/
SportsMonday
NU women gymnasts head to NCAA’s
From staff reports
For the first time since 1983, the
Nebraska women’s gymnastics team
will be heading to the NCAA champi
onship as a regional champion.
The Cornhuskers used a school
record-tying score of 196.875, which
was previously set against Iowa on
March 13, to win the Region 3 champi
onship held in Tucson, Ariz.
The fifth-ranked Huskers topped
No. 7 Louisiana State, 195.65, and No.
17 Arizona State, 195.50. With its sec
ond-place showing, LSU will join NU
as two of the 12 teams competing in the
NCAA Championships, set for April
13-15 in Boise, Idaho.
Nebraska will make its fifth
NCAA appearance in six years. It will
be only the third time in school history
that NU will appear after winning the
NCAA Regional. Nebraska was able
to capture regional titles in 1979 and
1983.
Coach Dan Kendig was an assis
tant with Nebraska the last time the
Huskers won a regional.
“It was a really special perform
ance tonight,” Kendig said. “I was here
for our last regional title, and this one is
as much fun as the last one. We were
just thrilled to go out and perform the
way we did tonight
“We were only focused on what we
could control. When you hit, it is easy
to stay focused, and we made it easy on
ourselves by doing that. We felt that if
we didn’t count a mistake, then we
would win the meet.”
The Comhuskers were once again
paced by senior All-American Heather
Brink. Brink became NU’s first two
time regional champion as she took
first place honors with a school-record
39.70 in the all-around.
The Lincoln native also scored her
third perfect 10 on the vault, tying her
school record. Brink remains the only
female gymnast in NU’s history to
record a perfect score in an event.
Brink also scored a school-record
score of 9.975 on the uneven bars to
take the event title. With a score of
9.875 on the balance beam, Brink was
able to tie for second-place indie event
The senior rounded out her afternoon £
with a fourth on the floor exercise with
a 9.85 score.
“Heather trained harder for this
meet than any other meet in her
career,” Kendig said.
The school record team score of
49.475 on the uneven bars propelled
the Huskers to their eventual team title.
Along with Brink, freshmen Julie
Houk and A.J. Lamb took the top three
individual spots for Nebraska.
Houk used the second best score in
school history, 9.95, in the event to
place behind Brink. Lamb tied a per
sonal best 9.90 score to place third.
The Comhuskers will have two
weeks to prepare for the NCAA
Championship.
(It was a really
special
performance
tonight. We were just
thrilled to go out
and perform the
way we did...”
DanKendig
NU women’s gymnastic coach
Byme
continues
search
for coach
By Joshua Camenzind
Staff writer
KEARNEY - It is on to plan B in
Nebraska Athletic Director Bill
Byrne’s search for a new basketball
coach.
On Friday, Byrne’s first choice,
Tulsa’s Bill Self, said no to Nebraska
and yes to a new package from his cur
rent employer, the Golden Hurricane.
It was a win for Tulsa, which has a
history of losing its coaches to higher
profile programs. It was a loss for
Nebraska and Byme, who were report
ed to have been offering up to $1 mil
lion to snag die up-and-coming coach.
Byme, who was in Kearney on
Saturday for the University of
Nebraska Board of Regents meeting,
said none of the regents had voiced
their concerns to him about the search.
Nebraska Sen. Ernie Chambers
has recently voiced his concerns about
the amount of money being offered.
Chambers said NU would be better
served using the money in other
places.
cyme would not comment cm los
ing Self or what his plans were at that
point But his boss, Chancellor James
Moeser, did.
“Obviously we are disappointed,
but there is more than one good bas
ketball coach and a number of good
ones,” Moeser said. “I am confident
mat we are going to get an excellent
coach for the basketball program.”
Moeser said he was reluctant to
call Self die Huskers’ No. 1 choice and
said, “we have been actually talking to
a number of people simultaneously.”
Byrne flew out to Indianapolis for
the Final Four after the meeting on
Saturday night. Indianapolis is also die
home of NU’s next target, Barry
Collier of Butler. Butler’s Athletic
Director, John Parry, confirmed to the
Omaha World Herald on Saturday that
Collier and Byrne would be meeting
upon Byrne’s arrival in Indiana.
Parry told the World Herald he
expects Collier to look closely at NU
and said, “I’m not sure there’s anydiing
we can do but wish him hick and thank
him for doing a hell of a job here.”
Collier led Butler to the NCAA
Tournament this year with a 23-8
record. The Bulldogs lost to Florida cm
a last second shot in the first round.
Florida will play Michigan State on
Monday night for the NCAA
Championship.
L
Josh Wolfe/DN
Freslunan quarterback Jammal Lord rushes past the defense at the spring scrimmage Saturday at Memorial Stadium. The defense suffered several
breakdowns, allowing Lord to rush for 62 yards and a touchdown.
Scrimmage shows struggling defense
The two things that
you get concerned
with... are big plays and
where a team can run
the football. And both
those things occurred
today. If we are going to
be an excellent defense,
we have to make strides
there.”
Craig Bohl
NU defensive coordinator
By Brandon Schulte
Staff writer
It wouldn’t be surprising if
Nebraska Defensive Coordinator
Craig Bohl didn’t sleep a wink
Saturday night.
If the nightmare that was
Nebraska’s football scrimmage
Saturday seeped into his dreams,
he must have seen visions of NU
quarterback Jammal Lord danc
ing through his head all night.
Lord and the rest of the NU
offense ran and passed almost at
will as the Cornhusker defense
suffered breakdowns on many
occasions.
“The two things that you get
concerned with as a defensive
coach are big plays and where a
team can run die football,” Bohl
said. “And both those things
occurred today. If we are going to
be an excellent defense, we have
to make strides there.
“I do know that we missed a
lot of tackles today. I think
Jammal Lord ran through half our
defense five or six times.”
On several occasions Lord
evaded the grasp of Husker
defenders to scramble for a first
down or complete a pass. The red
shirt freshman rushed eight times
for 62 yards and a touchdown and
completed 4 of,9 passes for 68
yards with one interception.
That interception by Jamie
Burrow was the lone bright spot
for the defense Saturday. The mid
dle linebacker returned the tipped
pass 60 yards for a touchdown on
the first drive of the scrimmage.
But after that, the offense took
over. Big plays and missed tackles
resulted in 405 rushing yards and
293 passing yards by the top three
*> -
offensive units in the Huskers’
first major scrimmage of the
spring.
“We gave up plays on third
down and long, first down and
10,” Bohl said. “It was pretty
much consistent.
“Part of what we did today
was to not do a lot of razzmatazz.
You didn’t see a lot of things that
were on the edge. What we want
ed to do is go out and do our base
stuff and see who could make
plays.”
With defensive starters Kyle
Vanden Bosch and Loren Kaiser
held out of the scrimmage and
limited scrimmage time given to
Carlos Polk, the inexperienced
NU defense was susceptible to big
plays all afternoon.
Please see FOOTBALL on 14
