■While the women begin
their season flying high, the
men are facing a tougher
course, lacking experience.
BY JASON MERRIHEW
As the 2000 faU golf season
quickly approaches, the
Nebraska men’s and women’s
golf teams find themselves on
opposite ends of the totem pole.
The Nebraska women’s golf
team comes into the fall season
with high expectations after
earning its first trip to the NCAA
Championships.
The Comhuskers will boast a
deep lineup when they set foot
on the links in September.
Four of the five golfers who
competed for the Huskers last
season are back. Elizabeth
Bahensky, who finished in 25th
place at the NCAA
Championships last spring, was
the only senior on last year’s
squad
Junior Sarah Sasse and sen
ior Amy Roux will compete for
the No. 1 spot on the roster.
Sasse is coming off a second
place showing at the 2000World
University Golf Championships
in Coleraine, Northern Ireland.
Sasse was one of five collegian
representatives for the United
Stclt6S
“Her showing at the
Championships will increase
her confidence,” Coach Robin
Krapfl said.
Sasse also won this sum
mer’s Nebraska Women’s Stroke
Play Championship in record
fashion, cruising to a 17-stroke
victory.
Despite her impressive sum
mer, Krapfl said Sasse won’t
automatically be No. 1 for NU.
“Sasse’s status at the No. 1
position is not set in stone,”
Krapfl said. “Roux is going to
battle for the top spot.”
Juniors Catha Fogelberg and
Amanda Sutcliffe also return for
the Huskers.
Junior Stephanie Schaefer
and sophomore Amanda Krane
will battle for the fifth spot on
the varsity roster
With all this experience
returning, Krapfl is looking for
ward to the opening tourna
ment, which is to be held at the
Yankee Hill Country Club in
“With four freshmen starting, you take your
lumps. There is no substitute for experience. ”
Larry Rontfue
menS golf coach
Lincoln.
“It’s nice to start the season
out on a familiar course,” Krapfl
said. '
Meanwhile, the men’s team
is coming off a season filled with
growing pains. Last season,
Coach Larry Romjue fielded a
team that consisted of one
sophomore and the rest fresh
men.
The lack of experience
resulted in a last-place finish at
the Big 12 Championship.
“With four freshmen start
ing, you take your lumps,”
Romjue said. “There is no sub
stitute for experience.”
After a season of taking
lumps, the Huskers are looking
to improve.
Junior Seth Porter, the only
upperclassman on the roster,
returns as the top player on the
team.
"Seth has been the leader of
this team for the past couple of
years," Romjue said.
As a freshman, Porter placed
No. 82 overall during the 1999
NCAA Championship.
Sophomore Jim Itoy returns
as Nebraska’s top finisher at the
2000 Big 12 Championship.
Itoy tied for 43rd after firing
a score of 231 during the tourna
ment
The remaining three spots
will be filled from a large group
of sophomores and junior-col
lege transfer Blake Humbles.
, Humbles, who transferred
from Riverside Community
College in California, is the lone
recruit added to the squad.
The Huskers will begin com
petition on Sept 2 and 3.
“We’re looking forward to
the upcoming season," Romjue
said.
Experience gives teams a running start
BY JH-LZEMAN
Members of the 2000 NU
Men’s Cross Country team will
be running a route many of
them have ran before, which
could prove to be their greatest
strength this season.
Coach Jay Dirksen said this
year’s team will be marked by
depth and experience. He’s
looking to Senior Captain
Marcus Witter and senior Aaron
Carrizales to lead the pack.
Dirksen will also bring back
four sophomores who gained
valuable experience during
their freshman season, he said.
“We’ve got a good mixture of
old and new,” he said.
Last year’s team finished
sixth at the Big 12
Championships and narrowly
missed an invitation to the
NCAA Championships.
Dirksen saitfhe hoped this
year’s team will finish higher,
moving up to second, third or
fourth place in the Big 12. He
predicted Colorado would win
the conference.
“We’ve got a team that has
the potential to be there," he
said. “I have the feeling we'll be
right in there battling."
While the men can rely on
their balance, depth and experi
ence, the women’s team must
look to other sources. Only a
handful of experienced runners
will be lacing up their shoes for
the Comhuskers.
