Sport^yionday
Seniors leave with win
By Brian Christopherson
Staff writer
Senior Stacey Sedlacek knows that
Helene Muller is going to win most of
the time, and she’s just fine with that
The team numbers are what matter
to her, and it was all smiles pool side for
die Huskers after a 168-129 dual meet
win for the men’s swimming and diving
team and a 183-114 whipping was
handed out by die women.
Sedlacek is a senior sprinter for NU,
and in the final home meet of her
career, she won two races in the 100 and
200-meter freestyles and finished sec
ond in the 50-meter freestyle, behind
Muller.
“It was nice to finish my career here
at home with two victories, but individ
ual accomplishments were never big to
me,” Sedlacek said.
Sedlacek and Muller are perhaps
the best example of the depth that
Nebraska Coach Cal Bentz says he
hopes will lift his team to higher glory
in the upcoming weeks.
“The depth is how we win meets
and championships,” Sedlacek said. “I
know that Helene will probably win,
and I need to be there to pick up more
points.”
“We showed some depth today, and
we’re in areal good place at this point in
die season,” Bentz said.
The seniors had their way on
Saturday, going out in style, with
Muller going about her dominating
ways with wins in the 50-meter
freestyle (26:65 seconds) and 400
meter (4:20.99). She also played a hand
in the 200-meter medley relay winning
Please see MULLER on 18
Josh Wolfe/DN
ELVIRA FISHER SWIMS the winning lap of the 200-meter breast stroke com
petition against Iowa State on Saturday. Nebraska had its final home
senior meet of the season.
Ffriend
punishes
Baylor
■ An elbow to the eye early in
the game didn’t keep the Husker
center from impressive play.
By Matthew Hansen
Staff writer
Just minutes into Nebraska’s 69-55 win over
Baylor on Saturday, BU big man Demarcus
Minor delivered an elbow to the face of Husker
Kimani Ffriend, causing the NU 7-footer’s eye to
swells
Maybe Minor was trying to send a message
to the newcomer about toe physical play of the
Big 12.
Big mistake. The only problem Ffriend’s eye
may have caused him was increased difficulty
looking at his impres
HUSKERS 69 sive stats after the
BEARS 55 _
■ Ffriends 21
points and 19
rebounds helped NU keep toe Bears at arm’s
length all afternoon, and, coming on toe heels of
a 23-point performance against KU, sent a mes
sage to the rest of toe league that this newcomer
meant business.
Ffriend called Minor’s elbow a cheap shot
but said it only served to fuel his fire.
“It got me motivated,” he said. “When it hap
pened, I looked at him and was like, ‘All right
then, that’s cool.’”
The NU center, who had 15 points and 11
rebounds at halftime, also explained that his cur
rent level of play was mainly due to experience.
“Earlier in the season, I kept saying that it
Please see FFRIEND on 16
SOPHOMORE FORWARD LOUIS TRUSCOTT adds two points to the Husker’s lead in the first half of
Saturday’s basketball game against the Baylor Bears. The Huskers won the game 69-55 and moved to 2
3 in the Big 12 Conference race.
Rams, Titans headed for Suoer Bowl
/
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) —
The once-homeless Tennessee Titans
never felt so cozy on the road. And
they’re not done traveling yet.
Next stop: the Super Bowl in
Atlanta against St Louis.
America’s wandering waifs, who
have played in four stadiums in three
cities in four seasons, upset the
Jacksonville Jaguars 33-14 on Sunday
behind the scrambling of Steve McNair
and a defense that forced six turnovers.
The Titans trailed 14-10 at the half
but scored 16 points in about 4% min
utes in the third quarter to pull away.
It’s the first Super Bowl trip ever for
the franchise that began in the old AFL
in 1960. The Rams, who beat the Tampa
Bay Buccaneers 11-6 for the NFC title,
opened as 8-point favorites.
“It’s about time,” said Titans owner
Bud Adams, who founded the franchise
in Houston, then moved it after the 1995
season when he couldn’t get money for
a new stadium.
“I’m getting pretty old. I didn’t want
to go to the Super Bowl in a wheel
chair,” Adams said.
McNair almost had to use a wheel
chair before the game. He spent much
of the week wearing a boot to protect an
injured toe and hid the pain as well as he
could.
“At one point during the week, he
couldn’t even touch his toe without it
killing him,” tight end Frank Wycheck
said. “For him to go out and have the day
he did is just unbelievable. He’s a leader
who leads by example, and we follow
him.”
There was little pain in McNair’s
stats - except to the Jags, who won 15
games this year and lost just three, all to
the Titans.
McNair ran nine times for 91 yards,
JL
including a 49-yard scramble to set up
one of his two 1-yard sneaks for touch
downs. He also had a 9-yard touchdown
pass in the first quarter to Yancey
Thigpen, who left in the second quarter
with a broken toe. The Titans also lost
safety Marcus Robertson with a broken
ankle.
The St Louis Rams’ offense looked
broken for much of its game against
Tampa. Their offense imploding, their
cover Mown, the Rams looked ready to
head home.
Then Kurt Warner played like an
MVP, getting the Midwest Express
attack the one touchdown it needed The
unheralded defense did the rest
Warner hit No.-4 wide receiver
Ricky Proehl with a 30-yard touchdown
pass with 4:44 remaining Sunday to lift
St. Louis past Tampa Bay 11-6 for the
Please see SUPER BOWL on 16
Doug Pensinger/Newsmakers
EDDIE GEORGE and the Tennessee
Titans will try to become the second
wild card team to win the Super
Bowl In three seasons.
LateNU
run holds
off Aggies
HUSKERS 74
AGGIES71
By John Gaskins
Staff writer
There were few reasons for
players and coaches on the
Nebraska women’s basketball
team to pat each other on the back
after a sloppy 74-71 win over Texas
A&M on Saturday night.
However, they did offer one
sarcastic reason.
At least their lackadaisical sec
ond-half lapses gave the Aggies
and the Bob Devaney Sports
Center crowd of6,488 - the largest
of the season - a hotly-contested
game.
“We certainly made it interest
ing for the crowd,” NU Coach Paul
Sanderford joked. “I earned every
penny that Nebraska needed.
(Athletic Director) Bill Byrne
needs to give me a raise after
tonight.”
Sanderford could have used a
bottle of antacid in the second half
as well.
The Huskers (9-7 overall and
3-2 in the Big 12 Conference) let a
comfortable 32-23 halftime lead
swiftly vanish by allowing the
Aggies (9-7, 1-5) to drain several
wide open jumpers and allowing
confidence to brim within a team
that had lost its previous four
games by an average of 18 points.
A&M scored the first 11 points
after halftime and finished with 48
points on 53 percent shooting in
the second half. Such a perfor
mance did little to help the
Huskers’ standing as the Big 12’s
worst-scoring defense.
Junior guard LaToya Rose -
who had averaged 6.2 points and
made two of 12 three-point shots
coming into the game - hit all four
of her 3-pointers in the first nine *
minutes, 39 seconds of the second
half to spark the comeback. She
finished with 14 points.
Junior forward Jaynetta
Saunders scored 14 of her game
high 21 points in the second half.
“We left our defense in the
locker room at halftime,”
Sanderford said.
“(Texas A&M) has really
struggled over the last five games.
I kept telling our kids in the first
tialf, when we had an opportunity
• to put them away, that this team
lacked confidence, and we needed
to deliver that knockout punch,
because the longer we left diem in
the ball game, the better they
Please see AGGIES on 19