SPORTS
PAGE 1B
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2005
INSIDE THE PARK
WWW.KANSAN.COM
Defeat shows team's faults
UT
JACK WEINSTEIN
jweinstein@kansan.com
Unbelievable Darrul Dora Unbelievable
Everyone in Lawrence may still be in shock. It was an amazing end to an amazing game. Both teams deserved to win last night's thriller in Lubbock, Texas. Texas Tech came out hard and outgunned Kansas in regulation with stellar guard play from Ronald Ross, Jarrius Jackson and Martin Zeno. Kansas senior guard Keith Langford put on a display of absolute heart and toughness as he and junior forward Christian Moody led the Jayhawks into two overtives. Senior guard Aaron Miles' two three-pointers in the last five minutes of regulation play were a vintage display of his ability to come up big in kev moments.
In the end, Langford's clutch layup to tie the game and his five points in the second overtime didn't matter.
Darryl Dora, the Red Raider forward who committed the lane violation in the first overtime that gave Moody an extra free throw, mattered. He
more than made up for his mistake when he sunk his first three-point shot of the night, his fifth attempt, over the outstretched arms of Kansas freshman forward Sasha Kaun, with less than five seconds remaining.
But before Dora could be crowned King of North Texas, Aaron Miles grabbed a rebound from a missed Jarrius Jackson three-point attempt with 13 seconds remaining. Upon coming down with the ball, Miles was grabbed, poked at, and pushed around. Trying to free himself from the contact, the officials called him for traveling. It was absolutely the worst call I've ever seen.
It doesn't matter.
Kansas had numerous opportunities in both overtimes to capitalize, but didn't. Texas Tech had the same opportunities, and for the most part, didn't. But when they needed the big shot, they got it.
One of the questions concerning Bill Self's players at this point in the season is whether they've played their best basketball. Have they hit their stride? Are they playing as a cohesive unit that could make deep runs in the Big 12 Conference and NCAA tournaments?
The answer simply is, 'not yet,' and not just because they lost to Texas Tech last night.
SEE WEINSTEIN ON PAGE 6B
Kansas forward Wayne Simien is blocked by Texas Tech guard Ronald Ross during the first half of the game in the United Spirit Arena in Lubbock, Texas, last night. With 20 points, Simien was the second leading scorer for Kansas in its first Big 12 loss of the season.
David Johnson/Texas Tech Student Media
▼ ATHLETIC MAINTENANCE
Group cleans Fieldhouse
Campus Christians tidy up post-game trash
BY FRANK TANKARD
fiankard@kansan.com
KANSAN SPORTWRITER
Newspaper scraps hid in every crack, lurked under every seat and blanketed the floor of the student section. Oh, if fans just wouldn't tear up those newspapers.
Then it wouldn't have taken a group of Campus Christians nine and a half hours to clean Allen Fieldhouse after the Kansas men's basketball game Saturday and earn $2,000 from the University for their mission fund.
Some members of the group had cleaned the fieldhouse several times before. Heather Jackson, Campus Christians women's minister and organizer of the cleanup group, guessed that she had done it 14 to 17 times.
Others, like Troy Viland, a junior at North Dakota State, had never even been to the fieldhouse. Viland had come to town to visit friends who were Campus Christians. It turned out he was in for a treat.
As the group of about 30 people gathered in the southwest corner of the court after the game, associate facilities director Jay Ellis walked up to Lanny Maddux, senior director of the Campus Christians.
"It's gotta be spic-and-span," Ellis said, warning that the group would be called back the next morning before the women's basketball game against Colorado if they did a bad job.
Maddux led the group in prayer, asking that they "work hard and be diligent so we don't have to come back."
hounds waiting for the players outside the locker room. Concession workers locked up and security officer Jesse Cheek braced for a long night. He would have to stay until the group finished.
When they started at 6 p.m., all the fans had gone home except a group of autograph
"Hopefully it won't take too awfully long." he said.
Rvlan Howe/KANSAN
The Campus Christians grabbed trash bags and scattered to the upper ends of the stands, dividing themselves as trash collectors and bottle collectors. It was time for a treasure hunt.
The trash people discovered half-eaten hot dogs, ticket stubs, Dippin' Dots containers, used tissues and napkins, nacho containers, spoons and an umbrella. One person found a bunch of empty Nicorette gum packets.
The bottle hunt wasn't quite as exciting. There were bottles of Coca-Cola, Sprite and all sorts of other Coke products.
Meanwhile, some people walked around the concourse emptying trash cans. Maddux drove a KU Athletics Corporation pickup truck back and forth to a dumpster north of the building, heaving the plastic bags into the dumpster in the light, cold rain.
A team of six young men prepared to start the gasoline engines of the University's high-powered Red Max blowers at 7 p.m. Andrew Olive, Lincoln, Neb., sophomore, told the team to start at the top and blow all the newspaper scraps down one row at a time until they made it down the to floor, where the scraps would be swept up.
