'V?
Lamb, Nelson nail routines for NU
NU whips Tigers
with strong lineup
By Joshua Camenzind
Staff writer
Nebraska freshman gymnast A. J. Lamb put on
a show in her first home meet, helping the
Comhuskers to a 195.70-194.325 defeat of the
Missouri Tigers on Saturday before 1,813 fans at
the Bob Devaney Sports Center.
The Lincoln Northeast graduate won three
individual titles and won the all-around title with
a score of 39.425 — the highest score ever for a
NU freshman.
“Not bad for a freshman,” Coach Dan Kendig
said, “She is a tremendous talent and loves to per
form.”
, After placing fifth in Nebraska’s first event,
the vault, Lamb swept the final three events. She
won the uneven bars with a score of 9.875, the
beam with a 9.900 and the floor exercise with a
9.925 — all career bests.
“I was hoping to come in and hit all my rou
tines,” Lamb said. “But I did not know I was going
to do that well. I was a little nervous, especially
after last week, because I had a rough meet.
Senior Heather Brink won the vault title with
a score of 9.925 and finished third in the all
around with 38.475.
Kendig said NU’s first event, the vault, set the
tone for the day.
“We started out really well on vault,” Kendig
said. “Jen (French) started us out with a tremen
dous vault. It just kept going. We did really well
and the girls adjusted well to the bars.
The balance beam followed the uneven bars
and NU just got better as they set a season high
score in the event at 49.15. Nicole Wilkinson fin
ished third in the event with a 9.850.
Leading 146.350 to 145.475, Nebraska
showed in its final event that it was not done yet.
The Huskers again set another season high,
this time on the floor exercise, with a 49.350. NU
swept the event with Brink and Julie Houk tying
for second place, scoring a 9.875 behind Lamb.
“We went to floor and really toojc off,” Kendig
said. “That is what competing at home is all about
when you hit the floor. You get to sell your rou
tines at home and the crowd is involved.”
Mike Warren/DN
NEBRASKA FRESHMAN A.J. Lamb performs her balance beam routine In the Devaney
Center on Saturday. Lamb scored a 9.900 for her boam routine and won every event on the
day except for the vault which made her the all-around winner with a total of 39.425.
NU stays strong, j
USAF stumbles
By John Gaskins
Staffwriter
Before Saturday, it had been nearly two years
since Nebraska Senior Gymnast Marshall Nelson
had performed in a meet in front of his home fans
at Bob Devaney Sports Center.
For all those in attendance knew, it could have
been yesterday.
Competing in his first meet at the Devaney
Sports Center since tearing his anterior cruciate
ligament in November 1998 and missing all of last
season, Nelson won four of his five events and tied
two school records in the sixth-ranked
Comhuskers’ 223.925-214.425 victory over Air
Force.
More importantly, he proved he’s lost little - if
any - of the form that won him three national
championships as a sophomore and junior before
the injury.
“It felt good to compete at home again,” Nelson
said. “I’m in my fifth year here, and there’s no bet
ter place in the U.S. to compete than this arena.”
Having the entire crowd of 1,813 give him a
standing ovation probably helped Nelson’s excite
ment. His pinnacle moment came after he stuck the
landing on his school-record-tying horizontal bar
routine, NU’s final routine of the dual.
The score of 9.95 tied the school record set by
Scott Johnson in 1983. Nelson repeated his
school-record-tying performance on the pommel
horse with a 9.90, which he also made in last
week’s Rocky Mountain Open.
In his three other events, Nelson won the floor
exercise with a 9.65, tied teammate Martin
Fournier to win the parallel bars with a 9.65 and
tied for third on the vault with a 9.35.
“It was nice to see him come back,” NU Coach
Francis Allen said. “It’s just neat to see a gymnast
like Marshall, a three-time national champion, do
what he’s done after tearing his ACL. He was super.
“That pommel horse routine was unbelievable.
He should’ve got a 10 on that.”
Allen was just glad to see one of his national
champions completely healthy Saturday.
Defending NCAA All-Around Champion Jason
Please see NELSON on 14
Vering, McTony save NU from loss
■ The Huskers notch out
a 20-20 tie with the No. 10
Panthers after falling
behind 20-12.
