THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN SPORTS
PAGE 12A
FRIDAY, APRIL 1.2005
WWW.KANSAN.COM
SWIMMING
Olympic trials lie on horizon Coach prepares to say goodbye to record-holding swimmer
BY KELLY REYNOLDS
kreynolds@kansan.com
KANSAN SPORTWRITER
Kansas swimming coach Clark Campbell might soon have to part ways with the woman he calls "one of the best swimmers in the history of the University."
Senior co-captain Amy Gruber is preparing to swim at the World Championship trials, also known as the spring nationals. Tuesday in Indianapolis. The trials are held in conjunction with the US Swimming National Championships
Championships
If Gruber swims better than 57.19 seconds in the 100-meter freestyle, she would make the Olympic trial standard cut. She
could then use that qualification to compete in the 2008 Olympic Games.
The fastest swimmers in each event will be a part of the US National Team. Campbell said. The top six
Gruber
treestylers at the World Championships also make the cut, he said.
So far, Gruber's best time in the 100-meter freestyle is 57.66 seconds. But Campbell said he has been telling her to visualize swimming near 56 seconds.
The meet will also feature long-
course meters in an Olympic-style pool, rather than short-course yards used in Robinson Natatorium. Campbell said he was confident Gruber could build off solid NCAA meets and continue strong.
Gruber said she intended to be competitive, but would have a different mindset going into Tuesday's competition.
"Amy had the best NCAA meet of her life," Campbell said. "Amy is experienced enough to take that speed and translate it into long-course."
"I'm looking at it as a completely different meet," she said. "The NCAs were hard for me because it was my last college meet. But I'm going into this meet to have
fun. If I swim well, there's a larger possibility that I will continue to swim."
Campbell will accompany Gruber to the trials next week for what could be their last meet together. He said Gruber's work ethic and mental toughness singled her out from other swimmers.
"Most of them are done in May, but it's like Amy took the quantum leap," he said. "She's in a whole different realm right now."
"She's on a mission to finish her career on her terms," he said.
Gruber is among the top 30 American Division I swimmers. After a four-year career at the University of Kansas, she owns
SEE SWIMMING ON PAGE 8A
BASEBALL
Big-league crowd
Coach Price says Aggie 'passion for baseball is awesome'
BY ALISSA BAUER
abauer@kansan.com
KANSAN SPORTWRITER
When Kansas opened up the Big 12 Conference against Nebraska last weekend in Hoglund Ballpark, it was in front of roughly 1,000 fans, and many of them were donning Husker apparel.
As Kansas heads to College Station to take on Texas A&M, led by veteran coach Mark Johnson, in a three-game weekend series, it can plan on playing its second Big 12 Conference opponent of the year in front of a more Texassized crowd. That crowd does not faze Kansas coach Ritch Price in the slightest, he said.
"It's my favorite place I've ever been to play. The atmosphere is absolutely incredible." Price said. "There will be 7,000 people there and their passion for baseball is awesome."
The Jayhawks prepare to face the Aggies, who had more than 5,500 fans at their last home game on Tuesday.
The Aggies (20-9, 2-4),
ranked No. 16 by Baseball
America, sit in the eighth spot
in the Big 12 standings, only
one spot higher than the
Jayhawks (21-10, 1-2). Kansas
lost its series against Nebraska,
while Texas A&M dropped its
conference-opening series to
Texas Tech and Oklahoma.
Although Kansas could not take the series from No. 8 Nebraska, the team continued to show strength and improvement on the field and at the plate.
"I think we're ready to play in this conference," junior outfielder Matt Baty said. "We've struggled in years past, and I think this is the year we'll do some damage in the Big 12."
SEE BASEBALL ON PAGE 8A
Rvlan Howe/KANSAN
Matt Baty, Junior second baseman, reaches to tag out Nebraska left fielder Andy Gerch during the second game of the doubleheader March 26. Kansas traveled to College Station, Texas, for a weekend series against Texas A&M starting at 7 tonight.
FOR THE WEEKEND
JOE BANT
jbant@kansan.com
Fans should forgive Roy, move on
Let me just say, I'll never be a North Carolina fan.
I throw up in my mouth a little bit every time I see powder blue and white put together, and when I see a kid wearing UNC gear around campus, my first impulse is to punch him in the back of the head. I rooted for Duke in both of its match-ups with North Carolina this year. I stood up and cheered every time Blue Devil senior J.J. Redick hit a three-pointer, even though I felt dirty and confused about it afterward.
