Inside Sports
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Sports
Monday
April 26,1999
Section:
B
Page 1
The Kansas women's soccer team completed an undefeated spring season, defeating Creighton and Southwest Missouri State this weekend.
Kansas Golf
SEE PAGE 4B
The Kansas men's golf team begins play at the Big 12 Championships today in Hutchinson.
SEE PAGE 8B
Pro Football
After 16 NFL seasons, legendary quarterback John Elway reportedly is set to retire.
SEE PAGE 3B
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Jayhawks' practice proves little
Scrimmage finishes with tied score; team avoids spring injuries
By Michael Rigg
mtrig@ukans.edu
Kansas sportwriter
Last week, Kansas coach Terry Allen talked about how little the 1999 spring football game would show about his team.
By putting limits on the team Saturday, Allen and the Jayhawks stayed true to his word.
In a 60-play scrimmage that pitted the starters against the rest of the squad, the ended in a 7-7 tie that said more
about Allen's fear of wet AstroTurf than anything else.
Allen limited the number of plays because of the potential for injury, and his offense was operating at only 15 percent of its capabilities, according to quarterback Zac Wegner. Despite these limitations, the offense still was able to score on its first drive and move the football.
After running back Mitch Bowles broke a 27-yard run around the left end to set the Blue team up on the two-yard line, Henri Childs carried the ball for the lone touchdown for the starters on the day.
Twenty-three plays later, reserve quarterback Jonas Weatherbie hooked up with wide receiver Byron Gasaway for a 57-yard touchdown to put the reserves on the scoreboard and tie the game.
Despite the lack of scoring, Allen stressed the positives of an otherwise uneventful showing.
"We didn't get anyone hurt, and other than that, we didn't do much else." Allen
said. "With the nature of this scrimmage, that's just about what you expect. The long and short of this one is that no one got hurt."
This fear led to severe limitations on runningback David Winbush (only one carry) and Wegner, who was out of the game after halftime. Still, Wegner was not happy about his performance, in which he threw one interception to Brandon Weir and had another near-interception dropped by Carl Shazor.
"This was maybe 15 percent of what we've been doing this spring as far as the offense goes. And the defense will take full advantage of that." Wegner said. "I definitely forced some things. Why not? In those situations, I would never think of throwing those balls in a game."
On the other side of the ball, linebacker Dariss Lomax was happy with his Blue team's defensive effort.
"Everybody played hard today and got to the ball," Lomax said. "We played the run better than any scrimmage this spring."
Still, Lomax said some mistakes were made defensively. Fourth-string running back Mike Lewis lit up the defense for 82 yards rushing, and Gasaway found a seam in the defense for the touchdown.
The Jayhawks have one more practice before the conclusion of spring drills. Heavy rains kept Kansas off the practice fields Thursday and Friday. But Allen is satisfied about the effort his team put forth this spring to date.
"A total evaluation on this spring is not completed yet, but I think we've had a very positive spring so far." Allen said. "We stayed away from injury, we've gotten better on the offensive line and we've gotten better in the linebackers and secondary."
The Jayhawks hold their final practice, in full-scrimimage form, at 3:20 p.m. tomorrow on the practice fields.
Edited by Julie Sachs
Kansas running back Henri Childs breaks away from a teammate during the spring scrimmage Saturday afternoon at Memorial Stadium. The game only lasted for a total of 60 plays, limited because of the potential for injuries. Photo by Christina Neff/KANSAN
Kansas center fielder Shelly Musser safely slides into third as Texas A&M third baseman Heather Martinez dives to stop the ball. Photo by Christina Neff/Kansan
Softball team beats Texas, splits Aggie doubleheader
By Brandon Stinnett
Kansan sportswriter
Texas' Crysta Williams may lead the Big 12 Conference in almost every major pitching category this season, but it was the Kansas pitchers that shined Saturday.
Pitcher Melanie DeWinter got the win in the first game, allowing no runs on three hits in 4 1/3 innings of work. Sarah Workman came on in the fifth inning and got the save. Workman was the winning pitcher in the second game, giving up one run on six hits and striking out seven.
The Jayhawks softball team swept two games from 11th-ranked Texas, 1-0 and 2-1, in a doubleheader at Jayhawk Field.
a risk throwing Melanie in the first game, and she did a great job."
"Sarah and Melanie both did a fabulous job for us (Saturday)," coach Tracy Bunge said. "We took
Shelly Musser was the hero for the Jayhawks offensively. The center fielder went 5 for 7 in the two games and was responsible for all three Kansas runs with three RBIs.
"What a day Shelly Musser had." Bunge said. "She was in one of those modes where the ball looked like it was the size of a watermelon."
Kansas scored the first game's only run in the third inning. Heather Sims got things going for the Jayhawks with a one-out single to center field. Second baseman Amy Hulse reached first base on a player's choice when Sims was thrown out at second. Hulse then stole two and scored on a single by Mussel.
In the fifth inning, the Longhorns threatened to score with runners
at first and third with one out when Workman came into pitch for the Jayhawks. Workman struck out the first two batters she faced to retire the side.
Texas got on the board first in game two. Third baseman Keely Franks singled in left fielder Tiffiny Valdehueza from second base in the top of the fifth inning.
The Jayhawks answered back with a run of their own in the bottom of the fifth. A two-out double by Musser scored Christy Musser from second base to tie the game, 1-1.
