Former Nebraska defensive
lineman Neil Smith could have a
new home in a place Kansas City
fans would least expect it. Smith, a
member of the Chief s since his NFL
career began in 1988, met with
Denver Broncos personnel on Fri
day.
Eugene Parker, Smith’s agent,
accepted a contract proposal from
Smidi’s long-time rival team.
The 31-year-old Smith is an
unrestricted free agent and can sign
with any team. The two sides are
close to reaching a one-year incen
tive-filled contract. The Broncos
hope Smith makes his decision by
the end of this week.
■ '
The Big 12 Conference named
Nebraska’s Shelly Bartlett as its
women’s gymnast of the month.
Bartlett led the Comhuskers to a
third-place finish and third straight
NCAA Championship bid Saturday
night at the NCAA Midwest Re
gional in Salt Lake City.
The senior from Spokane, Wash.,
narrowly finished in second place
(just five-hundredths of a point) in
tfiC'all-artHihd competition. '
■
Texas Tech first baseman Joe
Dillon and Oklahoma State right
handed pitcher Jon Adkins earned
Big 12 baseball’s player- and
pitcher-of-the-week honors.
Dillon, a senior from Santa
Rosa, Calif., ripped five home runs
in three games to help the Red
Raiders to a series sweep over Mis
souri.
Dillon finished the week witl|
six home runs and 10 RBIs Healso
became the third Red Raider in
school history to surpass the 20
homer mark in a season. He has 21
round trippers this year.
Adkins fired a complete game,
10-2 triumph over offensively pow
erful Texas in the second game of a
doubleheader last Saturday at
Stillwater, Okla.
Adkins, who is from Wayne,
W.V., scattered six hits and struck
out a half-dozen Longhorn hitters.
■,
More than7,500 Iowa State fans
attended an exhibition basketball
game Saturday at Hilton Coliseum
featuring ISU’s nine incoming re
cruits against a squad of Big 12 and
Big Ten all-stars. The future Cy
clones, who will be rehed on to re
place all five starters next fall, lost
107-103.
■
Kansas got used to high drama
last weekend as the Jayhawks swept
a doubleheader from Baylor. Right
fielder Les Walrond ripped a three
run homer to lift KU to a 10-9 win
in the opener to overcome a 9-7
deficit.
In the nightcap, first baseman
Chad King nailed a game-winning
RBI double in the bottom of the
ninth to lift KU to an 8-7 victory.
Big 12 Notebook compiled by
staff reporter Vince D’Adamo.
Iowa shooting star
joins the list of Husker
basketball recruits.
By Mitch Sherman
Senior Reporter
At least two high school seniors
plan to sign letters of intent with the
Nebraska basketball team today, and
Comhusker coaches remain interested
in several others.
Cary Cochran, a 6-foot-2, 175
pound scoring machine from Tri-Cen
ter High School in Neola, Iowa, will
officially become a Husker today at an
8:30 a.m. news conference, his father
and coach, Carl, said Tuesday. Today
is the first day of the month-long
spring signing period.
Cochran, the No. 1 all-time high
school scorer in Iowa history, joins 6
3,190-pound guard Rodney Wiliams
from Houston, who committed to Ne
braska last month. With only seven NU
scholarship players returning next fall
— assuming no current Huskers leave
this spring — Nebraska needs a large
recruiting class to avoid major depth
problems next season.
Brant Harriman, a 6-11 center from
Mason City, Iowa, signed last Novem
ber, and NU still holds hope of inking
6-10 forward Antoine Broxsie of
Tampa, Fla., 6-4 guard Todd Smith of
Milledgeville, Ga., and 6-10 center
Steven Eldridge ofiyier (Texas) Com
munity College.
Cochran, who chose Nebraska
over Southern Methodist, Colorado
and Missouri-Kansas City, averaged
33 points per game this season and
28.5 points over his 93-game high
school career. A 3-point specialist, he
connected on more than 350 long balls
in four years and made more than 40
percent of his 3-point attempts, Carl
Cochran said.
“Everybody that recruited him
lacked 3-point shooting,” the elder
Cochran said. “And with the 3-point
shot as valuable as it is in college bas
ketball, I think anybody can use a 3
point shooter. He also has the ability
to make the people around him bet
ter.”
Cochran visited Nebraska several
times over the last few months, most
recently last weekend, and enjoyed his
meetings with the Husker coaches and
players, his father said.
“The Nebraska staff has really
shown a very strong interest,”
Cochran said. “They’ve come to a
number of games and practices.
There was a promise of more play
ing time at some of the other schools,
but Nebraska offered him the chance
to compete, and Cary’s a competi
tor.”
_ .. - f Matt Miller/DN
JEMMY VOSS has become Nlft staff ace Is her first seasoa with the Husker softball team.
Jenny Voss has ah the outward
appearances of any energetic 19
year-old Nebraska athlete.
