SPORTS
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
FRIDAY, FEBUARY 3, 1995
SECTION B
Sean R. Crosier / KANSAN
Kansas freshman thrower Lisa Beran practices throwing the shot-put at Anschutz Sports Pavilion in preparation for today's Jayhawk Invitational.
Track teams to be tested at home meet
By Robert Moczydlowsky Kansan sportswriter
After two consecutive meets on the road, the Kansas track team will have a chance to compete at home.
Today's Jayhawk Invitational will be the first meet at home for Kansas since the season-opening Kansas Invitational on Jan. 14.
"This will be a great time for us to compete at home in front of our people," said Kansas track coach Gary Schwartz. "There will be a high level of competition, and this meet will give some of our athletes that don't normally get a lot of exposure a chance to compete."
The absence of several key Kansas athletes will allow the team to show some new faces. Kansas junior middle distance runners Kristi Kloster and Chris Gaston will travel to South Bend, Ind., to compete in tomorrow's Notre Dame Invitational.
"The meet in South Bend is more of an individual meet," Schwartz said. "It will give them a good chance to put up some qualifying times against a very competitive field. I think that Chris and Kristi will do very well."
Kloster said that traveling to Notre Dame would allow her to focus on qualifying in one event — the 800-meters.
"There will be a really strong open 800, she said. 'This is an individual meet, so the field will be tough.' The only goal is to run a national-qualifying time."
Kansas also will be without a large group of sprinters and jumpers, who will compete Saturday at the Indiana Invitational in Bloomington, Ind.
"We're trying to send our athletes to practice where we think that they will be successful," Schwartz said. "We want to qualify as many athletes as possible for the NCAA meet."
Today's meet will offer Kansas a chance to continue its recent string of successes. The Kansas men won the Kansas Invitational and the Kansas State Invitational, and the women finished second at both meets. In the annual combined team-scored meet between Kansas, Kansas State and Missouri, the Jayhawks finished second to the Wildcats after losing in the meet's final event.
"I'm pleased with our indoor season so far," Schwartz said. "This meet will offer us some good competition and an opportunity to prepare for the Husker Invite."
The Husker Invitational, held Feb. 10 and 11 in Lincoln, Neb., will be the biggest challenge for Kansas before the Big Eight Championships. Nebraska, perennial powerhouse and defending Big Eight champion, is the largest obstacle in Kansas' road to the Big Eight crown.
"Nebraska wins the Big Eight every year," Kloster said. "This year I think we're pretty even with them. I think we can give them a run for it."
Today's Kansas Invitational begins at 9:30 a.m. and is in Anschutz Sports Pavilion. The event is free.
INSIDE:
The Kansas football team has signed 24 new players for next season, including Zac Wegner, a quarterback from Platte City, Mo., who threw for 2,226 yards and 24 touchdowns his senior year. Page 2B.
Kansas to focus on ISU senior trio
By Christoph Fuhrmans Kansan sportswriter
The phrase No. 1 has several important meanings for the No. 3 Kansas men's basketball team.
The Jayhawks are the No. 1 team in the Big Eight Conference, have a one game lead over Oklahoma State and have one loss in conference play.
Tomorrow, the only conference foe to beat Kansas this season will enter Allen Field House, and Kansas sophomore guard Jacque Vaughn can't wait.
"When I look at the win-loss column, there is one L' in Big Eight play," he said. "And the team responsible for that loss will be here Saturday."
lowa State Cyclones, 17-4 and 3-3,
at 3 p.m.
The Jayhawks, 16-2 overall and 5-1 in the conference, will play the No. 11 Iowa State Cyclones, 17-4 and 3-3.
Since Iowa State defeated Kansas 69-65 on Jan. 14 in Ames, Iowa, the Cyclones have gone 1-4 in conference play.
Despite a 500 Big Eight record, Kansas coach Roy Williams said that Iowa State was still a team to be reckoned with in the conference.
"I really like their make-up," he said. "They've got a power player, they've got a big guy with size who can go out on the floor and they've got a great shooter."
Those three players are senior center Loren Meyer, senior forward Julius Michalik and senior guard Fred Holberg.
Since the Cyclones have three great players — all three have scored more than 1,000 points during their careers at Iowa State — the Jayhawks will have to use a defensive plan different from
what they used in the Colorado game
Against the Buffaloes, Kansas focused its defense on senior guard Donnie Bovce by having several players guard Bovce.
