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Thursday, March 2, 1978
University Daily Kansan
Swimmers hope to recapture title
By KEN DAVIS
Sports Writer
There was a time when the staging of the Big Eight men's swimming championship
The Kansas Jayhawks had such a stranglehold on the meet from 1988-75 that the conference should have considered sending them to and simply presenting the trophy to KU.
But things have changed since the time the Jayhawks ran off with eight straight titles. As the 1978 Big Eight championship get underway today at the Nebraska Sports Complex in Lincoln, KU knows it has a battle on its hands.
KANAS TAKES a 7-3 meet record into the championship meet. The Jayhawks will be trying to dethrone Iowa State, who has won the crown the past two years while KU has dropped to finishes of third and fourth respectively.
If the Jayhawks are to regain the conference title, they will have to rely on their depth during the meet, which concludes on Saturday.
said Bail Spain, in his first year as head coach at Kansas, knows the conference is well balanced, but he likes the Jayhawks' chances in the meet.
"We've got a good chance to win the championship," Spahn said. "We've got a
let of depth and most of the guys on our team have a chance to place in three events.
have a chance to play it on "OHPEN" it looks like Iowa State University players. Their favorite. They are the defending champions and they have quite a few people in the top six of the conference rankings. That doesn't necessarily indicate how the meet will go, though."
how the Kansas has met the Cyclones, who own a record twice, record this year, edging them out for the Big Eight Relays championship and then dropping a dual meet, 66-47.
"Iowa State has a good team," Spahn said. "They beat us in a dual meet but I think we've got a good chance to beat them."
"We've got some people who can come through and are ready to peak right now. Missouri will be tough, too."
MISSOUIR, WHO finished second to ISU in last year's championships in Lincoln, takes a 6-dual record into the meet. One of the toughest hurdles is finishing at the hands of KU in Columbia.
The Tigers boast conference leaders in two events this year. Kevin DeForest has the time in the 50-yard freekick and Bem Dayle has the top mark in the 200-yard
KU has a young team with only two seniors, divers Mark Hill and Rocky Vizzari. The Jayhawks have at least one
Junior David Estes has the best time in the conference in the 200-yard butterfly with a 1:53:9 mark. Spahn says that the team's resting and should improve their times.
swimmer in the top eight of every event in the Rie Eight.
"I THINK WE'LL swim pretty well with everyone rested." Spaah said. "All of our times should be better. But everyone in conference has been resting since their last
"Hopefully, our times will improve more than anyone else and our versatility will be even better."
If the Jayhawks are to win the Big Eight title, they will need some fine performances from their freshmen, Steve Graves, Jay Hammond and Zach Ferguson. All have had good first seasons for KU.
Gravies has the third best time in the conference in the 200-yard breaststroke, just behind teammate Blunt Hemlock. The second best time is in the 200-yard individual medley, between Estes.
KERUTIS is third in the 200-year freestyle with a time of 1.43.5 and ranks among the conference leaders in three other events. Pemer is seventh in the 1,000-yard race.
[really] I should be a strong area for the Jayhawks. Tom Koninger is the defending leader of the Hawks and is very nice.
the reigning champion of the three-meter-
board Arielde in the only Jayhawk to
have won a title.
Spahn said he was not worried that more Jayhawks had not qualified for nationals so far. He said WUQ had a good chance to get into the playoffs, but it would meet because of the anticipated faster times.
"I think the divers will do great at the conference meet," Spahn said.
IF KANASAS HAS one weakness it may be the freestyle hits. Iowa State and Oklahoma State have the top swimmers in those events. Spahn hopes that the Cowboys can help KU out a little by taking points away from ISU.
The Kansas women's swimming team, the 1978 Big Eight champions, begins its quest for another trophy today at the Region Six Swimming and Diving Championships in Minneapolis, MN.
Preliminaries will be at 10 a.m. and finals at 7 p.m. on each of the three days of the meet, which includes a seven-state area. The meeting will Hall on the University of Minnesota campus.
Competing with Kansas will be Nebraska, Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota and North and South Dakota, KU head coach Gustavo Lopez in the Midwest and should do well in the meet.
Women to battle Midwest teams
"We'RE BY far the strongest team in the Big Eight," Kemp said. "I also think we're probably the best in the Midwest."
Kemph said he planned to swim the KU girls in different events from those they usually competed in. He calls the regional title a competition compared to the Big Eight Championship.
"This will be a low-key meet." Kemp said, "I want the girls to have a good time with it. This meets is a little more relaxed than the Big Eight meet.
"This will be the last meet of the year for a few girls and so we'll move them to different events. I'm doing it a little bit out of curiosity and a little of out variety. It gives the girls a chance for a change, and I still think we'll win if the girls swim well."
KU HAS eight swimmers who have qualified to compete in the AIAW Nationalists. That meet will be March 16-18 in Durham, N.C.
"The girls are going to nationals won't swim in those events," Kmpf said.
Champion decided before tourney
"The girls look real good," Kemp continued. "They should swim just as fast if not faster then they did in the Big Eight meet."