I chucked beer coozies at the TV for every Dickie V diatribe about the unparalleled greatness of Roy
Williams
Williams and the 'Heels and Tobacco Road, and at the beginning of this year's tourney, when I saw Kansas and North Carolina both placed in the Syracuse regional, I fantasized about the Jayhawks whooping the Tar Heels in the Elite Eight.
but Bucknell killed those fantasies before they had a chance to be realized, and North Carolina kept on winning. Somewhere
It's been two years since Roy Williams bolted back home to North Carolina, leaving a heartbroken Lawrence and a crushed-like-a dove Al Bohl in his wake. Two years since he revealed that he did, in fact, give a shit about his alma mater after all. That's more than enough time to get over the bitterness and sense of betrayal and remember the 15 years, 418 wins and four Final Fours he gave Kansas, the achingly close calls, the tearful press conferences, the daggummits and all the rest.
amidst all this, I had a revelation: North Carolina, or more specifically, Roy Williams, deserves a National Championship, and it's time to stop hating the Tar Heels.
He took a probationary program and made it shine with class. He was National Coach of the Year four times. He won at least 20 games in each of his last 14 seasons. He's just too good for his legacy to be his departure.
And yet, walk around Lawrence and the University of Kansas campus and you'll be hard pressed to find much love for Roy.
Jeez, you'd think it was Missouri he ran off to — not North Carolina, not his home state and his alma mater and his wife and kids' alma mater. Sure, he could turn down his dream job once, but twice? No way, especially considering the turmoil the program was experiencing: two consecutive years with no NCAA Tournament invitation and Matt Doherty ousted only three seasons.
"But he lied," the common argument goes. "In 2000, he said he was staying, but then a couple years later, he just ups and leaves."
Be realistic. And come on, be forgiving.
Kansas junior guard Jeff Hawkins is. "He's a good, loyal guy." Hawkins said of his former coach. "He did a lot for the University, and fans shouldn't forget that. He was faced with a tough decision; fans should mad that." Surely if anyone has a right to still be mad at Williams for leaving, it's the players he left. If Hawkins is big enough to root for Roy, fans should be too.
You know those annoying exes that keep on hating you like three years after they should have moved on, the ones that cut you out of photos and grill all the gifts you gave them into charred stuffed-animal steaks? Well, I hate to say it, Kansas fans, but that's us. Roy dumped us, and it sucked. But it's time to get over it, and it time to get over hating the 'Heels.
ATHLETICS DEPARTMENT
+ Bant Is a Colorado Springs, Colo., senior in journalism.
BY Ross FITCH
rfitch@kansan.com
KANSAN STAFF WRITE WRITER
Perkins named NIT 'Man of the Year'
University of Kansas athletics director Lew Perkins was more than a spectator last night at the National Invitation Tournament's championship game. He was awarded the NIT's Man of the Year award at halftime.
Perkins, who was actually named Man of the Year in
"The they told me they wanted to honor me for being a strong supporter of college basketball," Perkins said. "I took it as the highest compliment I could receive. It's something that I will cherish for a long time."
Perkins
February, said the recognition came as quite a shock.
He said when the NIT called he asked, "Why? What did I do?"
Although Perkins did not expect the honor, Jim Marchiony said it was no surprise.
"There are many people in the field of college athletics who know how much he's meant to athletics and college basketball specifically," s a i d Marchiony.
associate athletics director for external affairs.
Marchiony said he had known Perkins for the past 15 years, and he had worked alongside Perkins for the past three years. He said Perkins continually tried to give coaches what they needed to be successful and considered student-athletes his top priority.
"He's committed to making college athletics in general the best it can be," Marchiony said.
Previous winners of the award include former Kansas
athletics director Bob Frederick,
former Oklahoma State coach
Henry Iba and Texas Tech coach
Bob Knight.
In 2000, Perkins received the in inaugural National Athletic Director of the Year Award, presented by Street & Smith's Sports Business Journal in conjunction with the National Association of Collegiate Director of Athletics. During the 1994-1995 academic year, he received the "Crystal Award"
from the UConn Club for dedication and service to the University of Connecticut Division of Athletics and the Distinguished Service Award from the women's national championship basketball program.
He also brought NCAA Division I-A football to the University of Connecticut in 2000 while serving as the school's athletics director.
- Edited by Lori Bettes
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