Sports
Huskers falter at meet;
UT claims Big 12 titles
By Sam McKewon
Senior editor
MANHATTAN, Kan. - Track
announcer turned into prophet midway
through Saturday’s session of the Big 12
Indoor Track Championships at Ward
Haylett Track.
In giving the team scores for the Big
12 women, the public address announc
er boomed that the defending national
champions, Texas, had only 8 points,
well behind Nebraska and just about
every other team.
“That,” he said, ‘"will change.”
And it did, in about the time it took
for the Longhorn women to run the 55
and 200 meters, which they dominated.
Culminating with Erin Aldrich’s win in
the high jump and their win in 4x400
relay, the UT women, who could win
the national title again, finished with
150 points, while NTJ was second with
94.5.
“Well, that’s why they’re defending
national champions,” NU Coach Gary
Pepin said, pointing out the track where
Texas did all of its damage. “Both the
women and the men have tremendous
teams.”
The Texas men also were victorious,
riding a 1-2-3 finish in the 55-meter
hurdles en route to scoring 113 points
for the title. NU finished fourth with
73.5 points, behind Colorado and
Baylor.
NU’s men’s performance was
marked by several disappointments.
Vince Brown, who came in ranked sec
ond in the 55-meters, re-aggravated a
hamstring injury and limped across the
finish line in the finals, finishing eighth.
Brandon Solt failed to make the finals
in the 55-meter hurdles as well.
Then there was NU high-jumper
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Lane Hickenbottom/DN
JUNIOR SHANE LAVY finished second in the high jump competition behind
Texas’s Mark Boswell. It was the first time this season Lavy had lost.
Matt Miller/DN
NU FRESHMAN MARTIN FOURNIER tries to stop from falling
off the parallel bars. The Huskers not only won the dual,
but also set a season-best team score.
Matt Miller/DN
AN NU GYMNAST, shown through a net, performs his horizontal bar routine
in the track area of the Bob Bevaney Sports Center on Sunday. The Huskers
outscored Iowa by more than V/z points on the high bar to clinch the dual
against the fourth-ranked team in the country.
Hardabura’s routine
pushes NU past Iowa
By John Gaskins
Staff writer
A slight verbal jab from Iowa gym
nast Todd Strada wasn’t the only thing
that got the Nebraska men’s gymnastics
team pumped to duel with the
Hawkeyes this weekend.
But it certainly added some fuel to
the flames of the border war. And the
Huskers caught fire on Sunday.
Catapulted by a season-best hori
zontal bar routine in the dual’s final
event, No. 8 Nebraska beat No. 4 Iowa
229-227.325 in front of a fired-up
crowd of862 at the Bob Devaney Sports
Center track arena.
NU’s highest team score of the sea
son boosted its record to 7-0 while Iowa
fell to 11-1 in its first loss in dual action
since 1997.
“This is a huge win for us,” Allen
said. “229’s a great score, plus we hit 80
percent of our routines, which is what I
said we needed to win.
“We’re off and running now. We’re
right where we need to be.”
Nebraska led Iowa the whole way,
but the Hawkeyes were chipping away
at a .625-lead going into the final rota
tion.
That’s when the Huskers sparked
themselves and the crowd with a 38.775
team-high bar performance and fin
ished off the Hawkeyes.
The hottest Husker was sophomore
Jason Hardabura, who won four of the
six events and came from a .025 deficit
before the high bar to edge Strada and
Please see GYM on 11
Tech guard
mils threes,
stops Huskers
■ In spite of injuries, fractures
and multiple braces, Texas Tech’s
Rene Hanebutt still cuts the
proverbial mustard against
Huskers’ zone defense.
By Jay Saunders
Staff writer
Rene Hanebutt looks like a walking
M*A*S*H* unit.
The Texas Tech senior guard has had two
ankle surgeries and is still recovering from a
stress fracture in her back.
Because of her more than 10 injuries over
the past four years, Hanebutt must wear braces
Texas Tech 73
Nebraska68
on both ot
her ankles
and knees.
None of it
seems to
attect her
jump shot.
On Sunday, Hanebutt led the No. 13 Red
Raiders with a career-high 33 points in her
team’s 75-62 win over the Nebraska women’s
basketball team.
“(Tech) Coach (Marsha) Sharp has given
me the green light,” Hanebutt said. “If I can see
the basket I will shoot it.”
Hanebutt, who hit seven of her 11 3-point
attempts, was responsible for 44 percent of
Tech’s points. Her first two 3-pointers came in
the first minute, fueling a Red Raider 14-0 run
to start the game.
The Huskers (17-10 overall and 6-8 in the
Big 12 Conference), opened the game playing
a 1-3-1 zone defense to try and stop center
Angie Braziel.
The defense shut down Braziel, but it left
Hanebutt licking her chops.
“I was pretty fired up because (the zone)
means I have more opportunities to shoot,”
Hanebutt said. “When teams run that, I am
going to make them pay.”
NU Coach Paul Sanderford told his team
Hanebutt would be the key to stopping the Tech
offense.
But while Hanebutt couldn’t miss, the
Huskers couldn’t find the bottom of the net. A
crowd of 10,221 at the Bob Devaney Sports
Center saw the Huskers shoot just 35 percent
from the field.
Scoring droughts haunted Nebraska in yet
another conference game. The Huskers didn’t
score for the first five minutes and six seconds
of the game. Another scoreless streak of 4:18
later in the half contributed to a 32-23 halftime
deficit.
“Our offensive efficiency and execution are
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