Shannon Heffelflnger
Rembert
feels joy
after race
Victory eluded Meka Rembert
Saturday at the Frank Sevigne
Husker Invitational. The senior
hurdler on the Nebraska track and
field team crossed the finish line in
the 55-meter hurdles in a third
place time of 7.78 seconds.
But even without the win,
Rembert found the success she’s
craved for nearly two years. And
for her, success has never tasted
this sweet.
rvenioeri is a senior, oui inis is
the first year she’s competed for
the Cornhuskers. She began her
collegiate career at Barton County
Community College in Kansas.
But Rembert - homesick, missing
her fiance, who attended
Kentucky, and ready to compete at
the Division I level - transferred to
Kentucky her junior year.
But, Rembert said, she soon
discovered she went for the wrong
reasons.
In December 1996, Rembert
asked for a release from her schol
arship and was not granted one. At
the end of that summer, she left
UK for Nebraska. Because UK did
not grant her a release, Rembert
was forced to redshirt during 1997.
It’s been a long road for
Rembert. Over the past five years,
she’s competed at three schools.
For the first time this season, she is
competing in the 55-meter hurdles
- a new event.
Saturday, Rembert, 24, didn’t
win her race.
But she ran an NCAA provi
sional qualifying time, which will
likely send her to Indianapolis
March 13-14 for the NCAA Indoor
Championships.
A_1 _ J!J * . A . * _ -«
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Kentucky coaches who betrayed
her and die Wildcat team that no
longer speaks to her.
Rembert saw her ex-coach,
Don Weber Saturday at the
Devaney Center, and he walked
right by her.
Two Kentucky athletes com
peted in the two lanes to her right
during the hurdle finals. Neither
said a word to her.
“Oh, no,” Rembert said. “They
don’t talk to me. They’re pretty
snobby to me, but I love it.”
She loves it because now, after
Kentucky forced her to pay the
price for leaving, she sees the big
ger picture that evolved from the
bitter situation.
“You have to pay the price
sometimes,” Rembert said. “But I
paid my dues, and I couldn’t have
asked for anything better.”
Saturday, Rembert achieved
success at her highest personal
level.
Even if she did finish third.
Heffelfinger is a sophomore
news-editorial major and a Daily
Nebraskan senior reporter.
By Jay Saunders
Assignment Reporter
The 1998 Frank Savigne Husker
Track and Field Invitational was sup
posed to be a good opportunity for
Corhhusker athletes to take advantage
of a home meet to increase the number
of NCAA automatic qualifying per
formances.
After two days of competition,
only senior Chris Wright added his
name to the list of Huskers who are
assured of a chance to perform in the
NCAA championships. Wright won
the men’s long jump with a jump of 25
feet, Hl/2 inches.
“It is good to know I got the auto
matic mark simply because I will be at
nationals and competing for the
national championship,” Wright said.
“It put me into a position knowing I
am on the automatic qualifying list. It
was all about fun.”
Although NU was able to clinch
one more spot for the national meet,
there were several provisional qualify
ing marks. In all, NU had four athletes
make provisional marks. Senior Scott
Warren’s throw of 66-8% helped him
finish second in the 35-point weight
throw behind Wyoming’s Kevin
Mannon.
Junior Shane Lavy, who had previ
ously qualified for the NCAA cham
pionships, finished second in the high
jump.
Senior Benji Prebyl finished sec
ond in the triple jump with a provi
sional mark of 51-6%. Senior Byron
Topps’ provisional time of 6.20 sec
onds helped hinfcfinish second in the
55-meter dash.
But it was in the 200-meter dash
MattMiller/DN
MANKATO STATE mid-distance runner Joe Alexander attempts to break away from the pack in the 800-meter ran
Friday at the Frank Sevigne Husker Invite. Alexander is followed by HU’S Jeff Ganz.
that Topps got the most attention from
the 4,647 fans at the Bob Devaney
Sports Center track. For the First time
in his collegiate career, Topps won the
200-meter dash over Oklahoma’s
Shomari Wilson with a time of 21.56
seconds.
“I think the last time I won a 200
was when I was 10,” Topps said. “I had
tq win onerace before I graduate.” f % .
Overall, NU won four events to go
along with the four provisional quali
fiers. NU Coach Gary Pepin said the
Huskers’ younger athletes struggled,
while the veterans came through with
a strong performance.
“We had an array of things from
some very good performances to
some not-so-good performances,”
Pepin said. “You just have to go back
and hope the positives outweigh the
^negatives.” _ .!U ..
This year’s Husker Invitational
was good for other teams as well. In
all, 24 automatic marks were
achieved, 17 of those coming on the
women’s side. There were also 74 pro
visional marks recorded. Five
Devaney Center records were broken,
including the women’s pole vault
mark. Kim Stewart of Nebraska and
Candy Mason of Kansas each reached
heights of 12-7‘/2. Tiffany.Cott #f
Brigham Young, whft won two.emits, j
brokethe record inthe5S-tneter:inir4 j
dies with a time of 741 seconds.