"We look to be weak in the freestyle event, but we haven't rested all year." Spahn said. "Our sprinters haven't shown what they can do. If they swim like I think they can, it'll make a big difference in the meet.
Sports Editor
These conference results show the
ajayan and shoulder-shoulders above any other Big Eight athlete.
By GARY BEDORE
It's been discussed, debated and then some, but the Big Eight postseason tournament goes on. This weekend the Kansas Jayhawks travel to Kemper Arena in Kansas City, Mo., to attempt to prove they are the best team in the Big Eight.
or do they? The Jayhawks, by virtue of an impressive 13-1 conference mark, run away with the Big Eight regular season race, then played Nebraska and Iowa State by four games.
But that means little when the Big Eight postseason tournament comes around. The tournament winner qualifies for the NCAA championship tournament. However, this means if Kansas loses, the firstplace game will be for an allege berth to the NCAa playoffs.
NOT THAT *NIA* isn't already assure of the at-large berth. Kansas '24-3rd record and No.5 ranking in both wire polls should qualify them for the NCAA journey.
If not, there would be the biggest uproar since Watergate.
With an automatic NCAA berth at stake, it would appear there would be pressure on the conference champion to not hear any Jayhawks talking about feeling pressure.
They say playing in heated competition will help prepare them for NCAA play. Some Kansas players say that the journey is good for the Big Eight, in that if the Jayhawks lose, the league will likely have two representatives in the NCAA playoffs.
Other players relish the chance of playing K State (or the fourth time this year.
Other Big Eight first round games fared just as badly. Kansas State, for example, drew 6,700 fans to see the Wildcats play Oklahoma. Their arena holds 12,500.
But in a short tournament anything can happen, especially when a team has already played its opponent three times. By the fourth game, each team probably knows the other's intimate secrets, much less its style of play.
They see it as an opportunity to humble the Wildcats by winning all four from them this season. K-State is Kansas' seminal opponent at 9:08 p.m. Friday night in
Not only will KU have the Wildcats four times this season, as they did last year, but KU has played Missouri and Oklahoma three times as well. Why, one might ask, does KU need to postseason tournaments if teams have to play each other so many times in a season?
Nebraska drew 9,699 fans to see the
DESPIE T THE reasoning of fan interest, crowds weren't impressive in the tourney's first round. Kansas drew just 7.80 against Colorado. Students, for the most part, didn't battle the weather or buy tickets for a game that KU would win. And who can blame them?
TALK OF PRESSURE, may indeed be unfounded. Last year's regular season champion K-State also won the postseason tournament.
money and fun interest are the reasons.
After expenses, all Big Eight member schools divide the receipts of the tournament. The preseason journey was played before a packed Kemper arena and the league made a profit.
"We're the strongest team in the conference in the individual medley, breaststroke and diving, and we are about equal everywhere else; therefore, it could depend on how our freestylers come through and I think they can."
KANSAN Analysis
'Huskers beat Oklahoma State in an arena that holds 15,000.
Despite the controversy, the Big Eight is not the only conference to have postseason tournaments to determine their representative for the NCAA. More than half of the nation's conferences have such tournaments.
The Atlantic Coast conference has been burned in the past when such teams as second-division Virginia have rallied to win the tournament.
be tournament.
WHEN THE Big Eight voted to have a
postseason tournament, only two of the eight coaches voted against it-Jack Hartman of KSU and Ted Owens of KU. Since these two schools won the conference crown, Owens and Hartman used to risk being apex in the tournament.
The tournament is currently on an experimental basis in the Big Eight and a meeting is held after the season by the coaches to debate continuing or discontinuing it.
There's little chance of the tourney being discontinued in the next few years, but it's hoped here that it's canned. Maybe teamn won't be to ruin special rivalries by making their meeting just another of four games played in a season.
IN THE GREAT BUY'N'BUY.
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Bradley fires basketball coach
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (AP)—Bradley Joe Stoellen, whose Braves lost a second-round Missouri Valley Conference basketball tournament game to Indiana State Wednesday, will not be retained as coach next season.
In a news release issued after the game, Bradley President Martin Abegg announced that Stowell will not be offered a contract as coach for the 1978-79 season but will remain with the University as assistant professor in physical education.
He will share his time between physical and responsibilities assigned by the athlete.
"During recent weeks, athletic director Chuck Osborn and I meet with Cockswill several times, and the outcome of these discussions has determined that a change at this time would be in the best interest of the university," Abega said in the release.
"I would be remiss if I did not take this opportunity, however, to express on behalf of the university our sincere appreciation for your efforts and contributions." The teacher and a coach at Bradley University.
Stowell served as basketball coach for 13 years, and before that was an assistant under Oberon from 1965-66. Stowell's record was 18-47-17, 67-147. The Braves were 14-14 this season.
Stowell, a 1960 Bradley graduate, was the Missouri Valley coach of the year in 1974.
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Registration March 2 & 3 at Kansas Union Blood Mobile on Campus: Wescoe Hall March 6,7,8 Robinson Gym 11:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. 10 a.m.-3 p.m. KANSAS UNION BALLROOM
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