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The University Daily Kansan
Place your bets
Sports
Fusaichi Pegasus, the 9-5 favorite to win the Kentucky Derby Saturday, drew the No.16 post yesterday.
Inside: The Kansas vs. Texas-Arlington baseball game scheduled for today was canceled.
SEE PAGE 7A
Inside: Red Sox pitcher Pedro Martinez was suspended for five games after beaning Roberto Alomar.
SEE PAGE 7A
THURSDAY, MAY 4, 2000
WWW.KANSAN.COM/SPORTS
NBA not a done deal for recruit
By Shawn Hutchinson
By Shawn Murchin
sports@kanson.com
Kansas sportswriter
DeShawn Stevenson hasn't made his entry into the NBA Draft official just yet.
Stevenson, a 6-foot-5 guard from Fresno, Calif., and one of the most heralded high school prospects in the nation, told ESPN.com on Tuesday night that he was bypassing college and declaring for the draft.
Stevenson was supposed to hold a press conference yesterday to make his declaration for the draft official. But a source from the Fresno Bee newspaper said last night that the press conference was canceled.
That doesn't necessarily mean Stevenson is having second thoughts about declaring.
the source said.
Stevenson, who signed a letter-of-intent with Kansas last fall, could not be reached for comment yesterday. Kansas coach Roy Williams was out of town yesterday and is expected to release a statement today.
Stevenson has long been rumored to enter the draft because he had yet to receive a qualifying test score on either the ACT or SAT.
"It's something that I want to do and it's my dream, and I'm going to go ahead and do it." Stevenson told ESPN.com on Tuesday.
If and when Stevenson does make his declaration official, he will automatically forfeit his college eligibility. Thus, even if Stevenson pulls his name out of the draft for some reason, his college career is finished
regardless.
Stevenson is rated the best college wing prospect in the nation and the No. 3 prospect overall by recruiting analyst Bob Gibbons. Stevenson averaged nearly 30 points a game last season at Washington Union High School, and scored a game-high 25 points on 12-for-19 shooting from the floor during the McDonald's All-American Game in March.
"We are scared for him," Terry Popps, Stevenson's stepfather, told ESPN.com on Tuesday. "I'm not saying he won't do well. The league is very young. I don't think there's enough room for DeShawn."
Kansas' only other recruit is 6-6 forward Bryant Nash from Carrollton, Texas, who gave an oral commitment to Kansas earlier in the week. Nash has qualified academically and averaged 15 points and 10 rebounds last season in leading Turner High School to a 25-8 record.
Mario Kinsey, a 6-2 guard from Waco, Texas, signed a letter-of-intent with the Kansas football team in February. He is expected to take a football redshirt and join the basketball team in the fall as a walk-on. Meanwhile, Chris Zerbe, a 6-5 sophomore forward from Hutchinson Community College, also is expected to walk-on.
The Jayhawks also are expecting the services of two non-scholarship players next season.
Chris Dunback, senior track team hammer thrower, works to perfect his technique. Dunback practices in his spare time after nursing school classes at the Med Center and 12-hour shifts at Lawrence Memorial Hospital. Photo by Jamie Roper/KANSAN
Achieving success in nursing school, sport a juggling act for senior thrower
By Sarah Warren
sports@kansan.com
Kansan sportswriter
In a world of Goliaths, Chris Dunback is easily David.
At 6 feet tall and 210 pounds, the senior hammer thrower is diminutive among Big 12 throwers. A world that includes the likes of Dumback's gigantic Kansas teammates sophomore Ryan Speers, 6-0, 280 pounds, and junior Scott Russell 6-9 and 275 pounds.
And although his size may be lacking, every single inch of Dunback loves track and field.
"He's always out there to do his best," Russell said. "He won't quit until he gets a personal best."
As an exceptional but burned-out high school athlete, Dunback turned down athletic scholarships to attend Kansas. Participating in football, basketball, track and summer league baseball in high school and hitting the books hard enough to be Belleville High School's validictor took its toll. But finding
himself yearning for his former athletic life, Dunback walked on to the track team his freshman year at Kansas.
