Wednesday, November 17. 1999
The University Daily Kansan
Section B · Page 5
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Longhorns wait for competitor in division game
By Michael Rigg
Kansan sportswriter
Texas fans, call your travel agents.
By virtue of their 58-7 shellacking of Texas Tech on Saturday, the Longhorns are bound for San Antonio to play in the Big 12 Conference championship game as champions of the South Division.
But whom the Longhorns will play remains up in the air.
In the North division, there's a three-way logam at the top of the division, but Nebraska can clinch the division title with a victory against Colorado the day after Thanksgiving. If Nebraska falters, Kansas State would be headed to
the championship game — assuming the Wildcats aren't upset at home against Missouri. Colorado would win the division only if the Buffaloes defeat the Cornhuskers and Kansas State loses to Missouri.
Whomever Texas plays, however, is the last thing in the Longhorns minds.
"If you start looking at different scenarios about other teams winning or losing, you lose sight of what you want to accomplish," said Texas quarterback Major Applewhite.
What the Longhorns are out to accomplish now is a victory against in-state rival Texas A&M on Nov. 26 and to improve their No. 9 Bowl Championship Series
ranking, Texas defeated the Aggies 26-24 last season.
Bowl Possibilities
With wins on Saturday, both Texas Tech and Oklahoma State would become bowl eligible — but that doesn't mean they won't be home for the holidays.
If the Red Raiders and Cowboys win their respective games, they would both have the qualified six wins to play in bowl competition. That also would give the Big 12 Conference eight teams that have reached the six-win plateau, but the conference only has six guaranteed ball spots.
the winner of the conference also is assured of a berth in a BCS bowl. From there, the Cotton Bowl
gets to pick the team of its choice, which almost assuredly will be the loser of the championship game. The Holiday Bowl gets the third pick of Big 12 teams, the Alamo Bowl fourth and the Insight.com and Independence bowls selecting the fifth and sixth spots.
If Texas Tech and Oklahoma State do pick up the elusive sixth victories, they would have to hope for invitations to bowls without conference tie-ins such as the Alaha or Oahu bowls.
The downside for the Cowboys and the Red Raiders is that many bowls already have teams in mind that they would like to play. The Cotton Bowl officials in Dallas reportedly would love to get Texas for geographical reasons, while
reports in Denver say the Insight.com Bowl officials are drooling about the possibility of the Buffalooes playing in their game.
Still, the fact that Oklahoma State may be shut out of bowl action doesn't lessen the importance of the Cowboys' game on Saturday against Bavlor in Waco, Texas.
Defensive lineman Chris Tyler said that the first step was winning a sixth game.
"The games are all important because if we lose one, we don't go anywhere and don't become bowl eligible," Tyler said. "Those are our goals — to go to a bowl and to win these last games — especially on the road because we've been having trouble on the road."
Kansas State
While the regular season is winding to a close, the individual honors in the Big 12 are just starting to roll in. This week, two Kansas State players were given additional accolades for their performances in 1999. Kicking specialist Jamie Rheem was named one of three finalists for the prestigious 1999 Lou Groza Award, given annually to the top kicker in the nation.
Rheem's teammate, linebacker Mark Simoneau, also has been chosen as one of four finalists for the Dick Butkus Award, presented annually by the Downtown Athletic Club of Orlando, Fla., to the nation's top linebacker.
— Edited by Katie Holman
Cross country season ends without national qualifiers
By Rebecca Barlow sports@kansan.com Kansan sportswriter
For some Kansas runners, the District V race on Saturday was a closure for their careers. For others, it was a reason to start practicing for next season.
The Kansas cross country team's season ended at the race in Champaign, Ill., when no one qualified for the NCAA Championships.
This season was a challenge for many runners, especially for the new runners. Sophomore Keely Malone said she did not know what to expect but thought she ran well this season. She was the first Jayhawk to cross the finish line in five out of six meets.
"I did not really know what to expect and goals to have this season," Malone said. "I accomplished what I wanted to and beyond."
For the more experienced runners, the challenge wasn't inexperience, but trying to improve from last season.
"We had some high expectations, but the injuries really hurt us," senior Andy Tate said.
Both Malone and Tate saw improvements with the men's and women's teams.
"The team's attitude was our biggest improvement," Tate said. "The seniors left the team with a positive feeling."
Malone said she saw a big improvement with the women's running throughout the year. The team improved its finish at District V from last year by finishing 20th in a field of 25. She said she believed that they did not run as well as they could have.
"I definitely saw a lot of improvement through the year," Malone said. "I think we had the potential to do a lot better then we showed. We had the talent."
Malone said she thought that the District V meet had been a good way to end the season for her and for the team. The women ran their best to improve on last year's finish.