Rob Petzold
- Staff Reporter
In dramatic fashion, the Nebraska
wrestling team pulled out a 20-20 tie
with the Northern Iowa Panthers.
It took back-to-back victories
from Charles McTorry and Brad
Vering to pull out the tie for NU.
At one point, the Cornhuskers
were in danger of being blown out by
UNI, ranked No. 10 in the nation.
Going into the last two matches,
NU was trailing by eight points, 20
12. That’s when McTorry and Vering
stepped up.
McTorry, No.5 in the country at
184 pounds, dominated his match
against No. 13 Kyle Hanson and won
a major decision 14-5.
McTorry’s match set the table for
Vering, No. 3 in the nation at 197
pounds. Vering entered the match
with a gaudy 25-1 record.
Squaring off against UNI’s Tony
Weiland, No. 16 in the country, Vering
won a major decision 13-3 to secure
the tie for NU.
It was a valiant effort by Vering.
After getting head-butted, which
opened a cut on Vering’s chin, Vering
went to the bench, had his head
■ ft. /
wrapped in a bandage to stop the
bleeding and went back out to the mat
to finish off his opponent.
Vering downplayed the incident.
“I’ve cut my chin a few times and
got some stitches,” Vering said.
“Sometimes it could get brushed and
open up.”
Vering’s performance earned him
high praise by UNI’s Coach Mark
Manning.
“Vering, if he keeps wrestling the
way he did tonight, is going to be a
national champion,” Manning said.
“He’s also a great kid.”
NU Coach Tim Neumann knew
his team had its work cut out for it
going into the match.
“Going in we thought it was going
to be a war,” Neumann said. “I feel a
little frustrated because this is a team
sport. I thought it would be some
thing like five to five.”
Although Neumann would have
liked to have jnore individual wins
from his team, he said he feels the
excitement of the match was good for
the program.
“I thought it was a great match for
wrestling,” Neumann said. “To be
within 4 points of a tie and Brad
(Vering) coming on, it’s great for the
sport and the fans. Plus it was tele
vised. Hopefully more people are
going to come out and watch
wrestling.”
NU got off on the wrong track
from the beginning. Heavyweight
Matt Zutavem was pinned at the four
Matt Miller/DN
HU’S PAUL GOMEZ and University of Northern Iowa’s Eric Dunmire each grab
an opponent’s leg that letfto a stalemate. Thirteenth-ranked Gomez won
the match, but the two squads tied 20-20 Saturday night at the Devaney
Sports Center.
minute mark of the second period.
Paul Gomez, No. 13 in the nation,
lost a decision in the second match
putting NU behind 6-3.
In what was billed as the most i
competitive match of the evening, the
contest between UNI’s Tony Davis,
No. l in the nation at 149 pounds, and
No. 13 Joe Henson ended in a techni- 1
cal default with a score of 20-5.
Brian Snyder, No.3 at 157
sounds, pulled NU within points with
i 16-10 decision over UNI’s Bob
SCoenig.
NU then proceeded to lose its
sext two matches.
Tony Denke, 165 pounds, and Ati
Conner, No. 18 in the nation at 174,
lost on decisions putting the
^ornhuskers in serious trouble trail
ng 20-12.
Jones saves
Super Bowl
for St. Louis
ATLANTA (AP) - The St. Louis
Rams rediscovered their offensive
firepower just in time, and the
Tennessee Titans came up just 1 yard
short
Kurt Warner’s 73-yard touch
down pass to Isaac Bruce with 1
minute, 54 seconds left gave the
Rams their first Super Bowl win
Sunday, 23-16.
The TD capped an improbable
turnaround for St Loins, which was
3-13 a year ago and 13-3 this season
as they scored 526 points, third best
in NFL history.
But Steve McNair and Eddie ,
George almost led Tennessee to
another miracle finish, rallying them
from a 16-0 deficit
On the game’s final play with six
seconds left, McNair’s pass was
caught by Kevin Dyson at the Rams
5. He scrambled for the end zone
only to be stopped just short by Mike
Jones, as Dyson’s outstretched arm
held the ball toward the goal line in
vain. <
"1 always believed in myself and
had a whole bunch of people who
believed in me,” said Warner, the
Super Bowl MVP who did a victory
lap around the Georgia Dome.
Please see SUPER on 14