"We have a really good team;
we just don't have a lot of
depth," Dirksen said.
The women's team finished
in 16th place at last year's NCAA
championships.
It will showcase five experi
enced runners, led by sopho
more Kathryn Handrup.
Dirksen said he is aiming to
land in the upper half of the
conference, and he predicts
Kansas State and Colorado will
be on top.
“It's such a tough confer
ence, that if you’re in the top five
or six, you can still be one of the
better teams in the nation,” he
said.
Senior Jaimie Kruger said
she wasn’t concerned about the
team’s lack of experience.
”1 think everybody can step
up, so we'll be all right,” she said.
Kruger will Obe running in
her final year as a Husker, and
she has run more miles over the
summer than she ever has.
“It's my last year, so of course
I want to go out with a bang,”
she said. '
The first meet for the team is
the Sept. 2 Bearcat Distance
Classic, at Maryville, Mo., where
Dirksen said the younger, more
inexperienced runners will
compete.
The rest of the team will
make their debut at the Woody
Greeno/NU Invitational held at
Pioneers Park Sept 16.
Secondary confident despite loss of Browns
While Swiney and Groce battle to start on one corner; (raver expects breakout season
BY JOSHUA CAMENZINP
Pass-happy teams like
Oklahoma and Texas Tech must
be besides themselves.
Could it be true? Not one
player named Brown will step
onto the field this fall for the
Nebraska defensive secondary.
The Huskers lost four-year
starter Ralph
| Brown and Mike
■wiuiawaaea grown NU’s
second-leading
offense could tackier in histo
join the 1983 ry.
and 1995 squads T hf e
_jmnitji .7 prospect of not
asanongme having the two
best in Husker first-team All
hbtoty.Q Americans on
the team must
have opposing offensive coordi
nators salivating.
Good, says rover Joe Walker.
“They will probably start off
trying to pick on us,” he said.
“But those coaches will be very
disappointed if they do that."
While the Huskers are miss
ing the “Brown Brothers,” sec
ondary coach George
Darlington is quick to point out
that he has capable players that
are ready to step up.
HWe are blessed with six
players that have started games
in the past,” said Darlington,
who will be entering his 28"* sea
son at NU. "All we can do to
replace the seniors is to hope
that the younger players play up
to their ability.”
Erwin Swiney will step into
Ralph Brown’s right cornerback
position after missing last sea
son with an abdominal injury.
But Swiney is no stranger to the
position. In his freshman year -
1997 - he was named a starter by
his fourth game alongside Ralph
Brown.
He started every game the
following year but was held back
by injuries.
The junior, listed alongside
sophomore Dejuan Groce as the
starter at right corner, is now
ready to reclaim his role.
“I am very confident,”
Swiney said. "I think I am very
close to where I was my fresh
man year as far as healthwise,
and I think I have matured and
learned a lot more since then.”
Last year gave Swiney a
chance to observe from the side
lines - a role in which he said he
took advantage of.
"I think 1 learned a lot men
tally from a spectator’s point of
"View,” he said.
Opposite of Swiney is Keyuo
Craver, a junior who came into
his own last season. Craver
backed up Swiney as a freshman
and then started in his spot last
season, recording 51 tackles and
12 pass break-ups.
Craver was tested week in
and week out as teams looked to
throw opposite of Ralph Brown.
Darlington said Craver came
into his own as a player last sea
son.
”1 think Keyuo was a domi
nant comer last year,” he said. “1
think a lot of people gave him
more attention because of hav
ing a four-year starter on the
other side. We anticipate that
Keyuo will be even better this
year.”
Darlington points out that
while his secondary will be test
ed, it will be nothing it has not
seen before.
“Keyuo, Dejuan and Erwin
give you three guys that have
been on the field with the game
on the line,” he said. “So that is
an enjoyable feeling for a coach.”
7 am very confident. I
think I am very close
to where I was my
freshman year as far
as healthwise, and I
learned a lot more
since then."
Erwin Swiney
right comerback
The safety position is not
much different from the comer
back position.
The loss of Mike Brown will
hurt, but three players with
starting experience will help to
lessen die pain.
