NU freshman provides consistency
Vering battles
through injury,
gains experience
By Sarah Dose
Staff Reporter
Brad Vering, a redshirt freshman,
doesn’t lack experience.
With a 17-6 record this season,
Vering currently ranks 10th nationally
in the 177-pound weight class - the
highest ranking ever given to a
Comhusker freshman.
Vering and the rest of the ninth
ranked Husker wrestling team will be in
action Saturday and Sunday in Iowa
City, Iowa, for the Cliff Keen NWCA
National Duals.
This weekend Nebraska expects to
wrestle with a healthy lineup, and
Vering’s experience will no doubt help
the Huskers.
“His family has taken him all over
the country to wrestle,” Nebraska
Coach Tim Neumann said. “He has
experience, not just talent.”
Vering graduated from Howells
High School, where he was a three-time
state champion at 171 pounds. He won
junior national Greco-Roman titles in
1995 and 1996 and he was an eight-time
junior regional champion.
Early last season, Vering was forced
to redshirt after breaking his ankle. He
returned to finish 11 -0 in open touma
ments.
“I’d never really been injured, so it
cut me off for a while,” Vering said. “It
was a little depressing, but it was some
thing I had to overcome, and I think it
will all work out in the long run.”
Neumann said Venng does whatev
er he is asked to do in order to become a
better wrestler, which is unusual for a
19-year-old.
“He comes in with the attitude that
he's going to get better each day he
comes to practice.” Neumann said.
“He's doing the things he needs to do to
be as good as he wants to be.”
Not only does Vering work hard for
himself, but he is willing to help the rest
of the team as well.
“If someone needs help along the
way, I'll help out,” Venng said. “I'll do
everything 100 percent every second.”
Vering’s success on the mats is a
result, in part, of his mental drive,
Neumann said.
“He wants to be an Olympic cham
pion,” Neumann said. “He will have to
change for that not to happen. He would
actually have to be unmotivated.”
But motivation is what keeps Venng
going. Vering said he could never skip
any small steps on the road to success,
and he isn’t about to take short cuts.
“He’s just such a hard worker,”
Neumann said. “He’s the kind of kid
your dad wants you to be.”
Eleven of the nation’s top 14 teams
will compete in the 16-team field this
weekend - including No. 2 Minnesota,
which beat Nebraska last Friday, 43-3.
“We didn’t have a full lineup,” said
Neumann. “But this weekend will be
better and we'll be ready.”
Ryan Tobin at 190 pounds, Temoer
Terry at 158 pounds, Jeramie Welder at
126 pounds, Paul Gomez at 118 pounds
and 167-pounder Monte Christensen
did not wrestle in Minnesota. Terry,
Welder and Gomez were injured, and
Tobin sat out in order to avoid cutting to
190 pounds for five straight weeks.
BRAD VERING takes down assistant coach Matt Lindland in practice Wednesday at the Bob Devaney Sports Center. Vering, a redshirt freshman from
Howells, helps lead Nebraska into the Cliff Keen NWCA National Duals Friday and Saturday in Iowa City, Iowa. The Huskers lost to Minnesota in a dual
last week but return to near full strength this weekend after a series of injuries hampered NU against the Gophers.
NCAA cracks down
on weight shedding
OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (AP)
- The deaths of three wrestlers trying
to keep their weight down prompted
the NCAA to impose immediate
restrictions on shedding pounds.
Under the new rules announced
this week, wrestlers may not use
saunas for water loss, and rubber
suits and diuretics cannot be used for
any reason.
NCAA rules already prohibit
laxatives, fluid restriction, self
induced vomiting, hot rooms, hot
boxes and steam rooms for dehydra
tion. The NCAA defined a hot room
as a room with a temperature above
79 degrees.
For the rest of this season only, a
seven-pound weight allowance was
added to all weight classes, which
already have a one-pound allowance.
For example, for the 118-pound
class, wrestlers may weigh as much
as 126 pounds.
cut as oi reo. t, wnen tne one
pound allowance ends, seven pounds
will be added to each weight class,
making 125 pounds the upper limit
of the 118-pound class.
The rule is effective only for the
rest of this season and is expected to
be reviewed when NCAA rules offi
cials meet in April.
Wrestlers may compete only in
weight classes in which they com
peted on or before Jan. 7 of this sea
son.
In addition, all weigh-ins will be
held no more than two hours before a
match, cutting down the time ath
letes have to lose weight, officials
said.
“With less recovery time after
weigh-in, a person who is using his
head knows if he has to cut too much
weight, he’s not going to perform on
the mat,” said Marty Benson, play
ing rules liaison to the NCAA
Wrestling Rules Committee.
Dan Gable, who took this year
off as coach at Iowa after leading the
Hawkeyes to 15 national titles in 21
years, said the changes were over
due, but praised them anyway.
“It’s been a long month trying to
get some of these changes,” Gable
said. “I didn’t realize how much pro
tocol you had to go through to get
what we thought were emergency
changes.
“It’s better late than never. It will
help the individual and the sport.”
The NCAA asked schools to
conduct individual investigations
and report their findings to Gable,
who then reported to the NCAA
wrestling committee.
The deaths, beginning Nov. 9,
alarmed coaches and prompted calls
for the NCAA to review its rules.
The most recent to die was 21
year-old University of Michigan
wrestler Jeff Reese.
He died in December of kidney
failure and a heart malfunction while
wearing a rubber suit and riding a
stationary bike to lose weight.
Eighteen days earlier, University
of Wisconsin-La Crosse wrestler
Joseph LaRosa, 22, also was wear
ing a rubber suit and riding an exer
cise bike when he died trying to shed
four pounds.
On Nov. 9, 19-year-old Billy
Saylor at North Carolina's Campbell
University died trying to drop six
pounds for a match.
Michigan temporarily suspend
ed its program in December, and
determined its own restrictions.
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