Huskers ready to run
on Ann Arbor course
By Jason Merrihew
Staff writer
Nebraska just might go
Wolverine chasing over fall break.
The top seven runners on both
the men’s and women’s teams will
head to Ann Arbor, Mich., for the
Wolverine Interregional
Invitational.
Last weekend, the Comhuskers
ran a very competitive race on both
the men’s and women’s sides. Both
teams earned fourth place finishes at
the National Invitational, which was
held at Penn State.
Like clockwork, junior Marcus
Witter once again led the men’s
team. Witter placed eighth with the
time of 26 minutes and two seconds.
“Witter ran the best race of his
life.” Dirksen said. “His time doesn’t
look that impressive to his prior
times, but the course was longer
than normal.”
Last week was the first time this
season the men’s team competed on
a 5.2-mile course. That is quite a dif
ference compared to the normal 4.9
mile courses.
Freshman Mike Kamm has also
been making a positive progression
this season for NU. Last week,
i Kamm was the second Husker to
cross the finish line. Aaron
Carriazales, Nebraska’s third runner
to finish last week, is slated to com
pete in the Wolverine Interregional.
“Carriazales continues to get
better and better each week.”
Dirksen said.
Freshman Jed Barta is expected
to turn it up at this week’s invite.
Barta has finally recovered fully
from an early season case of bron
chitis.
The 17th-ranked Nebraska
women’s team is coming off a
fourth-place finish - despite the fact
that star runner, Michelle Brooks,
didn’t compete.
Brooks missed the National
Invitational because of an illness.
This week however, Brooks will be
suiting up for NU.
With the absence of Brooks,
Jamie Pauli led the Huskers with a
ninth-placed finish.
Freshman Kathryn Handrop,
Mirjana Glisovic, Jamie Kruger,
Melinda Oliver and Jeannette
Zimmer will also compete this
weekend for NU.
The Wolverine Interregional
Invitational will be held Sunday at
University of Michigan Golf
Course. The men’s race will start at 9
a.m. and the women’s race will start
at 10 a.m.
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Pabst: Pettit may be done
OU coach hints at NU coach's possible retirement
By John Gaskins
Staff writer
A couple of topics of interest
beyond the Nebraska-Oklahoma vol
leyball match jumped out at the post
game press conference Wednesday
night.
The first one wasn’t expected.
OU Coach Miles Pabst, in a light
hearted mood after his team had been
pummeled by the No. 12
Cornhuskers, gushed out words of
appreciation for his long-time fellow
coach and golfing buddy NU Coach
Terry Pettit as if it were his last
chance to do so.
With the exception of NU’s match
with OU on Nov. 17, it just might
have been.
Pabst, who has been coaching
against Husker teams for 22 years
and is 6-51 vs. Pettit (who has been at
NU for 23 years), made it clear that to
his understanding, Pettit might retire
after this year.
“It’s sad because this is probably
the last time I’ll get to coach against
Terry here,” said Pabst, who con
firmed he would like to keep coach
ing for a few more years. “I should be
real happy he’s probably not going to
be around anymore, but if he’s not,
I’m going to miss him.
“We talked before the match, and
I know what he’s going to do. I hate to
see him - I mean, you’ve got to give
him a tremendous amount of credit
it
We talked before the match, and I know
what he s going to do. I hate to - I mean,
you ve got to give him ... credit.”
Miles Pabst
OU volleyball coach
for his organization within the state
and area.”
Those were the first words spo
ken by anyone in a press setting of
real conviction that directly hinted at
Pettit’s possible retirement after the
1999 season, and they came from a
person who has known him for 21
years. The possibility has been highly
speculated ever since Pettit hired
Associate Head Coach John Cook
from Wisconsin’s head coaching
position last year.
But Pettit has sternly and careful
ly avoided speaking out about his per
sonal plans for the near future since
Cook’s hiring.
He fended off reporters outside
the NU volleyball offices about
Pabst’s comments after Wednesday’s
match.
