THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
SPORTS
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 6, 2005
ATHLETICS CALENDAR
TODAY
- Baseball vs. Wichita State, 7 p.m., Hoglund Ballpark
- **Swimming at World Championship Trials/World University Game Trials**, all day, Indianapolis
University Game Trials, all day, Indianapolis
Track at Texas, all day, Austin, Texas
- Tennis vs. Tulsa, 11 a.m., Robinson Gymnasium
* Track at Texas, all day Austin Texas
TOMORROW
- Track at Texas, all day, Austin, Texas
FRIDAY
- Baseball at Oklahoma, 7 p.m., Norman, Okla.
* Men's golf vs. North Carolina and North Carolina State, all day, Holly Springs, N.C.
Track at Texas, all day, Austin, Texas
SATURDAY
◆ Baseball at Alabama, 2 p.m., Norman, Okla.
◆ Men's golf at The Courtyard by Marriot Intercollegiate, all day, Holly Springs, N.C.
◆ Rowing at Kansas State, TBA, Manhattan
◆ Softball at Oklahoma State, 2 p.m., Stillwater, Okla.
◆ Tennis at Missouri, 11 a.m., Columbia, Mo.
◆ Track at Mt. SAC relays, all day, Walnut, Calif.
◆ Women's golf at Purdue, all day, West Lafayette, Ind
SUNDAY
- Baseball at Oklahoma, 1 p.m., Norman, Okla.
* Softball at Oklahoma State, 1 p.m., Stillwater, Okla.
* Wrestling at Purdue, all day, Lafayette, Ind.
INTRAMURAL SCORES
MONDAY
ULTIMATE FRISBEE
Men's
The Fighting Blunts def. Pearson, 6-2
Ankiel looks to go to minors unless team makes claim
HOUSTON — Rick Ankiel was placed on unconditional release waivers by the St. Louis Cardinals, who are waiting to find out whether he will be claimed by another team.
MLB
Ankiel, who was on the Cardinals' opening-day roster Sunday, was out of options. He has a $400,000 salary, and the Cardinals have said they hope to have him in their minor league system if he is not claimed by another team.
He ended his pitching career last month because of recurring wildness, then started working out as an outfielder. The Cardinals would like to send him to the minors to relearn a position he hasn't played since high school.
Ankiel, 25, has a. 207 career average in the major leagues with two homers, a double, a triple and nine RBIs in 87 at-bats. He impressed as a designated hitter for the Cardinals' rookie league team in Johnson City, Tenn., hitting 10 homers in 2001.
- The Associated Press
NFI
Chiefs sign wide receiver defensive end from Titans
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - The Kansas City Chiefs acquired a wide receiver and a defensive end from the Tennessee Titans yesterday, addressing two pressing needs.
The Chiefs agreed to give the Titans an undisclosed choice in this month's NFL draft for defense sive end Carlos Hall, a restricted free agent.
The 6-foot-3, 259-pound Hall has made 31 starts in three years with Tennessee. In 2004, he had 41 tackles, 2.5 sacks and recovered one fumble. Shoring up the defense has been the top off-season priority for the Chiefs, who have also signed linebacker Kendrell Bell and safety Sammy Knight.
"He should become an important part of our defensive end rotation," said Chiefs president Carl Peterson. "Carlos has been a very productive player in his brief three-year career and his best football should be ahead of him."
Also yesterday, receiver Darrell Hill signed a two-year contract with the Chiefs. The team did not release any other terms of the deal. Hill, 6-3, 200 pounds, appeared in 14 games for the Titans last season and ranked third on the team with 15 special teams tackles.
Golfer drives team to regionals
WOMEN'S GOLF
By TRAVIS ROBINETT
trobinet@hansan.com
KANSAN SPORTWRIETER
Sophomore golfer Amanda Costner could have been a softball player instead of a golfer, but during her freshman year of high school, she had to choose between the two.
"My doctor actually told me that I had to choose sports," Costner said. "Softball was kind of messing with my golf swing, so I decided that I was going to take golf seriously and I wanted to play at a collegiate level."
During her second year on the women's golf team, Costner has proven to be the most consistent player. This spring she is the only player on the team who averages fewer than 80 strokes per round in tournament play. She has posted the top Jawahawk score in every tournament but last week's Mountain View Collegiate in
Part of Costner's success comes from taking lessons from golf instructor Tracy Phillips whenever she goes home. Phillips also teaches some LPGA players, Costner said.
Tueson, Ariz., where she came in second.
"I've been working with him since the beginning of last summer," Costner said. "He has almost completely changed my swing."
Costner
Coach Erin O'Neil has also contributed to Costner becoming a better player. In O'Neil's first season with the team, she has already made an impact.
"Coach O'Neil is great," Costner said. "She is very competitive. She wants to win, and she can do everything she can to help us get better.
The Associated Press
She is very knowledgeable about the game and its mental aspects."
Being a former professional who played on the Futures Tour gives O'Neil knowledge that team members like Costner can use to improve their games.
Costner dreams of playing professional golf someday, like O'Neil did, but for now she must concentrate on the team's goal to reach regionals.
