AAs by having them as a team we beat.” The victory over the Shockers sets the stage for the last three matches of the year — all confer Please see TENNIS on 10
