SportsTuesday
Byrne, swimmers at odds about cut
■ Nil's athletic director formally
announced the demise of the sport
during a press conference Monday.
BY MATTHEW HANSEN
The formal announcement that
men s swimming would be cut, which
came on Monday afternoon at an
Athletic Department press confer
ence, felt like a showdown.
On one side, Nebraska Athletic
Director Bill Byrne sat in front of a
microphone explaining his reasons
for eliminating the sport.
On the other, approximately 35
members of the now-defunct team
and the women’s swimming team sat
watching, clearly dismayed by what
they were seeing and hearing.
To Byrne and Chancellor Harvey
Perlman, who accepted Byrne’s rec
ommendation to cut the program on
Friday, the decision came down to the
bottom line, which showed the
Athletic Department more than
$200,000 over budget last year.
“Resources are being outstripped
by demand ... institutions will be
increasingly faced to make difficult
decisions and priorities about what
(they) want to do and what (they)
want to excel at," Perlman said at the
press conference.
“It’s unfortunate that this has an
impact on student-athletes and their
families, but it’s something I think
was a necessary decision,” he said.
While the budget came first,
Byrne said looming NCAA sanctions,
a result of alleged recruiting viola
tions committed under former swim
ming Coach Cal Bentz, factored into
his decision to eliminate men’s swim
ming.
Byrne revealed that the school’s
internal investigation, which
prompted the suspension of Bentz
and ultimately the resignation of the
longtime Husker coach and his assis
tants, had uncovered “major viola
tions."
The school must appear before
the NCAA in September to learn what
sanctions will be placed on the men’s
and women's swimming teams as well
as the wrestling team, which is also
under continued investigation.
While Byrne and Nebraska’s insti
tutional representative Josephine
Potuto said it was unclear how the
school would be punished for any
Please see SWIMMING on 9
Home sweep
ends long
■
road trip
BY VAN JENSEN
After 33 games on the road, the lS^-ranked
Nebraska softball team was ready to play at home.
The Hu&kers (26-9,2-0 Big 12) took two games
against Colorado State (3-25), winning the first 4-1
and the second 14-0 in a five-inning run rule game
at the NU Softball Complex.
“After seven weeks on die road, I don’t care who
we’re playing. We could’ve been playing some jun
ior high team and it would’ve been exciting,* NU
Coach Rhonda Revelle said.
The Huskers used their usual balance of domi
nant pitching and decent hitting to take the first
game.
Freshman pitcher Peaches James pitched a
complete game, scattering four hits and allowing
one run. The win is die fourth straight for James (5
4). Second baseman Leigh
7“| Suhr led the Nebraska
* offense with two hits, two
|C<lw<>Sm« 1 mug and one RBI from the
_ leadoff spot
Wwria 14 The weather cooled con
Coltrads State • siderably for the late game,
- but the Nebraska bats caught
fire. The Huskers belted a
season-high 14 hits, and the 14 runs also were a
season high.
“It was nice to open up and get some hits,”
Revellesaid.
Third baseman Cindy Roethemeyer busted out
of a 2 for 17 slump to lead the team with three hits
in three at-bats. She also scored three runs and
had four RBI’s.
“It's just being determined,” Roethemeyer said
of breaking die slump. “If you can do something
and you’re not getting it done, you take it personal
ly'
Three other Huskers had at least two hits, and
outfielder Kim Ogee tied Roethemeyer for the
team lead with four RBI’s.
junior pitcher Penny Cope improved to 5-0 on
die season with the victory. Cope allowed only two
hits in the game, in large part because of spectacu
lar defensive plays.
In the second inning, with the Huskers up 1-0,
Roethemeyer prevented a hit with a diving grab
and pinpoint throw to first Later in the inning,
Ogee made an over- the-shoulder catch at the wall
to steal another hit
One more victory will tie the consecutive wins
mait for Nebraska at 17, but next on the schedule
is a game on Friday against Oklahoma (27-5,2-0
Big 12). The Sooners, last year’s national champi
ons, defeated NU 6-5 in extra innings earlier this
season.
Rover lone question in secondary
Derek Uppincott/DN
Nebraska senior comerback Erwin Swiney goes up for an interception Monday during spring practice. Swiney, whoU compete fora
starting spot with junior DeJuanGroce,and senior KeyouCraver are both returning starters at comerback for Nebraska.
BY DAVID DIEHL
Nebraska Secondary Coach George Darlington is
quick to point out that you can't always believe what
you see, and that was the case when reviewing statis
tics from the 2000 Nebraska defense.
The Nebraska secondary yielded a less-than-stel
lar208passingyards per contest last season, just good
enough to crack the top 50, and gave up more than
250yards through the air on five occasions.
Seem like a problem? Not as much as one would
think, according to Darlington. When those stats are
factored in with other numbers, the picture becomes
a tot rosier.
