Scott McQwg/DN
The Nebraska women* swimming team placed first in the Husker Shootout while the men finished in second place after a dose
competition with UNLV that came down to the last event on Sunday.
Men lose by .27 seconds
BY TOBY BURGER
Hie difference between victo
ry and defeat for the Nebraska
men's swimming and diving team
in last weekend’s Husker
Shootout was 21 seconds.
Entering the final event of the
three-day meet Sunday, the
University of Nevada-Las Vegas
and Nebraska stood tied at 328
points.
Hie 400-yard foee-style relay
would determine the tide. But die
Husker men finished second
(3:01.43) in the event and for the
meet UNLV’s .27-second margin
of victory (3:01.16) provideda win
in the event and the men’s team
tide.
But that loss may be the only
downside to Nebraska’s first home
meet of the season. The NU
women's team won both the
three-day, four session Husker
Shootout and Saturday evening’s
Sprint Classic, composed of 10
sprint events. Even though the
men didn’t win the Husker
Shootout tide, they did walkaway
with the Sprint Classic tide.
Interim Coach Paul Nelsen
said his teams performed welL
“We did what we had to do
and what we could have done,”
Nelsen said. “We were competi-,
tive the whole way, and we should
have been. I expected them to be.”
The NU women won the
Shootout title with a 363 score
while the University of Nevada
followed a distant second (325)
followed by UNLV (306).
Drury University (260) and
Kenyon College (231) rounded
out die field.
The women also won the
Sprint Classic in similar form,
winning five of 10 events and fin
ishing with a team total 63 as
UNLV stood a distant second with
53.
Senior All-American Beth
Karaica led the way for the
women’s team winning the 50
yard free, 100-yard free and 100
yard fly individual events. She also
helped in winning 200-yard free
relay, 200-yard medley relay and
the 400-yard medley relay at the
Shootout
Her winning continued at die
Classic as she staked out a win in
the 40-yard free and was part of
the winning 200-yard medley
relay.
“I felt pretty good this week
end,” Karaica said. “It was a long
meet, and everybody swam realty
well.”
In addition to Karaica’s leader
ship, Nelsen said sophomore All
American Lindsey Highstrom also
guided die team in the weekend's
two meets.
“They’ve (Karaica and
Highstrom) proved to be leaders
in the pool and outside of the
pool, and you need that,” Nelsen
said.
While the women swept the
weekend competition, the men’s
narrow Shootout loss to UNLV
wasn’t disheartening, at least to
sophomore Raymond Brush.
“It wasn't disappointing at all,”
That 400-free relay
was a great time.
Everybody swam well.
There wasn't a weak
leg on that relay.”
Raymond Brash
NU swimmer
Brush said. “That 400-free relay
was a great time. Everybody swam
well. There wasn’t a weak leg on
that relay.”
NU finished a narrow four
points behind UNLV’s winning
344 point total. The University of
Washington placed third (290),
Kenyon College fourth (270) and
Drury University (243) in the fifth
and final spot
As for the Sprint Classic, the
men took home die tide by claim
ing six of the 10 events. The six
events gave the Husker men a
team total of 75 points followed by
UNLV’s 63 points.
Brush lead the way winning
die 50-yard backstroke and 100
yard individual medley at the
Sprint Classic. He also assisted in
the winning 200-yard medley
relay.
“Everyone is just taking that
next step forward,” Brush said,
“and we’re just coming out of
nowhere surprising everyone.”
NU next travels to the Texas
Invitational. The meet runs Dec.
1-3.
NU doses in on perfect season
■Nebraska sweeps Baylor
behind strong performances
by Pilakowski and Kropp.
BY SEAN CALLAHAN
John Cook has begun the
countdown.
After Saturday's 15-5,15-10,
15-10 victory over Bayior, the top
ranked Nebraska volleyball team
is now eight wins away from win
ning a national championship,
Cook said.
