-GYMNASTICS
On a roll: Gymnasts
could extend streak
By Jason Merrihew
Staff Writer
The season is flying by. The Masters Classic
symbolizes that the Big 12 championships are
just around the comer for the Nebraska women’s
gymnastics team.
“Wow!” Coach Dan Kendig said. “We’re
towards the end here. Not very long, we’ll be at
the championship part of our season.”
The Masters Classic, slated to begin at 2 p.m.
Sunday at the Bob Devaney Center and aired live
on NETV, has been won by Nebraska the past
five years, and also will include 13th-ranked West
Virginia, Utah State, and Southern Utah.
The Mountaineers, who placed 12th at the
NCAA championships last season, are figured to
be NU’s toughest competitor. WVU boasts a 10
4 record and is coming ofjf a second-place show
ing at a quadrangular last weekend at Penn State.
“Our only competition will probably be West
Virginia.” NU freshman Jess Wertz said.
The two Utah teams will come into the
Devaney Center on Sunday without the notoriety
or success that Nebraska and West Virginia share.
Utah State heads into Lincoln with a 5-4
record. The Aggies scored a season-high 195.55
earlier this month against conference foe,
Brigham Young.
Southern Utah will be the only competitor
a Our only competition
will probably be West
Virginia.”
Jess Wertz
• NU freshman
that will compete at the Master Classic with a
losing record. The 2-7 Thunderbirds scored a
season-high 193.575 last Friday against Utah
State.
The Comhuskers will try to extend their reg
ular-season home winning streak to 29.
Nebraska, which last lost to Michigan State dur
ing the 1993 Master Classic, has yet to lose a reg
ular-season meet under the direction of Coach
Kendig. Kendig’s streak is at 26 straight.
“It’s our invitational.” Kendig said. “It’s a
meet we’re expected to do well. We compete well
at home, and we want to continue to do so.
The fans who attend the Classic or watch it
live on television will be treated to two of the best
gymnasts on the vault. Nebraska’s Heather Brink
and West Virginia’s TeShawne Jackson scored
perfect 10s on the apparatus during the course of
this season. Brink is currently ranked second on
the vault, while Jackson is ranked ninth.
Hardabura, Clinton
sidelined this weekend
By John Gaskins
Staff uniter
The temptation foj
Nebraska gymnastics Coach
Francis Allen to let injured
gymnasts Jason Hardabura
and Grant Clinton compete is
tough to resist.
The 1 Oth-ranked
Comhuskers could use all the
help they can get when they
take on two top-seven power
houses in three days. First,
NU will travel to Iowa City to
battle No. 4 Iowa tonight at 7.
Then, they’ll come back home
for a rematch of their earlier
loss to No. 7 Oklahoma in the
Bob Devaney Sports Center
on Monday.
Hardabura, the 1999
NCAA all-around champion,
re-aggravated his back injury
last week in his first meet
back since injuring it at the
beginning of the season.
Clinton has been suffering
lower back spasms all season.
Allen is not taking his
chances with either of them,
even if that means suffering
defeat. NU has been riddled
with injuries all season, and
the coach doesn’t want to risk
any more.
“They’re not going to
compete, unless something
miraculous happens,” Allen
said. “And miraculous is not a
word in my vocabulary any
longer.
“We beat Iowa last year,
and we have a huge rivalry
with Oklahoma. Both of these
teams are going to want to
beat the hell out of us. They
could care less if we’re
healthy or not.”
Allen will have to rely on
the services of All-American
Derek Leiter to carry NU. The
senior co-captain tied the
floor exercise school record
and posted his best all-around
score of the season with a
57.30 in last week’s win over
UC-Santa Barbara.
It will be the final home
meet for Leiter and three other
seniors - All-Americans
Blake Bucacek and Asher
Lichterman and three-time
NCAA Champion Marshall
Nelson. Nelson will not com
pete - his career is over after
tearing a knee ligament
against OU two weeks ago.
Bukacek has been training
in NU’s facility for 16 years,
Leiter for 12. Both were a part
of NU Coach Chuck
Chmelka’s Nebraska School
of Gymnastics program
before becoming Huskers.
Both said they will miss com
peting in the Devaney Center
arena after being around the
program for so long.
“We’ve been coming to all
the meets since we were little
kids,” Leiter said. “It’s the best
place in America to compete.
It’s got the best equipment, the
best set-up, the best show
manship. It’s got bright lights,
and it’s kind of fancy. I’m
probably not going to realize
it’s my last meet there until
afterward. I’ll never regret
going here.”
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THE NEBRASKA BASEBALL TEAM stretches out during the beginning of practice in Cook Pavilion on Wednesday.
Huskers look to repeat success in Texas
■ The baseball team
hopes for another 3-0
weekend in Texas.
By Dane Stickney
Senior editor
The Nebraska baseball team will
make its third trip to Texas this season
for a three-game series against Texas
San Antonio this weekend.
Last weekend, the Cornhuskers
(4-2) picked up three wins at the 2000
Arlington Morning News Invitational
in Arlington, Texas.
The Huskers’ bats came alive last
weekend as they defeated Texas
Arlington, Washington State and
Arkansas by a combined score of 28
7.
Senior catcher Justin Cowan, who
hit two homeruns and drove in 10
runs last weekend, said the team
expects to keep playing well.
“We’re just going to go out and
play the same as we have been,” he
said. “We’ve worked hard in practice,
so we expect our offensive onslaught
to continue this weekend.”
UTS A is 3-7 on the season with a
big win over Big 12 power Texas
A&M in the opening game of the its
season.
The Roadrunners then lost seven
in a row before winning their last two
against Texas-Pan American and
Texas A&M-Kingsville.
Nebraska Coach Dave Van Horn
said UTSA is better than its record
indicates.
“They’re probably the best 3-7
team in the country,” he said.
“They’re a good team, and I’m sure
they’ll be ready for us.”
Van Horn said Nebraska’s pitch
ing staff has been especially strong
this season, giving up only 3.8 runs
per game.
“They’ve kept us in a position to
win all of our games,” he said. “That
really takes the pressure off of the
offense.”
Senior Chad Wiles, who held
Texas-Arlington to one unearned run
last weekend, most likely will be the
starting pitcher today.
Freshman Jamie Rodrigue, who
gave up four runs in four innings
against Washington State, will pitch
on Saturday.
Sophomore Shane Komine, who
held Arkansas to four hitless and
scoreless innings, will take the
mound on C.. . Jay.
Van Horn said this weekend’s
series is important for the team.
“We had a disappointing first
weekend and a solid second week
end,” he said.
“So it’s important for us to keep
the momentum rolling.”
