Matt Miller/DN
BREE DORITY, left, and Arica Lamb goof around in a meet earlier this sea
son. Dority, the Big 12 freshman of the year, and the rest of the Huskers
are the No. 2 seed in the NCAA Regional Meet at the Bob Devaney Sports
Michigan is top seed
in regionals Saturday
REGIONALS from page 8
tough out a recent injury, a stomach
muscle she tore Monday, and perform
in all four events.
“She’ll be a trooper,” Kendig said.
“Could we compete without her? If we
had to. I just hope we don’t have to.”
But Kendig isn’t immensely wor
ried about having to replace Oxford if
he had to. The Huskers, he said, are
eighnojanegymnasts dccpmcvery
event, and the alternates waiting in the
wings in case of an emergency will
pick up the slack.
The Huskers’ depth and current
win streak, in which they’ve set the
school record for team points at the
Big 12 Championships, was not
enough to gamer the No. 1 seed in their
six-team region. That title went to No.
4 Michigan, as the Huskers will be the
second seed.
Here s a look at the other live
teams:
■ No. 1 - Michigan. The
Wolverines (19-4) are coming off their
sixth Big Ten title in seven years and
are ranked in the top eight nationally in
all four events.
UM is 3-0 against the other region
al teams and is led by Big Ten all
around champion Lisa Simes, Nikki
Peters - who won the uneven bars with
a perfect 10 - and Grand Island native
Sarah Cain.
“This will be an exciting event for
Sarah to compete in front of her family
and friends,” Kendig said. “We are still
sick that we were unable to recruit her.”
■ No. 3 - Oklahoma. The
Sooners (16-6), ranked 22nd national
ly, are no strangers to the Huskers.
Nebraska defeated them both Feb. 5 in
Lincoln and at the Big 12s, where OU
finished third.
They are led by junior Amber
McCracken, the Big 12 gymnast of the
year and ninth-ranked gymnast in the
nation.
“I don’t think we should take them
lightly,” Kendig said. “They did not
have a good meet at the Big 12s.
Maybe that was best for them to get
their bad meet out of the way so they’ll
be ready for this one.”
■ No. 4-Arizona. The Wildcats,
ranked 25th nationally, will have the
advantage ofbeing the underdog spoil- -
ers.
Behind their 11-8-1 record and
No. 4 seed is a three-straight 195-point
performance and a shocking victory
over No. 7 Arizona State on March 26.
They are led by junior all-arounder
Maureen Kealey, ranked 24th national
ly
■ No. 5 - Illinois-Chicago. The
Flames (18-5-1) make only their third
NCAA regional appearance. Like NU
and Michigan, they are coming off a
conference title - the Midwestern
Intercollegiate Championships on
March 27.
The Huskers are the only team in
the region to beat the Flames this year,
on Feb. 13 at the Michigan State Invite.
■ No. 6 - Illinois. The Ulini (10-7
1) are led by the Big 10 balance beam
champion, sophomore Gina
Wiechmann, the first UI gymnast
since 1991 to win a conference title.
They’ll have the toughest moun
tain to climb, considering their 0-4-1
record against other region teams this
year.
Kendig said that despite the tough
ness of the region’s competition, with
three other top 25 teams, Nebraska
will only be worrying about them
selves.
“Like I’ve been saying all year,”
Kendig said. “If we hit our routines, we
should be fine.”
Husker gymnasts
make goal NCAAs
MEN from page 8
pretty dam good right now.”
If this season’s records mean any
thing, the Huskers, No. 7 Oklahoma
and No. 11 Brigham Young - the only
other team to beat NU this season
(March 6 in Provo) - should be the
shoe-ins for the NCAAs.
The Sooners, at 18-4-1, are led by
senior Todd Bishop, who won the 1998
NCAA high bar championship. BYU,
at 16-4-1 has the home floor advantage
and are led by All-American Guard
Young, who finished third behind
Hardabura for the MPSF all-around
title.
But that’s why they hold the meet.
No. 13 California, the -two-time
defending national champion, and No.
