Vering captures national title
Bill Greenblatt/NEWSMAKERS
BRAD VERING celebrates his nation
al title victory Saturday night at the
NCAA Championships. Vering
became the seventh Husker to win
an Individual national crown.
■ Beckerman, Gomez
and Snyder all earn All
American honors during
wrestling championships.
By David Diehl
Staff writer
ST. LOUIS, Mo.— The match was
sluggish, boring and tedious for both
Iowa State and Nebraska wrestling
fans.
Until the second overtime.
If any of the 16,795 in attendance at
the Kiel Center so much as blinked,
they missed the moment that captured
Nebraska’s first individual national
wrestling championship in five years.
Just one second into the'tie-break
ing sudden death overtime, in what
seemed barely enough time for the ref
eree to blow the starting whistle,
Nebraska 197-pounder Brad Vering
escaped the clutches of Iowa State’s
fourth-seeded Zach Thompson, and
thrust his fists skyward in victory.
Eleventh-ranked Nebraska finished
in eighth place with 45.5 team points,
its highest finish since a 1996 sixth
place performance. The Huskers also
came out of St. Louis with four All
Americans, also the most since 1996.
But NU would have finished out of
the top 10 without Vering’s champi
onship, the first since heavyweight
Tolly Thompson was crowned in 1995.
“It’s a lifelong dream,” an exhaust
ed and exhilarated Vering said after
ward. “I’ve been wanting to do this for
ever - winning it for Nebraska, being a
Nebraska kid. I know they haven’t had
a hometown national champion, or at
least one in a while. It just feels so good
right now.”
In order to win, Vering had 30 sec
onds to escape his opponent’s control;
if not the Cyclones’ Thompson would
” Ifelt good taking top or
bottom. Whatever I had to do, it was fine.”
BradVering
NU wrestier
be crowned champ.
But the title might not have been
won with 29 seconds left in the over
time period. It may have been captured
just before that with the coin toss.
Vering won the toss after a score
less first overtime and chose to start in
the down position. It’s generally accept
ed among wrestlers that it is easier to
earn an escape rather than ride out an
opponent for 30 seconds.
“I felt good taking top or bottom,”
the Howells native said. “Whatever I
had to do, it was fine. It was just the
first time I’d won the coin toss in over
time.”
Vering finished the season with a
38-3 mark, including three wins vs.
Thompson, who lost the last two by one
point. Vering said Thompson’s style
usually will create a tough match.
“He’s real tough to score on,”
Vering said. “He’s short, he’s strong. I
had a couple of chances to score, and he
wrestled out of it.
“A matchup like that is always
going to come down to the end, and I
got lucky with the toss and got it.”
After seven minutes of wrestling,
neither competitor had scored a take
down - the same thing happened in
their March 5 match at the Big 12 tour
Please see VERING on 14
Photos by Mike Warren/DN
ABOVE: JESSICA THOMPSON clears her mark in the high
jump at the NCAA indoor track and field national champi
onship.
RIGHTS JELENA STANISAVUEVIC sprints down the banked
track at the lyson Center. Stanisavljevic was competing
in the 4x400 motor relay that finished sixth at the meet.
NU coach has mixed
feelings over NCAAs
By Jamie Suhr
Staff writer
Despite staking claim to 10 All-American honors at the
NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships on March 10
11 in Fayetteville, Aik., Nebraska Track and Field Coach Gary
Pepin was not entirely pleased with his team’s results.
Pepin said the team didn’t reach its goal of finishing in the
top 10 at nationals. Overall, the women’s team finished 12th
with 14.5 points, and the men placed No. 24 with a final tally
of six points.
UCLA led die way on the women’s side by scoring 51
points and die men’s field was dominated by the host Aikansas,
which outdistanced second place Stanford 69.5-52.
“We didn’t do as well as we could have, but a lot of good
things happened,” Pepin said.
Just two Comhuskers scored points on the men’s side.
Triple-jumper Sheldon Hutchinson placed sixth with a leap of
53-feet, 6 % inches, after battling through a year of painful shin
splints and stress fractures in both legs.
Please see NCAA on page 15
Nee fired as NU coach;
Byrne begins search
■ Dismissal follows 11-19
season and low attendance
at the Devaney Center.
By Josh Funk
Editor
When asked about next year’s
team in a post-game interview last
week, Nebraska Basketball Coach
Danny Nee said
prophetically:
“It’s over.”
Monday, NU
Athletic Director
Bill Byrne fired
Nee and
announced a
nationwide search
for his replace
ment
Nee Nee was fired
four days after a
first-round Big 12 tournament loss to
Baylor, marking the end of a disap
pointing 11-19 season and Nee’s third
losing year at Nebraska.
Byrne did not discuss specifics,
but said there were many factors in his
decision.
“I’d say it was an accumulation of
things,” Byrne said, though he did
acknowledge that wins and losses and
poor game attendance numbers were
factors. Nebraska’s attendance figures
are the lowest since the opening of the
Bob Devaney Sports Center.
“Many things go into determining
whether we want someone to continue
to head a program, especially a high
profile one like basketball.”
Byrne said the university will pay
$400,000 to buy out the remaining
three years of Nee’s contract. The fir
ing will be effective March 31.
Nee decided not to attend the press
conference announcing his dismissal
and did not immediately return Daily
Nebraskan phone calls for comment
Monday afternoon.
Attempts to reach the players, who
are on spring break this week, were
.'also unsuccessful Monday. Byrne said
he planned to meet with all the players
next week. Byrne was also unable to
contact Eddie Baker, a 6-foot-6 for
ward who is currently Nebraska’s lone
recruit for next season.
In reflecting on his 14-year tenure
at Nebraska last week, Nee talked
about overall accomplishment.
“The thing was to make your
notch,” Nee said on Tuesday. “To
prove to yourself that you can coach at
this level. You start keeping things in
l
it I would like us
to be in the NCAA
tournament on a
regular basis, and
I would like us to
do well there ”
Bill Byrne
NU Athletic Director
better perspective.
“It’s never going to be a game, a
play or a referee. You start seeing the
bigger picture.”
Byrne said he and Nee had several
discussions about Nee’s job through
out the season, and they had “effec
tively come to a decision long ago.”
In a year in which Nee set the mark
for wins at Nebraska with 254, he was
still haunted by his 1-7 career NCAA
tournament record, with five of those
losses at NU.
Byrne said competing well nation
ally is a large part of his vision for the
future of the team.
“At Nebraska, we like to win
national championships,” Byrne said.
“I would like us to be in the NCAA
tournament on a regular basis, and I
would like us to do well there.”
Byrne would not name any candi
dates for the job, but he did say he
maintains a short list of coaching
prospects for every sport at the univer
sity.
Rumors have it that luisa Coach
Bill Self is at the top of the list, along
with other small-school coaches from
around the nation. One large-school
candidate, Herb Sendek of North
Carolina State, has also been men
tioned.
Byrne said he is looking for some
one who will fit into Nebraska’s pro
gram and be able to accomplish its
goals. But Byrne said he would not
contact any coaches until after their
seasons are over, which affects several
of his prospects.
All of the current NU assistant
coaches’ contracts expire June 30.
Byrne said he would encourage the
new coach to interview them, but
nothing was guaranteed.
Before coming to Nebraska, Nee
spent six seasons coaching the Ohio
Bobcats, and prior to that, he was an
assistant coach at Notre Dame under
Digger Phelps.