The freshman pitcher for the
Nebraska softball team, who played
four sports and was on a
weightlifting program while in high
school, is in great physical condi
tion and enjoys doing many normal
freshman college activities.
voss aiso possesses tong legs
and fingers, which are both quali
ties that have helped make ho- die
young ace of the ComhuskenT
pitching staff.
Voss has appeared in 28 of NU’s
30 games this season, started in 23,
pitched 20 complete games — in
cluding a no hitter-^ and has a 13
11 record. In the fall, Vbss made an
impact posting a 0.83 eamed-ran
average and compiling a 10-3
record.
But it’s not Voss’s athletic skills
that have made her the Huskers’
No. 1 pitcher this season, it’s been
her maturity in such a short time.
“I’ve heard a lot oftimes people
are surprised with some of the
things that I say,” Voss said. “They
think that’s not die perspective of a
normal 19-year-old. I just laugh and
say, 'Well, that’s how I am.’”
It was Voss’s pitching and
physical skills at her high school in
Ankeny, Iowa, that got her noticed
by the Husker coaching staff. Her
maturity and mental approach to the
game made her a player NU wanted
on its team, Assistant Coach Lori
Sippel said.
Sippel said Voss has excellent
control of her pitches and owns
every part of the strike zone, which
is usually not seen in freshman
pitchers. However, Voss is still try
ing to develop an assortment of
pitches.
u raxes a toe oi mammy to per
form well at this level,” Sippel said.
“It’S going to take a lot of learning
and experience gained, but you
ha ve to be mature to take our lumps
as well as mature in taking your
successes too.”
But Voss’s maturity was tested
even more by a series of questions
that NU Coach Rhonda Revelle
asked die Fastpitch World Maga
zine first-team All-American.
“When Rhonda recruited me,
she asked me all kinds of questions
to just to get into my head,” Voss
said. “She would be really surprised
by some of the things I would have
to say, like, ‘Oh my gosh that’s what
I really want to hear.’
“She asked me how I dealt with
pressure situations and how did I
feel when I was throwing well and
did I feel jumpy with die game on
the line. I would say no because that
is my favorite part of the game. I
just love knowing that the ball is in
M
|It takes a lot of
maturity to
perform well at
this level.”
LoriSippel
NU softball assistant coach
my hand.” -
Voss, who begin tossing the
softball around at age 5, said she
remembers her aunts who were at
tending NU and taught her to say
“go big red”
J As Vos* prepared for high
school graduation she still sent out
20 recruiting videotapes, including
one to Nebraska, to help jump start
her college career.
But ft was hard getting noticed
,inthe small town just north of Des
Moines.
“I love where I grew up, and I
love how I developed as a pitcher,”
Voss said. “Who’s to say that if I
grew up pitching in California, I
would be the same type of pitcher
and have the same mental aspects
about the game. I don’t think I re
ally lost anything, and I enjoy be
ing where I am at.”
Huskers
finish one
stroke out
From Staff Reports
The Nebraska women’s golf team
blew a 10-stroke first-day lead to fin
ish second at the Utah-Dixie Classic
at St. George, Utah.
Oklahoma State, which traded NU
„Jhy*Xl «shots,„ ralkejJt tp b#t the
Tgbfitfnfikse by bug sribke. OiU fin
ished with a three-round totalbf 918,
and Nebraska carded a 919 for the tour
nament Wyoming, which trailed NU
by 10 shots entering Tuesday’s round,
finished 20 strokes back.
NU freshman Hanne Nyquist won
the individual title by two strokes with
a score of 224, Brigham Young’s
Susanne Gillemo was second with a
226, the Cowgirls’ Jenny Bartley was
third with a 227, and Nebraska’s Shirin
Homecker finished fourth with a 228.
After rounds of 74 and 71 on the
first day, Nyquist ballooned to a 79 in
the third round but made a 20-foot
downhill putt to clinch the win.
NU’s Maureen Regan finished
eighth with a 232.
NU men
finish 3rd
at invite
From Staff Reports
The Nebraska men’s golf team
made a late charge to finish two strokes
off the pace at the Arkansas State In
dian Invitational cm Tuesday.
The host Indians won die event by
defeating Iowa State in the sudden
death playoff. NU carded a two-round
total of 592 to finish third. It was the
fourth time in five tournaments this
spring die Corahuskers have finished
third or better.
Sophomore Josh Madden led NU,
finishing in a tie for second place.
Madden shot rounds of 71 and 72 to
finish with a 143, two shots behind
winner Arkansas-Little Rock’s Alex
Maynard.
Joining Madden in the Top 10 was
Husker senior Trent Morrison.
Morrison finished tied for sixth after
scores of 70 and 75. Scott Gutschewski
and Steve Friesen finished tied for 30th
with two-round totals of 152.