Nebraska Track and Field
Coach Gary Pepin was named a
co-Big 12 Indoor Coach of the
Year Sunday.
Texas A&M Men’s and
Women’s Coach Ted Nelson and
Texas Women’s Coach Beverly
Kearney also earned the award.
In his 18th season at Nebraska,
Pepin guided the Comhusker men
to their fifth straight indoor con
ference victory last weekend in
Ames, Iowa. Texas A&M finished
second.
The NU women finished in
second place behind Texas.
■
The 1998 Big 12 Women's
Basketball Tournament begins
today at Municipal Auditorium in
Kansas City, Mo.
Top-seeded Texas Tech, No. 2
seed Iowa State, No. 3 seed Kansas
and No 4 seed Nebraska earned
first-round byes and will play
today’s winners on Wednesday.
Big 12 women's basketball standings
(Through Monday)
Conference Overall
Texas Tech 15-1 22-4
Iowa State 12-4 23-6
Nebraska 1 1-5 22-8
Kansas 11-5 19-7
Baylor 10-6 17-9
Oklahoma State 10-6 17-9
Texas 7-9 12-14
Colorado 5-11 11-15
Kansas State 4-12 10-16
Oklahoma 4-12 8-18
Texas A&M 4-12 8-18
Missouri 3-13 11-15
Big 12 women’s tournament
Today’s games:
Colorado vs. Oklahoma (noon)
Oklahoma State vs. Missouri (2:20 p.m.)
Texas vs. Texas A&M (6 p.m.)
Baylor vs. Kansas State (8:20 p.m.)
■
The 1998 Big 12 Men’s
Basketball Tournament begins
Thursday at Kemper Arena in
Kansas City, Mo.
Top-seeded Kansas, No. 2 seed
Oklahoma State, No. 3 seed
Oklahoma and No. 4 seed
Nebraska earned first-round byes
and will play Thursday’s winners
on Friday.
Big 12 men's basketball standings:
(Through today)
Conference Overall
Kansas 15-1 31-3
Oklahoma State 11-5 21-5
Oklahoma 1 1-5 20-9
Nebraska 10-6 19-10
Missouri 8-8 16-13
Baylor 8-8 13-13
Kansas State 7-9 16-10
Colorado 7-9 13-13
Texas Tech 7-9 13-13
Texas 6-10 12-16
Iowa State 5-11 12-17
Texas A&M 1-15 7-19
Big 12 men’s tournament
Thursday’s games:
Colorado vs. Kansas State (noon)
Texas A&M vs. Baylor (2:20 p.m.)
Texas vs. Texas Tech (6 p.m.)
Iowa State vs. Missouri (8:20 p.m.)
Big 12 Notebook compiled
from staff reports.
Scott McClurg/DN
NU FRESHMAN JASON HARDABURA dismounts the pommel horse Sunday at the Bob Devaney
Sports Center. Hardabura finished in the top four in all six events.
NU gymnasts
top poll after
big victories
By Darren Ivy
Assignment Reporter
A newfound confidence can be seen on the faces of
the Nebraska men’s gymnasts.
Early in the season they struggled, but the past two
weekends they have gotten it together and posted the
top home and away scores in the country this year.
“Coach has been telling us all year that we are
good, but we haven’t believed him,”' said Jason
Hardabura, who won the all-around in Sunday’s trian
gular with Oklahoma and New Mexico at the Bob
Devaney Sports Center.
Hardabura, a freshman from Oakville, Ontario,
noticed a positive change in his teammates’ attitudes
after the Iowa triangular Feb. 21.
That positive attitude resulted after Nebraska
scored 230.150 and came within .475 points of defeat
ing then No. 2 Iowa in Iowa City.
Iowa showed that we have it in us, Hardabura
said. “Before the meet we were like a deer in the head
lights. Now we are looking through people.”
The newfound confidence carried over this week
end as the No. 3 Nebraska men’s gymnastics team won
two more meets and scored a nation-best 231.05 score
Sunday against No. 10 Oklahoma and No. 11 New
Mexico. 5
With Sunday’s score along with a 229. 575 Fp^lay
in Minneapolis, the Cornhuskers will move to the tdp
of this week’s Gymlnfo poll.
The Gymlnfo poll’s rankings are based on three
scores - the two best away scores and best home score.
