Depth helps NU
for Masters Classic
By John Gaskins
Staff writer
It is becoming a world of
Darwinism at the Nebraska women’s
gymnastics team’s practices and meets
lately - only the fittest survive.
The team is deep in every event,
causing constant changes in the lineup,
not to mention stiff competition in prac
tice, where every hit and every fall
count for the next meet
Such competition has enabled the
team to notch a No. 7 national ranking,
two straight season-high scores and
wins at four straight meets, a perfect
momentum swing to be in when they
play host to the 10th annual Masters
Classic at the Bob Devaney Sports
Center on Sunday at 1 p.m.
The Huskers will take on No. 8
Arizona State, No. 24 Maryland, and
California. They are going for their fifth
straight title in what is considered one
of the premiere meets in NCAA
women’s gymnastics.
“I think we’re such a deep team
because we didn’t graduate anybody
from last year,” NU Head Coach Dan
Kendig said, “and, at the same time,
brought in some freshmen who are
making great contributions for us.”
“Yes, it has gotten pretty competi
tive here, but that’s only making the
girls push each other to do better.”
They’ll have to be doing a lot of
pushing this weekend. The Sun Devils
come into Lincoln as one of the nation’s
best teams, having finished sixth at last
year’s NCAA Championships.
“I’m glad we’re going up against
some great teams,” Kendig said. “If we
had three easy teams, there would be no
challenge, ami that wouldn’t do us any
good.”
Senior Courtney Brown earned Big
12 gymnast of the week honors with her
victories in the floor exercise and bal
anee beam Monday night in N U s victo
ry over Oregon State and B YU. She also
scored a career best on die vault with a
9.875, finishing second in the event
“She’s been earning that kind of
respect all year,” Kendig said. “Her con
fidence is up as always.
“TruthfUlly, I thought we’d get co
players of the week from Courtney and
(senior) Misty (Oxford).”
Kendig may be right. The senior
All-American Oxford has the numbers
to back him up, as she won her fourth
career all-around tide Monday, her first
this season.
Right on Oxford’s heels in the all
around was junior Nicole Wilkinson.
Wilkinson is currently ranked 7th in the
nation in the event and also 14* on the
balance beam. One name has been
missing from NU’s stellar all-around
assault: junior All-American Heather
Brink, who has been hampered with ai
Achilles injury and missed the last two
events.
Regardless, Kendig said, the three
all-arounders, Brink, Oxford and
Brown, shouldn’t get distracted by the
fact that they each have shots at winning
every time out
In other gymnastics news:
The No. 8 men Is team, coming off a
huge victory over No. 4 Iowa on
Sunday, will travel to Norman, Okla., to
take on the No. 7 Sooners tonight at 7
pan.
It will be the third meeting between
the teams this season. The Huskers
defeated the Sooners both at the Rocky
Mountain Open in Colorado Springs on
Jan. 23 and in Lincoln on Feb. 3.
JasonHardabura, who won the all
around title against Oklahoma in
Lincoln and is coming off a national
best 58.15 performance against the
Hawkeyes, will lead NU who will be in
Norman again March 26-27 for the
Mountain Pacific Sports Federation
conference championships.
NU faces
ranked foes
at tourney
By Brandon Schulte
Staff writer
The Nebraska softball team will
take on a host of high caliber oppo
nents at the NFCA Lead Off Classic
in Columbus, Ga, this weekend.
The tournament will consist of a
day-and-a-half of round-robin play
and over a day of tournament compe
tition.
Including the No. 8
Corahuskers, six ofthe top ten teams
wiU be at the tournament, along with
more than halfofthe top 25 teams, as
13 will be presort at the classic.
Top-ten ranked teams participat
ing at the classic include No. 1
Fresno State, No. 4 Washington, No.
5 Michigan, No. 9 Louisiana State
and No. 10 Massachusetts.
In the pool-play competition, the
Huskers will first face No. 21
Florida State (5-5), a team that they
defeated 4-1 on Feb. 13.
Next, No. 11 De Paul (4-2) will
take on NU. The team is lead by a
solid pitching stafi£ which has given
up an eamed-run average of 1.00 for
the season.
