Section B·Page 4
The University Daily Kansan
Monday, April 5, 1999
For some, rowing is out of the blue
Differing backgrounds mark Kansas team
By Brad Hallier bhallier@kansan.com Kansan writerwriter
Shannon Krider, Lawrence senior, Becky Valburg, Holton senior, and Shana Burton, Monona, Iowa, senior, stand with their rowing cars. The women's rowing team has attracted many athletes from other sports. Photo by Roger Nomer/KANSAN
Senior Becky Valburg and freshman Stephanie Mahal came to the University of Kansas three years apart, but both had one thing in common. Neither had intentions of being a member of the rowing team.
But there they are, attending practices at dawn, participating in a sport that neither knew much about before they started.
"I had not planned on doing this," Valburg said. "I ran cross country and track in high school, but there was no future in it, so I gave up on sports when I came here. Then at (freshman) orientation, Rob saw me and asked me to come out for the team."
That was in the fall of 1995, the year when rowing made its collegiate debut at Kansas. Now, after football, the rowing team has the largest roster of any University sport at Kansas, with about 60 women.
Kansas, with about 20 women. Mahal had been a redshirt goalkeeper for the soccer team in the fall. When Kansas hired a new soccer coach, Mark Francis, Mahal said she was told that the likelihood of her playing was slim. Mahal had also played softball and basketball in high school, but she felt there was no need to walk-on those two teams.
"They offered to help me find another school to play soccer at, but I wanted to stay at Kansas," she said. "Softball and basketball have plenty of recruits, so why would they need someone to walk-on?
"I wanted something new in my life, to test the waters, and to see how it went," Mahal said.
and. Even though the rowing team is still young
at Kansas, rowing actually has been a part of the University since the late 1800s.
the university since Kansas river coach Rob Catloth said that rowing was not necessarily a foreign sport in the Midwest, as many people would believe, and that it is an appealing sport for many athletes.
athletes. "So far, it has been primarily a walk-on-sport for our team," he said. "A majority of the team were walk-ons. They are good athletes who may not have been good enough to play Division I volleyball or basketball, so this gives women an opportunity to still participate in a Division sport."
Catthout said that he expected his roster to expand next year to about 70.
Senior Stacie Frain is another member or the original freshman class of 1995. She said
"It is such a team sport," she said. "Everyone has to be in sync with each other. It is tough getting up at 6 a.m. for practice, but seeing the scenery at Clinton Lake at dawn is worth it. And despite injuries and fighting the pain, I look back, and it has become such a part of my life."
a part of my life.
Valburg agreed that there had been times when she was near the point of exhaustion during a race, but she knows that in a sport like rowing, if one team member quits during competition, the whole boat is finished.
"Eight others are giving it their all, so that is motivation to finish," she said.
Edited by Juan H. Heath
Hawks win despite injuries, free throws
ATLANTA — Not much went right for the Atlanta Hawks Sunday, until the end of their game with the Charlotte Hornets.
The Hawks missed half of their 34 free throws and had leading scorer Steve Smith at the end of the bench, nursing a sprained left knee, alongside starting forward LaPhonso Ellis, who has not played since March 13 because of back spasms.
The Associated Press
But Grant Long's baseline jumper with 2.6 seconds left gave Atlanta an 85-83 victory over the Charlotte Hornets.
Coach Lenny Wilkens could only smile.
sime.
"We missed a ton of free throws," Wilkens said. "It's hard to believe we could miss that many. Without Steve and LaPhonso, it just takes too much offense out of our lineup, but the guys stepped up."
Mookie Blaylock was only 4-for-15 from the field, but the Atanta guard scored seven points late in the fourth quarter — including his 10,000th career point — and helped the Hawks beat the Hornets for the sixth straight time.
Though Blaylock finished with 14 points and Alan Henderson scored a game-high 18, the Hawks' starters were outscored 64-44. The big difference for Atlanta was the bench, which outscored Charlotte's subs 41-19 and outrebounded the Hornets 18-7.
Long, who contributed 10 points and seven rebounds, was particularly
Reserve Tyrone Corbin scored 15 points for the Hawks.
pleased with his game-winning shot.
On the previous play, he was called for goaltending on a layup by Charlotte's Eddie Jones that tied the score at 83-83 with 16 seconds to play.
"It was a simple pick-and-roll," Long said of his 18-foot jumper. "Two defenders went with the ball, and Mookle made a tremendous pass to me in the corner. We got a lot of energy off the bench. We were struggling, obviously."
After Long's basket, Charlotte called timeout and set up a play for Jones. But after taking an in-bounds pass from Chucky Brown, Jones slipped as he shot a wide three-point attempt.
"The shot still looked good for a minute," said Jones, who finished with a team-high 16 points. "I got a good look at it."
Charlotte, which led by as much as eight in the third quarter, had 18 rebounds and 14 points from Derrick Coleman. Brown and Elden Campbell each added 14 points.
The teams meet again Monday night in Charlotte, where the Hornets have lost three straight.
Blaylock became the 216th player in NBA history to score 10,000 career points when his 19-foot jumper put the Hawks up 76-73 with 4.52 to play.
After hitting two free throws 12 seconds later for a five-point Atlanta lead, Blaylock nailed a three-point shot at 3:03, giving the Hawks an 81-77 advantage.
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"It was a good defensive game for us," said Blaylock, whose team leads the NBA in defense, allowing 84 points a game. "If you play defense, you win ball games. You don't always have to score a lot of points."
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Monday, April 5: Opening Speaker
7:00 p.m. Woodruff Auitorium
Tuesday, April 6: Empty Bowls 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m.Stauffer-Flint Lawn Soup for the Volunteer's soul - Empty Bowls is a soup lunch raising money for L.I.N.K. Summer Volunteer Fair 9:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m.Kansas Union Come and check out how you can make a difference this summer.
Friday, April 9: Homeless Sleepout 8:00 p.m.-7:00 a.m.Burcham Park Come sleep with CCO! Participants will get pledges for sleeping outside, and all donations will benefit Jubilee Café. Non-Traditional Baby Shower 11:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m.at ECM Building
Thursday, April 8: "Read Out" 10:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m.Kansas Union Literacy Awareness - Terry Allen, Kathleen McCluskey- Fawcett and other university faculty members will read to children from Hilltop Child Development Center.
Wednesday, April 7: Service Learning Panel
3:30 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. Woodruff Auditorium
Service 101 - Come find out what service learning is.
Summer Volunteer Fair
9:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. Kansas Union
Saturday, April 10: Campus Volunteer Day Help Wanted! Call the CCO office to get involved.
Sunday, April 11: Youth Leadership Retreat
STUDENT HAND IN FOR COMMUNITY OUTREACH SENATE Questions? Call the Center for Community Outreach at 864-4073 or stop by 426 Kansas Union.
Paula Poundstone
8 p.m.
Sunday, April 11, 1999
Lied Center
$10 tickets with KUID
$12 tickets for general public
For more information, call the SUA
Box Office, 785.864.3477, or visit
our website at www.ukans.edu/~sua
PLEASE JOIN US FOR A
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Wednesday, April 7
7 p.m., KU Credit Union
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reservations by calling 832-8970
3400 W. 6th • 749-2224
1-800-228-7662 for 24-hour loans www.kucu.org
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