NU’s score against Iowa is the top away score this
season, the home score Sunday is best in the nation,
and the Huskers’ score Friday against Minnesota'ranks
as the third best away score in the nation.
Coach Francis Allen said a No. 1 ranking will help
the team’s confidence.
“This team feeds off one another,” Allen said.
“This team will continue to do that.”
On Sunday, the team fed off Hardabura, Derek
Leiter and Marshall Nelson. All three recorded career
Please see GYM on 11
NU finishes second
at conference meet
By LisaVonnahme
Staff Reporter
A second-place finish behind
Texas was what the Nebraska men’s
swimming and diving team expect
ed to get at the
Big 12
Conference
Champion
ships in
College
Station, Texas.
And that’s
what they got.
“We didn’t
expect to beat
Texas,” NU sophomore Adam Pine
said. “But when we got down there,
we realized they really weren’t as
good as what we thought. In the
future, I hope to surprise them with
a win.”
The No. 3 Longhorns cruised to
the Big 12 title Saturday with 886
points. The 15,h-ranked Huskers
were next with 638.50 points.
Sophomore Michael Windisch
reset his own Big 12 record in the
400-yard individual medley with a
time of 3:51.25. The time virtually
assured Windisch a spot in the
NCAA Championships March 26
to 28 in Auburn, Ala.
“It was a hard race,” Windisch
said. “But I had to get the time. It
burned, but it felt great.”
Pine, who is the only Husker
with an automatic NCAA qualify
ing time, placed second in his sig
nature event, the 100-yard butterfly.
Pine swam it in 47.18 seconds but
was defeated by Texas freshman
Nate Dusing.
“We knew Pine, not being
shaved for the meet, was going to
have some difficulty,” NU Coach
Cal Bentz said. “He didn’t swim his
fastest times, and we knew that was
going to be the case. He’ll swim
much better at the NCAA
Championships (after he shaves).”
Pine was joined by David
Foster, Valerji* Kalmikovs and
Mark Bennett in the 400-yard med
ley relay. Bennett managed to hold
off Iowa State’s Martin Anderson in
the last 25 yards to win with a time
of 3:16.17. Texas, which held the
fastest time in the 400-yard medley
relay this season, was disqualified
in the preliminaries.
Going into the meet, NU's goal
was to swim its fastest times of the
season, Bentz said.
All-American Kalmikovs and
Please see SWIM on 11
Tournament time
Big 12 women tip off 2nd season
By Mike Kluck
Staff Reporter
Texas Women’s Basketball Coach
Jody Conradt summed up the Big 12
Tournament Monday during media
day at Municipal Auditorium in
Kansas City, Mo.
“Obviously, it’s time for those of
us who have only one chance to get
into the postseason play to try to do
that,” Conradt said.
For eight teams this week, any
thing short of winning the Big 12
Conference Tournament on Saturday
will mark an end to their season.
The top four seeds of the Big 12
Tournament - Texas Tech, Iowa State,
Kansas and Nebraska - could survive
an upset in the tournament and still
receive an invitation to the NCAA
Tournament.
But that doesn’t mean those
teams are going to be nice and let
another conference opponent secure
an upset.
“We’re looking forward to com
peting,” Nebraska Coach Paul
Sanderford said. “It’s a second season
for us. Whoever gets hot has a chance
to win it.”
Sanderford said he felt the
Cornhuskers would earn a berth in
the NCAA Tournament with
Saturday’s win against Iowa State.
« —
Its a second
season for us.
Whoever gets hot
has a chance
to win it.”
Paul Sanderford
Nebraska coach
Nebraska has a 22-8 overall record
and an 11-6 mark in the conference
with wins against top 20 teams
Alabama and Western Kentucky.
Second-year Kansas State Coach
Deb Patterson knows the Wildcats,
who are 10-16 overall and 4-12 in the
Big 12, will have to win the touma^.,
ment to get an NCAA bid.
“I love playing the confer<epc^
tournament,” Patterson said, “''utaii’fe
in a position where the top-seeded
teams are playing for NCAA
Tournament seeds. But the rest of us
are playing for bids or just miracles in
some situations. But I believe in mir
acles.”
Colorado and Oklahoma will
Please see BIG 12 on 11