Colorado State steps to foe {date -
last against Nebraska.
As always, the women will be
lead by All-American junior pitcher
. Jenny \bss who is coming off of Big
12 Co-Pitcher offoe Week honors.
In the first tournament of the
year, foe Fiesta Bowl Tournament,
Voss pitched three complete games,
for a 3-0 record, and allowed only
one earned run over the span for a
037 ERA.
Junior Jennifer Lizama will try
to keep her hot hitting alive for foe
Huskers. She brought the wood to
bear to the tune of a .462 average at
foe Fiesta Bowl Tournament.
NU sends athletes
to NCAA qualifier
ByJoshCamenzind
Staff writer
The Nebraska track team will be
sending participants to two different
meets this weekend.
Six Comhuskers will be compet
ing at the USA Indoor Championships
in Atlanta, while 21 others will try to
gain marks good enough for the
NCAA Championships at the Iowa
State Last Chance Qualifier in Ames.
The six athletes competing at die
Indoor Championships will include
Shane Lavy in the high jump; Dalhia
Ingram in the long jump; Lesley
Owusu, Cheryl Hannon, Stella
Klassen and Seneik Saavedra - who
all make up the 4x400 meter relay
team.
Hannon said he was looking for
ward to traveling to Atlanta and com
peting against other top-notch athletes.
“I don’t know about place-wise,
but I think our time will be good
enough to qualify for nationals there,”
Harmon said. “I think we will be
ready, and our fresh legs will help out a
lot”
Those competing in Ames will be
doing so with a disappointing finish at
last weekend’s Big 12 Championships
as motivation.
Head Coach Gary Pepin praised
the high level of competition at that
meet, but also relayed a general tone of
disappointment around die team.
“I think some of our athletes kind
of got a rude awakening,” Pepin said.
Huskers need road win
QUEST from page 7
once this season.
It will also involve winning back
to-back games, which the Huskers
haven’t done since eariy January.
“I think this win will carry to
Oklahoma,” senior Monet Williams
said. “If we do the same things
Satunby, Oklahoma State is going to
have problems guarding us.”
Oklahoma State dropped to 4-11
in the conference with an overtime
In—
Sanderfbid said Nebraska will go
to the Big Dance if they can finish
.500 in the conference. The Huskers
would move to 8-8 in the Big 12 with a
win at Stillwater.
“I just want to win eight games
and let the damn committee worry
about it,” Sanderfbrd said. “That .500
is a magic figure.”
Not only could an NCAA tourna
ment berth be on the line, but a victory
could get the Huskers rolling into the
Big 12 tournament
it
If we can win
Saturday, it gives us
some momentum
going into the
(conference)
tournament”
Paul Sanderfoed
NU coach
A successful showing in the con
ference tournament, which starts
Tuesday in Kansas City, could allevi
ate any doubt as to an NCAA berth for
theHuskers.
“If we can win Saturday,”
Sanderford said, “it gives us some
momentum going into the (confer
ence) tournament”
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NU tennis
to take on
UT, Tech
■ The Huskers want to
shut down the No. 6
Longhorns Sunday.
By Jake Bleed
Staff writer
It’s redemption time for the
Nebraska women’s tennis team.
The Huskers will travel south
this weekend to meet two Big 12
conference rivals in Texas Tech
and Texas.
The Red Raiders (3-5 over
all, 1-2 in the Big 12) handed
NU two 5-4 losses last season
including one in last year’s con
ference tournament.
Texas Tech beat Iowa State
7-2 in Lubbock. Bid Texas Tech
is just the weekend’s appetizer.
The weekend’s main course
will be served Sunday when No.
66 NU meets No. 6 Texas in
Austin.
NU will go into the week
end’s matches following a
strong victory over in-state rival
Creighton 9-0 Wednesday.
No. 2 singles freshman
Katarina Balan and No. 3 sin
gles sophomore Ndalr Ijomah
lead the team with 4-2 records.
No. 1 singles Sandra Noetzel,
who missed a number of prac
tices last week, will be back and
in good shape for this weekend's
match.
The menfe tennis team plays
Southern Methodist and Texas
Arlington this weekend.
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