8A THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
SPORTS
FRIDAY. NOVEMBER 18. 2005
Women's golf team signs four players
Kansas women's golf coach Erin O'Neil announced the signing of four women for next fall's team. Lawrence native Sydney Wilson and Dallas native Meghan Gockel will be on the team next year. Quincy, Ill., native Emily Powers and Gothenberg, Sweden native Camilla Svensson also signed a National Letter of Intent to play for the Jayhawks next season.
"We signed a great class of players and we are excited to have them join our family," O'Neil said. "There is no doubt that these girls will have an immediate impact on our program."
Ryan Schneider
SOFTBALL
Five new Jayhawks sign on for next year
The Kansas softball team signed five women for next year's team, the Athletics Department announced yesterday.
Janice Damo, Tulare, Calif.; Amanda Jobe, Shawnee; Tracy Lubken, Phoenix; Sara Ramirez, Poacoima, Calif.; and Sarah Vertelka, Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., signed a National Letter of Intent to play for the Javhaws.
"I am excited about the quality and depth of this class," Bunge said. "With six seniors graduating, it was important to bring in players who have the ability to step in and help us right away. This class has that potential."
Ryan Schneider
VOLLEYBALL
Players honored for academic standing
The Kansas volleyball team had four players on the Big 12 All-Academic team this season
Sophomore Emily Brown, juniors Jaime Mathewson and Jana Correa and Paula Caten were honored by the league for maintaining at least a 3.20 GPA, which qualified them for the first-team recognition.
Caten, who was named to the ESPN the Magazine/CoSIDA academic all-district team last week, was one of only three Big 12 players to maintain a 4.0 GPA.
MLB
Matt Wilson
Owners adopt new, tougher steroids policy
MILWAUKEE - Baseball owners voted unanimously Thursday to approve the toughened steroids policy agreed to with the players' association earlier this week.
"To say they were happy was the understatement of year;" commissioner Bud Selig said. "They were very pleased with the agreement and delighted with everything that had gone on."
The union's executive board will decide when it meets Dec. 5-9 in Henderson, Nev., whether all players should vote to ratify the agreement or if board approval is sufficient.
MEN'S BASKETBALL
Maui to greet the Jayhawks
Kansas to handle business while enjoying warm weather
BY MIRANDA LENNING
mlenning@kansan.com
KANSAN SPORTSWITHER
It is not like C.J. Giles is afraid of sharks or doesn't like warm weather. For some reason though, the sophomore forward doesn't really enjoy islands — not that he's ever been to one.
"I'm not a big island guy," Giles said. "It's just a feeling I have."
Luckily for Giles, he won't have too much free time to spend in Maui, Hawaii, during the Jayhawks' six-day trip to the islands for the EASPORTS Maui Invitational. Kansas men's basketball coach Bill Self said the Jayhawks would be all business until they were done with their final game on Wednesday.
"They'll see the beach, they just won't get in the water," Self chuckled. "I've always found that you have more fun when you play well, and we need to make that our focus as opposed to going over there and having a good time."
Self has made that objective clear to his players as well.
"We know there will be lots of distractions over there, but
we understand this is a business trip," freshman forward Julian Wright said. "We may be dodging the cold weather, but we are just trying to go over there and improve throughout the week in Maui."
Kansas will play three games in as many days. The Jayhawks will tip off against the Arizona Wildcats at 4 p.m. Hawaii time, which is 8 p.m. Central Standard Time on Monday. The game will be televised on ESPN.
The winner of that game will take on the winner of the Arkansas vs. Connecticut game and the loser will take on the loser of the same game.
Both of the second-round games will be played on Tuesday. Kansas will play Wednesday as well, depending on the outcome of the first two games.
Along with Kansas, Arizona, Connecticut and Arkansas, the tournament bracket includes Chinamade, Michigan State, Gonzaga and Maryland — a fairly gaudy field for a young Kansas team.
Connecticut and Michigan State are ranked No. 2 and No. 5, respectively, in the USA Today/ESPN preseason poll, Gonzaga and Arizona are
Self said it would be a good test for the young players and force them to grow up quickly.
"We need to just throw these guys in the fire, because they are going to be thrown in the fire anyway," Self said.
ranked No. 7 and No. 9, and Maryland received the No. 21 slot.
Self said he hoped the Jay-hawks would bond while they were in Maui. He said there was a certain point every season when a team "becomes a team." Generally, Self said, it happened during Christmas break when there were not any distractions from school, family or friends — just basketball.
"I'm hopeful that we become a basketball team over the next week," Self said. "To the point where we trust each other and lean on each other."
Giles said gaining that chemistry that Self spoke of would be the key to the Jayhawks' success in the tournament.
"If we all jel and play together, we can go pretty far in Maui," he said.
The Jayhawks will leave Lawrence Saturday morning and arrive in Maui about 6:30 p.m. Saturday. They will go straight to an EASPORTS PlayStation tournament, where they will have a chance to hang out with players from the other teams. The team
Kansas will play three games in as many days. The Jayhawks will tip off against the Arizona Wildcats at 4 p.m. Hawaii time, which is 8 p.m. Central Standard Time on Monday. The game will be televised on ESPN.
will practice on Sunday afternoon, but Self said he would give them the rest of the day off.
"To an extent," Self laughed. "It won't be just 'Go have at it.'"
The Jayhawks had better enjoy their free time early because on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday,"it's all business," Self said.
After the final game on Wednesday and all day Thursday the team will be able to enjoy the sights. They will depart Hawaii about midnight on Thursday.
The team will stay at the Westin Maui Resort and Spa on Kaanapali Beach.
