, ; Kyan SODERLIN/UN
REDSHIRT FRESHMAN Bryan Snyder leads the Nebraska wrestling team into Sunday’s dual with Minnesota. Nearing the end of the season, Snyder has
the best record among Husker wrestlers.
Huskers9 Snyder earns respect
Wrestler notches No. 5 national ranking, first seed in Big 12 tourney
By Lisa Vonnahme
Staff writer
Bryan Snyder lived in fantasy land last week.
He earned the No. 1 seed for the Big 12 Wrestling
Tournament next month. He scored huge wins over
Iowa State’s fifth-year senior David Maldonado and
Oklahoma’s David Kjeldgaard. He helped the
Nebraska wrestling team record Big 12 Conference
upsets against both the Cyclones and the Sooners.
And as a reward for his fairy tale accomplish
ments, Snyder jumped three spots to a No. 5 ranking
in the latest Amateur Wrestling News poll.
Not bad for a guy who started the season with lit
tle recognition and a No. 20 ranking
“It was the biggest week of my life, I think,” said
Snyder, the 157-pounder for the Cornhuskers. “To
beat both teams in such a dramatic way - it was great.
It’s the stuff you write stories about.”
Drama and excitement are right up Snyder’s alley.
He loves big matches. As he said, “the bigger the
match, the better it is.”
It’s quite a philosophy for the redshirt freshman
from Easton, Pa. Snyder, who boasts a team-leading
25-2 record, and doesn’t show the nervousness or
hesitation most first-year competitors do. Instead,
Snyder is confident. Some may see it as cocky.
“He thinks he can beat anybody,” NU Coach Tim
Neumann said. “It doesn’t matter who they are, how
old they are or what they’re ranked. Snyder thinks he
can beat them.” -
Snyder, who leads the team in dual takedowns,
dual points and major decisions, will get a chance to
demonstrate his poise on Sunday at 2 p.m. when he
faces top-ranked Chad Kraft of Minnesota. The No. 4
Huskers (16-5 overall and 2-3 in the Big 12) will look
for their third upset in two weeks as they take on the
No. 2 Golden Gophers (13-2 overall and 7-0 in the
Big 10) in NU’s final home dual of the season.
“A lot of guys will worry all week about going up
against the No. 1 guy,” NU Assistant Coach Jason
Kelber said. “Bryan doesn’t worry about things like
that. He just thinks about how he’s going to attack.”
Snyder said his confidence has simply carried
over from his high school days in 1997. Snyder cred
its his father, a former wrestler at Penn State, and his
best friend, Jamarr Billman, who now wrestles at
Penn State, for pushing him to a stronger mentality.
With so many roots at Penn State, Snyder admit
ted it was difficult for him to choose Nebraska.
“It was hard to tell my dad that I wasn’t going to
Penn State,” Snyder said. “But it was something I had
to do. I felt like I just clicked with the guys and the
coaches right away.”
Not only does Snyder know he made the right
decision, he knows a lot lies ahead of him at NU.
Again, his confidence shines through - not only
in himself, but in the entire team.
“We have so much talent,” Snyder said.
“Everybody works so hard, and we all see that. We’re
as good of friends out of the wrestling room as we are
in the wrestling room.”
NU wary of let-up after KU win
■ Nebraska hopes to
continue winning in the
Big 12 with a game
against the Cyclones.
ByAdamKlinker
Senior staff writer
The Nebraska men’s basketball
team is looking for an encore perfor
mance of sorts this weekend - a per
formance that would ideally result in a
revenge victory.
Sandwiched between two ofNU’s
most crucial games of the Big 12
Conference season is a 6:00 p.m.
game at the Devaney Center with
Iowa State, who spoiled the
Comhuskers’ last win over Kansas
and upset a five-game winning streak
Jan. 30 in Ames.
Now, NU (16-8 overall and 8-3 in
the Big 12) has beaten the Jayhawks
again and is looking forward to a bat
tle in Lincoln with Oklahoma State on
Feb. 17.
“We’ve just got to keep winning,”
Husker Coach Danny Nee said.
“We’ve got to win them one at a time.”
That credo has remained constant
as the very watchwords of the Husker
success this season, even though it
might be easy to look past ISU, a team
on a three-game losing streak -
nonetheless, a team that has beaten
NU this season.
The Huskers were the Cyclones’
last victims before ISU began their
current slide.
Heading the ISU attack is Big 12
player of the week Marcus Fizer, who
leads the conference in scoring aver
age with 18.1 points and 8.0 rebounds
per game. In the Cyclones’ 77-61 loss
to Missouri on Feb. 8, Fizer scored 14
points and had 10 rebounds.
Against the Huskers on Jan. 30,
Fizer led all scorers with 16 points,
including 12 in the second half to lead
the Cyclone charge.
Nee said that once again, he’s hop
ing to have his team prepared for
whatever the Cyclones bring into
Lincoln.
NU looks
to recover
on road
■ Nebraska’s baseball
team will try to turn
around a 1-2 start.
By Adam Klinker
Senior staff writer
Something just didn’t add up last
weekend when the Nebraska baseball
team finished the Showdown in the
Desert Tournament in Peoria, Ariz.
The Cornhuskers went 1-2 and
hit .308 compared to the .343 mark
set by their opponents. NU dropped
two one-run games in the bottom of
the ninth inning.
Yet the Huskers still managed to
outscore their adversaries 23-22.
“We played well as a team,”
Husker third baseman Danny
Kimurasaid.
“But those hard losses in the
ninth, those take their toll.”
But the promise showed last week
is something NU is hoping manifests
itself in the victory column this
weekend in the Bone and Joint
Classic in Ruston, La.
The Huskers lead off this after
noon at 2 p.m. with Louisiana Tech.
The Bulldogs (0-2) are still searching
for their first victory of the season
after losses to Northwestern State
and Southwestern Louisiana.
La. Tech is bolstered by the bats
of second baseman Brian Myrow and
outfielder T.J. Soto. In 1998, Myrow
hit .337 with 21 home runs and 66
RBI. Soto slugged 19 homers and
racked up 51 RBI.
On Saturday, NU will take on the
Lamar Cardinals (4-0), a team that
has put its offense into high gear
early in the season with doublehead
er sweeps against Houston Baptist
and Prairie View A&M.
In their four games, the Cardinals
have outscored their opponents by a
count of 46-8, including a 23-0 victo
ry over Prairie View. They also are
hitting .402 as a team.
Sunday, the Huskers play a twin
bill with the Bulldogs and the
Cardinals.
Kimura said a bounce-back is
expected this weekend, especially to
give NU some momentum going into
the Feb. 19-21 Marriott West Loop
Invitational Tournament in which the
Huskers play second-ranked Rice.
“Our team is good,” Kimura said.
“We can bounce back and hopefully
we’ll pick up four this weekend.”
Huskers hope to end
road woes against KU
By Jay Saunders
Staffwriter
It’s no secret the Nebraska
women’s basketball team has had
trouble winning on the road this sea
son.
The last time the Cornhuskers
(16-8 overall and 5-6 in the Big 12
Conference) won away from the Bob
Devaney Sports Center was Dec. 28
against Kent.
Since then, NU has dropped six
consecutive road games, five of
which have been conference
matchups.
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Please see ROAD on 8
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