|istance
Cross country teams
exceed expectations
despite hardships
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By Andrew Strnad
Staff Reporter
Despite facing a season full of injury
and departure, the Nebraska men’s cross
country team surprised Nebraska Coach
Jay Dirksen.
The Comhuskers finished 11th at the
NCAA Championships in Greenville,
S.C., on November 25 and had two run
ners receive All-America status.
“Our guys ran just great,” Dirksen
said. “Two All-Americans and an 11th
place finish is more than we could have
ever hoped for coming into this season. I
think this finish is tremendous.”
Leading the way for Nebraska was
senior Cleophas Boor, who finished sixth
in the race with a time of 29 minutes, 22
seconds oyer the 10,000-meter course at
Furman University - 28 seconds behind
winner Mebrathom Keflezigbi of UCLA.
NU freshman Jeroen Broekzitter fin
ished 20th with a time of 30:06.
“Cleophas ran very well,” Dirksen
said. “The top six guys really took off, and
Cleophas just went with them.”
The women’s team had hoped for sim
ilar results, but couldn’t produce them as
they finished 19th out of the 22-team
field.
Freshman Amy Wiseman was the top
Husker for the seventh straight time this
season finish- //
“If you would have told me before the
year that this was going to happen, I
wouldn’t have believed it,” Dirksen said.
The women’s team echoed the men’s
squad at the Big 12 Conference meet with
a second-place finish.
--—---f- ' Leading
ing in 94th j the way for
place. Two All-Americans and an the Huskers
Overall, J w a s
Dirksen said 11th place finish is more than Wiseman,
the season who finished
was an COUld have ever hoped for in sixth place,
absolute sue- . i, Senior
cess for the coming into this season. Nora Shepard
Huskers as [ anchored the
they overcame JAY DlRKSEN team, %hich
i nni vfo a°*^ NU cross country coach t~ qualified for
1997 NCAA _9 the NCAA
runner-up
Jonah Kiptarus and fellow senior and last
year’s third-place finisher Phillip Maiyo.
Kiptarus, a native of Kapsabet, Kenya,
did not return to Lincoln, and Maiyo
missed the season with a knee injury.
However, it was the legs of runners
likb Broekzitter that salvaged what looked
to be a disappointing season.
meet for the
second consecutive season.
“WeTe ready to go out and rock and
roll,” Shepard said in preparation for
nationals. “We want to reap the rewards of
all the hard work that we’ve done so far.”
The Huskers were rewarded and will
look to repeat their performances later
this fall.
Men’s, women’s track teams finish out of ton 10
By Andrew Strnad
Staff Reporter
It was a new experience for the Nebraska
track team in Indianapolis March 13-14.
For only the second time in 12 years, nei
ther the men nor the women finished in the top
10 at the NCAA Indoor Track Championships
at the RCA Dome.
However, of the eight Comhusker athletes
competing in the meet, four returned to
Lincoln as All-Americans, including three of
the four NU men.
Junior high jumper Shane Lavy finished in
third place with a jump of 7-5, just 1 inch
behind freshman Kenny Evans of Arkansas.
It was the best finish for Lavy, the four
time All-American, at the NCAA indoor meet.
“Shane had a lot of misses and wasn’t very
consistent,” NU Head Coach Gary Pepin said.
“But he was able to clear the next height
whenever he had to.
“We were very pleased with Shane, and I
know he’s happy with where he placed.”
Senior Scott Warren also finished third,
and earned All-America honors in the 35
pound weight throw for the second straight
year.
Warren’s toss of 67-4% was a personal best
and also an improvement over last year’s fifth
place finish.
“I’m happy with my placing with how far I
threw,” Warren said. “I’m a little disappointed
because it’s my senior year and I’m only a 67
foot weight thrower.
NU long jumper Chris Wright entered the
meet with the third best jump in the nation this
year at 26, but he was unable to match his ear
lier marks and finished sixth.
The senior from Nassa^p, Bahamas,
jumped 24-8‘/2.
“He had his worst meet of the indoor sea
son, and this isn’t the place to do that.” Pepin
said.
Senior Byron Topps just missed qualifying
in the 55-meter dash. His ninth-place prelimi
nary time of 6.34 seconds was 0.02 seconds
away from qualifying.
The Husker women had only one All
American and finished in 38th place, their
worst NCAA indoor finish ever.
Senior Meka Rembert didn’t advance to
the finals of the 55-meter hurdles but did in
the 400-meter dash.
The Kentucky transfer finished in fifth
place, earning All-America honors with a time
of 54.01
Senior Christina Blackmer finished 10th
in the 5,000 meters, sophomore Dalhia
Ingram finished 14th in the long jump, and
sophomore Kim Stewart finished 16th in the
pole vault.
Big 12 Conference foe Texas won the
women’s national title, ending Louisiana
State’s run of six straight titles.
Arkansas won the men’s crown, with
Stanford finishing a distant second.
Swimmers focus on
experience for 1998
■ Women’s and men’s
teams place 118th and
18th, respectively, in the
NCAA finals.
By Lisa Vonnahme
Staff Reporter
After a slow start at the NCAA
Championships in Minneapolis,
the Nebraska women’s swimming
and diving team ended its season
March 21 with an 11th place fin
ish, while the men finished 18th in
Auburn, Ala., March 28.
Eight Huskers - Windsor,
Muller, Alshammar, Johnson, Beth
Karaica, Destiny Lauren, Lenka
Manhalova and Terrie Miller -
earned All-America honors at the
meet.
With two freshmen, eight
sophomores and a junior making
up the 1998 qualifying list, the
women’s team has high hopes for
next year.
“We’ve got a lot of young ath
letes that are going to mature and
be back here next year,” Bentz
said. “With the field getting as fast
as it is, we need to focus more on
saving some energy from this meet
instead of doing everything it
takes to get here. We’ll be back.”
The men’s team will be back,
too, after coming off its seventh
best showing in the team’s 77-year
history. TheHuskers placed 18th at
the NCAA Men’s Championships
in Auburn, Ala.
“Given the tightness of this
meet, we had a pretty good three
days,” Bentz said. “All in all, being
18th is a fine finish. With the depth
of competition getting deeper
every year, we have to be proud to
be in the top 20.”
NU ended the three-day meet
by scoring seven points on the
final day of competition. The
Huskers finished the meet with 80
points. Top-ranked Stanford won
the meet title with 599 points.
For the second straight year,
NU’s Adam Pine qualified for the
consolation finals in the 100-yard
freestyle. Pine finished with a
time of 43.80, placing him 12th.
Pine, along with Mark Bennett,
David Foster and Alex Shleifmsn,
placed 16th in the 400-yard
freestyle relay.\ y ‘ •'-*
All of the Nebraska qualifiers
- seven swimmers and two divers -
earned All-America recognition.
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