SportsWeekend
Swimmers currently in third place
DN File Photo
The Nebraska women are in third place after the first
day of tho Big 12 Championship in College Station,
Texas.
From Staff Reports
If there is a way for swimmers
to turn their swimming caps into
“rally cap” mode, the Nebraska
women should gather in the hotel
room and turn their lids likewise,
because a rally is in order.
Third place is where the
Husker women stand after com
pleting six events at the Big 12
Conference Swimming
Championships in College
Station, Texas, with the good
news being that Nebraska has two
days to claw their way back into
it.
Texas took command of the
first day with 280 points, fol
lowed by Texas A&M with 209.
The Cornhuskers are locked into
third with 166 points, with
Kansas right on their heels at 156.
UT took over on the boards
and the relays in Thursday’s intro
ductory act.
The Homs wrapped up first
through third place finishes in the
one-meter diving finals, with the
nearest Husker being ninth
place-finisher Molly McDonald.
Texas also claimed the 200
yard freestyle relay event with a
time of 1:31.39, ahead of A&M
and third place NU’s time of
1:32.55.
Nebraska watched its south
ern rivals add insult to injury by
capping the night with a team win
in the 400-yard medley relay race
finishing at 3:42.46 compared to
Nebraska’s second place time of
3:43.45.
Despite Texas’ success,
Nebraska’s All-American
Shandra Johnson still lies unbeat
en in individual conference races
after adding conference gold
medal No. 10 to her collection in
the 500-yard freestyle with a time
of4:47.35.
Johnson made it look easy
against her nearest competitor
Emily Ballenger oFTexas’ time of
4:50.10.
However, Nebraska’s Helene
Muller was knocked off in the 50
yard freestyle event, finishing in
23.00 seconds and touching the
wall barely behind Colleen Lanne
of Texas with her time of22.68.
Diving proved to be a major
asset for the Longhorns on day
one as Nebraska diving coach Jim
Hocking had feared.
Texas accumulated 60 of its
points on the board, with
Nebraska only banging out nine.
Men’s basketball:
shooting for .500
By Joshua Camenzind
Staff writer
You might say that the Nebraska basketball team has its back to
the wall. Five regular season games remain, and all five must be
won for the Comhuskers to reach .500.
NU will face one of its tougher tests Saturday night in
Oklahoma when it faces Oklahoma State in Stillwater at 6:05 p.m.
The game will be televised by ESPN.
^ Everybody
is talking
about how
our season
is over ’
Cory Cochran
Nebraska guard
usu, ranked mntn in tne coun
try, is 20-3 and second in the Big
12 at 9-2.
These are not numbers that
would inspire many members of a
10-14 team that has managed only
three conference wins compared
with eight losses.
Steffon Bradford said the
Huskers should have a desire to
play well against a team that Coach
Danny Nee calls the “best team he
has seen on film all year.”
“If you can’t be up to that, you
are in the wrong business,”
Diauiuiu saiu.
With a losing season, a coach who refers to next year in every
other breath and a postseason appearance looking less likely every
day, many could envision the Huskers giving up.
Not guard Cary Cochran.
“We got a lot of goals left,” Cochran said. “Everybody is talk
ing about how our season is over.”
IfNU doesn’t put together a big run, it might be. Nebraska is on
the brink of not making a postseason appearance for the first time
since the 1989-90 season.
A spot in the NCAA tournament is feasible only if the Huskers
win the Big 12 Tournament, and a berth in the National Invitation
Tournament requires at least a winning record.
But Cochran points to close losses to Missouri and Oklahoma
as bright spots, as well as a team that plays in the Big Ten
Conference - Illinois.
Cochran said his father, who is a high school basketball coach
in Iowa, pointed out to him on Tuesday night that the Fighting mini
were struggling much like NU and finished 3-11 in die Big Ten
conference regular season in 1998-99.
Illinois was able to come together for the conference tourna
ment and reach the finals before losing to Michigan State.
“That is the same scenario we are in,” Cochran said. “We are
not saying that is the only game. We want to come in and play well,
get a couple wins and then go down to the Big 12 Tournament and
play well.”
Heather Glenboski/DN
JUNIOR FORWARD Steffon Bradford has averaged 12.4 points this season, leading
the team in scoring so far. Nebraska will take on Oklahoma State this Saturday at 6
p.m.
