her potential
INGRAM from page 9
season goals, one of which became
a reality when she jumped 21-4 in
the long jump at the Sierra
Providence Invitational. Her new
goal for the long jump is 21-10, and
she hopes to jump 44 feet in the
triple this season.
“My triple jump is stuck in the
42 (feet) zone,” Ingram said. “But
my long jump is getting better.
Whenever I am doing good in one, I
don’t do good in the other.”
There are long-term goals, too.
Ingram would like to be mentioned
among the best in NU history, if not
as the best.
“I think if I could just get all the
technical things down, I believe I
can jump 46 feet,” Ihgram said.
Ingram is benefiting from train
ing with former NU triple jumper
and national champion Renita
Robinson. Robinson is ranked No. 2
on the Husker all-time list, while
Ingram is No. 3. Ingram is also
ranked No. 3 in the long jump.
“I can’t even explain how I feel
about her,” Ingram said. “I love that
she is here and she has helped me so
much. She is very good with her
technique and a great person to
work with as well; she has really
helped with the mental part of my
game.”
Coach Gary Pepin foresees
great things ahead for Ingram if she
continues to practice hard.
“She has the potential to
become bfte''dffhe better ones Ave
have ever had here,” Pepin said.
“She works hard and is a great com
petitor.
“But she has quite a ways to go.
I don’t believe she has even come
close to her potential yet.”
Ingram admits that her true love
is the triple jump and that the long
jump is just an event that she com
petes in for team points. Still, she is
the defending Big 12 long jump
champion in the outdoor season and
most recently won the indoor title in
February.
And there’s motivation for
Ingram wanting to win beyond just
the glory.
“I really want to defend my Big
12 championship because of Kim
McGruder from Texas,” Ingram
said. “I just can’t let her beat me.”
Both were at the Big 12 outdoor
meet last season when McGruder’s
name was called to compete.
“We were checking in for the
long jump,” Ingram said. “And the
guy was calling our names and he
called her (McGruder) and said ‘I
am surprised that there is only one
of you because Texas usually has a
lot of competitors.’ She said, ‘It only
takes one,’ and I can’t believe she
said that. So for me, those were like
fighting words.”
Along with defending the long
jump title, she would also like to
66
“My dad died when I
was six, and just to
know that he would
be so proud of me is
a great motivation
and inspiration.”
Dalhia Ingram
NU field athlete
win the triple and give herself the
chance to join an elite group of
three-time All-Americans at NU.
Last season Ingram was slowed
by tendinitis in her knee. She still
experiences some aches and pain in
the knee, but for the most part she is
healthy.
“I mostly now have to worry
about my back and ankle,” Ingram
said. ‘‘But those are just injuries
involved with my sport because of
its nature.”
Size has always been a point of
humor for Ingram, as she is shorter
than most competitors.
“People come up to me and say,
‘You’re the triple jumper?’” Ingram
said. “Because they’re not expect
ing it to be me because I am so
small. It used to bother me that I
was the shortest one, but now it’s
obvious that ! have enoughipower in j -
my legs to get me out there; I now
find it kind of funny.”
Pepin agrees: “The national
champion last year is shorter than
Dalhia, so I do not think it (height)
makes much of a difference, but it
might if she makes it to the next
level.” ;
The next level and international
competition is at least two years
away for Ingram. If that does not
come around, she would like to be a
teacher, as her major is family sci
ence.
“I just love kids and I would like
to teach someday,” Ingram said.
“But I would also like to continue
training as long as I can, until I am
old and gray.” f >
As one of the top-ranked
jumpers in the country in her junior
season, potential is the key word for
Ingram.
“She has one year still left, so
most of the goals that I have for her
this season are based on practice,”
Pepin said. “I don’t ever worry
about her competing, but the keys
for Dalhia will be staying healthy,
getting stronger and working on
technique.”
“(Robinson) has taught me a
lot,” said Ingram. “But the most
important thing might be that if you
put your mind to it and work hard,
anything you want to happen will.”
Brink has more fun in 1999
• • • • ^ II
despite injuries, rough season
BRINK from page 9
“bad” loud plenty, as well.
Behind Brink’s smiles, laughter
and volume has been a rocky career
that has taken a heavy toll on her emo
tions.
“She carries the team, whether she
wants to admit it or not,” sophomore
Stacie Sizer said. “When die is up, the
whole team is up. Of course, when
she’s down, the whole team’s down.
“And there is no in-between.”
Brink’s problems have never been
in competition. As a freshman, she
burst onto the scene, winning the Big
12 newcomer of the year. As a sopho
more, she set three of the five school
records in events and in the all-around,
won the Big 12 title and regional title,
and qualified individually for nation
als.
But when Brink came to'Nebraska
as its most prolific recruit ever in 1997,
she wasn’t exactly a happy camper, nor
the team player that Kendig expects his
gymnasts to be.
xjui mey naa to cui ner some siacK.
After all, Brink had been one year
removed from competition after quit
ting her run at the Olympics.
She had trained in Oklahoma City
under U.S. National Team Assistant
Coach Steve Nunno with the best
young gymnasts in the nation for 5lA
years. That was 5'A years of eight-hour
training days, six days a week. That
experience carried over into Brink’s
demeanor at NU.
