Inside Sports
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Sports
The Kansas City Royals had their winning streak snapped yesterday by the Cleveland Indians.
Pro Baseball
SEE PAGE 5B
Former Atlanta Braves pitcher Mark Wohlers refuses a minorleague assignment.
SEE PAGE 8B
Tuesday
April 13, 1999
Section:
B
Page 1
NCAA Basketball
St. John's basketball star Ron Artest is leaving school for the NBA. He may be joined by Duke's Elton Brand and William Avery.
SEE PAGE 4B
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Swimmer hopes for 2000 Olympics
Kansas athlete swims world's 14th-fastest mile
By Emily Hughey
Kansan sportswriter
He comes sailing up the steps of Anschutz Library in jeans and a gray fleece pulover. As he opens the door, he scans the entryway and smooths his hands over his shaven head. He's obviously an athlete. However, he's not just any Kansas athlete.
Tyler Painter is a swimmer.
He pulls his fleece over his head and his shirt creeps up, revealing the smooth muscles of a swimmers' torso — the same muscles that swam him to the U.S. Olympic Trials at age 18, the Pan-Pacific Championships and World Championships at age 19 and the NCAA Championships his freshman year at Kansas.
"I've never been in this library before."
Printed quote: "I don't go to the library much."
Painter said, "I don't go to the library much." At Watson Library, though, he's present all the time. Not physically, but on level two, in the record books and on the Internet. No. 14. Tyler Painter, 1600-meter freestyle. 15:17.01.
In the mile swim, only 13 men in the world are faster than Painter.
Painter has plenty of experience with interviews, although he doesn't relish them. After his eighth-place finish at the 1998 World Championships, a trip to the 1996 Olympic Trials and a second-place finish as a freshman at the NCAA Championships in 1997, Painter has gotten attention all around the world.
At home in Greeley, Co., he said that he can't even go to the grocery store without someone asking him about swimming. Even in Greeley, he said, the fame he and other top-caliber swimmers experience in the United States is nothing compared to other places like Australia where swimmers are national heroes.
"It was cool in Australia. People were asking
us for autographs because we were the U.S. National Team." Painter said. "I didn't realize it until after it was done. You know, you don't appreciate things while they're going on, but when you put on that uniform, people look and little kids ask you for your autograph and you're like. 'Why are you asking me?'
Maybe they ask him because they know he's fast. Maybe they ask him because he's their hero. Maybe they ask because Painter can swim a mile faster than most men in the world. Maybe they ask him because they see something beyond the records and flip turns.
Because I am a painter, my kids love to swim.
"I'm one of those people who likes swimming, but I try not to let it consume who I'm going to be." Painter said.
Because Tyler Painter isn't just a swimmer.
In high school, he said, most of his friends were football, baseball and basketball players in contrast to the swimmer-dominated circle of friends he has now. Although he said he values his close friends at Kansas, Painter has found that he has to be more cautious when making friends because he doesn't always know their motives.
"The more attention I get, the less willing I am to be friends with new people," he said. "The friends I have, I keep, and I think I have a good amount of close friends."
It doesn't matter with whom Painter spends his free time, but he spends it differently here than in Greeley.
"I don't like bars. I just like hanging out with my friends and having a good time," Painter said.
A student at the eighth-ranked party school who doesn't 'like bars?'
"They're too much money. I can't stand cigarette smoke. I'd rather not be in a bar." Painter said. He shrugs and the corner of his mouth turns up slightly. "Besides, I just turned 21 a month ago, so I'm now at this."
See KANSAS on page 3B
Tyler Painter, Greeley, Colo., junior, is ranked 14th in the world in the 1.500-meter freestyle swimming event. Painter, who participated in the 1996 Olympic trials and placed second as a freshman at the NCAA Championship in 1997, hopes to make his Olympic debut in 2000. Photo by Matt J. Daugherty/KANSAN
Kansas City Wizards forward Chris Brown gets behind San Jose Clash midfielder Richard Mulrooney for a header. Brown scored a late, game-ying goal, but the Wizards lost in a shootout, dropping the struggling team to 0-4 on the season. Photo by Graham K. Johnson / KANSAN
Small crowd present for Wizards' first goal
By Brad Hallier sports@kansan.com Kansan sportswriter
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Kansas City Wizards fans didn't want to think about coming back to Arrowhead Stadium in the same situation for the next home game on April 28.
Dating back to the 1998 season, it had been more than six games since the Wizards had scored a goal. During Saturday's game, the Wizards tried to give their fans something to finally cheer about in a game they were losing 1-0 to the San Jose Clash
Midfielder Chris Henderson rifled a point-blank shot in the first half, but Clash goalkeeper David Kramer knocked it aside.
Forward Digital Takawira played with more confidence than ever but couldn't find the scoring touch.
Midfield general Prek1 dashed all over the Clash's defensive end, shooting left and right, but every shot was denied.
Finally, in the 87th minute, rookie forward Chris Brown took the ball at the left edge of the Clash penalty box,juked
two defenders and fired a perfect shot into the lower right-hand corner of the goal, causing the 4,815 fans to roar.
The small crowd illustrated attendance problems the Wizards have dealt with for the past three years.
When the Wizards played their 1996 inaugural game, 21,141 fans jammed the lower deck of Arrowhead Stadium to watch Kansas City trounce Colorado 3-0. Attendance since has never rivaled that game.
