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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 10, 1998)
r With nine teams within four games of each other in the Big 12 Conference men’s basketball race, the last six games of the season will be crucial in determining which teams get bids to the Big 12 Conference Tournament. “The logjam is partly due to the fact there is a lot of parity in the middle of the league,” Colorado Coach Ricardo Patton said. “The team that will emerge will be the team that continues to play hard, but also the team that plays a lot smarter.” One of the teams that appears to be making a move is Texas Tech. The Red Raiders have won their last four games, including a 70-68 win at Oklahoma and a 102-75 win over Texas A&M on Saturday. ■ Kansas guard Paul Pierce was named Big 12 player of the week. Pierce scored 19 points in the Jayhawks’ 83-62 win against Iowa State and 29 points on Sunday against Missouri. Texas’ Chris Mihm was named Big 12 rookie of the week. It was the third time this season Mihm received the honor. ■ The Nebraska women’s bas ketball team fell from No. 22 to No. 24 in the CNN/USA Today Coaches Poll released on Monday. Iowa State, which defeated NU 83-69 on Saturday, replaced the Huskers at No. 22, while Texas Tech moved up to No. 6. ■ The six teams in the Big 12 Southern Division, along with Kansas State, opened their 1998 baseball seasons last week. Oklahoma first baseman Casey Bookout was named the Big 12 player of the week after knocking three home runs in two games against Missouri Southern last weekend. Texas A&M pitcher Ryan Rupe tossed five innings of no-hit ball Friday against the University of Texas-Pan American en route to being named the Big 12 pitcher of the week. Rupe struck out five, and two relievers followed to fin ish the first ever no-hitter by a Big 12 team since play began last year. Big 12 men’s basketball standings: (through Tuesday) Overall Conference Kansas 26-3 10-1 Oklahoma 17-7 8-3 Oklahoma State 17-4 7-4 Texas Tech 12-8 6-4 Kansas State 14-6 5-5 Missouri 13-10 5-5 Colorado 11-9 5-5 Baylor 10-10 5-5 Nebraska 13-10 4-6 Texas 10-12 4-6 Iowa State 10-14 3-8 Texas A&M 6-14 0-10 Big 12 Notebook compiled by staff reporter Mike Kluck. Matt Miller/DN NEBRASKA LONG JUMPER Chris Wright gave up his basketball career to pursue track and field. Wright currently owns the second-best indoor jump in the nation and hopes to qualify for the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Australia. NU recruit impressed with Lincoln By Darren Ivy Assignment Reporter One visit was all it took for Nebraska’s newest football signee, Matt Shook, to fall in love with the campus and city. “It was everything I expected and more - the people, communi ty, players, academics and facili ties,” Shook said. After visiting Lincoln last weekend, Shook, a 6-foot-3, 285 pound lineman from Medina, Ohio, signed a letter of intent to become the 21st Cornhusker recruit. NU announced its first 20 recruits on signing day last Wednesday. Shook was ready to commit to Miami of Ohio last week, but phone calls and a visit from NU Head Coach Frank Solich helped convince Shook, and his father, Dale, to give Nebraska a shot. Neither Shook nor his dad had ever been to Nebraska before the weekend, but they were impressed with what they saw on their visit. “Nebraska offers everything I wanted,” Shook said. “Miami of NU jumper eyes Olympics By Andrew Strnad Staff Reporter Not many people turn down a bas ketball scholarship from UCLA. Even fewer turn away offers from North Carolina. Chris Wright turned them both down to run track at Nebraska. A two-time NCAA All-American in die long jump, Wright currently owns the second-best indoor jump in the nation at 25 feet, 10 inches. Wright also runs the 55-meters and is expected to compete on the 4 x 100 meter outdoor relay team. The senior, who insists he is only 6 fooMVi, began jumping only five years ago at a charity event at home in the Bahamas. At Preston Albury High School in Nassau, Bahamas, Wright didn’t run track, but he played basketball and received several scholarship offers from top-notch schools across the country. But eventually, Wright found he had a future in track mid field and decided pursuing a track career was the right move. “My parents said if I wanted to dis cipline myself, I should take on an indi vidual sport,” Wright said. Wright did entertain the thought of playing basketball at the collegiate level, but lost interest when he said the fun was gone. “I just like to play to feel good - the happiness of playing basketball,” Wright said. “When you look at it, you’re all out there to have fun - and it’s just not like that anymore.” In the summer of 1994, Wright made a decision to enroll at Kansas City (Kan.) Community College, and run track. An agricultural