"September of my freshman year I was sitting in my dorm room, and decided I couldn't stand it anymore," Dumback said. "I came out to practice one day and threw a little, and Lorri (LaRowe, throws coach) said, 'Put on your sweats, you're on the team.'"
Dunback is half convinced it's his academic prowess (he has a 3.9 GPA), rather than his athletic talent that keeps him clad in the pink and blue.
"I always used to joke with coach about how the only reason they kept me on the team is to keep the GPA up," Dunback said. "But she says I'm full of cran."
In fact, LaRowe said that it was all of Dunback's strengths — grades, athletic abilities and dedication — that have impressed her since that first practice.
"I admire him a lot," LaRowe said.
"There are very few athletes that
will make concessions with their lives for a sport. I wish I had more like him."
Two days a week, Dunback attends classes at University of Kansas Medical Center in Kansas City, Kan, where he is in nursing school. Two more days a week he works 12-hour shifts at Lawrence Memorial Hospital. And with the 'Hawks hectic traveling schedule eating up his weekends, Dunback has little time to devote to practice.
And these concessions Dunback makes for this sport make him even more of a track and field oddball.
"When Chris got into nursing school his junior year, we sat down to figure out how to make it work, and I think we've done that." LaRowe said. "He's a senior now; he knows what to do. He just has to come in and work on the technical stuff."
That means Dumback can attend only one official practice a week. He must lift weights on his own time and regularly go out to the field after his hospital shifts and throw until
dark.
"Now, with daylight savings time, I've got a good hour after work that I can throw." Dunback said. "I'll throw until I can't see."
And even though Dunback can self-train well enough to stay competitive, solitude has left him missing his teammates.
"They're my best friends; I miss them a lot," Dunback said. "But, they've been really supportive of me."
During the indoor season, Speers even changed around his schedule specifically to work out Tuesday nights with Dumback. That support not only keeps Dumback feeling like part of the team, but also, according to LaRowe, gives him time to teach the younger throwers.
"He leads by example for them," LaRowe said. "He has a great work ethic, and with what he does, he has to."
And that work ethic has begun to pay off.
Last year, Dunbuck placed eighth in the hammer at the Big 12 Outdoor
Conference meet. And this year he made the trip to each of the "Triple Crown" meets — the Texas, Kansas and Drake Relays — and is chugging right along to this year's conference meet, which will be held May 19 to 21 in Columbia, Mo. graduation weekend.
"I'm only in school once," Dunback said. "I'm never going to be an athlete like this again, and hopefully it'll be worth it come conference. I'll miss graduation, but it's worth it."
Dunback said he would walk down the Hill later — after completing his degree in anesthesia.
So nothing, including graduation, can keep this David from getting his chance to beat a conference full of giants.
"He rises above his size and his hectic schedule, and I think he's really starting to believe that he's up there with the top guys in the conference," LaRowe said. "There's not too many people who can do what de does. His plate is loaded — not with food but with life."
Oakland racks up the hits en route to 14-5 win against Royals
The Associated Press
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Terrence Long, Jeremy Giambi and Eric Chavez homered as the Athletics set an Oakland record with 10 hits in the seventh inning of a 14-5 rout of the Kansas City Royals last night.
The A's sent 13 men to the plate against Jay Witaskig and Jason Rakers in an eight-run seventh. Giambi and Ben Greve each had two hits and one RBI in the seventh for the A's, who have won five of their last six games on the road.
Ramon Hernandez was the only A's starter without a hit or an RBI.
Oakland has had nine hits in an inning three times, most recently in the first inning against the Angels on July 5,1996.
The A's had three homers and seven doubles. Seven A's had at least two hits. Tejada had four, and Olmedo Saenz and Frank Menechino had three apiece in the 20-hit attack. Long had three RBI. Tejada, Giambi, Grieve and Saenz all had two RBI.
The A's were leading 4-2 when Giambi hit the first pitch from Witasick for his 11th home run. After singles by Saenz and Grieve, Long hit a three-run homer to make it 8-2.