▼ NFL
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Rams Super Bowl quarterback returns to St. Louis as leader of another team
Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kurt Warner looks for an open receiver in the first quarter against the Dallas Cowboys on Saturday, Aug. 13 in Tempe, Ariz. Warner returns to St. Louis for the first time as an opposing quarterback.
By R.B. FALLSTROM THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Dial up sports talk radio any day during the football season, and invariably the perceived shoddy treatment regarding Warner losing the starting job to Marc Bulger in 2003
ST. LOUIS — Kurt Warner led the St. Louis Rams to two Super Bowls and won a pair of MVP awards, and legions of fans still have not come to grips with his departure.
— and his ultimate release before the 2004 season — will come up. So his return to the city that witnessed his rise to fame could negate some of the Rams' dome-field advantage in Sunday's game against the Arizona Cardinals.
"He did so much for this city when he was here, so much for this organization," Rams wide receiver Torry Holt said. "He never did anything bad in my eyes for them to treat him any other way."
Even if he is 0-5 as the starter for a 2-7 team, the fans will remember the glory days.
"You always want to come back and feel some love from everybody there," Warner said. "But at the same time I'm realistic to know I'm going to be wearing a Cardinals uniform and I'm going to be the team that's hunted."
"Everything I think about
the city isn't going to be dictated on whether I get a great ovation on Sunday or they boo me."
Bulger believes it'll be a hero's welcome. He's not complaining.
"I'm sure if we play each other it'll always come up," Bulger said. "Who knows? It doesn't bother me. It gets to be a boring story, but you keep talking about it."
The Rams continue to be plagued by injuries. They got Bulger, Holt, Isaac Bruce and Leonard Little back for last week's loss at Seattle, but this week likely will be without guard Adam Timmerman (back) and cornerback Travis Fisher (groin).
Especially if its the best storyline by far, considering the Rams are 4-5 after a loss at Seattle that
all but clinched the NFC West for the Seahawks, and the Cardinals have dropped three in a row.
Warner will try to become the first Cardinals quarterback to throw for 300 yards in three consecutive games and the attempt will come at the scene of some of his greatest triumphs. In 24 games in the Edward Jones Dome, he has completed 67.6 percent of his passes for 51 touchdowns.
"It's time for a win, bottom line," defensive tackle Darnell Dockett said. "We need a win in the worst way, the very worst way."
(knee) back after missing two games.
Regardless of how his career has floundered since, Warner said leaving town was a good thing for his career.
The Cardinals expect to get wide receiver Anquan Boldin
When the Rams cut him loose, they had concerns about his oft-injured thumb that affected his throws, and a pocket presence that became more jittery.
Warner started nine games for the Giants last year before losing his job to rookie Eli Manning, and then landed in Arizona.
"I wasn't going to play in St. Louis, so there's no question that was the best thing for my career," Warner said. "Have I had the success that I had there? No. I haven't. It's hard to find."
This will be Warner's first game in St. Louis since 2002, and 20 players on the Rams' roster are former teammates.
Prepares
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 10A
"Then we will make adjustments to prepare for Big 12s, which are our final exams." Campbell said.
The Big 12 Championships will not be until next February. On Nov. 4, Kansas jumped into the College Swimming Coaches Association of America's Top 25 poll at No. 24 and has a lot to defend this coming weekend. The Jayhawks have not competed in two weeks. Campbell let the team sleep in for a couple of mornings to rest, Burbateha said.
"We'd like to consolidate the training gains; give them a little break in order to train hard in preparation for Big 12s," Campbell said. Campbell said with the extra rest and thorough practices, he expected season-best times from the lajwahaws.
"We just expect good times out of ourselves anyway and we're coming off of almost four days of rest." Urbatchka said.
Urbatchka and this year's seniors saw the results of Campbell's training technique when they were freshmen in college, which was Campbell's first year. The "midterm" meet in the 2002-2003 season was the North Carolina Invitational, where a majority of the team witnessed in-season or lifetime bests.
Urbatchka said that a team goal would be placing in the top three at the invite, which will feature other teams such as Wisconsin, Washington State, Notre Dame and South Dakota. Urbatchka said she predicted there would be lifetime and in-season best times as well as definite overall improvement to the team at the conclusion of the meet on Sunday.
"We'll have to see what our bodies can do," she said.
- Edited by Jayme Wiley
Women
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 10A
After being held scoreless in a sluggish opening game, McIntosh scored 10 points against Emporia State last Sunday.
"I was able to run and beat some players in transition." McIntosh said. "My teammates found me and I was able to score."
Catic has emerged as the team's point guard, but will continue to share minutes with junior Shaquina Mosley. When Mosley is not playing point guard, she will move to a shooting guard position.
Binghamton, located in New York, will enter the game in a similar situation, winning two exhibition games by large margins. Binghamton defeated St. Rose 96-51 and Le Moyne 93-50. Binghamton basketball coach Rich Conover said his team was excited to match up against a top-tier team in what will likely be a fast-paced game.
"We're going to see how that unfolds as it comes out," he said. "We're not going to commit suicide."
The Bearcats are led by Rachel Laws, who has been named to the America East All-Conference team each of the last two years. Conover described her as the team's backbone. The game will be a homecoming for senior guard Jen Blues, who is originally from Overland Park. For the Jayhawks, the game will be the first of 12 straight home games to open the season.
Edited by Anne Burgard
THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS SCHOOL OF FINE ARTS DEPARTMENT OF MUSIC AND DANCE PRESENTS
luxe prices are 87 for adults plus 55 for students and senior citizens and are available through the Lied Center Box office or at 783.964.2787
Discounts depend greatly on availability.
Peld for by KU
Ca
www comv kans.
Tr valrv
Ke
feren
scrap
some
Ke game play the C be in
Tra and Ting to Raide back
Ta pick game but t coach
Ke
Texas