Sam McKewon
KSU upset
new vision
for Huskers
After Saturday’s loss to Texas, final
ly, there was recognition from the
Nebraska football players.
They didn’t scream it out loud or
w ear on their sleeve. But it was there. It
w as there in the way they wished they
had another chance against Texas. It
was there in their admittance that, this
time, they simply didn’t know all the
The NU players, and the coaches,
came to terms with the 1998 season.
They realized that they are a good team.
And nothing more than that.
Understand this is unfamiliar terri
tory for Nebraska players and fans.
They’re not used to this. They’re not
used to strange fumbles, giving up big
plays and losing at home.
But there it was Saturday - in a gift
wrapped Longhorn package.
You know how I knew the Huskers’
dynasty was over Saturday - truly over?
The referees didn’t call everything
Nebraska’s way. They didn’t grant the
questionable fiimbles. They called pass
interference penalties.
That’s not to say they were the right
or wrong calls. It’s impossible to deter
mine that. But it seemed that even the
Zebra Gods weren’t smiling on NU at
home Saturday.
And so it has come to this. No
hopes of a national title. No trip to
Phoenix. (Try San Diego or San
Antonio.) Nebraska now is ranked No.
15, right ahead ofTulane.The Huskers
are a second-tier college football power
this year. That’s nothing to be ashamed
of. (After all, the academic side of UNL
is dinkin’ around in the third tier.) But it
makes one thing very clear: Nebraska
must have a new goal.
That goal is to beat Kansas State.
It’s the only goal worth havmg at
this point. NU should look no further
than Nov. 14. If there any honor to be
regained, it is in Manhattan, Kan.
I’ve watched KSU this season. To
me, without a doubt, the Wildcats are
the best team in college football. No
one is better, not Ohio State, and good
Lord, not UCLA. No one. I am as sure
of this as anything.
And, oh what a sight it would be to
see Nebraska beat them. It’d be sweeter
than winning a national title, to me at
least, because there’s something to be
said for picking yourself up from out of
the dirt, finding the biggest bully in the
yard and beating him.
NU can do that, now. The Huskers
viill beat Iowa State. And then, they’ll
have one week to devise the best game
plan they ’velvet devised. And if it
works, it will be the biggest NU win
since Florida in 1995. KSU is that good,
folks. That good.
That’s the silver lining in the black
cloud for the Huskers. They are now
free to shock anyone they please - the
world, if they have to.
Preferably, they shock the Wildcats
in 12 days.
Sam McKewon is a junior news
editorial and political science major
and a Daily Nebraskan senior editor.
Triumph, tears
big themes in
conference
championship
/iounces ruin
NUs chance at
stronger race
By Lisa Vonnahme
Staff writer
Higher finishes.
That’s what Nebraska Cross
Country Coach Jay Dirksen thought
the NU men’s and women’s cross
country teams would get Saturday at
the Big 12 Championships.
While watching his teams com
pete at Pioneers Park, Dirksen
expected both teams would place
higher than they did.
“I was shocked at the results,”
Dirksen said. “As I watched the
races, I thought for sure we’d be
higher than seventh and eighth.”
But a seventh place finish for the
women’s team and an eighth-place
finish for the men’s team were what
the Comhuskers received.
Despite his surprise in the fin
ish, Dirksen said, the Huskers, who
have been plagued all season with
illnesses and injuries, did well with
the runners who ran.
The women were paced by fresh
man Jeannette Zimmer, who fin
ished the 5,000-meter race in 17
minutes 59 seconds for 12th place.
Melissa Wilson and Jamie Pauli
came in next for NU at 26th and 29th
place, respectively.
“Jeannette ran extremely well,”
Dirksen said. And 1 think Melissa
Wilson ran her strongest race ever in
cross country.”
Dirksen said Zimmer’s effort
was impressive, considering she had
been ill earlier in the week.
“When the gun went off, I
thought to myself, ‘This race is what
I’m doing now. I can cough and be
sick later.’” Zimmer said.
Sophomore Marcus Witter led
the Huskers in the men’s 8,000 meter
race in 22nd at25:28.80. Tony Smith
and Lou Petricca were next for NU,
placing 32nd and 34th.
“The people who ran performed
well,” Dirksen said. “We just need
our top runners in there. The first
runners from the other teams w^re
way ahead of our first runners.”
Both teams were without the aid
of their top runners, sophomores
Amy Wiseman and Jeroen
Broekzitter. Wiseman has been bat
tling bronchitis while Broekzitter
was released from the team.
Wilson, the NU women’s team
captain, said she knew the rest of the
team would have to “step it up” to
replace the absence of Wiseman.
“There was extra motivation for
this race,” Wilson said. “We knew
missing Amy would be difficult for
the team’s placing.”
The absences have made the sea
son hard for the team, Dirksen said.
“Seventh and eighth is disap
pointing to me,” Dirksen said. “At
the beginning of the season I thought
we would have done better at this
meet. But when I was thinking that I
was including all of our runners.”
_____ Photos by Matt Miller/DN
ABOVE: BIG 12 INDIVIDUAL CHAMPION Sherri Smith, left, tries to console a dejected Karin Ernstrom after the
race Saturday at Pioneers Park. Ernstrom was near the front for much of the race before falling back and finish
ing 25th. “It was just one of those days. She’s really disappointed, which is understandable,” Smith said.
TOP: RUNNERS IN THE MEN’S race fight their way up Train Hill on Saturday. CU’s Adam Goucher ran away from the
pack, setting a course record and finishing about 50 seconds ahead of the second-place finisher.
C U men capture drd straight title
«
We ve really been
trying to climb
out of a pit. There
was a time when
I felt we should
just wrap up the
season. But they
started to have
some decent
workouts again.”
Mark Wetmore
CU head coach
KSU women run away as Big 12 champions
By Adam Hunker
Staff writer
It’s tough running alone, but for
Adam Goucher, solo is usually the only
j wayitpgo. ol 'jl' .Hy/c . ,. >t gn; .t
| L i • When Gpucher^ciossed. the 'finish
line at Pioneers Park in course record
time for his No. 4 Colorado cross coun
try team at the Big 12 Championships,
the only thing following him was an
expectant crowd and a biting prairie
wind.
Running in a time of 23 minutes,
45.7 seconds to claim his third straight
individual conference title, Goucher
broke a 6-year-old course record by
nine seconds and came in 50 seconds
before second place finisher Charles
Sloan of Oklahoma State. Goucher led
the 8,000-meter race from start to fin
ish.
‘You get a little lonely out there,
Goucher said. “It’s hard. It would have
been a lot more fun if there had been
someone pushing me a little bit more, a
little bit longer.”
For Goucher, that someone would
havdlbeetiChns Sevotyj <7 t'J's Mix 2! run
ner wHw^Uddina btcyole-'atkidfent an
Oct. 12.
“Without Chris, it makes it tough,”
Goucher said. “But all the rest of our
guys really stepped up and really came
together. We know that what he
would’ve wanted was for us to come out
here and nin nnr hardect ”
With Goucher’s finish and four
other Buffalo finishers in the top 15,
Colorado clinched its third straight Big
12 men’s cross country title with 31
points. OSU followed with 46 points
and Missouri took third with 98.
Please see COLORADO on 11 (