"I was happy with the place and time overall," Malone said. "I felt it was a nice closure to the season. A lot of girls stepped up for the team."
Malone said that she got a good fee this season and that she was excited about her season and had a really good time.
Tate was not as happy with his individual race at the district meet. He said that he had hoped to run faster than he did but that he was pleased with how the team ran together.
"It was a队 race; no one really focused on an individual race," Tate said. "We ran real well as a team. We ran with guts, and we really stepped up and ran well as a squad."
The District V race was the last cross country race of Tate's career.
"It is a weird feeling that I will never run cross country again," Tate said. "I am going to miss it because it's a tight team sport and we really grew close this season and had fun together."
Tate said his career hadn't been close to his expectations. He had wanted to win a National Championship and that never happened.
Tate said he wanted to leave behind some good advice for the runners on next year's team.
I left the team with more experience," Tate said.
"Everything I have learned I have tried to pass it on. I had that as a runner. Overall, I left the team with the emotional part of running."
Besides helping other runners, Tate has learned from the younger runners this season. He said that sophomore Brent Behrens helped him learn how to stay focused through the race.
Some of the runners from cross country team will not get much time to rest, as many have began practicing for indoor track this week.
Edited by Chris Hopkins
Cramps hurt cyclist's big finish
Graduate student nearly wins national mountain bike race
By Jim O'Malley
By Jim O Malley Special to the Kansan
Jed Schneider came close, but cramps on the last hill ended his bid to win the national collegiate mountain bike championship Saturday in Helen, Ga.
But his second-place finish in the men's 'A' cross-country race should put that seeming contradiction in terms — Kansas mountain biking — on the map.
Schneider, Sandia Park, N.M., graduate student, said Kansas got a bad draw for starting position, so he started four rows back. He overcame his bad starting position, eventually sharing the lead with two other riders through most of the second half of the 30-mile race.
The first turn on the 1996 Olympics mountain-bike course was a bottleneck just before a climb, Schneider said. As riders slowed and unclipped from their pedals, Schneider mounted, picked up his bike and ran up the 300-meter hill, which put him in about 10th place.
Schneider said that about halfway through the race, he, Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski, from the University of Colorado, and Ryan Radowski, from Central Oregon Community College, had pulled away from the rest of the field. Schneider said he and his two former teammates on the 1998 U.S. National Mountain Bike Team were out in front, riding wheel to wheel.
"We just couldn't break each other," Schneider said.
Schneider said, "We dropped Jeremy for a while on the third lap, but he caught us after 10
It was difficult to get away from the others because the course had some flat sections where riders could draft behind each other, he said.
minutes."
On the next-to-last climb of the race, Schneider said, Radowski cracked and eventually slipped to fourth place.
This left Schneider and Horgan-Kobelski alone in front.
"We were both close to cracking during the race," Schneider said. I didn't know who'd crack first."
Schneider said he hoped for a sprint finish, which he thought would propel him to first place.
"But on the last climb, 15 meters from the top, I cramped, and he attacked," Schneider said.
At that point, Schneider said, he knew he couldn't catch Horgan-Kobelski and decided to coast in to second.
Saturday's race was Horgan-Kobelski's third collegiate mountain bike championship in a row.
"But this was the closest it's ever been," Schneider said. "He's won in the past by something like four minutes. It was a good race. I'm happy about it."
Kansas' Bryce Lawrence and Scott Warren placed 67th and 112th out of the 121 riders in the race.
Daniel and Scott Wadley placed 40th and 50th out of 57 competitors in the men's 'B' cross-country race, and Jennifer Tilley was 54th out of 71 in the women's race.
Schneider said he would be back. He has another year and a half to go in the geography graduate program at the University of Kansas. Schneider said he had one more shot at the collegiate mountain bike nationals and two more chances for the collegiate road cycling championship.
Leonard Kristalka, the club's faculty advisor, said last week that with a little more support from the University, Kansas could have a top-level intercollegiate program.
- Edited by Allan Davis
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CONGRATULATIONS To our new members
Don't forget to attend the induction ceremony in your honor on Wednesday, November 17.
Meet us in the ballroom of the Kansas Union at 7:00 p.m. Dress is standard business attire, and refreshments will be served after the ceremony. Bring your family and celebrate your achievements.
If you haven't mailed in your application yet, don't worry. Just bring it with you to the ceremony, and we will still recognize you as a new member.
www.ukans.edu/-Goldkey
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Golden Key National Honor Society
Tomorrow Nov.18
This Thursday, smokers across campus and across the country will not smoke for 24 hours. Many will quit forever.
For information on quitting smoking call Janis in Health Promotion and Education at 864-9570.
watkins health center