SportsMonday
Mike Warren/DN
JOE HENSON, a 149-pounder from Nebraska, tries to gain control of Oklahoma wrestler Jared Frayer for a takedown in the
semi-final match of the Big 12 Conference wrestling tournament. Henson defeated Frayer 3-2 to advance to the finals.
ISU’s brothers make
powerful on-mat trio
By Brian Christopherson
Staff writer
Steve Sanderson is the proud papa
in this story.
Cael, Cody and Cole Sanderson
are the players.
The Iowa State Sanderson
wrestling team, or rather, the Cyclones
wrestling team, are the fortunate bene
ficiaries.
The Sandersons are quite good at
what they do and make the story
unusual.
The youngest, biggest brute of the
family, Cael Sanderson, is 73-0 in his
young sophomore career, with one
national championship.
He claimed his second Big 12
Conference Championship yesterday
at the Bob Devaney Sports Center,
making it obvious to all that flipping
184-pound giants on their backs is just
as easy for him as chewing gum.
After disposing Witt Durden of
Oklahoma 17-7 in his first match, the
youngest Sanderson was calm enough
to talk at length about majoring in art
and his love for drawing cartoons.
“I’m thinking about starting up
my own cartoon, and every day I just
get out a piece of paper and write them
down wherever I am,” Cael Sanderson
said.
Time out. Cartoons? Somebody
finally reminded the champion that he
had just advanced to the conference
” ... I just go
down there to win
and improve.”
Cael Sanderson
Iowa state wrestler
finals, and then Cael Sanderson
humbly gave credit to Durden for
putting up a fight.
“I’ve wrestled him seven times,
and this was the best he’s been against
me,” he said, making it sound like the
match was somewhat in doubt.
An unknowing observer would
have no idea that this quiet man, as a
freshman, was named “Most
Outstanding Wrestler” at the NCAA
Championships last year.
There’s no bragging or worrying
about an undefeated career for Cael
Sanderson.
“I don’t worry about that very
much, and I just go out there to win
and improve,” he said. “It’s not the end
of the world if I lose.”
Cael Sanderson is die king of the
brothers on the mat, but Cody
Sanderson was the key.
God smiled on ISU coach Bobby
Douglas when he signed Cody
Sanderson four years ago.
Please see TRIO on 14
NU wrestlers
finish fourth
■ For third time this year,
NU wrestler Vering loses to
No. 2 Oklahoma wrestler.
By David Diehl
Staff writer
There’s a continuing pattern in Brad
Vering’s wrestling matches with Mark
Munoz, and it’s beginning to get to him.
For the third time this year, the top
ranked Husker lost to No. 2 Munoz of
Oklahoma State in the last 10 seconds.
The loss came this time in the finals of
the 197-pound Big 12 conference finals
when Munoz earned a two-point rever
sal in the second sudden-death over
time.
Vering was one of four Comhusker
wrestlers in the Big 12 Conference tour
ney finals Sunday. Despite gutsy
efforts, NU crowned only one confer
ence champion, 157-pound Bryan
Snyder, and couldn’t keep pace with
champion Oklahoma State. With 49.5
team points, the Huskers finished
fourth behind the Cowboys (84 points),
Oklahoma (68) and Iowa State (65).
Missouri finished last with 14.5 points.
Vering, who is now 3-6 against
Munoz in his career, started the third
period down 1 -0 but evened the score
with an escape early in the period. No
more points were scored in regulation.
After a scoreless first overtime,
Munoz won the flip and chose to start in
the down position. With an escape or a
reversal, Munoz would win the match,
but ifVering rode him for the 30-second
period, he’d be crowned champion.
With the hometown crowd on its
feet, Vering rode Munoz for 28 seconds
but couldn’t hold on for the last two.
“You’re real slippery at that time of
the match,” Coach Tim Neumann said,
“that makes it so hard to hold onto.”
^ Being fourth in
this conference
pisses me off ’
Tim Neumann
UNL wrestling coach
Vering, now 34-3 with all losses
coming to Munoz, was reluctant to
speak after the match but eventually
warned that he’s going to come back
strong.
“It’s going to light the fire,” the team
captain said. “You know what happened
last time I lost to him. It’s going to be
ugly the next time I get on the mat.”
After Vering’s 6-5 loss to Munoz
Feb. 6, he destroyed Michigan State’s
then-No. 1 Nick Muzashavili the next
day 17-4.