"Right now we're ranked 22nd and they take 21 teams," Costner said. "So we are right on the bubble. I believe we can make regional if we do well in the next two tournaments we play."
The Jayhawks are coming off of their most important performance of the season so far. At the Mountain View Collegiate, Costner said the team gained a lot of confidence.
"We shot all three rounds under 300 for the first time all year, with a lot of scores in the low 70s." Costner
said. "Our freshmen did awesome."
Even if the Jayhawks do not make regionals, Costner has two more years of collegiate golf to look forward to. Her goals include winning a tournament individually and helping the team win a tournament.
She decided to come to Kansas over Tulsa, Oklahoma and Oral Roberts. She said that since she was little, she wanted to attend Tulsa.
"I took my visit here and I really felt like this was a place where God wanted me to be," Costner said. "I liked all the girls here, and I knew that it would be a good opportunity for me to play in good tournaments at a Division I school."
Costner said that now that it is the end of her sophomore year, she knows this is exactly where she is supposed to be.
— Edited by John Scheirman
From cellar to stellar: Bears win it all
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
BY CHUCK SCHOFFNER THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
INDIANAPOLIS — The Baylor Bears simply wanted to be a shining light for a university that needed something to applaud. One dazzling national championship ought to do.
Sophia Young's 26 points, Emily Niemann's precise 3-point shooting and the brilliant, energetic play of Baylor's backcourt carried Baylor to an 84-62 victory over Michigan State last night for the school's first NCAA title by a women's team.
And what a title run it was. Five years after coach Kim Mulkey-Robertson took over a team that went 7-20 and was at the bottom of the Big 12, the Bears now sit at the top of their sport after winning a game between two teams playing in the finals for the first time.
It was the second-largest margin of victory in a championship game, falling one point short of the record set in 1987 when Tennessee beat Louisiana State 67-44.
"What a team I get to coach!" Mukley-Robertson said. "It wasn't the coaching, it's these guys taking me for a tremendous ride."
When the horn sounded Tuesday
night, the Bears flopped on the floor in delirious celebration as a rainbow of neon-colored confetti sprayed all around the RCA Dome. They jumped in unison, donned championship caps and fans chanted "Mulkey! Mul-key!" while the players swarmed their elated coach.
They won with unforgiving defense that disrupted almost everything Michigan State tried, and by poking enough holes in the Spartans' matchup zone to stay comfortably ahead after zooming to a 19-point lead in the first half. Niemann keyed the early surge and finished the first half with 15 points on 5-of-7 shooting from behind the 3-point line; she finished with 19.
"I think (Niemann) was the whole key to this game," Michigan State coach Joanne P. McCallie said. "If you take 51 off the floor, it was a different game. She was definitely the X-factor."
Not that the Bears were resting easy after that. Knowing that Michigan State had rallied from 16 down to beat Tennessee two nights before, Baylor kept attacking, making steals and scrambling for loose balls. Their killer instinct was a perfect reflection of their feisty coach, who
Michael Conroy/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Baylor coach Kim Mulkey-Robertson holds the net with her daughter Makenzie, top, and son Kramer, right, after winning the NCAA Women's national championship against Michigan State last night in Indianapolis.
practically glowed in a bold aqua-blue pant suit as she stormed back and forth in front of the bench, calling plays, pleading for calls from the officials and cajoling her players to keep pressing — even with a 20-point lead. They responded.
They responded.
Young was unstoppable in the second half, scoring 18 points. The junior, who came to the United States from the West Indies at age 15 and had never played basketball before that, was named the most outstanding player of the Final Four.
NewsNewsNewsNews
NewsNewsNewsNews
NewsNewsNewsNews
NewsNewsNewsNews
NewsNewsNewsNews
NewsNewsNewsNews
NewsNewsNewsNews
NewsNewsNewsNews
NewsNewsNewsNews
NewsNewsNewsNews
NewsNewsNewsNews
NewsNewsNewsNews
NewsNewsNewsNews
NewsNewsNewsNews
NewsNewsNewsNews
NewsNewsNewsNews
NewsNewsNewsNews
NewsNewsNewsNews
NewsNewsNewsNews
NewsNewsNewsNews
NewsNewsNewsNews
Aiming to graduate on time?
Summer classes at KU Edwards Campus will put you right on target.
Staying in the Kansas City area this summer? KU Edwards Campus in Overland Park gives you the opportunity to move one step closer to graduation day.
Summer at KU in KC Undergraduate Program
kansan.com
Enroll in our junior or senior-level classes today! Summer semester begins June 7
Call (913) 897-8659 or visit edwardscampus.ku.edu
KU
Edwards Campus
12600 Quivira Road in Overland Park
Topless Liquor
(Formerly Discount Liquor)
1805 W. 2nd next to Holidome
830-8014
Jager Handles $34.65
Red Stripe 12 pks $9.49
"Party like you're in Mexico"
735 Massachusetts Quitting
Business Sale
Save Now! Closing April 23
30% - 50% OFF ALL LINGERIE, SLEEPWEAR AND SKIN CARE.
ALL FIXTURES AND EQUIPMENT FOR SALE.
Gift certificate holders redeem now!
12.3.12
---