Hardabura hurt going into home meet
•• He wa lks like
he’s 95years old
now. It’s a
problem he’s had
in the past.”
Francis Allen
Nebraska men’s gymnastics coach
Florence
hopes to
end slide
■ A five of nine shooting
night against Texas might
have broken his slump.
By Joshua Camenzind
Staff writer
Imagine this: You are a senior,
playing your last year of college bas
ketball at Nebraska. This is supposed
to be your banner year and aspira
tions are high with young talent com
ing in.
But with the season closing in,
you are given the news that your fel
low senior, Cookie Belcher, will
probably not play - leaving you as the
lone leader on the team.
This is the life of Husker forward
Larry Florence.
“The season has been difficult,”
Florence said, “especially because of
the way we have been up and down. I
knew it was going to be hard from the
start, because of the new team that we
have.
“I was thinking that around this
time everything would be gelling
because of the talent that we have.
Things just haven’t been going our
way.”
To top things off, Florence was
struggling mightily in the Big 12
Conference. Ip NU’s first five games,
the forward shot 17-for-68 on field
goals, while averaging nearly five
turnovers per game.
Not numbers you would expect
from the leader of a young team that
had barely seen the light of confer
ence play.
The slump started back on Jan. 8
when the Huskers opened Big 12
play at Kansas State. NU was run out
of Fred Bramlage Coliseum by 18
Please see SLUMP on 15
By John Gaskins
Staff writer
The bad-luck virus that seems
never to leave the Nebraska men’s
gymnastics training facility this win
ter struck again this week, and it hit
the last person the No. 3 Huskers
needed it to hit.
Defending NCAA All-Around
Champion Jason Hardabura injured
his lower back in practice this week
and will not compete in NU’s home
opening meet vs. No. 17 Air Force
this weekend at the Bob Devaney
Sports Center.
Coach Francis Allen said
Hardabura fell after his dismount on a
high bar routine. A NU trainer said
Thursday that Hardabura’s X-ray
results were to be seen soon.
“He could tell when he got up to
walk that he was screwed,” Allen said.
“He walks like he’s 95 years old now.
It’s a problem he’s had in the past. We
don’t know how long he’ll be out.”
It was an event that recurs for the
Huskers. All but two of NU’s key per
formers have an injury of some form.
Junior all-around Derek Leiter (left
hand), sophomore Martin Fournier
(wrists), senior Blake Bukacek
(knee) and sophomore Grant Clinton
(shoulder and lower back) are all still
nursing injuries.
“Almost everybody is hurt,” said
Leiter, who finished fifth in the
NCAA All-Around last year. “I’m
about 75 percent. But only Jason is
truly injured. We’ll go with what we
have to go with.”
Allen can take solace in the fact
that at least Marshall Nelson, who
was 1997 and 1998 NCAA parallel
bars champion, is 100 percent.
Nelson made a gallant return to the
mat in last week’s Rocky Mountain
Open, winning three events and tying
a career high on the pommel horse at
9.90.
“It was good to be back,” Nelson
said. “One of the biggest doubts I had
Please see GYM on 14
j)N pjj^ Photo
MU FORWARD Lairy Florence is struggling in ills senior season with the Huskers without the help of key
player Cookie Relcher who is out this season because of an injured wrist.
NU’s Zutavern
plugs hole at
heavyweight
By David Diehl
Staff writer
Matt Zutavern told Nebraska wrestling
coach Tim Neumann that his goal this year
was to start a dual match.
Neumann has granted the fifth-year
senior’s wish.
But not like anyone intended.
“He just forgot to tell us which weight
class,” Neumann joked.
Zutavern, a natural 184-pound wrestler,
will start as the No. 7 Comhuskers’ heavy
weight in their dual with No. 10 Northern
Iowa on Saturday. Zutavern is wrestling in
the place of freshman Pat Miron, who is out
for die season with a tom knee ligament.
After suffering losses at the hands of
wrestlers who outweigh him by 40 pounds,
Zutavern still remains upbeat.
“He’s done an outstanding job of being
positive,” Neumann said. “He has a chance of
getting a heck of a lot better. We’re focusing
our coaching on him because we really
believe he’s going to end up helping us.”
Zutavern lost his first heavyweight match
to Minnesota’s Brock Lesnar, the No. 1
heavyweight in die country, who Neumann
described as “Arnold Schwarzenegger, only
thicker.”
He pinned Zutavern in 39 seconds.
- “I had nothing to lose,” Zutavern said,
“everything to gain. He was the No. 1 guy in
the nation, and I was just a no-name 184
pounder that moved up to heavyweight. The
worst that could happen was I’d get pinned,
and we’d lose six points. If I didn’t wrestle
we’d lose six points anyway.”
Zutavern knows his role to the team at
this point and is learning how to wresde the
bigger wrestlers, he said. Although he may
be smaller than his opponents, his goals are
just as big.
“My goal is to get at least third at the Big
12s and qualify for nationals,” Zutavern said.
“I think it’s a legitimate goal. I just have to
work real hard and do the things I need to do,
and everything will take care of itself.”
Husker women home at last
By Jason Merrihew
Staff writer
After traveling the globe the past
few weeks, the Nebraska women’s
gymnastics team is finally going to be
home this weekend to participate in a
Big 12 dual with the Missouri Tigers.
The Cornhuskers will be riding
into the Bob Devaney Sports Center
with the No. 3 ranking in the country.
The Huskers have already won two
meets so far early in the season. NU
has won the Bermuda Triangle
Challenge and a dual with Big 12 foe,
Iowa State.
The Missouri Tigers will be under
the direction of first-year coach Rob
Drass. Drass, who was an assistant
” Being at a
home meet, it is
that much more
motivating.”
Jess Wertz
Nebraska freshman gymnast
coach for Nebraska the past nine sea
sons, will make his first appearance
in the Devaney Center at a team’s
helm.
‘‘It’s going to be interesting with
Rob being back.” NU Coach Dan
Kendig said.
Saturday will also mark the first
time freshmen A J. Lamb, Julie Houk,
Jen French and Jess Wertz will com
pete on home soil.
“We’re really excited because we
have the whole school backing us up.”
Wertz said. “Being at a home meet, it
is that much more motivating.”
Kendig will also get added depth
in his lineup this weekend with the
addition Of sophomore Bree Dority.
Dority has been sidelined this season
with a leg injury.
“We’re trying to get Bree back
into the lineup on bars this weekend.”
Kendig said. “We feel that she is
ready to go.”
Senior Nicole Wilkinson will also
Please see GYMNAST on 15
Hydia S. Gonzales/DN %
NEBRASKA’S women’s gymnast Amy Rlngo chalks her hands before
attempting the uneven bars In Mabel Lee Nall Wednesday. Rlngo will
compete In the all-around competition this year.