The score remained the same until the bottom of the seventh when Shelly Musser got her third hit of the game, a two-tail triple to deep center field that scored Hulse from first base and gave the jay-
See MUSSER on page 3B
Men's bowling team sees first national tourney
By Chris Wristen sports@kansan.com Kansan sportwriter
The team was led by seniors Scott Donner, Brian Schmidberger and Jeff Ussery who made their final appearance as jayhawks. To them it was worth all the work and a good way to end their careers.
The Kansas men's bowling team rolled into Wichita on Thursday to compete at the three-day national championships and brought home a ninth-place finish. West Texas State won the title. This was the Jayhawks' first trip to the national championships.
Not bad for a senior trin.
"This is my last year," Donner said.
"It's been four years and this is our first
to go to nationals, so this is a culmination, and reaching the high point of all these years."
"This meant a lot because we've got a very exceptional team." Fine said. "We've got seniors who have completed four years of paying the price and had hard practice. It was just very special to them."
Coach Michael Fine said he was happy for his seniors.
The tournament began with a qualifier double-elimination round on Thursday. At the conclusion of that round Kansas was in second place behind Nebraska. The Jayhawks knocked down 6,528 pins, which was almost a record performance
Other Kansas rollers were juniors Eric Topham and Tom Partridge, and freshman Mike Keeler.
for the national tournament.
The team went on to win its first-round game against West Texas State. The Jayhawks then played national runner-up Wichita State, where they met their match.
"In the 25 year history prior to this tournament, no team had ever averaged over 200 for every game of the Baker tournament." Fine said.
"We ran into Wichita State in the second round with the home crowd. They beat us in a very close match. It turned out to be the closest match of the tournament." Fine said.
The excitement around the match-up was immense and crowd support for both teams was evident.
"The crowd was crazy." Donner said. "It
was extremely loud. WSU had a lot of fans there, and we had a lot of fans there. The fans got into a rivalry of clapping back and forth."
Kansas rolled a 243 in its third round game with Cal-State Fullerton. That score was not enough to advance though, and the Javahaws were eliminated.
Even so, the team was not disappointed with its performance.
"We qualified higher than I expected us to so we met our expectations," Donner said.
The Jayhawks performance was good enough to earn the team a sponsor as well. Dexter shoes, one of the top bowling shoe companies in the industry, offered to sponsor the team next year.
-Edited by Juan H. Heath
Commentary
Elway fan remembers autograph experience
About an hour after suffering through a 42-20 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium on the last Sunday of 1992, John Elway stood a foot in front of me.
The image is still clear in my mind. As his Denver-Broncos teammates walked past the throngs of fans with headphones on and heads down, Elway stopped for the crowd assembled around the team's four chartered buses to sign autographs and pose for pictures.
"Come on John, the bus is leaving," some guy wearing a Broncos jacket and mirrourd please said.
as he tugged Elway's sleeve.
Even after I got my football card signed, I wouldn't move, wanting to cherish the moment shared with the most exciting
"I'll just get on the next one," Elway replied, as he continued to sign his name on the programs, pictures and hats being pushed his way.
Mike Harryt
sports@kansan.com
player I've ever seen play football. As I watched him continue to scrawl his name, the memories rolled in my mind. The setting was usually the same, my parent's living room, as was the scene, Elway leading yet another fourth-quarter comeback against my dad's beloved Chiefs.
The crowd pushed closer, but still I stood.
I noticed how the crow's feet in the corners of his eyes would curl when a greedy fan asked him to sign three footballs. Elway signed all three, then said, "Only one each, so everybody's happy."
I noticed his muscled and weathered right hand, which had already had a long day bracing his body from the turf after the three sacks and numerous knockdowns from Chiefs linebacker Derrick Thomas. The hand, now marked with blue and black-permanent ink, kept signing. And signing. And signing.
Elway reportedly will retire this week, ending a brilliant 16-year career that has vaulted him into the greatest quarterbacks debate, along with Joe Montana, Dan Marino and Johnny Unitas. A strong case could be made for Elway. He passed for more yards than everyone but Marino. He started more Super Bowls (five) and led more fourth-quarter come-from-behind wins than any quarterback.
I'll miss watching him play. Chiefs fans won't
This is what I'll remember about John Elway — the guy who, even after a crushing loss to the Chiefs, still took the time to make a few people happy one Sunday afternoon.
Of all the victims of Elway's heroes, the Chiefs have often caught the brunt of the fourth-quarter storms. Elway has had 40 game-winning drives in the fourth quarter. Eight have happened against the Chiefs. Even the game Elway calls the worst of his career — when he threw five interceptions against the Chiefs on Dec. 14, 1985 — the Broncos won 14-13 after Elway led them to a touchdown with 22 seconds remaining.
Earlier this season, Elway worked his magic at Mile High Stadium against the Chiefs, throwing a touchdown pass to tight end Shannon Sharpe to secure a 35-31 win. Chiefs players have a hard time explaining Elway's ability to pull a victory out of the teeth of defeat. All they know is that they don't like facing it.
The card Elway autographed shows him smiling and holding his right arm up in celebration. It still hangs framed on the wall of my childhood bedroom, right above a Chiefs pennant. That will never change.
Harrity is a Kansas City, Kan., senior in journalism.
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