Munoz said he didn’t think he had
Vering’s number, and he always expects
a dogfight with him.
“Whenever he and I wrestle, it’s
going to be a hard-fought match,” he
said. “I knew that if I kept my intensity,
and if I stayed mentally tough, I’d have a
chance at winning.”
Vering’s gutsy performance served
as a microcosm for the Huskers’ entire
day. Most put up valiant fights but
couldn’t grasp victory.
165-pounder Tony Denke was lead
ing top-seeded and No. 1-ranked Joe
Heskett 6-3 but couldn’t hold on to the
upset bid and lost 10-6 in the semifinals.
125-pounder Paul Gomez,
wrestling for the last time at home as a
senior, went into overtime with eventual
champion Jeff Ragan but couldn’t man
Please see WRESTLERS on 14
Swimming team gets second
From Staff Reports
The Nebraska men’s swimming
and diving team did everything it set
out to do at the Big 12 Championship
meet over the weekend in College
Station, Texas.
The Huskers knew Texas would
be nearly impossible to knock off,
and after a second place finish behind
the Longhorns, Nebraska Coach Cal
Bentz was satisfied.
“We are really happy to get sec
ond place,” Bentz said. “We are ready
to move on to the NCAAs. I am glad
that we were able to beat such good
teams.”
Texas ran away with the meet with
1,007 points to second place
Nebraska’s 649.
Iowa State edged Texas A&M for
third with 564 points to A&M’s 563.
UT won all six events on
Saturday, with Jon Younghouse
defeating NU’s Michael Windisch in
the 1,650-yard freestyle event,
despite a personal record and NCAA
qualifying time of 15:17.19 for
Windisch. Younghouse posted a
15:07.90 mark.
Husker top finishers were Adam
Pine, with a fourth-place swim in the
200-yard butterfly with a time of
1:47.17, and Carlos Oliva, who
placed third in the 200-yard breast
stroke with a time of 2:01.26.
The 400-yard freestyle team of
Nebraska (Pine, Javier Botello, Peter
Fry and Anthony Rogis) finished sec
ond.
The diving board was also domi
nated by UT, with Troy Dumais tak
ing the title on the platform. NU’s
Charlie Law finished highest out of
the Huskers in fourth place.
Baseball team has ugliest loss of year
From Staff Reports
After winning its first game against
Oklahoma State on Saturday, the
Comhusker baseball team’s weekend
went on the decline.
The first of the three games was
rained out Friday but was rescheduled
as part of a double-header on Saturday.
The Huskers jumped out to a 10-0
lead, pounding OSU’s ace pitcher, Mark
Smith.
Freshman Jamie Rodrigue (2-1)
held the Cowboys to one hit over six
scoreless innings and earned the win.
Freshman Steve Hale, who carried a
nine-inning scoreless streak into the
game, entered the game in the seventh
inning with runners on first and second.
OSU pounded Hale, scoring eight runs
in the seventh, but the Huskers held on
for the win.
Brandt Vlieger, John Cole and Will
Bolt all had home runs in the game for
Nebraska. Cole finished 4-for-6 with
four RBIs.
The Husker offense recorded 12 hits
in the game, but it would manage only
14 during the rest of the weekend.
In Saturday’s second game, Husker
pitcher Shane Komine (2-1) suffered his
first loss of the season as OSU downed
Nebraska 4-2.
Komine allowed just five hits and
three earned runs over 6 and two-thirds
innings, but the Husker bats went cold,
recording just five hits and two runs
scored in the eighth inning.
Nebraska Coach Dave Van Horn
said his team let him down in the second
game.
“I was a little disappointed because I
thought we would be able to score six or
seven runs in the second game,” Van
Horn said. “We didn’t take advantage of
some opportunities and it cost us.
“I thought the guys played hard, but
I think they may have let up a little after
winning that first game.”
Sunday, the Huskers suffered then
worst defeat of the season, an ugly 8-2
loss.
Chad Wiles (2-1) suffered his first
defeat of the season, leaving the game
trailing 4-1 in the fifth inning
Justin Cowan provided the lone
bright spot for the Huskers by hitting his
third home run of the season, a solo shot
in the third inning.
The Huskers (7-5) will open up then
home schedule Tuesday against the
University of Nebraska-Omaha at 2
pjn.