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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
SPORTS
THURSDAY, MARCH 10, 2005
DIVING
Diver plunges into comeback
Stephanie Farlev/KANSAN
BY KELLY REYNOLDS
kreynolds@kansan.com
KANSAN SPORTWRITER
Jenny Roberts, St. Louis sophomore, performs a dive in Robinson Center on Monday afternoon. Roberts, a member of the Kansas diving team, was preparing for the NCAA Zone D Regional Dive Meeting, March 11 to 13 in College Station, Texas. Divers compete to qualify for national championships at zone meets.
Jenny Roberts has a lot to be proud of as the Zone D Regional Diving Meet approaches tomorrow.
Roberts is coming off an injury that caused her to sit out her senior year of high school and take a redshirt with the Kansas swimming and diving team her freshman year of college. During a high school diving meet, Roberts was completing a back two-and-a-half dive when she came out wrong. She had several back injuries that halted her diving career for two years.
This year, Roberts has made a comeback in the college diving scene. She is one of three divers on the team to qualify for the Zone D meet, an accomplishment she is proud of.
"I'm really excited." Roberts said. "That's what this year has been all about."
Sophomore Shelby Noonan and junior Casey Topol also qualified, but Roberts will be the only Jayhawk at the meet in College Station, Texas because of Noonan's recent injury at the Big 12 Conference Swimming and Diving Championships. Topol will not attend for academic reasons.
Roberts could receive a bid to the NCAA Championships next week. Diving coach Eric Elliot explained that usually the top five winners are invited.
"I'd be thrilled to see Jenny place in the top 12," Elliot said. "Top five would be great, but she'd have to be completely on, and hit everything."
The Zone D meet is the only road to the NCAA Championships for lower Midwest region collegiate divers. Roberts said that it
would be huge if she qualified for NCAA Championships, but she didn't think it was likely.
"I'm really excited," Roberts said, "but this is more of an experience."
Elliot also explained that this meet is a diver's one shot to make it to the NCAA Championships, and divers had to qualify for the Zone D meet first.
Roberts said that getting to experience the meet was an accomplishment in itself because of her high school injury, and coach Elliot agreed.
"Of course we want a good performance," Elliot said, "but I want her to have fun, and to get the experience so that she'll have it for next year.
Although the meet starts tomorrow, Roberts will not be performing until Saturday, when she will compete in the one-meter competition.
She will complete six dives.
"I'm a better diver because of my injury
Two of the dives will be front dives, two will be back dives, one will be inward and one will be a reverse dive. The divers' scores are compiled by multiplying the judges' scores by the degree of difficulty of the dive.
mentally, physically and personally. Jenny Roberts Freshman diver
Elliot said that there were always quality divers at the Zone D meet, but each year new divers came to the meet.
Both Elliot and Roberts said they were disappointed that Noonan couldn't make the trip with them.
"At this level, anybody could get there," Elliot said, "but you
have to have a good meet."
"It's really disappointing about Shelby," Elliot said, "because she was diving really well."
He said that this is the first year that there have been a significant number of spots available in the Zone D meet and he wished more jayhawks could have taken advantage of the spots.
Injuries aside, Elliot said he was looking forward to the meet tomorrow. as was Roberts.
She said she was excited to be making her debut in championship diving after her two-year injury.
"I'm a better diver because of my injury." Roberts said, "mentally, physically, and personally"
— Edited by Jennifer Voldness
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL
BY RONALD BLUM THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
MLB players called in for steroid trial
NEW YORK — Jose Canseco, Jason Giambi, Mark McGwire and four other baseball players were subpoenaed yesterday to testify before a congressional committee investigating the sport's steroids policy.
Curt Schilling, Sammy Sosa, Rafael Palmeiro and Frank Thomas also were subpoenaed to appear at the March 17 hearing of the House Government Reform Committee along with players' association head Donald Fehr, baseball executive vice presidents Rob Manfred and Sandy Alderson and San Diego general manager Kevin Towers.
Canseco, Fehr and Manfred had agreed to testify. Manfred will speak on behalf of baseball commissioner Bud Selig.
Stanley Brand, a lawyer for the commissioner's office, wrote to the committee on Tuesday
"The remaining witnesses, however, made it clear—either by flatly rejecting the invitation to testify or by ignoring our repeated attempts to contact them—they had no intention of appearing before the committee," committee chairman Rep. Tom Davis and Rep. Henry Waxman, the ranking Democrat, said in a statement.
"The committee will conduct a thorough, fair, and responsible investigation. It is important the American people know the facts on baseball's steroid scandal. And it is important that all Americans, especially children, know about the dangers of drug use. We need to better understand the steps MLB is taking to get a handle on the steroid issue, and whether news of those steps is reaching America's youth."
saying the hearing and what he termed "overly expansive" document requests "present significant constitutional and institutional concerns about the underlying validity and proprietary of the committee's inquiry.
"It is not clear to us how the committee's jurisdiction encompasses the privately negotiated drug policy." Brand wrote, adding that the committee was requesting "highly private and sensitive information."
"The right to the privacy of this information outweighs any asserted interest in the `health problems stemming from the use of steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs," Brand wrote.
Brand said the committee request went to the unprecedented and destructive length of seeking actual testing results and showed no consideration for the legitimate privacy concerns of MLB, the MLBPA, individual players and other members of the bargaining unit.
Another congressional hearing on steroids is scheduled for tomorrow, when the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee will hear from witnesses, including labor lawyers from the commissioner's office and the NFL, and representatives of the NCAA and the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency.
"We're trying to get to the bottom of the steroid problem," Rep. Cliff Stearns said.
Stearns, chairman of the House Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection subcommittee, said Selig was invited to speak at the hearing but declined.
"We're trying to understand whether legislation is needed," he said. "We're obviously disappointed that Selig did not want to show."
Here's to a season of wins, from the folks in fins.
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1301 E. 25th St. 749-0500
blueplanetdiving.com
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