MattMiller/DN
ABOVE: GRANT CUN
TON REACHES for the
horizontal bar.
RIGHT: SENIOR JIM
KOZIOL earned All
American status
with a sixth-place
finish on the still
rings In the individ
ual championships
Saturday night at
the Devaney Sports
Center.
NU gymnasts
pick up third
By John Gaskins
Staff writer
As they intensely watched each
individual teammate fight for every last
point in the final event of Friday’s
NCAA Men’s Gymnastics team
Championships, members of the
Nebraska gymnastics team were quiet
ly smiling.
But they couldn’t help but notice
members of Michigan’s bench right
next to them celebrate in chaos as the
Wolverines closed out a runaway
national team title and wonder if it
could have been them.
Instead, Michigan, a program that
went winless just three years ago and
had suffered four consecutive losing
seasons before this year, capped off one
of the most remarkable comebacks in
college sports by taking an early lead
and never relinquishing it on NU’s
home floor, the Bob Devaney Sports
Center.
The Wolverines scored an NCAA
team season high Z32.550 points to bet
ter second-place Ohio State (230.850).
The Huskers finished their season as
die nation’s third-best team (229.600).
“I said in order to beat them, we
needed to get on them early, but we did
n’t,” Nebraska Head Coach Francis
Allen said.
“Michigan got hot and stayed hot
ail night. We started breathing down.
«
We started breathing
down their neck but
they wouldn’t fall
apart. We didn’t have
a chance.”
Francis Allen
NU gymnastics coach
their neck, but they wouldn’t fall apart.
We didn’t have a chance.”
Michigan Coach Kurt Golder, who
had the advantage of picking his team’s
event order by virtue of their highest
team qualifying score from Thursday’s
qualifying meet, picked the pommel
horse to start the meet. •>
It was a surprise considering it
allowed NU to go in its usual order of
floor exercise first and high bar, their
best event, last, which had allowed the
Huskers to come from behind and beat
top competition all season long, espe
cially on their home floor.
But Golder apparently knew what
he was doing. The pick allowed his
team to finish on their most powerful
event, the vault, in which they led the
Please see NCAA on 14
■MSB*
Hardabura captures
floor championship
■ Blake Buckacek gets
second on the horizontal
bars for Nebraska.
By Darren Ivy
Senior staff writer
As a child, Nebraska junior gym
nast Blake Bukacek would arrive at
the Bob Devaney Sports Center after
school each day and train at the
Nebraska School of Gymnastics.
He watched Jim Hartung, Phil
Cahoy and all the other great NU
gymnasts of the early 1980s and
dreamed that someday he would have
the success they did.
Saturday at the Devaney Center
during the NCAA Championships
Bukacek took his first step toward
greatness by finishing second on the
horizontal bar with a score df9.8375.
And this time it was the former NU
gymnasts who were in the stands
watching him.
“It’s a special feeling knowing
they are up there watching,” Bukacek
said. “I still don’t consider myself in
their level.
“Hopefully next year I will be up
there with those guys.”
Bukacek wasn’t the only NU
gymnast who had success.
Sophomore Jason Hardabura and
senior Jim Koziol also earned All
American honors for the
Comhuskers on Saturday night dur
ing the NCAA Championships indi
vidual competition.
NU Coach Francis Allen was
pleased with the outcomes.
“I had 155 All-Americans before
the meet,” Allen said. “Now I have a
whole bunch more.”
Please see HARDABURA on 14
7 (. " *
Miscues haunt Nebraska in losses to Missouri
By Sam McKewon
Senior editor
Things went sour for the Nebraska baseball
team in a 7-1 drubbing at the hands of Missouri on
Saturday. They didn’t get a whole lot sweeter on
Sunday.
Despite scoring five runs in the final two
innings, the Comhuskers dropped their second
game in a row to the Tigers, this time losing 9-7 in
a rain-delayed contest Sunday at Buck Beltzer
Field.
It was the first time this season NU (30-13
overall and 13-8 in the Big 12 Conference) lost a
series at home. Mizzou, which came into die series
winning eight of its last nine, moved to 28-15 and
10-11.
After Nebraska escaped with a 8-7, extra
inning win on Friday, Missouri pummeled NU on
Saturday. The Tigers’ Chris George got the com
plete game win, a game that left NU Coach Dave
Van Horn seething afterward and questioning his
team’s character and commitment to fundamen
tals.
Sunday, the Huskers gave the effort that Van
Horn wanted but lacked execution in critical spots.
“We played hard, as hard as we had played in
about two weeks,” Van Horn said. “But every time
we made amistake, Missouri took advantage of it.”
The most glaring miscue came in the top of the
eighth inning with Nebraska and Missouri tied at
two, after J.R. Warner, the Tiger right fielder who
had been 0-13 in the series, doubled offNU starter
Scott Fries down the right field line to score W.T.
Hoover. Out went Fries and in came Jerod
Bearinger.
With Warner at second and two outs, Bearinger
forced MU batter Jake Epstein into a grounder to
third. But Husker third baseman Danny Kimura
hobbled the ball, failing to make a throw.
Jon Williams singled in Warner. Epstein scored
on a wild pitch. Wiliams and Tiger Ryan Stegall
scored when Aaron Wilson doubled them in. The
error opened up the gates for four more runs and
left MU up 6-2.
“That isn’t the first time it’s happened,” Van
Horn said of Kimura’s error. “It’s frustrating for
Danny, and it’s frustrating for the team.”
Nebraska came back in the bottom half of the
eighth, scoring three runs to cut the lead to 6-5.
Kimura ended that inning with a strikeout.
Missouri pounced again, this time off NU
pitcher Brandon Penas. Penas gave up five hits and
Please see BASEBALL on 14