Thursday, September 9,1999 Page 9
Coach confident with rookie runner
Transfer from England, Brooks, brings talent to Nebraska squad
By Joshua Camenzind
Staff writer
_
When Michelle Brooks arrived in
Omaha from England, she had never
run in a cross country meet or even
competed at the collegiate level.
But those two facts, combined^
with the hectic road she has traveled >
to get to Lincoln, have not discour- ■£
aged the Cornhusker coaching staff '
and the plans they have for the 22
year-old graduate student from
Lancaster University.
Cross Country Coach Jay Dirksen
smiled from ear to ear last season
when describing Brooks after NU
announced the 1999 recruiting class. •%
Now that she is here, the smile is even J
bigger. y
“She is going to be one of our^
front-runners this season,” Dirksen ||
said. “She has trained a lot in volume. ’
and she has laid a pretty good founda
tion to build on.” §j
Since England has no university^
athletics, Brooks competed for a club ^
team throughout college. n
“They were called the Preston^
Harriers, and we just competed jj
against other clubs from around the 3
area,” Brooks said.
As an 18-year-old, she was pur-,
sued by Harvard and Brigham Young, .
among other schools. Brooks said |
that at the time, she “just was not?
interested” and wanted to pursue her^
law degree in England. H
The team atmosphere at Nebraska?
has been a welcome change for'
Brooks and is just the fit she needed
at this time in her life.
“It has been nice to have people to
train with because I am used to train-s|
ing a lot by myself,” Brooks said. “All .
of my teammates have been great and i
everybody is really nice so far.” &
Dirksen says that Brooks is very'
easy to get along with and a “very
nice girl.” £
Everything seems nice and
smooth at this point, but there were'
some bumps along the way.
Her original intent was to arrive
I mmm m m m a I
From staff reports •„ «
For the third straight day, Correll
Buckhalter was absent from football^
practice Wednesday, and following die
workout, Nebraska CoacVPrank?
mmrnmmm ?°llch !ai? H
| nau yeiau near
| from his third
| stringi-back.
Buckhalter’s
| roommate, I
| back Dahrran
I™ Diedrick, said
Buckhalter was
pondering a
BucklnttSf transfer or red
shirt season.
“Nothing is 100 percent,” said
Diedrick, who would be moved from
fourth to third string if Buckhalter
does not return. “He’s going to have to
talk to Coach Solich sometime.”
Solich said he had expected to hear
from Buckhalter earlier in the week.
“I don’t know a great deal about
the situation with Cornell” Solich said.
“I’ve tried to reach him on several
occasions and have been unsuccessful
with that. I understand he is coming in
to talk, but as of yet, we have not seen
him.
“I wouldn’t rule out anything, but,
listed ahead
depth chart released prior to die first
game.
Buckhalter was unavailable to
comment.
Ruth Buckhalter, Correll
Buckhalter’s mother, had yet to hear
from her son as of late Wednesday
night
“The parents have been contact
ed,” Solich said. “I believe he’s proba
bly being encouraged by everyone to
come in and visit.”
Even Diedrick, who will likely
move up on the depth chart with die
loss, said he hoped Buckhalter decides
to remain with the Comhuskers.
“I wish Correll was still out there -
being my roommate and all,” Diedrick
said. “He is one of my best friends, and
I don’t want to see him be gone.”
NateWagner/DN1 '
from England, will begin her cross country career Sept. 18 in the Woody/Groeno Invitational at Pioneers Park.
on campus two weeks before school
started to get settled in andused to the
jieai. Bjit there were some mishaps
with her university registration
because £ form was not sent in time,
which did not allow her to get a visa
in tune to board her plane,
r. Brooks eventually^gj-rived on
campus on Aug. 28, three weeks later
fern she had planned.
; “It has not been too bad catching
iq>iuay classes because everyone
has been really helpful,” Brooks said.
“It has just been hard to get settled
1—:-:— 1 I
in.”
Brooks is no stranger to a hectic
lifestyle. She was married Aug. 6 to
Paul Brooks. Paul is taking classes on
East Campus to earn his master’s
degree.
Brooks’ wedding plans took place
while she was finishing up finals so
she could get her law degree from
Lancaster University.
Because she is a graduate student
studying fur her master’s degree in
athletic administration, she has only
one year of eligibility remaining
under NCAA rules.
What she does after she graduates
and uses her eligibility is up in the
air, but she would like to stay in the
United States and possibly pursue a
career in sports law. The future will
include one purchase for the couple
for sure.
“We have to get a car,” Brooks
said. “Lincoln is not like England
where you can just walk to the store.”
Overall, Brooks said she likes
what she has seen of Lincoln.
“I visited here in April and really
liked it,” Brooks said. “The weather is
really nice, just not nice to run in.”
The heat has been a problem for
Brooks, who is not used to Nebraska’s
humidity.
“Her first day of practice was real
tough,” Dirksen said. “She is used to
doing a lot of training, so we just told
her to take it easy for the first week
until she adjusts.”
Adjusting has been something
Please see BROOKS on 10
By John Gaskins
Staff writer
Call Kim Behrends a fighter. Call
her3&ole player.
Call her a player that always seems
to come into a match for the
Comhuskers at the right time and pro
vides the earth-shattering kill that
turns around a game - like she did
when she pounded a career-high 10
kills against top-ranked Penn State
two weeks ago.
She doesn’t mind being called
those things.
But whatever you do, don’t ever
remind the junior outside hitter what
she used to be called: The second-best
high school volleyball player in the
nation.
That’s what Volleyball Magazine
called Behrends after her senior year
of high school in 1996, when she
came from out of nowhere, almost lit
erally - Class D-l Chappell, to be
exact - and wowed recruiters from all
overtftecountry with her attacking
ability.
One oftfcoserecraiters was
Nebraska Head Coach Terry Pettit,
who had one word to offer when asked
what Behrends brings to the court.
“Heat,” Pettit said.
“She hits the ball harder than any
body,” he said. “(She’s) a real hard
commodity to
I iina in women s
volleyball - a
I player who just
physically can
swing in a man
§ ner and be phys
ical enough to
■ uuiiiiuaic, even
IflHHBHHHjvhen every
Bihrandf body knows the
ball is going to
her.”
Behrends turned down many
scholarship offers to walk on for Pettit
and her home-state’s famed power
house. And although she is finally
becoming a force in the Husker
offense, tie ride has been far from
smooth.
The bumps started right out of die
gates as a freshman, when so many
people expected so much out of a
player-of-the-year runner-up.
Behrerids gave a quick laugh and
scowl when she was asked about it
“I hated that,” Behrends said.
“That put a lot of pressure on me, and
some tough times passed my fresh
man year and sophomore year. I didn’t
handle it well.”
Behrends wasn’t die big gun any
more, and it got to her. She remem
bers her freshman year - die practices
that took forever, the sitting on the
bench and watching fellow freshmen
Angie Oxley and Nancy Meendering
make an impact. She remembers the
dark “potential” cloud that hung over
her head. The waiting. The thinking.
“I thought too much about a lot of
stuff,” Behrends said. “I need to go
out and play. I can handle (the pres
sure) better. It’s still there. It still
Please see BEHRENDS on 11