The Huskers’ upcoming series of
matches is what was on Pettit’s mind
at the press conference, which
brought about the second point of
interest.
Pettit established that NU has
reached a turning point in the season.
After seeing themselves sink to a
an unfamiliar tie for fifth place in the
Big 12 standings after a loss at Texas
A&M on Oct. 2, the Huskers have
won three straight matches and have
climbed back into the title hunt. NU
(12-4) holds a 5-2 league mark and
sits alone in third place, two games
behind Kansas State heading into its
7 p.m. match at Baylor (16-4 and 4-3)
Saturday night.
“When I look at the top five or six
teams in the conference, there’s no
dominant team physically, it’s men
tal,” Pettit said. “Whatever team has
an edge, whatever team just has
everybody going the same direction -
playing unselfishly and just getting it
done, I think becomes a pretty good
volleyball team.
“Now is the time, I think, if we are
going to become a better team, these
next two or three weeks is when it’s
going to happen.”
•• ’«• •**?••£-** ' ’ * r .— . ' •
& By David Diehl
^1 Staff writer
Women’s Basketball Head Coach
Paul Sanderford has his priorities
straight entering the basketball sea
son. ;
“My goal this year is to be Y2K
ready with our team,” he said.
Sanderford’s comment had little
to do with the possible computer
glitch that could result from the new
millennium and more with how his
team will perform in the Big 12
Conference come the new year.
“We want to be'ready to play,”
Sanderford said. “We want to be a
factor in the Big 12 race. I want to be
in the conference race in February.”
Being competitive in the Big 12
may be more difficult this year,
Sanderford said, as this is the best
shape he can remember the confer
ence being in.
“Top to bottom, it’s a truly out
standing conference,” he said. “I
think we will get six teams in the
NCAA tournament.”
The Huskers, who began practice
Saturday, are ranked 19th in the coun
try by the Women’s Basketball News
Service. They are coming off back
to-back 20-win seasons for only the
fourth time in school history.
Senior guard Nicole Kubik, from
Cambridge, earned a spot on the
Women’s Basketball News Service’s
Preseason All-America team. She
averaged 19.8 points per game a year
ago and is the conference’s top
returning scorer.
Kubik said her personal expecta
tions as well as the team’s expecta
tions have grown each year.
“This is our last year,” she said.
“This is it. If we don’t exceed those
expectations we won’t be as happy as
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we want to be.”
Kubik said reaching the Sweet 1£
is a very realistic goal, but success
requires everyone being competitive.
“If the freshmen come into prac
tice and don’t think they have a
chance to start or a chance to play,
that ruins our entire team,” Kubik
said.
“As long as they’re competitive,
that makes the upperclassmen com
petitive.”
The NU roster lists six new fresh
men and two transfers along with
eight returning players. Of course,
eligibility rules and redshirting will
prevent a handful of players from
court time this season.
The team’s large roster and its
competitive nature will make creat
ing a lineup more difficult for
Sanderford than it has been in the
past.
“Last year, I think we were a little
thin and certain people knew they
were going to play and knew they had
to play,” Sanderford said.
“This year, if people decide to
take a week off from practice they
could find themselves sitting with
me.
The Huskers used an overseas trip
to Europe in August to judge where
they stood. NU went 5-1 playing
teams from France and Italy, and
Sanderford called the games “huge.”
“The idea of having 10 practice
dates and six games really helped us
know where our returning players
are ” he said.
The trip gave transfer Casey
Leonhardt, a 6-foot-5 junior center,
her first chance to play with her new
teammates after sitting out a year.
Leonhardt came to NU from Illinois,
and she figures to be a factor in the
post.
“It was good to finally play with
my teammates after working all year
without getting out and putting on a
uniform,” Leonhardt said.
Overall, Sanderford said the team
definitely has the ability to shake up
the Big 12 and do some damage.
“If we can put the pieces together
and fundamentally become more
sound, I think we could give people
some fits.”