Section B·Page 10
The University Daily Kansan
Friday, February 25, 2000
Sports
Nationally ranked golfer swings into final season
Top Jayhawk plans to turn pro after graduation
By Michael Terry sports@kansan.com Kansan sportwriter
Four years ago when Ryan Vermeer came to the University of Kansas to play golf, he had high expectations for himself as well as the team.
Now that his collegiate golf career is approaching its final round, he doesn't have any regrets about what he has accomplished at Kansas.
Vermeer, a native of Omaha, Neb., is the No. 8 individually ranked collegiate golfer in the country, and will lead the Jayhawks —ranked No.16 in both the MasterCard Collegiate Golf Rankings and Sararin Golf Rankings — into the spring season.
Vermeer enters his final season with a host of accolades, which includes helping lead the Jayhawks last year to their first Big 12 Championship in 49 years, an honorable mention All-American selection and being a member of the All-Big 12 team for the second consecutive year.
"It was a pretty awesome feeling getting all the recognition and receiving our conference championship rings at halftime of the men's basketball game against Nebraska," he said. "I'm just happy the things the team and I am doing are getting noticed. It makes all the hard work we put in worth it."
Vermeer said that now was the time for the team to start looking to the future and to perform to its potential for a repeat as Big 12 Champions — something that the Javahaws have never done.
Golf has been part of Vermeer's life since he was two years old. He attribues his love for the game to his father, who is the
"I've always looked up to my dad," he said. "One of the greatest feelings was when I was finally able to beat him at golf when I was 13 years old."
club professional at an Omaha country club.
Since then, his golf game has evolved and he feels his game has improved immensely under the direction of men's golf coach Ross Randall.
As a freshman, Vermeer played one or two good rounds of golf every tournament, but then would shoot one terrible round that would hinder his chances at being in the top 10 for the individual all-around competition.
"Coach has taught me the importance of a short game and
having patience on the golf course," he said. "In addition, he's also played on the PGA Tour for
eight years, and he has been able to relay some of his own experiences that will hopefully help me prepare for my own pro career."
Randall came to Kansas 20 years ago, and has said that Vermeer was one of the best golfers he had coached.
"He's one of the best college golfers in the country, and he has already won more tournaments (six) than any other golfer in the history of Kansas golf," Randall said.
Randall also has coached PGA tour member and former All-American Matt Gogel. He said he was often asked if Vermeer had the same ability as Gogel did when he golfed at Kansas.
"I've told others that Ryan is a better all-around player than when Matt Gogel was a senior. He will certainly make a strong impact and do well at the next level." he said.
The next level, the PGA Tour, is still a dream for Vermeer, but he said he had other goals if that
"I've always looked up to my dad. One of the greatest feelings was when I was finally able to beat him at golf when I was 13 years old."
Ryan Vermeer Kansas senior golfer
dream didn't materialize.
"I always try to stay positive," he said. "If for some reason things don't work out, I'd like to get into the golf business either as a club professional or even a golf coach."
Vermeer plans to turn pro in June immediately after graduation. But there are still many sand traps he will have to chip out of to make it on the PGA tour.
Of the more than 8,000 golfers that go to qualifying school each year, only 35 make the final cut and earn exemptions on the Buy.com Tour — the minor league of professional golf.
Vermeer said he hoped he would be an established PGA Tour player in five years and not a golfer struggling to maintain his tour card.
For Vermeer, though, the PGA Tour is still many rounds of golf away. For now, he will concentrate on enjoying his final days of playing golf as a Jayhawk.
"Hopefully I will get the chance one day to play at the Masters Tournament in Augusta, Georgia," he said. "If there is one professional tour event I would love to win it would be the Masters. It's so prestigious and has so much history that it would be dream come true to win it."
"I am looking forward to the challenges this season will present," he said. "I'll miss the team concept and having the team to travel with. I'm anxious to turn pro, but I will miss having someone there to kick it with."
Kansas golfer Ryan Verermeer watches his ball sail 280 yards on the driving range at Alpine Golf Course.
top galerier is ranked No. 8. He plans to turn pro after his graduation in June.Photo by Matt J. Daugherty/KANSA
Women rested and ready to play
By Zac Hunter sports@kansan.com
Kansan sportswriter
By Zac Hunter
After a two-week layoff, the Kansas women's tennis team is set to take the court for the Jayhawk Classic at home tomorrow.
The extended break between meets gave the Jayhawks a chance to get healthy after playing doubleheaders on back to back weekends. The team
was troubled by illness and fatigue, and the break gave them a chance get rested and well.
KANSAS TENNIS
"I think the girls got some rest and caught up on their studies," coach Jenny Garrity said
Senior Julia Sidorova said the break was good for the players and they would be ready for this weekend.
The event will feature three matches and will last the entire day. In the morning the Jayhawks will play Tula. They will take a break while St. Louis plays Tula before the 'Hawks return for the nightcap against St. Louis.
St. Louis, 4-4, is coming off a weekend in which they lost three straight meets. They lost close meets to Weber State, 5-4 and San Jose State, 5-4, and
were drummed by Northern Arizona. 8-1.
The toughest test for the 'Hawks will come against Tulsa. The Golden Hurricanes, ranked No. 61, are the second ranked opponent they have faced this year.
"They are very talented," Garrity said. "They are a lot like us. They are very deep and have six good players all the way down and field three good doubles teams."
Sidorova was confident nonetheless.
"We played them last year," Sidorova said. "They are a decent team but definitely beatable."
Tulsa was riding a two-game winning streak until Kansas State abruptly ended it in Manhattan last week.
While the doubles combinations have been working well for them in the early season, Garrity said she probably would mix them up later in the season.
