Huskers finish second
FRESHMAN from page 9
Sasse tied for fifth place at 224.
Gretchen Doerr and Catha
Fogelberg both shot 231, placing
them in a tie for 21st.
Sasse, the highly recruited and
much talked-about former Lincoln
High star, sandwiched her first and
third rounds 77 and 78 with a
school-record 69 in the second
round.
“Sarah played great, consider
ing that she shot that 69 on the sec
ond 18 of a 36-hole day,” Spangler
said. “Everyone else was tiring
out, but she stayed strong the
whole way.”
The Huskers take their momen
tum into next week’s Big 12
Conference Fall Preview
Tournament.
“After the way these girls
played this week, I think any one of
our top five players can win any
tournament this year,” Spangler
said. “I think we have a great team
here.”
NU’s Lohr, Slechta
anchor young line
Editor’s note: This is one in a series
of stories this week grading the
Nebraska football team.
By David Wilson
Senior staff writer
Neither defensive tackle Jeremy
Slechta nor nose tackle Jason Lehr got
a chance to rest at practice Monday in
Cook Pavilion.
But that didn’t come as a surprise to
the two true freshmen, who haw been
thrown directly into the trenches
enced depth on the line.
Lohr saw action behind Steve
Warren in the Comhuskers’ season
opener against Louisiana Tech, and
Slechta took the field for the first time
the following week against Alabama
Birmingham.
While neither lineman regrets for
feiting a redshirt season, Nebraska
Defensive Coordinator Charlie
McBride said he wished things could
haw worked out differently.
“I’d prefer to have them redshirt this
year, but that’s not the way it worked
out
“I think it always hurts a kid when
they don’t get a fifthyear.They’d prob
ably have a chance to be better players.”
Slechta said when he was being
recruited by Husker coaches, he was
told a lack of depth could put him on
the field right away.
The 6-foot-5,260-pounder suited
up for NUb season-opener knowing he
would only play in an emergency. But
an ankle injury the following week to
starting defensive tackle Jason Wiltz
moved Slechta up to No. 2 on the depth
chart and put him on the field against
Alabama-Birmingham.
“1 didn’t know what to expect,” said
Slechta, who played defensive end at
Papillion-LaVista High School. “I
always thought when I was in high
school and coming to Nebraska, ‘Next
college guys. It’s going tolSe^cary
They’re going to pancake me and pop
me all over die field.’
“It really hasn’t been like dial”
Lohr, a 6-foot-3,275-pounder, said
he felt the same way coming out of
Jenks High School in Tulsa, Okla.
“I knew I was going to go in, and I
was pretty nervous,” Lohr said. “But
after that, I was fine.
“I thought that it was really going to
be tough, that the line would be a lot
bigger. I guess I’m doing all right I’m
hold&g rterown. They’re still pretty
big, though.” satf » . -
Through the Huskers’ first three
games, Lohr has recorded two tackles
on a defense that has allowed an aver
age of only 48.3 rushing yards per
game.
Slechta also has two tackles to his
name - including an assisted sack.
“They’re just feeling their way
through right now,” McBride said.
“We haven’t done a good job at
recruiting at the position. That has been
a problem. They think we have all kinds
of numbers, and we don’t”
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■ Transfer from junior
college learns to fit in with
relaxed, easy-going style
in competition for NU.
BtLosaVonnahve
Staff writer
During his recruiting trip to
Nebraska in February, Tony Smith
was stranded in Lincoln for two extra
days because of a snowstorm.
His flight back to Idaho was can
celed twice, so in that time Smith was
able to see what Nebraska was really
like.
He must have liked what he saw.
Smith, a junior college transfer
from College of Southern Idaho in
Twin Falls, Idaho, joins the Nebraska
men’s cross country team this season
and adds a low-key, relaxed attitude to
the team, NU Coach Jay Dirksen said.
“Tony is the kind of guy who has
his head screwed on tight,” Dirksen
said. ‘To make a good team you have
to have people of all different types.
He’s a guy who fits in well; he’s a
good team person.”
Dirksen said Smith’s laid-back
demeanor and strong work ethic
make him a great addition to the
team. Smith, who has two years of eli
gibility remaining, has been able to
make a smooth transition to Nebraska
and its cross country program. He has
been able to fit in with the team and
said the workouts at Nebraska are
similar to the workouts at Southern
Idaho.