"You can't do those kind of things against Iowa State with three guys," Williams said. "It will be more of a standard, straight up, head-to-head kind of matchup with those guys."
Meyer, Michalik and Hoiberg combined for a total of 59 points and 24 rebounds against Kansas on Jan. 14.
"It's difficult for Raef as a freshman big guy, who's never played out on the floor, to be matched up with Michalik, who's more comfortable out on the floor," he said. "I think Loren Meyler is really good, and we don't want to get Greg into foul trouble. And I think Hoiberg may be the most confident player in the league right now."
Hoiberg's confidence was evident against the Jayhawks in Ames, when he scored 32 points — something the Jayhawks have not forgotten.
Williams said that those three players created difficult matchups for the Jawhaws.
"We all remember what happened to us in Ames, and we don't want it to happen here," said Kansas junior forward Sean Pearson.
What the Jayhawks do want to happen in the field house is for Kansas senior center Greg Ostertag to become the all-time leading shot blocker in the Big Eight. Ostertag needs three blocks to break the record of 228, held by former Oklahoma star Stacey King.
Kansas
sophomore
guard
Jacque
Vaughn
shoots over
an Iowa
State player
in Ames,
iowa. The
Jayhawks
lost to the
Cyclones 69-
65.
Paul Kotz/
KANSAN
Jayhawks ready to bounce back after Huskies
...
Paul Kotz / KANSAN
Kansas junior guard Brenda Moffite and sophomore forward Jennifer Trapp attempt to stop Connecticut's Rebecca Lobo from putting up a shot. The Jayhawks played the Huskies in the PowerBar Shootout earlier this month, but lost 97-87.
Huskers and Cyclones to welcome Jayhawks home
By Jenni Carlson Kansan sportswriter
The Kansas women's basketball team's level of competition has gone from the penthouse to the poorhouse.
The Jayhawks fell Saturday to the undefeated No. 1 Connecticut Huskies 97-87 on national television. Kansas will attempt to rebound from that loss when it faces Nebraska tonight and Iowa State on Sunday. With a 2-5 Big Eight Conference record, the Cornhuskers are tied for sixth in the conference. The Cyclones' 0-7 record places them at the bottom of Big Eight standings.
But No. 19 Kansas played one of its best games of the season against the Huskies. With under two minutes remaining in the game, the Jayhawks were down by only four points. Thanks to a 8-3 Connecticut run to
end the
game,
the Huskies
were able to
win their
16th game of
the season.
"We can't look at this lightly, though," Kansas junior guard Charisse Sampson said. "Everybody plays their best game against us."
Tipoff is at 7 tonight and at 2 p.m. on Sunday. Both games will be played in Allen Field House. The Jayhawks are third in the Big Eight and enter this weekend's competition at 14-5 overall and 4-2 in the conference.
Despite the emotional game, Washington is not expecting a letdown this weekend, she said. The Jayhawk showed they were one of the best teams in the country but want to continue to improve.
"We're challenging ourselves now the remainder of the way," Washington said. "But we've been a team that I think has played according to the talent that's put on the floor against us."
Two cases in point are Kansas' meetings with Nebraska and Iowa State earlier
this season. The Jayhawks trailed in both games, at halftime before outscoring the Cornhuskers by 15 points and the Cyclones by 14 in the second half. Kansas sophomore guard Angie Halbleib said the team was finishing a seven-game road trip and didn't play very well.
"We know they are capable of beating us if we don't come out and play our game." Halbleb said.
Nebraska's roster boasts three of the Big Eight's top 20 scorers. Junior center Pyra Aarden leads the way, averaging 14.2 points a game and a conference-leading 10.1 rebounds a game. She is followed by freshman guard Anna DeForge, who averages 12.1 points and 6.5 rebounds.
The Cyclones are led by two freshmen forward/centers, Jayme Olson and Janel Grimm. Olson ranks sixth in the conference with 14.9 points a game on 54.1 percent shooting from the floor. Grimm averages 10.9 points and 6.4 rebounds a game.
The Jayhawks hope to capture two conference wins and gain ground on league-leading Colorado and second-place Oklahoma. Washington said playing a nonconference game against Connecticut took some of Kansas' focus away from the Big Eight race.
"As much as you want it not to interfere or say it's not going to interfere, it did," Washington admitted. "However, it has turned out to be worthwhile."
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