Doug Newman, general manager of the Wizards, said that he expected a low turnout for Saturday's game, eventually won by the Clash in a shootout.
"People are used to coming to our games on Saturday nights," Newman said. "A lot of youth soccer players and parents come to those games, and they are playing as we speak."
The game was played in the afternoon to accommodate ESPN2 coverage. Newman said that he would have preferred to play at night rather than televise the game nationally.
Wichita State's firepower doesn't intimidate 'Hawks
See WIZARDS on page 3B
By Mait Tait
sports@kansan.com
Kansan sportswriter
After tonight's game at 7,
Kansas, 10-27, will travel to
Wichita to face the Shockers, 31-
8 tomorrow night at 7.
Surprise, surprise. The Kansas baseball team will yet again welcome a nationally ranked opponent to Hoglund Ballpark as No. 13 Wichita State comes to town tonight.
This season, Kansas' schedule has 10 of the current top 30 teams and the team is feeling the effects
Having the nation's best teams on the schedule has made wins tough to come by, but the players said that although losing was difficult, top-quality competition was what they wanted.
as it's in the middle of a season high, nine-game losing streak.
While Kansas is coming off of a disappointing sweep to Missouri, the Shockers head into Lawrence after defeating Illinois State in
"It's tough, but we wouldn't have it any other way," senior pitcher Chris Williams said. "We want to see how we stack up against the best."
The Shockers are led by junior first baseman Pat Magness. He is hitting .388 with 10 home runs and is among the nation's leaders in runs batted in with 54.
four straight games last weekend. The wins pushed Wichita State's winning streak to seven games.
Senior second baseman Kevin Hooper also powers the Wichita State offense. Hooper is hitting .422 in 29 games this season, although he has recently returned from an injury.
The Shocker pitching staff, as it seems to be every year, is as solid as ever as starter Ben Chris-
lensen is 8-1 with a 2.52 earned run average, and reliever Marc Bluma is 2-1 with eight saves and an ERA of 1.69.
Kansas senior first baseman Chad King is aware of the Shockers' potency, but he said that he tried to treat them as just another opponent.
"Their pitching staff is strong this year, and I think year to year they've enjoyed more success than we have, but we try to look at them as any other team," King said.
Last weekend's losses hurt the
Jayhawks' chances of making the
postseason, but Williams and King said that the team was unbeat.
Edited by Chris Fickett
"The guys are trying to stay positive, but it is tough," King said. "We're always looking to win, but we still are just looking to improve everyday."
Commentary
'Fifth Period botched shot haunts writer
Among some members of The University Daily Kansan sports staff, it is known simply as "The Fifth Period."
I had hoped I could leave the University of Kansas without ever writing about the ominous "Fifth Period." But because of constant berating by colleagues and a few threats that if don't tell the story, they will, I am forced to talk about how what could have been one of my greatest moments in seventh grade, turned into a debacle.
To them, it is a humorous story about a young child making a fool of himself on the basketball court. To me, it is an embarrassing moment that marked the downfall of a young man's basketball career and sent him on a path toward writing instead of schooling others on the playground.
My middle school had four basketball teams: Gold A & B and Green A & B. The gold teams were, of course, the good teams, and the green teams were comprised mostly of students who tried hard, but simply couldn't get the ball in the basket if the hoop was a mere three feet tall.
I was assigned to Green B, a team made
up of overweight kids who had trouble running up and down the court and really skinny kids who lacked the strength to actually throw the ball the 10 feet it needed to go.
I couldn't even make the starting five.
Spencer Duncan sports@kansan.com
Not only that, it was hard to get everyone in the game in the time allotted, and so, for that reason, "The Fifth Period" was great.
Fifth Period" was created.
The fifth period was just that, a fifth period played after the first four regular ones. It was reserved for those players who got little or no playing time in regulation.
After all, this was middle school, a place where winning was not as important as having fun and giving kids an opportunity to be part of a team. The period didn't count in the stat book but counted in the hearts of the participants and their parents.
I logged most of my minutes in the fifth period.
And it was during the fifth period that my big moment came, went and made me a laughingstock on the bus ride home.
After watching my teammates pound a team from across the city, the fifth period arrived and I got the call.
I had scored two points, was having fun and then it happened.
Things were going pretty well.
This would be easy: a simple layup that could give my team a lead and maybe lead us to victory.
Somehow I was left open, and alone, directly underneath the basket, and the ball wound up in my hands.
The ball hit the rim again, coming right back at me.
It drilled the front of the rim and shot back at me like a missile.
I put up the shot.
I put up a second shot, this time amid cries that I believed were cheering me on, encouraging me to hit the big shot.
There was not time for a third shot before one of my teammates came down the court and ripped the ball from me, saying, "You're shooting at the wrong basket!"
I looked around, realizing the crowd was not encouraging me to shoot but urging me to get back on the bench.
We didn't win the game. Time ran out and, along with it, so did my basketball career.
I may be the only one who remembers that sad day on the basketball court. In fact, I am sure I am. But every time I am on the court today, trying to ball with playground wannabes, I always look up to make sure I am at the right basket.
After all, I don't want to give away that I was a fifth-period player.
Duncan is an Topeka senior in journalism and English.