Huskers happy to play
JAYS from page 7
weather canceled the games.
This past weekend’s blizzard
forced the cancellation of the Husk
ers’ home Big 12 Conference con
test against Baylor. The Bears were
just 1-7 in league play.
The postponements and cancel
lations have begun to take a toll on
NU and has kept it from getting
into a rhythm or gaining momen
tum for and end-of-the-season run.
“Sunday’s game felt like we
hadn’t played in two weeks,” out
fielder Sarah Sinclair said. “I think
we even had some preseason jitters.
It seems like whenever we get
something going we have to stop
and wait for something to happen.”
Revelle said the Huskers
weren’t in a groove and didn’t play
well against the Red Raiders at the
UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls, Iowa.
Nebraska split against Tech,
losing the first game 8-5 and win
ning game two 5-2. The win gave
the Red Raiders their first confer
ence victory this season as they im
proved their record to 34-24-1 and
i—-—-— —
1-9 in the league.
But Tech’s victory and
Nebraska’s poor performance may
become Creighton’s problem, NU
catcher Jenny Smith said.
‘If I know my teammates like I
think 1 do, then I’m going to feel
sorry for Creighton,” Smith said.
“I just feel like unloading. I’m just
looking forward to playing period.”
Sinclair said she is also look
ing forward to playing the Bluejays,
but for another reason.
The senior from Omaha will
make her last playing appearance
in her hometown.
“I grew up playing tournaments
at Creighton,” Sinclair said. “Now
it’s coming to an end and it’s sad.”
Being from Nebraska, though,
Sinclair is familiar with the rivalry
between the two schools and knows
the Huskers can’t afford to take the
Bluejays lightly.
“They’H come out hard against
us,” Sinclair said. “We really
handled them well and seem to do
real well against them. Right now
we are just ready to play.”
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Recruiters
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p
Johnson is NUfe lone signee
By Jay Saunders
Staff Reporter
Now that the Nebraska women’s
swimming and diving teams finished
one of their most successful seasons
in school history, the wheels to stay
on top are in motion.
NU has signed just one recruit so
far, but it was a huge in-state signing.
Shandra Johnson, a senior at Omaha
North, signed a national letter of in
tent in November to attend Nebraska.
Johnson is considered by some as
the best women’s swimmer ever in the
state and NU Coach Cal Bentz is ex
cited about signing someone who can
contribute to the program in many ways.
“She is a multifaceted student-ath
lete,” Bentz said. “She is a definite
swimming talent and probably as good
of a swimmer to come out ofNebraska.”
Johnson is considered by some as
the best women’s swimmer ever in the
state, and NU coach Cal Bentz is ex
cited about signing someone who can
contribute to the program in many
ways.
In her junior season, Johnson
skipped the high school season to try
out for a spot on the United States
Olympic Team.
In March, Johnson returned to the
state championships and Mattered two
of her own state records, helping North
win its first title in the school’s history.
“It was a lot of fun to be a part of
that team,” Johnson said, “It’s a good
feeling knowing I could help the team
out.”
Now, Johnson is coming to Lincoln
to help out a young Husker team that
won the Big 12 conference champi
onship and had an eighth-place fin
ish at the NCAAs. She said she hopes
to make an immediate impact, but she:
knows the competition level will be
better than it was in high school.
“It will be tough because the swim
mers are so fast,” Johnson said. “I will
have a lot of people to train with. It
should help my swimming a lot.”
Nebraska is a good fit, Johnson
said, because of her familiarity with
the coaching staff. Associate Coach
Rick Paine coached the Nebraska
Aquatics swim team, a team that
swam against Johnson’s club team—
Metro Omaha Swim Team.
“Rick has watched me grow up,”
Johnson said. “I like the team a lot. It
is close to home, but it is far enough
away.”
Although Johnson is NU’s only
signed recruit, Bentz said he isn’t
worried about signing a good crop of
swimmers. The Huskers have until
August to sign recruits for next year.
Bentz said it is not unusual fa- NU
to sign swimmers throughout that time.
“We just take a lode at who is avail
able and if there is mutual interest we
pursue them,” Bentz said. “We are
looking at spots that we have to fill.”
Bentz said he will wait until the
fall to make the decision about which
events Johnson will compete in.
Johnson, who broke state records in
the 500-yard freestyle and the 200
yard individual medley this year, said
it doesn’t make a difference to her
where she competes.
“I will swim wherever I can to help
the team out most,” Johnson said.
Huskers sign pair
From Staff Reports
The Nebraska wrestling team
added two more wrestlers over the
weekend with the signings of Zach
' Stalder and Brian Snyder.
Stalder, a Gass A state champion
from Omaha Burke, signed with NU
Saturday. He is the state record holder
with more than 700 career takedowns
and finished with a record of 128-3
for the Bulldogs.
NU Coach Tim Neumann said
Stalder is projected at wrestling at 167
pounds for the Comhuskers.
Snyder, who was a three-time state
! place winner and 1997 champion in
Pennsylvania, is the third NU signee
out of the Keystone State. Snyder, a
134-pounder, finished his high school
career with a record of 101-12 at
Easton High School.
Neumann said Snyder was one of
I
the Top 10 wrestlers last season at 125
pounds and is regarded by many
coaches as the nation’s No. 1 recruit
in his weight class.
In other wrestling news, Nebraska
senior-to-be Ryan Tobin captured the
University Nationals 214-pound
freestyle championship in Evanston,
111., over the weekend.
Husker freshman Brad Vering also
had an outstanding weekend, taking
second in Greco-Roman and third in
freestyle at 187 pounds. Heavyweight
Tolly Thompson was second in the
freestyle division, while freshman J.R.
Plienis finished fourth. Plienis also,
finished fourth in the Greco-Roman,
division.
Senior-to-be Brad Canoyer had an
eighth-place finish in the freestyle at
132 pounds, and sophomore-to-be
Ryan Coe took eighth in Greco-Ro
man at 187 pounds.
Shaw uses
spring well
SHAW from page 7
hopes to take full advantage of his
opportunity.
“I’m going to have to be a play
maker,” Shaw said. “We’re going to
have another great defense, and I
need to take what I learned last year
and show Coach Bohl that I am a
playmaker.”
Bohl said with Shaw and Ortiz
sharing the duties at Sam, the Husk
ers shouldn’t have any major con
cerns despite losing eight defensive
starters.
“We may have lost sane play
ers, but we have no reason to panic,”
Bohl said. “We’re learning quite a
bit here in spring and people like
Brian are only going to help us this
fall.”
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