12 Stanford, who had its best perfor
mance of the season at the MPSFs,
will try to spoil NU, OU and BYU’s
party.
Baseball ready for OSU
By Adam Klinker
Senior staff writer
It’s another big series, another
home weekend.
The Nebraska baseball team will
host another nationally ranked Big 12
Conference foe this weekend in
Oklahoma State.
The series is a big one, not only for
the Comhuskers but for the Cowboys
as well. OSU and NU are ranked 25th
and 28th in the nation, respectively, and
both are scrapping for position in the
Big 12 race.
The Huskers are fifth in the confer
ence with an 8-4 record and are 21-9
overall. Oklahoma State is a close sixth
at 7-5 and 24-8 overall.
“I have a feeling it’s going to be a
dog fight,” NU Coach Dave Van Horn
said. “We need to play well and hold
our ground to build up some momen
tum for the stretch run, and they’re
going to want to do the same.”
And, Van Horn said, if the fight is
to go Nebraska’s way, the Huskers will
have to start going on the offensive
attack earlier than they have been.
In NU’s last four games - a three
game series lost at Texas A&M and a
comeback home win over Creighton -
Van Horn said the bats had waited until
Vanhorn
late in the game to
come alive.
Contrary to
the weekend
sweep of Texas
from March 26
28, when the
Huskers put the
heat on early and
kept it on, save for
one come-from
behind victory,
the team has
struggled lately, but van Horn said
things should pick up after the win over
CU.
“That was a good confidence
builder for us,” Van Horn said. “We’d
been in a bit of a funk there after A&M.
It gets us back into that winning feeling
and gives us some momentum into the
weekend.”
OSU will also be bringing its own
momentum into Lincoln as the
Cowboy offense boasts a starting line
up in which the lowest batting average
is .301.
Led by Lamont Mathews, with an
average of .417, 15 home runs and 60
RBI, Oklahoma State is averaging .345
as a team while scoring almost 13 per
contest.
The Cowboy pitching staff has also
been on the ball, holding opposing hit
ters to a marie of .236 and allowing just
under four runs per game.
“They’re a very well-rounded
team,” NU shortstop Brandt Vlieger
said. “They’ve got good pitching, and
they’ve been swinging the bats lately.
But we just need to relax, trust our
selves and know that we’re going to put
runs on the board too.”
One thing the Huskers can trust for
now is the home-field advantage. At
Buck Bej^fczer Field this season,
Nebraska is 11-0, including the sweep
over UT and the NCAA record-setting
performance in a 50-3 win over
Chicago State.
Van Horn said he hoped the series
would be a bigger one for NU, being at
home, but is wary that the Cowboys are
also trying to make their move as the
halfway point of the conference season
approaches.
“Both teams are in the same situa
tion - we both need to have a big week
end,” Van Horn said.
Softball digs in for homestand
By Brandon Schulte
Staff writer
The Nebraska softball team will
have the advantage of playing in the
friendly confines of the NU Softball
Complex as it faces Oklahoma and
Oklahoma State in the first double
header weekend of its 11 -game home
stand.
Starting last night with a 1 -0 victo
ry over Creighton, the team will have
the opportunity to improve on its 18
H overall and 2-2 conference marks
during the extended home stay.
Currently sixth in the Big 12
Conference, a good showing could
help NU jockey for position in its
quest to defend last year’s conference
championship.
“To me, beginning with
Creighton, this homestand is the criti
cal part of the season because it’s our
only homestand,” Coach Rhonda
Revelle said.
There will be an increased level of
urgency Saturday when the No. 11
Sooners come to town. Oklahoma
boasts a 30-9 record and sits atop the
Big 12 standings with a 3-0 record.
OU has a balanced attack led by
pitcher Jennifer Stewart and first
baseman Lynette Velazquez. Stewart
has 12-2 record with a 1.56 eamed
run average, while Velazquez is hitting
.379 with 12 long balls and 39 RBIs.
Nevertheless, Husker pitcher
Jenny Voss said the team expected to
win.