Rakers relieved Witasick and one out later.
Chavez hit his fourth homer. Ryan
Christenson added an RBI double, Miguel Tejada had a run-scoring single and Grieve capped the inning with an RBI double.
Gil Heredia (3-2) allowed two runs and 11 hits in 6 1/3 innings for the win.
Jeff Suppan (1-3) allowed three runs and six hits in five innings.
Kansas City's Carlos Beltran left the game with a wrist injury after saving a run with a diving catch in left-center in the third. Beltran, the 1999 A rookie of the year, did a
Sports Columnist
bellyflop catching Grieve's two-out sinking liner and sustained a sprained left wrist and was listed dav-to-dav.
The A's went ahead 3-2 in the fifth on RBI singles by Tejada and Saenz, then scored a run in the sixth on Menechino's RBI double.
The A's got a run in the first on a fielder's choice grounder by Saenz, then Mike Sweeney hit a two-run homer for the Royals in the bottom of the first.
Sweeney added a two-run single in the ninth. He went 3-for-5 with four RBI.
Notes: Johnny Damon's first-imming single stretched his hitting streak to 11 games. He also leads the majors with 12 stolen bases and has not been thrown out.
Chris Wristen
sports@kansan.com
Slap on wrist not enough for assault
My feelings on this issue stem from two points.
The article about a women's soccer team member allegedly being sexually assaulted by two Kansas football players made my stomach squirm and cringe until I almost puked. I felt sick, and I felt angry — make that outraged.
1. I am a normal human being, I think anyone would be disgusted by the alleged behavior of the two football players.
But regardless of my personal feelings, no one deserves to be treated like that.
There is another point that should not go unnoticed: how poorly the situation was handled.
After the alleged attack took place, soccer coach Mark Francis said he advised the player to consider speaking to the police and to meet with football coach Terry Allen.
The meeting with Allen causes the greatest concern.
This crime is extremely serious. Speaking to police is definitely an appropriate course of action. Sexual assault is not a prank, as these football players may have thought. There's nothing funny about this. It is a disrespectful, sick crime and should be treated as such.
Allen said he told her she could report this matter to the police and he would support her. He also said he would handle the matter with his players.
Allen said a misunderstanding may have occurred during the meeting. The assaulted player said Allen gave her two options: going to the police, or letting Allen punish the players in an "appropriate way." She said they agreed on the second option.
Obviously running stairs, and any other punishment Allen may have levied on his players, didn't get the message across. The victim was told on April 14 by her academic advisor that the two football players had allegedly sexually assaulted another University student.
Both coaches seem to have expressed their desire to support the victim and that is honorable. The problem arises with the punishment of the alleged aggressors.
"The worst part is that I know both (players) are laughing about what happened, and they know nothing is going to happen to them," she said.
Allen punished them by having them run stairs, according to the soccer player. What kind of a punishment is that? How is it "appropriate?" Running stairs is a high school punishment for jumping off-sides twice in a row — not for sexually assaulting women. Weighing the two mistakes, sexual assault is by far more serious. It's like comparing robbing a bank and swiping a candy bar from Dillons. The punishment doesn't fit the crime.
She's right, too, and it's a dam shame. While a good person at heart, excellent role model and a very good football coach, Allen lacks in the discipline category. Sure, Dion Rayford received a tough punishment for "The Chalupa Incident," but that made national news so something had to be done. When things are kept quiet, a dunce cap is administered, the player sits in the corner and feels like a chump for 20 minutes. Then it's back to life as normal.
I'm tired of the, the victim is tired of it and you should be, too. My advice: press charges. If the players are found guilty, put 'em in a butter-basted pan and let them fry on a hot open flame. Let them feel the pain and suffering they've allegedly caused.
Crimes like this are premeditated. Allen needs to make his punishments this way, too. Set a standard up front. If the players are guilty, yank their scholarship and kick them off the team. Make a statement and send them to jail.
Otherwise, I'm going to continue feeling sick for a long time.
Wristen is a Leawood sophomore in news-print Journalism.
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