ptefiotta
oyaean Callahan
Staff writer
Coaches know it would always be
good to have seniors step up and per
form well at the nation’s best indoor
track meet.
At this weekend’s 26* annual Frank
Sevigne Husker Invitational, the seniors
from Coach Gary Pepin’s Nebraska
women’s track team did just that.
All together, four seniors from the
Cornhusker women’s track team
claimed titles at the 41-team Husker
Invitational.
Three of those titles were claimed
on the meet’s opening day from Carrie
Braness in the high jump, Dalhia
Ingram in the long jump and Michelle
Brooks in the 3,000 meters. The final
title for the Huskers came on Saturday
from Stella Klassen in the 800 meters.
One disappointment in the day for
the NU women came in the 4-by-400
relay.
Coming into the Husker
Invitational, they were ranked fourth in
the nation and favored to win Saturday’s
race. Because of a late injury to Jelena
Stanisavljevic, the relay team was
unable to compete.
Klassen, a member of the relay
team, was upset the team couldn’t com
pete on Saturday.
“Disappointed would be an under
statement,” Klassen said.
Right now the relay team has provi
sionally qualified, but Klassen said she
would like to see the team reach the
automatic mark at the Big 12 meet in
two weeks.
In the women’s high jump on Friday,
there was a mild upset when Braness
defeated Latifah Long of Georgia, who
was ranked No. 1 in the country.
Braness cleared the 6-foot mark on
Friday for the first time in her career.
“This gives me a lot more confi
dence,” Braness said. “I’m sure she
(Long) just had a bad day, but it is all
about being consistent.”
The Husker Invite title was Braness’
first in her career. Her previous best fin
ish was fourth place during her fresh
man season.
By clearing the 6-foot mark,
These kind of
meets you always
have some pluses
and some
minuses. When
you look at them,
you just hope the
pluses outweigh
the minuses.”
Gary Pepin
track coach
Braness put herself in fourth place on
the national chart.
Pepin said he was not surprised to
see Braness clear six feet.
“She’s had a real good season, and a
lot of jumps have been close to that,”
Pepin said. “It was just a matter of time
for her to clear that mark. I think she will
jump higher.”
In the women’s 3,000 meters,
Brooks claimed the title but fell 1.75
seconds short of provisionally qualify
ing for nationals.
Brooks was happy with the win but
said she wants to get provisionally qual
ified.
“I would have liked to have run
faster, but I am just happy with the win,”
Brooks said. “There were three girls
who were supposed to be faster than
_ 99
me.
Overall, Pepin was very pleased
with die results of the meet.
“These kinds of meets you always
have some pluses and minuses,” Pepin
said. “When you look at them, you just
hope the pluses outweigh the minuses.”
Nebraska also faired well in the
women’s shot put. Redshift freshman
Leann Boerema took second in the
event with a throw of 50-5 lA.
NU junior Lesley Owusu placed
fourth in the 400 meters with a time of
54.66 seconds.
Mike Warren/DN
KIRSTEN BOLM of BYU and Joyce
Bates of LSU sprint over the finish
line in the finals of the 60-meter
hurdles event on Saturday at the
indoor track facility at the Bob
Oevaney Sports Center. BolmofBYU
narrowly defeated Bates in the final
running a time of 8.13 while Bates
ran an 8.16.
RIGHT: MICHELLE BROOKS, a senior
distance runner for Nebraska,
stretches in the hallway outside of
the indoor track facility minutes
before running in the distance med
ley relay. Brooks ran the anchor leg
in the race, and the NU squad fin
ished second behind K-State.
!
ESHBACH from page 20
cleared 17-10 Vi and struggled a
good part of the day, needing three
attempts at 17-6 and at 17-10 '/2
before missing three times at 18-2 lA.
“I usually jump more consistent
ly,” Eshbach said. “I usually clear
those heights a lot quicker than I did
today. But every meet is a step for
ward. Russ gives me someone to
compete against.”
Buller narrowly missed on his
first attempt at 18-8, before falling
short on his next two.
The Cornhuskers had no other
major moves on the men’s side.
Marcus Witter picked up third in the
5,000-meter run, and the distance
medley team, made up of three
freshmen and a sophomore, took
third.
“That’s pretty impressive for
them to do that so early,” Coach
Gary Pepin said.
NU also had four triple jumpers
finish in the top 11 of the event,
while Sheldon Hutchison finished
third in the long jump. Both events
were won by Barton County (Kan.)
Community College star Walter
Davis.
Ingram finally wins Sevigne title
UNIjKAM from page 20
Ingram said she was fortunate
because she thought she’d have to
jump at least 21 feeMo claim the
title.
Saturday, Ingram marked a per
sonal-indoor-best 44 feet, 1 !4 inch
es in the triple jump, good for an
automatic bid to nationals, but only
good enough for second place.
Spencer, named most outstand
ing female performer at the
Invitational, got the final word on
Saturday by leaping a Sevigne
Invitational and Bob Devaney
Sports Center record of 46 feet in the
triple jump - nine inches short of the
collegiate record.