“Passing yards are really meaningless,"
Darlington said, pointing out that a pass efficiency
defense rating is a more valid tool to judge a sec
ondary’s ability.
In2000, the Comhuskers’ pass efficiency defense,
which is formulated stressing completion percent
age, yards and touchdowns allowed, ranked seventh
in the nation with a97.79 rating.
“Pass efficiency is the whole key" Partington said,
“It's a formula related to how you're doing, not yards.
You could give up 80 yards passing but if three of the
passes woe touchdowns, your pass efficiency is hor
rible.”
Comerback Keyou Craver, who will be a three
year starter in the fall, said that although last year
Nebraska’s secondary was susceptible to the big play
with its aggressive style, the unit was a good one in
2000.
“With our
style that's just
the way it is,"
Craver said.
“There were a lot
of things we could build off of to make us a tot better;
so I think it was more of a learning experience for us."
Craver, who has started every game each of the
past two seasons, returns along with a majority of the
secondary that helped NU attain such a stingy
defense against the pass.
Nebraska returns four secondary members with
starting experience - Craver, junior Dejuan Groce
and senior Erwin Swiney at comerback and senior
Dion Booker at free safety. The only question mark the
coaching staffhas had to address is the hole staring at
them from the rover position. The Huskers lost four
year letter winners Joe Walker and Clint Finley from
last yean
lb accommodate, former I-back Josh Davis has
been moved to rover, although Darlington said
chances to evaluate Davis have been limited because
he was coming off a tom ACL Freshman Lannie
Hopkins, a former linebacker, also has been moved to
rover to possibly provide depth along with junior
Aaron Tferpening and senior Wss Woodward, neither
of whom have started a game at NU.
The rover, who plays a combination comerback,
strong safety-type role, takes some time to learn,
Darlington said.
“It takes a special type of athlete, too," he said.
Aside from the gap at rover, NU’s defense figures
to be in good shape when the football gets into the air
Besides just having four returnees who combined to
make 30 starts in 2000, Craver said, each is another
year wiser this spring.
“We got a lot of guys coming back this year,"
Craver said. “So along with that aggressiveness well
be more disciplined, so that will help us out a tot"
Porter leads Nil's struggling golf team
Derek lippincott/DN
hmior Nebraska golfer Seth Porter b the only upperclassman on a team with 11 sophomores. NU is trying to improve on a dead
last finish in the Big 12 last year.
-* ' * l -f
BY LINCOLN ARNEAL
For most of his golfing
career, Seth Porter has known
nothing but success.
Now, for the first time in his
golfing life, the junior has been
forced to deal with loss as the
brightest star on an inexperi
enced and unsuccessful
Nebraska golf team.
Porter had won tourna
ments as a child. He was a four
year letterman at Hastings High
School. He was named the
state’s Junior Player of the Year
in 1997 and 1998. He finished
second in the Class B golf tour
nament in 1998.
Success followed Porter to
college where, in the 1998-99
season, he played on a
Nebraska team that finished
14th at the NCAA champi
onships - it’s best finish ever.
However, both team and
individual success were hard to
come by last year as Porter
found himself the team’s lone
returnee. A young sophomore
himself, Porter was surrounded
by inexperienced newcomers,
and the season became a disas
PleaseseePORTERon9
i
Men's gymnastic
to miss nationals
■Despite a strong finish, the
team's score was not good
enough for the championship.
BY KRISTEN WATERS
The Nebraska men’s gym
nastics team season came to an
early end as notice was given
Monday that it did not qualify
for the NCAA Championships.
“It sucks that we’re not
going,’’ senior Jason Hardabura
said. “Especially in my last year
here.’’
Despite the Huskers’ strong
third-place finish during the
weekend at the Mountain
Pacific Sports Federation,
where they outscored No. 11
Stanford, the score of 205.325
was not high enough to bump
NU up two spots for a team bid
at a national title.
It has been three years since
the Huskers have failed to qual
ify for nationals as a team.
“In 1998, we didn’t make
nationals, but it was the top six
teams that went," Hardabura
said. "This year, the top 12
teams go. But we finished 14th."
Having only eight gymnasts,
including only two seniors, cou
pled with a new scoring system
that required more difficult rou
tines may have been contribut
ing factors in the Huskers' early
demise, Hardabura said.
"The lack of depth on the
team and the uncertainty of the
new scoring system could have
played a role in why we didn't go
to nationals," he said.
Nebraska will find out today
which gymnasts qualified to
compete individually at nation
als. Hardabura believes almost
every NU gymnast will qualify
in at least one event. However,
the atmosphere will be different
for those who go, Hardabura
said.
“The dynamics are different
now," he said. “We’re competing
for individual success and not
team success. You’re there by
yourself. It makes it harder
when you don’t have the guys
backing you up.”
A *