Huskers look for improvement
ByDaneStkkney
Senior editor
Last weekend did not go the way
the Nebraska baseball team had hoped
it would
The team blew a one-run lead in
the ninth inning to lose 8-6 to
Northwestern State (La.) and lost 2-1
to No. 7 Rice before rebounding for a
10-3 win against Arkansas State.
NU also lost pitcher Scott Fries for
a month after the senior left-hander
and opening-day starter broke his foot
in an ofF-the-field incident
Despite die setbacks, the team is
expecting to rebound in a big way,
pitcher Shane Komine said this week
end at the University of Texas
Arlington, Arlington Morning News
Invitational pitcher Shane Komine
said.
“We’re planning to go 3-01his
weekend,” Komine said. “Last week
end we planned on going 3-0, but a
couple breaks didn’t go our way.”
But Comhuskers ’ Coach Dave Van
Horn said the competition could be
better this weekend.
"This is going to be a super-tough
tournament,” he said.
The Huskers (1-2) open Friday at
3:30 p.m. against Texas-Arlington (7
3), Which beat powerhouse Texas earli
er this season.
On Saturday, NU faces
Washington State (3-4), which Van
Horn said has a potent offense. Then,
on Sunday, die Huskers will play top
25 Arkansas (3-1) and their ace pitcher
Charlie Isaacson, who was 9-0 last sea
son as a freshman.
“It’s nice to get someone’s three or
four (pitcher), but it also helps to see
their best because it’ll help when con
ference play rolls around” Van Horn
said
Van Horn said he expects the team
to play better this weekend because it
wasn’t prepared last weekend. The
temperatures were in the upper 80s,
which caused the Huskers to wear
down late last weekend in Dallas.
“We looked sluggish during the
long, hot weekend” he said. “So we
focused more on conditioning this
week, and we should be mentally bet
ter prepared.”
The complacency at the end of the
games troubled Van Horn the most
“Against Northwestern State, we
got out-hustled,” he said. “We can live
with losing a few games, but we can’t
live with being out-hustled.”
Van Horn was not panicking about
Fries’ injury either. The senior should
be pitching within a month.
He said freshman left-hander
Jaime Rodrigue, who pitched well in
relief, will take Fries’ spot, which
opens more opportunities for other
young pitchers to get experience.
. “It may be a blessing in disguise,”
he said. “When Scott comes back, he
should be fresh, and our young guys
will be more seasoned.”
Neumann
could get
200th win
■ NU wrestlers need
to beat No. 3 Iowa State
to gain honor for coach.
By David Diehl
Staff writer
The two birds are sitting nicely on
their perch for Coach Tim Neumann,
and his wrestlers hold the collective
stone.
Ninth-ranked Nebraska travels to
No. 3 Iowa State tonight to close out
its regular season. If NU knocks off
the Cyclones, like it has four of the
past five years, it’ll be career-win No.
200 for Neumann.
Knocking offboth birds would be
nice, Neumann said, but they’re not
both on the same level.
“It’d be great to get 200 wins,”
Neumann said. “It would be better to
beat Iowa State.”
JNeumann is already tne most
successful coach in Nebraska
wrestling history, with his .708 win
ning percentage and his 199 career
coaching victories. No other coach
has more than 98 wins.
But to notch the victory the
Comhuskers are going to have to per
form at their peak level.
“We’re going to have to wrestle
like I thought we were capable of
wrestling at the beginning of the year
to win the dual tomorrow night,”
Neumann said. “We haven’t wrestled
like that all year yet aid that’s just
being straight”
At stake with the outcome of die
dual is the Huskers’ seed at the Big 12
Championships, to be held on March
5 in Lincoln. The outcome of a few
key weight classes tonight will deter
mine where some individuals sit for
the conference tourney.
“We need to win at 125,141,149
and 174,” Neumann said, “to guaran
tee us the second or third seed.
Otherwise we’ll be on the wrong side
of die bracket, so it’s real important
that we win those matches.”
Charles McTorry, ranked sixth at
184 pounds for NU, will square off
with his toughest opponent to date
this year, top-ranked Cael Sanderson,
one of the best wrestlers in the coun
try at any weight.
me lorry is as iocusea as ne s
ever been, Neumann said. McTorry
said that he has to stay that way to win
and that he is confident he can,
because (Hi any given day anyone can
win.
“With the talent I have,” McTorry
said, “and at this level I believe every
body is equal. Right now he's just
putting together a few more things
than everybody else.”