She did it in her first jump of
preliminaries - scratching on four
other jumps afterward. Her previous
high mark of 45 feet, 10 lA inches in
the triple jump was already good for
No. 1 in the country.
Spencer, a three-time All
American from Clarendon, Jamaica,
said she expected to win despite the
competition from Ingram andTexas
E1 Paso’s Anna Tarasova.
“It was good competition,”
Spencer said. “Dalhia’s a great com
petitor.”
Ingram knew she was going to
need a personal best to compete with
Spencer.
“It’s good to win, but getting the
personal record is good, too,”
Ingram said.
Ingram said this was the best
indoor performance of her career.
Coach Gary Pepin agreed.
“It’s her best series she’s ever had
indoors,” Pepin said. “She really
jumped well.”
Now that Ingram has automati
cally qualified for the NCAA Indoor
Track Championships, she said she
would not be competing next week
in the NIAC Invitational at the
Devaney Sports Center Track.
lNoetzei gets even with Texas
By Trevor Johnson
Staff writer (
Believe it or not, tennis is a team sport. At
least, college tennis is. Just ask Sandra Noetzel
about that one.
Last year, Noetzel was beating Texas’
Michelle Faucher handily in the Big 12 finals.
Then the match was called off because Texas
had already beaten Nebraska in other matches.
Texas moved on; Nebraska didn’t. Noetzel did
n’t finish her match and got a No. 57 ranking
this year, while Faucher was ranked 10th.
On Saturday, Noetzel, Nebraska’s No. 1 sin
gles player, was an unstoppable individual. She
avenged last year’s called match to beat Faucher
6-1, 6-4, in a victory she described as “easy”
and won her doubles match with Gina Pelazini
over Texas’ Janet Walker and Kaysie Smashie 9
8.
But without Noetzel, Nebraska got stam
peded by the 7th ranked Longhorns as Texas
took six out of seven non-Noetzel matches.
No. 2 in singles, Ndali Ijomal, was swept by
Janet Walker 6-3, 6-1, and Maria Fernandez,
Gina Pelazini and Amy Frish also bowed out in
straight set losses.
Katarina Balan, Nebraska’s No. 4 singles
player, was the only other winner as she beat
Joanne Masongsong 6-4,7-5.
Nebraska Coach Scott Jacobson stayed con
fident, though. He pointed out that nine teams
in the Big 12 are ranked within the top 75, and
Texas’ No. 7 ranking is tops among those teams.
Nebraska is currently ranked 67™. He said if a
couple of points would have gone another way
then “we would have won 5-4.”
Considering that Texas has won 84 straight
matches in conference play going back to the
old Southwest conference, those points would
have been huge.
But for Nebraska to increase its ranking as a
team, it’s going to have to get those points from
players other than Noetzel. She can only play
two matches a meet, and as she knows so well
from last year, her team needs to get the rest...
so maybe she can complete her match during
the championships this year.
Vering, Snyder roll in California
From staff reports
A two-day stay in California left the seventh
ranked Comhusker wrestlers with a little bit of
steam rolling into Friday’s matchup with No. 2
Iowa State.
Nebraska went 3-1 in four duals vs. Fresno
State, Califomia-Davis, California-Poly and No.
16 Cal State-Bakersfield, besting its record to
10-6-1. Coach Tim Neumann now has won lOor
more duals for 12-straight years.
On Friday, Nebraska warmed up with UC
Davis, winning easily 43-6. NU won nine of 10
matches, and four Huskers pinned their oppo
nents. Freshman Joe Malia, 125 pounds, pinned
UCD’s Randy Katz in 37 seconds, tying the sec
ond-quickest pin this season for NU.
Fresno State proved to be a tougher matchup,
but Nebraska won the dual’s last four matches to
take home a 28-12 win. The Bulldogs were tied
up, 12-12, with NU, but Joe Henson, No. 14 at
149 pounds, notched a major decision vs.
Darrick Duram, sparking the run.
NU was tied 12-12 with Cal-Poly, but 125s
pounder Paul Gomez provided the spark with his
5-1 decision over Jaime Garza, breaking the tie.
Nebraska won three of the next four en route to a
30-18 victory.
The weekend ended sourly, however. Cal
State Bakersf eld won the f rst three matches and
six of 10 for the dyal, downing NU 27-14.
Brad Vering, No. 3 at 197 pounds, went 4-0
for the weekend, picking up two major decisions,
a technical fall and a pin. He raised his overall
record to 31 -2 and 16-1 in duals.
Bryan Snyder, ranked No. 3 at 157 pounds,
also won his four matches, picking up a pin along
the way over Fresno State’s Tim Cornish. Snyder
now has won 16-straight matches and is 33-1.
Henson didn’t lose a match in his three tries.
Along with his major decision vs. Fresno State,
he pinned UC-Davis’ Kief Zangaro.
Jodd Beckerman, ranked No. 10 at 133
pounds, improved his quiedy successful year to
25-6 with his three wins. * -