8
Friday, March 26, 1976
University Daily Kansan
KU opens outdoors with tough competition
Randy Benson and Waddell Smith, KU's top 440 men
sports shorts
TENNIS-Both the KU men's and women's tennis teams will play in an exhibition match at 7:30 p.m. tomorrow at the Avamar Racquet Club in Lawrence. In addition to intramural competition, the team will participate in doubles. Admission to the exhibition is $2.
WOMEN'S GOLF—THE KU WINners' golf team, coached by Nancy Boozer, travels to Norman, Okla. Sunday to play in the Oklahoma Invitational.
KANSAS RELAYS—Dale Meadors, athletic director and head track coach at Garden City Community College, has been named the 1976 Kansas Relays division for the 1976 Kansas Relays.
Meadors' track teams at Garden City have finished as high as sixth at the National Junior College Athletic Association meet, and he has produced one individual champion. He has also served as director of the NJCAA meet.
John Davis of Topeka, one of the top names in women's track and field, will serve as coordinator of special women's events.
Davis has helped supervise the women's division at the Relays since female competition was first introduced in 1962. His duties will include supervision of the special invitational 100-meter dash and 800-meter run for women.
A two-time member of the U.S. Olympic Committee for women's track, Davis has coached some of America's most successful female athletes in the team in 1969, he led the American women to their first victory over the Soviet Union in a triangular meet with Russia and the British Commonwealth. He also coached the United States team at Pan American Games in Cali, Colombia.
RUGBY—KU's rugby club puts its perfect 4-2 record on the line Sunday when it travels to Topeka to meet the Topeka Rugby University on the Washburn University campus.
By GARY VICE
Sports Writer
SOCBER-KU's soccer club, 3-2-1 on the season, travels to Columbia tomorrow to play Missouri. The Jayhawks return home Sunday to host Oklahoma at 2 p.m. in Memorial Stadium. Admission for students is 50 cents with a KUID.
ROYALS WIN—The Kansas City Royals, behind Al Fitzmorton's five scoreless innings, won their second straight exhibition game, 2-0, over the Chicago White Sox at Fort Myers. The Royals scored their two first games in a 13-10 victory. Dave Nelson and a double by Arns Oros.
DURBANO SUSPENDED -Defenseman Steve Durbano of the Kansas City Scouts has been suspended without pay for two games by the National Hockey League.
The Jayhawks, defending Big Eight outdoor champions, will face some of the nation's top track teams, including the University of Tennessee, which placed third at the NCAA indoor track championships earlier this month.
Their first outdoor meet of the season takes the University of Kansas track team to the sunny south for the Dallas Invitational track meet this weekend.
Also competing at the Dallas Invitational
& M&M,
Oklahoma. Oklahoma State $MMU
Head coach Bob Timmons said he expected the meet to be very competitive.
"In ourselves, Tennessee and Baylor, you have three of the top mile relay teams in the country, and Texas is right up there too," he said.
ALL RUNNING EVENTS, except the 440-yard dash and the mile relay, will be measured in metric distances, as will many meets in this Olympic year.
The members of the mile relay team remain uncertain, however, because Waddell Smith, the Jayhawk's second fastest quarter-miler, won't make the trip. Smith, a senior All-American, has missed several practices this week.
Assistant coach Gary Pepin refused to
"We'll be at somewhat of a disadvantage because most of our opponents have already competed outdoors," Pepin said. "But the team has an opportunity to see where we are."
Timmons, who has guided the Jayhawks to nine consecutive outdoor conference titles, said, "We really need to get under way outdoors, and this will meet us in a lot."
Timmons said, "This will be the first competition of the year for our javelin men and women. We've run any long races since country season, and I'm particularly concerned about our 440 relay. We've just one week to get our handbags down."
BUT NOT ALL OF KU's trackmen were enthusiastic about beginning the new season. Before the team's 6:30 departure this morning for Dallas, some had voiced their disapproval of the scheduled travel arrangements.
THE JAVELIN CORPS could be the Jayhawk's strongest addition to the track squad for the outdoor season. Defending Big Eight javelin champion Roger Hammond will be joined by teammates Mark Kostek and Brian Todd to form a strong trik
Several trackmen said they were unhappy with the two 12-hour bus rides which precede and follow the track meet too closely." They said they wanted to learn from the meet yesterday instead of today. The meet begins early tomorrow morning.
veterans Walter O'Brien, Steve Stone and Rex Arthur.
Baseball team travels to ORU
ASSESSING THE PRESSURES OF the first outdoor meet, Pepin said, "For our young athletes this will be a very important meet because they will have to qualify here with a high score. The team will be of high priority for a number of individuals who will face top competition."