science major, Wright entertained several track offers but settled on Kansas City after talking with his mother. “I really wanted to go to UCLA, but my mom told me that there were too many earthquakes out there,” Wright said. “She said, ‘No child of mine is going out there”’ At Kansas City (Kan.) Community College, Wright wasted no time jump ing to new heights as he claimed the 1996 National Junior College Athletic Association indoor long jump title with a leap of 25 feet, 9Vi inches. After he finished second in the out door championships, Wright found himself a highly sought after junior col lege recruit. Nebraska first inquired about Wright during his freshman season in 1995, when his coach, Todd Biggs, told him the Huskers woe interested in him as a long jumper. “They wanted to know who was this athlete who came from the Bahamas as a basketball player, but is actually a long jumper,” Wright said. NU Head Coach Gary Pepin said he was very impressed with Wright the first time he saw him and knew he had the potential to be an outstanding long jumper at Nebraska. “Chris really has excellent speed, and it sure helps to be tall when you’re a long jumper;” Pepin said. The slender Wright credited his suc cess to his extraordinary 41-inch veiti umo couian i ao mat. it is a dream come true for me. “Nebraska has always been my top choice. It’s quite an honor to be recruited to Lineman Country. ” At Medina High School, Shook was a three-year starter and first-team all-state offensive guard his senior year. Ohio Football Magazine listed him as the top offensive lineman to come out of Ohio this year. Shook helped Medina to an .8-2 record as a senior last fall playing both defensive and offensive line. The captain of his football team, Shook was also recruited by Pittsburgh and Indiana. He owns a GPA above 3.0 and has qualified academically. At the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, he said he planned to major in business. He also said he plans to work hard this spring, where he will compete in tuck and field at _ Medina amt work on getting 7 . stronger for football. 7 Shook said he will move to Lincoln this summer and begin, working out with die Huskers. <„. - Huskers improve By Darren Ivy Assignment Reporter It didn’t take long for the Nebraska Men’s Gymnastics Coach Francis Allen to start working on bar routines and a new lineup order. After his gymnasts finished third in a triangular with Ohio State and Oklahoma Friday night, Allen had his team practice Sunday morning before the women’s meet in Norman, Okla. “I wanted to make them go but they needed a Allen said. Conrnhuskers scored points - which was two "■!«*•« puuus higher than NU scored at Rocky Mountain Open Jan. 23 24 - but Allen wasn’t quite satisfied, because the ninth-ranked Huskers finished behind No. 8 Oklahoma and No. 4 Ohio State. “I was pleased we did betK^pn^lisIpse^l Allen said. “I don’t think Oklw^yWWwBfefe ifep? same ballpark with us.” Only Marshall Nelson and Derek Leiter scored better than a 9.20 on die parallel bars, as the Huskers missed four of their six routines. “We lost the meet on the parallel bars,” Allen said. By not scoring well on die first few parallel bar routines, NU couldn’t utilize the punping effect Allen said the pumping effect is when the judges perceive the first gymnast to be the low scorer-and each gym nast afterward is better. Allen said the key to utilizing the pumping effect is to find the perfect lineup, where the top gymnasts are interspersed with the lower scorers. “If you can match guy to position, you can maxi mize your score,” Allen said. “It comes down to which gate you want your horses to go out or* In the other events, NU seemed to be lined up in the right gates. The horizontal proved to be the best routine for die Huskers, as they scored a 38.50 and nearly edged the Sooners for second place. a 9.80 and finished second, while neededlhe 9.85 effort of Dan Fink on the final performance of the meet to beat NU by three-tenths of a point NU got some career high scores in other events. Jim Koziol placed second on the still rings with a career-best tying score of 9.75, and Bill Mulholland tied a career best with a 9.60 on the vault to finish third. In die all-around, Leiter finished second with a 56.7, and freshman Jason Hardabura, who suffered a hip injury at die Rocky Mountain Open two weeks ago, finished sixth-his first competition with a 55.70. At the beginning of the year, Allen said he thought NU had the potential to have four athletes score 57 or greater in the all-around. And Leiter still thinks they do. As the Huskers continue to get healthy, Leiter said, he thought their routines also will get better. “It is better to have this happen at the beginning of y the year and get it worked out, than to have it happen at the end.”