3-run dinger sinks
Huskers in the 11th
Andrew Strnad
Staff Reporter
MINNEAPOLIS - After the
Nebraska baseball team battled back
from 1-0 and 2-1 deficits Sunday to
send its season opener into extra
innings, Minnesota dropped a bomb.
About 409 feet to be exact.
Gopher catcher Matt Scanlan
knocked a three-run home run to
right offNU reliever Brian Downing
(0-1) in the bottom of the 11th inning
to push Minnesota past the Huskers
6-3.
Brad Pautz (1-0), the Gophers’
third pitcher of die game, earned the
win for Minnesota, which improved
to 1-0. The Huskers fell to 0-1
before 396 at the Metrodome.
“It was a good ballgame to start
the year out,” said NU Coach Dave
Van Horn, who made his Husker
coaching debut. “I’m disappointed
we didn’t win, but it’s a long sea
son.”
The Huskers had a chance to win
in the top of the 10th after second
baseman Kevin Harrington reached
second on a single and an error to
open the inning.
NU’s next batter, Ken Harvey,
was caught looking, and pinch hitter
Craig Moore grounded out to first to
move Harrington to third.
But catcher Brian Johnson failed
to knock in the winning run as he
popped up to second to end the
inning.
“We could have won the game,”
Van Horn said. “We had a runner at
second with nobody out, but we
couldn’t move him.”
Nebraska starting lefty Kenny
Duebelbeis tossed six innings and
allowed one run on five hits while
striking out five.
“We had several opportunities,”
Duebelbeis said, “but we’re not
going to hang our heads. We played
well.”
Minnesota starter Ben Birk
entertained several Major League
scouts striking out 10 Huskers
through eight innings. Bilk allowed
five hits and no earned runs.
But Nebraska struck UM reliev
er Dan McGrath in the top of the
ninth for two runs to take a 3-2 lead.
Johnson led off the inning with a
single and was replaced by pinch
runner Erik Mumm, who advanced
on a wild pitch. NU shortstop Bryan
Schmidt then singled home Mumm.
Schmidt later advanced to third
and scored on a single by center
fielder Justin Valasek.
In the bottom half of the ninth,
Gopher shortstop Mark Devore
knocked in center fielder Mike Arlt
to tie the game at three and send it
into extra innings.
“I was really proud of our team,
the way they came back and tied it
and then took the lead in the ninth,”
Van Horn said.
The two teams will resume their
three-game series with a double
header today beginning at 1 p.m.
The second game is scheduled for
seven innings.
Second-half stretch
lifts NU past Sooners
By Mike Kluck
Staff Reporter
NORMAN, Okla. - Oklahoma
Women’s Basketball Coach Sherri
Coale thought the first half of
Saturday’s game was the worst half
of Sooner basketball she had seen
all season.
“We went into the halftime say
ing, ‘My heavens, can we play any
worse than this? And we are only
down 12. How in the world is this a
12-point game?’
error, and when we’re focused and
we’re intent and we’re communicat
ing then we can play with most any
body,” Coale said. “When we’re not,
it gets ugly in a hurry - and that’s
what happened.”
Ugly may not be a proper
description as Nebraska put on a
clinic in die opening six minutes of
die second half. NU scored on 10 of,
11 possessions - including three
uncontested fast-break layups -
forced OU into three turnovers and
held the Sooners to 0 for 6 shooting.
By the 14-minute mark, NU’s
clinic and the game were over as
Nebraska opened with a 23-2 run
heading to a 101-72 victory. It was
the most points the Huskers scored
all season as NU improved to 19-7
overall and 8-4 in the Big 12
Conference.
Nebraska Coach Paul
Sanderford, who saw his team beat
Kansas 84-69 in an emotional victo
ry on Wednesday night, said that
emotion carried over to Saturday’s
victory.
ii
When you relax
and play,
everythingjust m
comes to you.’’
Brooke Schwartz
NU sophomore guard
“I think our kids came in on an
emotional high and our kids execut
ed extremely well offensively,”
Sanderford said.
The Huskers* offensive execu
tion helped five players score in
double digits, including sophomore . .
guard Nicole Kubik, who led the
Huskers with 23 points - a career
high.
During NU’s 23-2 run, Kubik
scored six points, senior Emily
Thompson added eight, sophomore
Brooke Schwartz scored seven and
senior Anna DeForge had two.
For Schwartz, it was her third
straight game scoring double digits
as she finished with 17. In the past
three games, Schwartz has scored
50 points while in the previous 10
games she had 55 points.
Sanderford said Schwartz had an
outstanding game against the
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