2B
Thursday, January 19, 1995
SPORTS
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Valerie Crow/KANSAN
Kansas junior guard Charisse Sampson and junior forward Keshana Ledet are teammates and roommates this year.
Women's basketball players reunite
Juco transfer Ledet joins friend Sampson at Kansas
By Jenni Carlson
Kansan sportswriter
Best friends can never be kept apart for long — Just ask Charisse Sampson and Keshana Ledet.
Sampson and Ledet started playing basketball together in seventh grade. But after two years apart, they have been reunited this year on the Kansas women's basketball team.
Sampson, a junior guard, played her first two seasons of college basketball as a Jayhawk while Ledet attended Central Arizona College. After spending her two years of college eligibility in Arizona, it was Ledet's time to transfer.
"I felt she was going to come," Sampson said. "It was our chance to reunite and be together again."
Sampson and Ledet first joined forces at Bretharte Junior High School in Los Angeles. Ledet lived in the district, but Sampson did not. The school's basketball coach encouraged Sampson to attend Bretharte and drove her back and forth to school every day.
Sampson said the two players have been best friends since then.
"We became friends before we started
playing together," Ledet, a junior forward, added. "We've been playing together for so long. We know each other. I know what she's going to do, and she knows what I'm going to do. That helps a lot."
At Washington Prep High School, Sampson and Ledet led their team to four Los Angeles city championships and one trip to the state semifinals. Kansas women's basketball coach Marian Washington took note of their success and started recruiting them.
However, Washington said she recruited each of them separately. She made it clear that they were not a package deal.
"I want to know up front if that's going to be the case because I'm not going to be a part of it," Washington said. "I felt Keshana brought certain things and I thought that Charisse brought other things for us. I think they understood that from the very beginning."
After the recruiting duttil setted, Sampson, a high school Parade All-American, packed her bags for Lawrence. But because of academic reasons, Ledet opted to attend junior college.
"We wanted to come to the same college at the same time, but it didn't happen," Sampson said. "I was kind of down on that happening."
Nonetheless, both Sampson and Washington had to be encouraged by Ledet's play at Central Arizona. During her sophomore season there, Ledet averaged 18.9 points a game and was a 1994 NJCA Kodak All-American. Washington said Kansas continued recruiting Ledet during her time in junior college.
"A lot of people said I couldn't come to Kansas," Ledet said. "That made me even more eager to come here and show them I could play for a big-time school."
Back together at Kansas, the relationship between Ledet and Sampson continues to expand. They are living as roommates this year, which Sampson said is a benefit for her.
"I love my teammates alot, but there's nobody from my family out here for me," she said. "When Ledet came, it was like having part of my family with我."
The team also benefits from the presence of the two Los Angeles natives. Sampson is pouring in 17.1 points a game and grabbing a team-high 7.5 rebounds. Ledet continues to show improvement, Washington said. In Kansas' three Big Eight Conference wins, Ledet is averaging eight points and six rebounds, including a season-high 15 points against Kansas State on Sunday.
Top Hawk vaulters to miss K-State meet
By Robert Moczydlowsky
Kansan sportswriter
The Jayhawk track team will race into Manhattan for the Kansas State Invitational on Saturday, but it won't be up to full strength.
Two early-season standouts, All American senior pole vaulter John Bazzoni and top senior high jumper Nick Johannsen, will skip the K-State Invitational to compete in the National Pole Vault Summit in Reno, New.
"This will be a great opportunity for our guys to get some national exposure," Kansas jump coach Rick Attig said. "There will be pole vault clinics and drills, plus competition at every level from high schools to Olympic hopefuls.
Johansen, who is also a high jumper, will use this meet to focus on the pole vault.
"I've heard people say that they have a fast track there, and that people have really put up some high vaults, sad Johamsen. "My goal is to qualify for the national meet in both events."
In order to qualify for the national meet, athletes must either automatically qualify by vaulting over 18 feet, or with a provisional qualifying mark of 17 to 18 feet.
"Our guys will be surrounded by the best vaulters in the nation, and during the competition they'll have their choice of rock music blasting," Attig said. "That will help them get pumped up."
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