«—
I think Oklahoma will come in feeling
more pressure than we will
Jenny Voss
pitcher
“I think Oklahoma will come in
feeling more pressure than we will,”
Voss said. “They wanted to beat us so
bad every time ^e met last year, and I
think they have that pressure riding on
their shoulders.”
Oldahoma State enters the series
at 14-15,0-2, including a 3-2 win over
Nebraska at the Capital Classic.
OSU gets it done at the plate with
8 players hitting at or above .300 for
the year. Jaime Foutch has been a
tough out this year, hitting at a .409
clip.
During an off week before the cur
rent homestand, Revelle made several
tweaks for the stretch run.
The first was a the conscious
effort to save Voss’ arm. The past two
seasons she pitched an incredible
635.2 innings compared to 92.0 this
year.
With the emergence of freshman
Leigh Ann Walker, NU has decided to
have Walker start the first game of the
doubleheader, .with Voss ready to
come on in relief and then to have Voss
pitch the second game.
“I remember back to Voss’ fresh
man year when we played OU about
the same time of year, and by the end
of the day she was green because we’d
thrown her so much,” Revelle said.
“She’s in a much better situation going
into the second half of the season than
she ever has been, and I really think
that will help us down the stretch.
The second move was to shift
freshman Leigh Suhr to the ninth spot
in the order to protect Jennifer
Lizama.
“We were trying to get more spac
ing between our slappers,” Revelle
said. “We didn’t have much to protect
Lizama.”
The strategy paid off against
Creighton as Suhr delivered a game
winning RBI double against
Creighton.
Suhr knows she and the rest of her
teammates will have to come up big
again this weekend.
“These series are huge,” Suhr said.
“This weekend could put us in a good
spot in the Big 12. Our main goal is to
win the Big 12, if we take care of busi
ness, I think we can come away with
what we want.”
Track and field team heads for Texas
■ The Huskers go into
the meet in El Paso as the
No. 2 squad in outdoor
dual competition.
By Josh Camenzind
Staff writer
El Paso, Texas, will be the desti
nation Saturday for the Nebraska
men’s and women’s track and field
teams.
NU will be competing in the
Sierra-Providence Invitational while
decathlete Casey Thom will be head
ed for Emporia, Kan., to compete in
the decathlon at the Emporia State
Multi-Events.
The Huskers travel to Texas
ranked second nationally on both the
men’s and women’s side for outdoor
dual competition.
Scott Warren will look to contin
ue his dominance in the javelin, as he
comes back from a week off due to
illness. Warren has broken his own
school record in every meet that he
has competed in thus far. Junior Cory
Lehman, who transferred from
Hutchinson (Kan.) Community
College, is quickly becoming a con
sistent scorer for the team. He has a
season-best throw of234 feet, 5 inch
es at the Jim Click Shootout that qual
ified him provisionally for Nationals.
In the high jump, Shane Lavy has
been a solid performer, while fresh
man Shaun Kologinczak has been a
pleasant surprise. Kologinczak
jumped .6-11 3A at the Clemson
Invitational last week for an NCAA
provisional mark.
Stella Klassen is ranked third in
the nation in the 400 meters with a
time of 53.38 seconds. She is also
part of the 4x400 meter relay team
that is ranked 11th in the nation.
Dalhia Ingram is ranked eighth in the
nation in the triple jump after jump
ing 42-6 Va.
The throwing events have been
very successful for the Husker
women as Cassi Morelock has auto
matically qualified in the javelin as
well as Melissa Price in the hammer
throw. Morelock threw 175-1 for her
marie, and Price came through with a
throw of 195-10. NU will look to
improve on those marks this weekend
as Becky Beachler and Erin Wibbels
have both qualified provisionally in
the shot put and hammer, respective
ly
Sophomore sprinter Lesley
Owusu has been honored as one of
300 participants in the third annual
NCAA Foundation Leadership
Conference. The Berkshire, England,
native will travel to Lake Buena
Vista, Fla., on May 31 to partake in
the five-day event.
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