After a strenuous summer train
ing program, Smith is ready for the
cross-country season to begin.
Saturday, he was able to prove his
abilities at the Bearcat Distance
Classic in Maryville, Mo. In his first
competition as a Comhusker, Smith
earned second-place honors in the
men’s race. Dirksen said he sees
Smith as the team’s probable No. 2
runner.
“There are several guys who
could be No. 2,” Smith said. “If
Coach sees me as No. 2, then that
does put some weight on my shoul
ders. But that’s OK since there are so
many of us right at the same spot The
better anybody does, the better every
body will do.”
Smith was recruited by Nebraska
as both a cross country and track run
ner, Dirksen said. Smith’s primary
race in track is the 1,500 meter.
“We were looking for a guy who
could run cross country but also be a
pretty good 1,500-meter runner,”
Dirksen said. “Tony’s 1,500-meter
time is pretty good, and that interested
us.”
Smith said he sees himself as an
easy-going person; someone who is
not usually competitive in his day-to
day life. But during the season, Smith
notices his competition level rises. He
stays focused during the season by
asking himself if his activities would
help or hurt his running abilities.
Witbother schools recruiting him
last year; Smith said, one of the rea
sons he Chose Nebraska was the Big
12 Conference. Smith said he liked
the size of the conference and the
competition between the schools.
“I find out about Nebraska more
and more every day,” Smith said. “It’s
really a great place to be. Jay
(Dirksen) is a great coach, and he’s
really encouraging.”
Saturday, Smith will get his
chance to compete in front of the
home crowd at the Woody
Greeno/Nebraska Invitational Meet
at Pioneers Park. Dirksen expects a
large crowd, and Smith hopes the
audience will be pleased with what it
sees.
“I think Tony is going to have a
good season,” Dirksen said. “He’s
going to make a difference on our
team. His low-key demeanor and
work ethic will really benefit the
team.”
Osborne honored by special rifle
By Sam McKewwt
Sports editor
And now... he’s a rifle.
Former Nebraska Football
Coach Tom Osborne, who led the
Cornhuskers to three national
championships and 255 wins in his
career, is being commemorated with
his own limited edition Winchester
rifle.
The “255” series is being tai
lored by Investment Arms out of
Huntley, Mont. There are 255 rifles
in the series, one for each victory in
Osborne’s tenure as head coach at
NU.
The rifle is a Winchester Model
1894 chambered in .45 Long Colt
caliber. It is engraved on both sides.
On one side is a depiction of
Memorial Stadium. The other shows
Osborne with a 255-win commemo
rative seal. The entire gun is over
laid in 24-karat gold.
Ross Woolley, owner of
Investment Arms, said the project
was brought to him by way of Fred
Hoppe, who designed the bronze
statue outside of Memorial
Stadium. Woolley met Hoppe at die
Alaska Iditarod race, where
Woolley first got interested in doing
die project
u—-—
We tell people they’re out of their minds if
they shoot this thing
Russ Woolley
Investment Arms owner
Woolley wrote a letter to
Osborne, who expressed interest in
the project. After Osborne retired in
December, the project of making the
rifles began.
“It’s a very unique project,” said
Woolley, who has been in business
for 11 years. “We have never done a
project where each specific package
commemorates a different win.”
Along with the rifle a trophy belt
buckle will be included which fur
ther describes the certain victory die
gun depicts, Woolley said. Included
are the three wins that resulted in
national championships.
Woolley said the national cham
pionship wins are treated the same
as the others, even though the com
pany considered making those more
special.
“It would have taken away from
the overall value of the series,”
Woolley said. “That’s the main rea
son we didn’t specialize those.”
The rifles will be sold on a first
come, first-serve basis and will be
sold at $2,795, a price Woolley said
is typical of the rifles in this series.
Investment Arms, which also
has made rifles for Oldsmobile’s
100th Anniversary and the
University of Montana’s national
championship, has already received
many orders for specific guns
depicting specific victories.
“We’ve got people-who want a
specific rifle because they met their
wives at the game it depicts,”
Woolley said. “We’ve got reasons
from people that can’t even be
repeated.”
Some callers, Woolley said, plan
to actually use the gun for shooting
or hunting purposes, which would
destroy the value of th& gun.
“We tell people they’re out of
their minds if they shoot this thing,”
Woolley said. “It’s not meant to be
shot”