"Saddle up boys," Olive said, and they started the noisy engines and strapped the
Sound tedious? Well. it was.
Ryan Henderson, Clearwater senior, cleans after the men's basketball game Saturday night at Allen Fieldhouse. Henderson, a member of Campus Christians, a group responsible for Saturday night's cleanup, said he had helped with cleanup six times.
At 10:30 p.m., Jackson called everybody to the southwest corner of the court for the 11 pizzas Maddux had picked up from Papa John's. The guys with the blowers, who had made it halfway down the stands, cut
blowers to their backs. It was like strapping a lawn mower to your back. Think "Ghost Busters."
SEE FIELDHOUSE ON PAGE 6B
ROWING
Rowers eager to get started
BY KRISTEN JARBOE
kjarboe@kansan.com
KANSAN SPORTWRITER
Yesterday marked the first day of the spring season for women's rowing. The NCAA allowed practice hours to increase to 20 instead of the pre-season eight hours. The team practices this afternoon from 4 to 7 p.m.
"I do feel stressed out sometimes with school and practice," sophomore Tricia Sawtelle said. "But we can handle it. We just have to devote more time to school and practicing."
Thursday's practice schedule is the same. Monday, Wednesday and Friday practices run from 6:30 to 8 a.m. with weights and 3:45 to 5:45 p.m. with rowing machines. Saturday practices will begin soon, and run from 7 to 10 a.m.
For now, the format of the practices is the same, with more reps.
Practices will keep the team busy, no matter how hard classes are.
"Practices are intense." Sawtelle said. "You're sore and worn out often. We might be even more tired now since we increased our hours."
The team is still training on land, working out with the rowing machines.
"Basically our practices will
be the same until the weather stops fluctuating," coach Rob Catloth said. "Right now we're just dealing with bad weather."
With 20 hours, the team can now officially row on the water. And with yesterday's nice weather, the team is eager to get started.
"We're hoping for warm weather so we can get on the water as soon as possible," Sawtelle said.
However, the team probably won't get on the water until they know for sure that it won't freeze over again.
The period after spring break usually has the prime weather to get on the water. There will be no more weights at that time, with more emphasis on technique and speed.
"I like practice more once we're on the water," senior Kristy Hainer said. "We get to spend time perfecting our skills. Having 20 hours allows us to spend more time on what we need to work on."
Once the team is on the water, there will be multiple practices for the various types of boats, such as single or four-man.
But for now, the team stays focused on practice to get ready for the first competition on March 26.
- Edited by Kendall Dix
CROSS COUNTRY
Chesang breaks congressman's 37-year-old record
BY PATRICK SHEHAN
pshehan@kansan.com
KANSAN SWITTERWORT
Not every athlete gets to rewrite history the way Kansas runner Benson Chesang did Saturday at the John McDonnell-Tyson Invitational in Fayetteville, Ark. Not every athlete gets to break a record that was set 14 years before he was born. Not every athlete gets to knock a state congressman off the top of the record books.
Chesang did just that as he broke Jim Ryun's record in the 3,000-meter run with a time of 7:59.46. Ryun's previous record was more than a second slower;
"With an icon such as Jim, people can be intimidated by accomplishing things he's done." Kansas distance coach Doug Clark said. "Not for Benson. He didn't know about Jim when he came to KU."
he ran it in 8:00.73 at the NCAA Championships in 1968.
No Kansas runner, other than Chesang, has even come within seven seconds of the record during the last 28 years. He did so against some of the nation's best, spurring from Top 25 track programs such as Indiana, Colorado State and Arkansas.
Chesang, a Ravine, Kenya, junior, qualified for the NCAA Championships with his run.
he has been chasing and one that he wanted really bad."
"T his is a record
Stanley Redwine Kansas cross country coach
but destroying the Kansas record that stood for nearly four decades outidd that accomplishment because his victory the week before in Lincoln, Neb., was a provisional qualifier.
The 2004 All-American also finished seventh at the NCAA
Cross Country Championships. He barely missed breaking the record at last week's Cornhusker Invitational with a time of 8:05.28.
"He came prepared for this meet." Kansas coach Stanley Redwine said. "This is a record he has been chasing and one that he wanted really bad."
Congressman Ryun (R-Kan.) said he was honored to have held the record for so long.
"Records were intended to be broken," Ryun said. "I congratulate Benson on his record-setting time and wish him all the best as he seeks to qualify for NCAA Indoor Nationals."
— Edited by Azita Tafreshi
Kansas sophomore Benson Chesang runs with his brother Mathew, a Kansas State senior, at the Midwest Regional last fall. During the weekend Benson broke a 37-year-old Kansas record for fastest completion of a 3,000-meter run in under eight minutes.
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