"I think we'll switch some things up throughout the year just to keep it exciting, keep it intense," she said.
The last weekend the Hawks played, they suffered their first loss of the season against Ohio State. Two days later they started a new winning streak by
Garrity said the depth and the confidence the girls had in each other would make it easy for them to change partners.
Jenny Garrity
"I think we'll switch some things up throughout the year just to keep it exciting, keep it intense."
women's tennis coach
Garrity said that any confidence problems stemming from the loss were taken care of later that weekend. The team learned what it could do, playing Ohio State, and then executed it on Sunday against Davidson and College of Charleston.
Following the weekend there remained two players without a singles loss. Sidorova and junior Monica Sekulov have flawless records, 5-0, 6-0, respectively and hope to continue their winning ways this weekend.
The Jayhawks dropped one notch in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association rankings after the loss to Ohio State and fell from No. 41 to No. 42.
Conference play begins a week from tomorrow. The 'Hawks will take on Texas Tech Saturday and will play Missouri later in the week.
pounding the College of Charleston and Davidson College without losing a set.
Julie Sidorova, a senior on the Kansas women's tennis team, returns a shot. Sidorva will put her 5-0 singles record on the line in tomorrow's Jayhawk Classic. Photo by Aaron Lindberg/KANSAN
Underclassmen hope to qualify for NCAA Championships
By Brandon Krisztal
Kansan sportswriter
The Kansas women's swimming team is sending five swimmers to Austin, Texas, this weekend to try to qualify for the NCAA Championships, March 16-18 in Indianapolis. However, the Jayhawks going to Longhorn country are not seniors; in fact, three are only freshmen.
"I don't really think it's a neces
by brandon renszel
sports@kansan.com
The athletes headed to Austin are going with positive attitudes, but Schryer puts the meet into perspective.
Junior Carolyn Grevers, sophmore Carolyn Horwitz and freshmen Lyndsay DeVaney, Gwen Haley and Beth Schryer will represent Kansas this weekend.
sity," she said referring to the idea of making it the NCAA championships. "But it's more just a personal thing. That's been one of my personal goals for years, just to make NCAAs, because it's such a big accomplishment, and I've always wanted to do it. But if I don't make it, I know that at least I have the potential to make it, and I'll probably be able to go faster next year."
Unlike the conference championships last weekend in College Station, Texas, where the swimmers competed in three individual events plus relays, the group will try to qualify in only one event. All five athletes have provisionally qualified for the NCAA championships in other events because of previous times.
Last weekend at Texas A&M, three of the five swimmers set personal bests in the events they plan to compete in this weekend. Grevers set the school mark in the 100 breaststroke preliminaries and then bettered her mark with a 1:03.31 second-place performance in the finals. DeVaney's third-place finish in 16:38.10 was the third best mile in Kansas history. Schryer finished seventh in the 400 individual medley with a 4:22.36.
Haley, like Schryer, also will swim the 400 individual medley. Haley finished sixth at the Big 12
Conference meet, but set her personal best at Texas A&M Jan. 22 posting a 420.31. Horwitz finished 10th in the 200 freestyle with a season-best 1.51.72.
Gary Kempf, Kansas swimming and diving coach, said he knew the field would be tough with swimmers from the Big 12 and Arkansas competing at what he considered the best swimming pool and building in the country. Kempf is looking for his swimmers to post a top 20 national time. He said that the five swimmers he's sending had a legitimate chance of qualifying for the NCAA meet.
"We're taking their best shot at their best event," he said. "They all have secondary events that they're already qualified for, but they need to get that big one in there." Their
"It's really just a chance to swim fast and have fun."
Gwen Haley
big event's what's on the bubble."
"I'm just looking at it to go out and have fun," she said. "It's really just a chance to swim fast and have fun."
Qualifying for the NCAA Championships probably would mean the most to Haley, who's from Carmel, Ind., a suburb of Indianapolis. Although she said she would love the opportunity to go home and get a strong crowd behind her, she has a refreshing outlook on the importance of this weekend.
Softball team to face some familiar foes
By Rebecca Barlow
Catcher Lea Tabb knows her opponent, Oklahoma, too well.
sports@kansan.com
Kansan sportswriter
She and the Kansas softball team will face four of Tabb's former teammates this weekend at the Adidas Classic tournament in Oklahoma.
Tabb, Oklahoma City sophomore, played on the Oklahoma Jitterbugs club team when she was in high school. But with six games on the schedule, Tabb won't have much opportunity to reminisce with her former teammates during the tournament.
Kansas will play Creighton University at 11 a.m. and Nicholls University 1:30 p.m. today. They will continue on Saturday against Mississippi at 11 a.m. and Big 12 opponent Oklahoma at 1:30 p.m. To finish the tournament the Jayhawks will play Southwest Missouri State at 10:00 a.m. and Cal State Fullerton at 12:30 p.m. on Sunday.
The 'Hawks hope they can pick up where they left off last weekend. The Jayhawks were 4-3 in the Triangle Classic and their pitchers had four shutouts.
"I think that we improved a lot this past weekend, and I think that it is going to carry on," pitcher Melanie DeWinter said.
The 'Hawks pitching has been on track, but the team's offense has been struggling.
"I think the biggest thing we need to do is get on track offensively," said coach Tracy Bunge. "We have not been swinging the bats real well, and we have been struggling at the plate."
Besides improving their offense, Bunge said her players needed to avoid feeling so pressured.
"The biggest thing we have to do is relax and go play," Bunge said. "They need to go stay within themselves and do what they're capable of doing. If they start doing those kinds of things I think the rest will come."
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