Omaha daily bee., 1909-04-25
Nebrasks Has Fewest Number Out
Ever in Competition for Hon.
ors in Recent Years.
EXCELLENT MATERIAL IN SCHOOL
Lack Of Athletic Field Near School
Main Cause of Slump.
CLAP URGES THEM TO GET BUSY
New Athletic Field in Year Will
Remedy Difficulty.
REGENTS PLANNING TO BUY ONE
To Get of the Proper Size
Friends of the school May
Have 90 Help Buy
Two Lots.
REGENTS PLANNING TO BUY ON,

LINCOLN, April Observation-Disclosures
less than twenty men on its track squad
the state university this spring is threat
ened with a dearth Of candidates that
may prove fatal to the chances Of putting
out a fast team; and this, too. In a season
when there is a large quantity Of excel
lent material In school which, II brought
together, would give the Cornhusker insti-
tuition the strongest bunch of representa-
tives on the cInder path that It has had in
many years. The cause OF the small siEe
of the squad is more serious han the alb
sence of suitable candidates from the
student body and II is due entirely TO the
lack of an athletic field on the university
campus. This want proved a hardship on
the base ball coaches in making a good
nine and 1t is now a big obstacle in the
way TO producing a strong track team. No
athletic field on the campus has neces-
STATED the establishment of training quar-
tiers at the state fair grounds and the
change has kept promising track men from
reporting for practice.
DR.. Clapp. head coach of the cinder path
men, this morning declared that the forced
transfer of the training site has brought
upon his department a serious situation
in which to work out a well balanced
team for the coming meets. He asserted
that the present squad Of candidates, which
he has been working with the last two
weeks, is the smallest he has handled
during his term at this institution. He
lays the blame for the reduced squad to the
absence OF an athletic field.
Candidates Are Scarce.
mot since I first came to Nebraska"
explained DR.. Clapp in talking over the
prospects for a track team, have we
been confronted by as serious a dearth
. - a-~.l. oo.LllAkoa - AIoro L. hnrA tbts
spring. Last season there were over
seventy men on the squad and this spring
there should have been more than that
(. lumber for only a few of las. years let
ter men have left the university. There
are many good track and fieldmen in school
but 80 far they have failed TO report to me.
The whole trouble with them, l think, is
the fact that we have no cinder path OF
our own this year and are compelled to
practice at the state fair grounds.
The students do not like TO journey out
to that track. for the trip takes so much
time and keeps them away from their
studies a part of each forenoon. Last
spring the men, when the same conditions
obtained, were reluctant about going so
great a distance for training, but this
year some OF them not only protest
aEaipst working out there but they sc-
tually refuse TO report to me at all. This
situation, II we are TO have a winning
team. cannot be permitted TO continue
any longer.
Here we are with less than twenty men
on the squad and the preliminary meet
only one week off, the date for 1t being
Saturday, May l. One week from that
meet we will encounter the Morningside
college at Sioux City and then our men
will have all they can handle, for the
PackinBtown school has several strong
athletes and is likely to spring a sur
prise on the Cornhusker crew.
Several Weak spots.
The Nebraska squad will have TO dc
some rapid work in training during this
next two weeks, or else We will get g
poor start on the season. l am working
now to get out the men who are hDldins
back. We need every one Of them. for W,
are weak In the long distance runs and il
one or two other events. and we canno
develop a winning team from a squad o
twenty men. The students will have t.
suffer for the want OF proper facilities
ONLY this season and they ought to b.
willing to work under disadvantages thi
one spring in trying to give us
winning team. II the men will turn
eat for training, l feel certain W.
can beat both Kansas and Minnesota in tn,
dual contests we have with those schools
and / know we would stand an excellen
chance against the other teams in the con
ference meet at Des Moines in June.
am not sure. though, that enough candl
dates can be drawn out for practice. l
they do not report to me faster than the,
have dDns during the last two weeks III
Cornhuskers can hope 20 be no factor Il
the big meets next month"
Resides thA scarcity Of candidates. tn
track prospects also have been darkene
by injuries 10 some Of the men in train
ing. Perry, champion broad jumper and
fast sprinter, tore loose a muscle d
his right foot this week. and Dr.. Clap
fears the young athlete will be many day
In recovering sufficiently TO rejoin IN
squad. Early in the week MeDavitt
promising candidate in the hurdle events
injured one OF his knees so badly that h
win be absent from the squad for probabl
a week OF tive.
The annual preliminary meet will be he'll
az the state fair grounds Saturday after
noon OF next week. In this contest fresh
men, who are ineligible for intercollegiate
games. will be allowed 10 compete. Their
are several first-year stars and they ar
liable to take a generous share OF III
honors from the upper classmen. The wor
or Curtis Collins. who is eligible for IN
varsity this spring for the first time, wi
he watched closely by the local fan
Several times in practice he has beate
the university mark in the shot put, an
many students believe he will make h
'onS throws official by breaking the Corr
'usker record on Saturday.
New Field in Prospect.
The great handicap under which Corr
hIshera have worked for the last w