Friday, January 28, 2000
The University Daily Kansan
Section B · Page 3
Track team to take on regional rivals
K-State, Missouri provide competition
By Sarah Warren
by Sarah Warren sports@kansan.com Kansas sportswriter
If rivalry fuels competition, the tank will be full for the Kansas track and field team tomorrow.
At the stroke of noon, Kansas will go neck and neck with Kansas State and Missouri in the annual KSU/MU/KU Triangular at Anschutz Sports Pavilion
"The three coaches from the three schools decided to try to get together every season," coach Gary Schwartz said. "We want to get together an old (time) scored meet;
that's what track and field used to be. It used to be all duals and triangulars."
And small meets are always better when the bragging rights are local
"We're natural rivals," Schwartz said. "This is a fun meet."
Especially fun for the home team, which racked up seven first-place finishes at the Tiger Invitational. Jan. 21 in Columbia, Mo.
At that meet, junior team captain Eniola Ajayi staked out the competition from across the border.
"We're watching the people who we are running against for next week," Ajaiy said at that meet, eying a Missouri Tiger as she slinked pass. "But personally, we're going after the K-State girls a lot.
"It's a personal grudge — their 1,600-meter relay tends not to be too
friendly. We just want to put them in their place. They're a bit arrogant."
Ajayi will run in Kansas' 1,600-meter relay and the individual 400 meter race. Junior All-American Andrea Branson is expected to fare well in the pole vault, along with teammate Ashley Feinberg, also a junior. Branson automatically qualified for the NCAA Indoor Championships in Reno, Nev., Saturday with a mark of 13-01.5. Sophomore Jennifer Wonder should be in first-place contention in 60 meter hurdles after winning the event last week with a time of 8.81.
The men, who placed first at last year's KSU/MU/KU Triangular, hope to repeat after claiming six of the seven first-place finishes in Columbia. The men's distance medley relay, junior spinner Jabari
Wamble and throwers senior Chris Dunback and sophomore Ryan Speers look to have strong finishes after dominating the competition last week. And junior Greg Steele, sophomore Justin Stancil and freshman Vadim Gvozdetskiy plan to finish one, two, three in the pole vault.
Kansas' junior running back David Winbush will make an appearance at Anschutz, eschewing his usual football pads for running shorts to compete in the 60 meter dash.
All in all, the track and field team is ready and rearing to go for a taste of rivairy, especially Ajayi and her relay team when it comes to their purple-clad competitors.
"I know they [Kansas State] are strong on the women's side," Ajayi said. "They are definitely the team to beat."
Confidence will be key for women's golf team
By Michael Terry sports@kansan.com Kansan writerswriter
The Kansas women's golf team's season doesn't start for another month, but the competition on the golf course already is heating up.
The Jayhawks are coming off a fall season where they competed in four tournaments and finished no higher than eleventh.
Coach Nicole Hollingsworth attributed the team's performances last fall to a tough schedule and inexperience, with only two starters returning from last year.
"That won't be an excuse this season now that everyone has had a chance to gain experience." Hollingsworth said. "Now it's time for them to show they have the confidence to compete at a high level."
The Jayhawks started practicing last week, and their performances will be evaluated during the next few weeks to see who will make up the team for the first tournament in Orlando. Hollingsworth said the first three spots for the first tournament already were set, but the other spots still were up for grabs.
"The golfers who play the most consistent will be the ones who
will be selected to fill the remaining spots," Hollingsworth said.
The three golfers who earned exemptions for the first tournament were senior Susan Tessary and juniors Ashely Bishop and Sarah Mahoney.
Hollingsworth said that these three already had proven they could compete given their performances during the fall, but that they would still need to step it up a notch to maintain their positions this spring.
In addition to veteran leadership, the Jayhawks will be counting on the younger players.
Bishop said that she was looking forward to the upcoming season, now that the team has had a chance to adjust to four new golfers and a relatively new coach. This is Hollingsworth's first year coaching the team.
"Hopefully, this season we can finish in the top half of the Big 12 conference," Bishop said.
Tessary said she was looking forward to making team and individual improvements this spring.
"Being a senior, I didn't play up to my expectations, and I'm looking forward to improving my stroke average this spring." Tessary said.