The win over die Bears (14-14,
7-12) sets up die Comhuskers (26
0,18-0 for their final two regular
season matches this week against
Texas Tech and Kansas State
before beginning die round of 64.
Husker Coach Cook said there
are always things you can work
on, but overall the first-year coach
was pleased with this team's
three-game road victory over BU.
“I thought we played well,”
Cook said. “Baylor was really
inspired and came out and played
us competitive.”
NU was led by sophomore
Amber Holmquist who had 10
kills and 12 Modes.
Sophomore Laura Pilakowski
and junior Jenny Kropp each
added 8 kills.
Nebraska outblocked the
Bears by 16.
“Statistically we dominated
them,” Cook said. “Jenny and
Amber played really on die attack
side. Greichaly (Cepero) did a nice
job of setting them up.”
The 3-0 victorvover Baylor
was the Husker's 11® three-game
sweep over BU in as many tries.
With two regular season
matches remaining, Kropp said
the one thing she feels the team
needs to work on before die post
season is coming together all at
onetime.
“Their will be times when
someone's playing perfect and
Nebraska 15 15 15
Baylor 5 10 10
then somebody else will be,”
Kropp said. “It’s just not all hap
pening at once. We all need to start
playing our best at die same time.
“We really need to go out
strong, so we can boost our confi
dence and host a regional. That
would be a major advantage.”
NU will undoubtedly host a
regional if they remain undefeat
ed by beating Texas Tech and
Kansas State.
If they lose one or both of the
contests, they may drop to a No. 2
seed, Cook said.
“We always have things that
we need to improve,” Cook said.
“This week we'll play two quality
opponents to get us ready for the
NCAAs.
“Were looking at it as we’ve got
eight matches left to win the
national championship”
No. 25 UCSB no match for Huskers
WOMEN from page 10
always has their hands in our face
and denying us on in-bounds
passes,” said UCSB center Nicole
Greathouse (15 points).
Freshman Margaret Richards
- who tied center Casey
Leonhardt for a team-high 14
points - won the tournament’s
MVP award despite committing
eight turnovers in 20 minutes,
which prompted Sanderford to
call her hyper and colorblind.
“Maybe in practice this week
we should work on helping her
figure out who the white team is,"
Sanderfbrd said.
Leonhardt was another
Husker with both an upside and
downside Sunday. Despite carry
ing over her missed-chip-shot
syndrome from last year by clank
ing 10 of 14 shots, Leonhardt
dominated the lane with a 10
rebounds and a career-record five
blocks. Her double-double made
NU7-0.
And although Sanderfbrd crit
icized his young squad for playing
tight and “like they don’t know
how to win dose games yet” in the
last 10 minutes, the Huskers never
lost their composure against a
team that beat them by nine in
Santa Barbara last yean
"They put on their pants just
like we do,” Sanderford said.
“We’ve just gotta take the attitude
that if people want to slug it out
with us, they better bring their
hard hat. Isn’t that what I said a
week ago? I believe in these kids. I
don’t think very many teams will
want to have us in March.
Collier era opens on sour note for NU
BASKETBALL from page 10
charity stripe for the game and
putting NU away for good.
Collier said his team’s lack of
defensive awareness in the sec
ond half, combined with ORU’s
hot shooting, led to NU’s demise.
The Golden Eagles shot 17 for 27
in the second half, led by guards
Josh Atkinson and Luke Spencer
Gardener. Both had career-highs
of 19 points on 7 of 12 combined
shooting from beyond the arc.
MI think our problem lied in
the fact that we couldn’t sustain
our defensive intensity as long as
we needed too,” Collier said.
Lack of execution on the
offensive side was not a major
concern of Collier, who saw
Steffon Bradford score a career
high 26 points on 11 of 13 shoot
ing. The 6-foot-5 Bradford, who
was guarded most of the game by
players that stood 7-0,6-11 and
6-8, added 14 boards, helping
NU out-rebound ORU 35-22.