Clint Finley, Dion Booker
and Walker all have at least five
games of starting experience
behind them. With 76 games
combined, all are proven com
petitors.
NU first-year defensive coor
dinator Craig Bohl wasn’t wor
ried about life after the Browns.
“Usually when a guy leaves,
there is another guy groomed to
step up to the plate,” Bohl said.
Get rid of crowd noise on offense? Coach says no
■TheTitans nixed the ear
pieces they were told they
could only use with the ball.
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
NASHVILLE, Tfenn.—Count
Tennessee Titans coach Jeff
Fisher as a “no” vote against
using technology to block out
home field advantage.
His Titans and die St. Louis
Rams used the devices called
“Noise Exterminators” Monday
night during their exhibition
game as part of a test being run
by the NFL's competition com
mittee this preseason.
The tiny high-tech pieces
tune out the crowd and help
linemen hear the quarterback.
But Fisher wanted to use the
devices for his defense, not his
offensive line.
“I, however, for whatever
reason assumed that it was
going to be OK if I fitted the
defensive players, and I got a call
yesterday that defensive players
couldn’t use them, so we did not
use the ’Noise Exterminators’
yesterday,” Fisher said Tuesday.
“My thinking was, ‘What
good is that device going to do
my offensive line here when
we’re at home?' We can hear. It’s
the visiting offensive line that
should be able to use them.”
These are the devices that
then-St. Louis coach Dick
Vermeil wanted to use last sea
son when the Rams visited the
Titans on Halloween, but NFL
officials turned him down.
The Rams lost that game
after starting the season 6-0.
Fisher, who joined the com
petition committee earlier this
year, said members decided to
test the device this preseason.
He had eight or nine players fit
ted with the “Noise
Exterminators” and planned to
use them mostly for his defen
sive linemen.
“They thought that was way
too smart. It made way too
much sense, but it didn’t fell into
criteria for the test,” Fisher said.
Fisher had not had time yet
to talk with the Rams for their
opinion on how the devices
worked in the game Tennessee
won 30-3.
Rams left tackle Orlando
Pace was flagged twice for false
starts in the second quarter, and
Fisher said he had heard that
Pace’s ear piece fell out.
. “He was doing the same
things Fred (Miller) did when he
lined up against Jevon (Kearse,
last season),” Fisher said.
Miller, who played for the
Rams last season before joining
the Titans as a free agent, was
penalized repeatedly for false
starts in that game.
Miller was scheduled to use
V
one of the ear pieces, but he
declined to use them at home.
He said Tuesday after practice
that dealing with the noise is
part of the game.
After the game, he sympa
thized with Pace.
"I definitely had to laugh at
him. I knew it was going to hap
pen. It was either going to be
Orlando or Ron Tticker because
of our defensive ends and the
crowd noise here in our stadi
um,” Miller said. "This is a great
place to play if you’re the home
team, and we use it to our
advantage at home.”
When the devices come up
for a vote by the competition
committee, Fisher plans on vot
ing against the "Noise
Exterminators.”
"Philosophically, I would say
I’m opposed to such a device.
The game needs to be played the
way it is. It’s too technical as it
is,” he said.
dailyneb.com. your best all-around source for Husker sports coverage.
dailyneb.com. your best all-around source for Husker sports coverage.
I 50-meter freestyle record broken
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
INDIANAPOLIS — Get
ready, Alexander Popov. Gary
Hall Jr. Is coming after you
again.
Hall broke a decade-old
American record in the 50
meter freestyle at the U.S.
Olympic trials Tuesday night,
edging Anthony Ervin in 21.76
seconds — the second-fastest
swim in history.
Ervin claimed the second
trip to Sydney in 21.80, the
third-fastest time ever that also
beat the old American mark of
21.81 set by Tom Jager in March
1990.
Hall’s performance set up
another showdown with Popov,
the Russian star who has swept
the 50 and 100 at the last two
Olympics. Hall won the silver in
both events at Atlanta, but his
life was dealt a couple of major
blows in die ensuing four years.
First, Hall was suspended for
three months after testing posi
tive for marijuana. Then, he was
diagnosed with diabetes, alter
ing his training routine and
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