“Her freshman year, she never
cracked a smile,” Ohlendorf said. “She
was still stuck in the club mode, very
individualized. Some days were hard to
have her in the gym. She was loud,
intense, stubborn, didn’t like what she
was doing, had a big attitude.”
“I was only doing college gymnas
tics to pay me through school,” Brink
said. “You could say I was burnt out”
It took time for Brink to realize that
elite, Olympic-level gymnastics and
college gymnastics were two different
beasts, especially when competing for
Kendig.
“We knew what kind of a gymnast
she was and we were excited to get her,
yes,” Kendig said. “But everyone who
comes here knows from day one that
everything they do is for the team, not
for themselves.”
“The team is the star,” Assistant
Coach Rob Drass said. “I think
Heather’s matured a lot since she real
ized that”
So what happened to Brink? Quite
simply, she tightened up.
“The team and Dan taught me to
have fun,” Brink said. “It is nice to
come here everyday knowing this is
going to be fun, not a punishment.”
And although she repeated her Big
12 title this season, Brink has not lived
up to her record-breaking 1998 season.
She was out for two weeks in the
middle of the season with a sore
Achilles tendon. She finished a disap
pointing sixth at the Regional in
Lincoln after falling off the uneven
bars, an event she won last year. Some
would think Brink’s peaked, that her
best days are behind her.
But, emotionally, she couldn’t be
happier. In fact, Brink’s much happier
Strong hitting gives NU two wins
SWEEP from page 9
“It’s that time of year where we
should be at the top of our game,” Van
Horn said. “This type of game gives
guys some chances to work on some
things.”
Wednesday’s doubleheader gave
the Huskers a chance to step out of
conference. This weekend, NU hosts
Big 12 Conference foe Missouri for a
three-game series.
Both Stern and Van Horn said the
games against the Leathernecks gave
Nebraska a ehance to relax.
“In the conference,” Stern said,
“guys get so uptight.
“This allows us to get the bats|
going for this weekend.”
The bats had no problem getting
going against Western Illinois, or for
the majority of the season.
Junior Ken Harvey hit his 16th
home run of the year in the first
inning of game two. Designated hitter
Jeff Hedman also homered in the sec
ond half of the doubleheader
“It is exciting to see us hit the ball
like this,” Stem said. “Guys are just
pounding the ball.”
u
We hit the ball up
-
and down the lineup.
We hit the ball hard
even when we i
made outs”
Dave Van Horn
NU coach
than she was at this time last year, when
she was gearing up for nationals as an
individual.
At last year’s nationals, where
Brink solidified her second consecu
tive season of All-American status by
finishing 14th on the vault, she was not
accompanied by her teammates
because the team failed to qualify. It
changed her routines. She felt alone out
on the floor, and she didn’t like it
“They help so much when you’re
out there. They’re cheering, they’re
confident in me, they’re performance
is what gets you into the routine. Then
all of a sudden it got stripped from me.”
Senior Courtney Brown accompa
nied Brink on the trip to nationals last
year. She, too, saw the change in the
Lincoln native.
“I think that was the turning point
for Heather,” Brown said. “She hated
coming in to practice alone in the gym
when everyone else was done with the
season.” | %
But after evolving into the team
prankster she is today, Brink ran into an
unexpected road block this season after
two seasons of dominance - injury. She
became a spectator. She hurt her
Achilles tendon midway through the
season and had to sit out two meets.
And although it would have been
easy to predict the Huskers would suf
fer without her presence, NU didn’t
miss a beat. Its scores improved over
the next two meets, and that’s when
Brink realized something.
“That showed they aren’t depen
dent on me, that it’s just not up to me to
carry the team,” Brink said. “Those
two meets boosted their confidence
more than anything.”
* Said Kendig: “Of course you never
want an athlete injured. But I think that
was good for both Heather and the
“That made them work harder to
stay on top of things without her, and
she realized that for the first time in her
career here that she had to come back
and compete just to get in the lineup. It
pushed everybody.”
Not that her comeback went unno
ticed. After other gymnasts such as
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Laurie McLaughlin, Courtney Brown
and Misty Oxford basked in the spot
light during her first three meets back,
Brink got back to the winner’s circle
against Iowa State on March 20 and
then again the next week, sharing it
with Oxford, at the Big 12s.
But the unlikely and shocking slip
on the bars at the Regional could have
hurt both her chances and the team’s.
But Brink kept going, sticking her fol
lowing beam and floor routines as
Nebraska recovered and went on to
qualify for die NCAA Championships.
And now that it’s over and Brink
made it through that incident, she can
do what she never used to be able to -
laugh about it.
“Maybe I should just start bombing
all my routines,” Brink said. “Do it reg
ularly so we can come back.”
Kendig doesn’t think that would
happen. He thinks Brink, after a turbu
lent season full of ups and a lot of
downs, is ready.
“I don’t have any doubt that
Heather is capable of winning (the
individual all-around),” Kendig said.
“She’s very gifted, has a lot of power
and dynamics.”
But Brink doesn’t need to win for
herself. It’s the team she’s more con
cerned with now, which reflects the
360-degree change in her attitude.
“In college gymnastics, you feel
like a big, old lady,” Brink said loudly,
causing some erupting laughs from
surrounding teammates.
“I’ve enjoyed college gymnastics a
lot. I think I really would have missed it
if I wouldn’t have done it.”
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