Despite logging 37 minutes
apiece because of the absence of
Ffriend and Fields in the final
game of their suspensions,
Belcher and Bradford weren’t
offering any excuses for the loss.
“Right now, those players
aren’t with us,” said Bradford.
“Right now, this is our team. So
we take full responsibility for our
loss.”
Collier said Nebraska’s lineup
on Tuesday against Eastern
Illinois will probably change
with both Ffriend and Fields eli
gible to play. Point guard Kevin
Augustine, who has an injured
back, won't play against Eastern
Illinois, who lost 90-73 to
Collier's former team Butler on
Saturday.
1
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I
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I
Wrestling dominates m cramped Coliseum
■Vering reaches a milestone
with the 100th win of his career
as NU easily defeat Wyoming.
BY WNCE KUPPtQ
Ibdd Beckerman captured his
third pin of the year in just as
many tries, and Brad Vering pulled
in his 100th career victory as the
Nebraska wrestling team routed
Wyoming, 31-7, in the team's
home opener at the NU Coliseum
on Friday night
With the win, the sixth-ranked
Comhuskers improved their dual
record to 3-0.
Beckerman, a senior All
American at 133 pounds, pinned
Kelly McConville in 4:07. With the
victory, the second-ranked
Beckerman improved to 3-0, with
a pin in each match.
Hie crowd of930 erupted as
Beckerman brought McConville
to his bade to receive a pin.
Nebraska was wrestling a dual
at the Coliseum, which seats
4,200, for the first time since the
1996-97 season. Hie Huskers nor
mally wrestle at the spacious
13,500-seat Bob Devaney Sports
Center, which was unavailable
because of an NU women’s bas
ketball game.
Husker wrestlers and coaches
loved the atmosphere of the
smaller Coliseum.
“The place was awesome,”
Beckerman said. “It was the best
home match I’ve had at Nebraska
my five years here. It was like they
were right on top of you. The
crowd was so loud. It was great”
National Champion Brad
Vering brought the crowd to its
feet with his 100th career victory,
defeating Wyoming’s Craig
Rumsey, 13-6, at 197 pounds.
Vering said it was a great
honor to be a part of that mile
stone at a program of Nebraska’s
stature. Vering is now tied for 12th
on Nebraska’s all-time career vic
tory list
Despite earning the win,
Vering said he was a little disap
pointed with his performance. In
last year’s match against Rumsey,
Vering pinned him.
While Vering couldn't get a pin
in his 100th career victory, redshirt
•1 *
uavia uasen/ vn
Nebraska freshman Matt Fletcher frees himself from Wyoming's Kevin Kesner in a wrestling match on Friday night at the NU
Coliseum. The Huskers easily defeated Wyoming 31-7.
freshman Jason Powell earned a
pin in just his second career victo
ry. Powell improved to 2-1, with
both wins by foil and his only loss a
one-point set back to the nation’s
lOth-ranked wrestler.
In Friday’s match, the 125
pound Powell pinned John Faczak
in just 1:42.
"He’s an entertainer,” Coach
Mark Manning said. "He's got that
litde spark about him that people
are really going to like. He’s scrap
py and wrestles all over the mat
He’s dangerous.”
Despite winning eight of 10
matches on the night, including
the two pins and a major decision
by junior All-American Bryan
Snyder at 157 pounds, Manning
was critical about the team's per
formance.
“Our team is sporadic about
hustling,” Manning said. “We
want our guys hustling more.
Some of our guys don't quite
understand how to hustle. You got
to hustle back always.”
Manning took blame for some
of that
He said his coaching staff had
worked the team hard during the
week before the match, causing
the team to look a little worn out
The Huskers now have two
weeks off to prepare for their next
meet at the Las Vegas Invitational
onDec.1-2.
As the holiday season draws near, UNL Landscape
Services will protecting campus evergreens with a
coating of fox urine to deter any would-be
Christmas tree poachers.
* X
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