Women's soccer gets extra spark
Transfer from Portland is expected to bring experience to defense
By Chris Wristen sports@kanson.com Kansan sportwriter
Pardis Ariazand loved her soccer team at the University of Portland, but a greater love brought her to Kansas.
In December, she married Chris Brown, a former Portland All-American and current Olympic player, who was drafted by the Kansas City Wizards.
"It just came to a point in my life where I had to rank what was really important to me, and marriage came before my goals in soccer," Ariazand said. "I transferred schools so that we could be together."
Ariazand spent last fall at Portland, a traditional soccer powerhouse. She redshifted the 1988 season, and her team went to college soccer's Final Four. Although she didn't get to play, she warmed up with the team and spent the season learning what it took to make it to the top, a pinnacle she hopes to return to as a Jayhawk.
her to the roster and said she brought valuable experience to the team.
In 1999, she took the field as a starting defender and led her team to a 12-7-1 record.
"We are very excited to get a player of Pardis' caliber," Francis said. "She was a part of a very successful program that went to the Final Four two years ago. I think she can bring some of those tools of success to our team."
Ariazand said experience was her most valuable asset.
Coach Mark Francis was pleased to add
"I have a lot of experience, and I know what it takes to get to the top level — and I could incorporate that into everyone," Ariazand said. "From the environment I've experienced, it's a whole different level, mentally, and I hope I can bring that in."
Her first task has been adjusting to the Kansas program, a change that has become easier with time.
"Initially, it was hard because I'm coming from a school of 2,500 students," Ariazand said. "I'm a really social person, so it was really hard for me to walk around and not see a familiar face. As soon as soccer started, I started to have a core group of girls. They're very fun and definitely an energetic group."
Now that she is adjusting better to Kansas, Ariazand is looking forward to making an impact on the field, starting at the March 4 indoor tournament at Iowa. She is willing to do whatever it takes to help the team improve.
"That's my biggest concern, it's just being a team member," Ariazand said. "Then, whatever I can do to help the team skillfully, with leadership or with anything, I would love to do it."
KANSAS TENNIS
Men's team hopes to beat fatigue, foes
By Brent Wasko sports@kansan.com Kansan sportswriter
After a tough week of practice, Kansas men's tennis senior Bryan Maier said fatigue might be the biggest factor as the Jayhawks (1-0) face several of the country's top teams at the Louisville invitational this weekend.
The round-robin tournament between Louisville, No. 68-ranked Middle Tennessee State, No. 33-ranked Minnesota and No. 44-ranked Kansas kicks off at 9 a.m. tomorrow.
"I feel like we have a pretty good chance of winning all three of our matches if we can get over how tired and sore we are right now," said Maier, who went 9-7 in singles play last fall. "We have had a long week of practice, and all the teams are really good. We are going to have to concentrate pretty hard."
Jayhawk coach Mark Riley said he thought this week's practice was a little tougher than normal, but he didn't believe it would really make much of a difference tomorrow.
"Our practices have been at a real high intensity this week," Riley said. "We're are physically in good shape for our matches. A big meal and nap on the plane will be more than enough for our team."
Maier said the team's 5:25 a.m. departure to Louisville, Ky., today might make the team somewhat tired heading into this weekend.
"That may be one of the hardest things about this meet, I think," he said. "We're are just going to have to raise our level up a notch. It does help that we won last weekend so we go in with some confidence."
The team already has seen many of the opponents it will face in the tournament. Last year, it defeated Minnesota in a close 4-3 contest, but it also lost to Louisville.
"Each of the teams we will see have a lot of talent," Riley said. "They all have a chance of ending up in the top 25 by the time the season ends. We're are going to have to focus on each and every match."
After the Southwest Missouri match last week, Riley said he was looking for one of his players to step up and play the No. 6 singles spot, and he's still looking. This weekend, Maier, junior Ed Dus, and freshman Sabastian Libertine will rotate at that position
Riley said it would be good for them to get playing time.
"I've seen some positive things from each of them this week, but then I've also seen some bad things. No one has really stepped up yet and claimed the spot."
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KU/KSU/MU Triangular Saturday, January 29th Anschutz Sports Pavillion
Join us as we battle our neighbors from Manhattan and Columbia! Field events begin @ 12pm Running events begin @ 1pm Hope to see you all there!
Kansas Track and Field