The University of Kansas baseball team's performance against Oral Roberts University in two doubleheaders this weekend could indicate how the team will fare in Big Eight conference play later this season.
Senior cocaptain Rudy Guevara said, "You can't tell me they can find two or three hundred dollars more to provide another day of accommodations for us. Come on now. Why can't we get down there in time to get a good rest?"
comment on Smith's absence from the team.
In support of the travel arrangements, Bill Lundberg, captain of the distance runners, said, "I think that in a nonvenue sport like ours, you've got to realize how his mount is important and, but we're going to my next week (to Austin, Texas)."
Coach Floyd Temple called the games in Tulsa today and tomorrow a real test, because Oral Roberts has a baseball comparable to other Big Eight teams.
Temple said he planned to start right-hander Rob Allender and lefty Brian Rhodes in today's games. Roger Slagle, another right-hander, will pitch the first game against him. But it is decided yet whether Mike Love or Kevin Kerschen would start the second game.
Both Timmons and Pepin said they were concerned with KU's lack of outdoor practice. The Jayhawks began outdoor training less than a week ago.
KU's pitching staff has shone so far this season, but a tight schedule which puts them in six games in five days, could begin to tell on the six-man staff.
In the discus, KU's hopes ride with
The team, 7-on the season, returns to a doubleheader against Friends University at No. 1 in the West Coast Conference.
Despite two high-scoring wins over Baker University this week, Temple said the team's weak offense was his main concern in their record so far.
KU women's softball looks to national meet
Temple said he'd juggle the line-up in hopes of bringing more runs across.
By KRIS ECKEL
Spark Webs
The KU women's softball team is ready to put six weeks of practice to the test today, according to KU coach Sharon Drydale, when they open their season against Fort Hays State at 2 p.m. at Holcomb Sports Complex in Lawrence.
"We've prepared as best we can,"
"Drivale said. 'Now we need some games to"
"get the kids excited.'"
The Fort Hays game is the beginning of a season that, it is hoped, will lead the women to the College World Series at Omaha for the fourth straight year. KU placed fifth in the Series last season, fourth in 1974 and sixth in 1973.
DRYSALEA HOPES TO go even further in the series this season are supported partly by what she called "one of the strongest pitching staffs in the country." The staff includes Gloria Graves, Topeka junior, and the only returning pitcher this season. Paula Hernandez, Salina Murray, and Shelley Sinclair, Tulsa freshman, Graves, Isles and Sinclair are all on scholarship.
Drysdale is also optimistic about a strong return squash. Along with Gravens, six starters return. Catcher Paula Frank, 26, and forward Joel Hittertins, along with third baseman Nancy Stout, sophomore, Providing additional strength will be Teresa Brown, Lenexa senior. Dysdale termed Brown a sharp stopshot whose hitting should improve."
OTHER RETURNING starters are first baseman Janet Brown, Raytown station; center fielder Debbie Laudernik, Wichita Springs, Overland Park junior.
"All the women have their strengths and weaknesses," said Drysdale, "but overall we have more potential power than we've ever had."
KU also has more depth, which Drysdale said she would use against Fort Hays.
"We'll probably play two completely different teams, and it is hard to tell which one will win."
DRYSALED SAID SHE would use the first few games to experiment with different line-ups, before determining her regular line-up around mid-season.
The apparent strengths of this season's team will be severely tested as KU competes with some of the toughest teams in the country. The team has been when the women play southwest Missouri State, 174 years champions of the College World Series. Although Drysdale said Southwest Missouri State has always been a strong team, they then all four times they played last season.
KU also beat the University of Nebraska at Ornata, last year's College World Series.
Wayne State, which placed third in the
sports season, should also provide
quarterfinals and semifinals.
DRYSOAD SAID SHE also looked for K-State to be stronger this year. K-State defeated KU last season, the first division loss KU had experienced in two seasons.
KU also lost to strong rival Wichita State last season.
KU, K-State, and Wichita make up Division I of the Kansas Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women. K-State and Wichita are the only in-state teams KU is required to play, but Fort Hays and Pittsburgh are also on KU's schedule.
KU'S RECORD LAST season was 16-7. Drysdale said the record wasn't as impressive as it might have been but he considered it important that 70 per cent of KU's losses were to the top five teams in the nation. One goal for this season, Drysdale said is to defeat the teams that defeated KU last season.
In addition to the obvious goal of College World Series champions, Drysdale said, another goal was to win the first Big Eight Tournament April 24 in Manhattan.
Standard Radial Tires
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Standard Radial Tires
Standard Front-Wheel Drive
Standard Independent Suspension
Standard 4-Speed Transmission
Standard Power-Assisted, Front-Wheel Disc Brakes
Standard Rack-and-Pinion Steering
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