4B
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
SPORTS
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 26, 2005
Rowing team members compete to earn seats at meet
BY KRISTEN JARBEO
kjarboe@kansan.com
KANSAN SPORTSWINTER
Six boats, each holding eight determined women, line up in the river.
The race is a 2000-meter sprint race; a fight to the finish line. And depending on the wind, it can last more than six or seven minutes. But ending those minutes with a victory is what each rower anticipates.
For the KU women's rowing team, this potential feeling will not come until March.
And even though there is no competition, the pressure remains to prepare for upcoming competitions. The team will focus on conditioning and building endurance.
"We do exercises that make us get to the point of being worn out," senior coxswain Crystal Reed said. "But that feeling will
come in a race where you have to keep going."
Reed is one of the coxswains, the individuals who steer the boat, call out strategies and set the rate of the boat. She does not row in a race, but works out with the rowers.
"We do the same reps as the rowers, just less weight," she said. "It shows the rowers that we work as hard as they do and shows that we are all part of the same team."
The team's training builds up the team with respect and hard work. The training serves as a way to support the teammates and pump each other up, Reed said.
Because the rowing team is not competitive on the water yet, they will continue to build up that attitude.
"We start to get that competitive edge going during our workouts," senior rower Erin
"We do exercises that
make us get to the point of being worn out. But that feeling will come in a race where you have to keep going."
Crystal Reed
Senior coxswain
Hennessey said. "We begin to build up our mental toughness."
The rowers also compete against their own teammates, so there is more pressure involved to succeed.
"With rowing, not only are you competing against other teams, but you have to compete for your seat in the boat." Hennessey said. "So you are
Working hard during practice not only pays off in defeating the opponent, but also in keeping a seat in the boat.
constantly_being_pushed_by those_behind_vou."
"They have really changed things up, so workouts aren't that monotonous," Reed said of the coaches. "We are so limited to what we can do so it's hard not to get restless. But that just makes us more excited for the water. Building up this team really gets us ready for our competition on the river."
That day will come March 26 in Austin, Texas, when the team will meet its biggest competition, Reed said.
"Texas is an incredible team year after year," she said. "It's hard to race them first. But we have improved as a team, putting us at a higher level. That first race is the first testament to the season. It sets the tone."
KANSAS ROWING PROGRAM
Women's rowing has been a varsity sport at Kansas since 1995.
Rowing was the first varsity sport added at Kansas since the 1970s.
The Jayhawks train and practice on Clinton Lake in the fall and the Kansas River in the spring.
There are five regular-season meets for the rowing team. Three are home
Competing against a big team can cause anxiety,but team members look forward to those races the most.
"I honestly get so nervous before a race," Hennessey said. "But after those first five strokes,
meets. One is against Big 12 rival and perennial contender, the University of Texas.
Coach Rob Catloth is a 1985 KU graduate who participated as part of the men's club rowing team.
Last season the team took first place in the First Varsity-8 D final, as well as the First Novice-8 Petite final at the Lexus Central/South Regional Sprints.
Source: Kansas Media Relations
Federer outplays Agassi at Australian Open, looks to semis
I start to feel comfortable. Before we start though, I always look at our opponent, and then find the girl in my same seat, and know I can take her."
— Edited by Austin Caster
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
MELBOURNE. Australia Roger Federer is playing so perfectly right now that he made Andre Agassi look average.
Defending champion Federer beat the eight-time major winner 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 yesterday in the Australian Open quarterfinals, taking the punch right out of the best counter-puncher on the circuit.
Federer hit 22 aces and extended his winning streak to 26 matches. He's also won 24 in a row against opponents ranked in the top 10.
"He just outplayed me," Agassi said. "He was too good. I would suggest to his next opponent that he doesn't look to me for advice."
That would be fourth-seeded Marat Safin, who lost to Federer in last year's Australian Open final and will face him this year
in the semifinals. Safin ousted No. 20 Dominik Hrbaty 6-2, 6-4, 6-2 and will be far fresher against Federer than in 2004, when the Russian had spent more than 18 hours on court through six matches.
The other men's quarterfinals are No. 2 Andy Roddick vs. No. 26 Nikolay Davydenko, and No. 3 Lleyton Hewitt vs. No. 9 David Naldanband.
Agassi, who withstood a record 51 aces by Joachim Johansson in the fourth round, had some answers for Federer's serve. But eventually the relentless forehands and half-volleys that Federer peppered from all parts of the court were simply too much.
"I came with high expectations. I wanted tonight to be memorable, but it's one I'd probably prefer to forget." Agassi said. "I never got my teeth into it, and when I don't get my teeth
into a match, I can look pretty ordinary."
Federer mesmerized the 15,535 fans at Rod Laver Arena with his array of shots, an eerie hush hanging over the usually vocal pro-Agassi crowd. Rare shouts of "Come on, Andre!" replaced the roars that normally echo around the stadium when Agassi is pounding winners from the baseline.
There was no high drama, nothing like the U.S. Open quarterfinal last September, when Federer won a five-set epic that spanned two days because of a rain delay and ended in high winds.
Federer easily dispatched the 34-year-old Agassi this time, improving to 5-3 head-to-head.
Federer broke Agassi in the sixth game, then saved four break points while serving for the set. A third ace in that game gave Federer his third set point,
and he took a service return from Agassi and turned it into a backhand winner down the line on the next point to seal it.
"I have no secrets," Federer said. "It's like roulette. I always pick the right numbers."
He broke Agassi in the opening games of the second and third sets.
"I always got the good start into each set so I think that made a difference," Federer said. "I could play with the confidence; he couldn't really. So that allowed me to take chances.
"I served perfectly — he never broke me. So I think that's what made me win."
Even Federer was amazed to learn he'd lost only seven points in his last eight service games, calling that "very surprising — especially against Andre."
Federer's 11 titles in 2004 included three Grand Slam events, making him the first man
since Mats Wilander in 1988 to win a trio of majors in a season. Now he's trying to become the first to win three straight Slams since Pete Sampras added the 1994 Australian Open to his wins at the Wimbledon and the U.S. Open in 1993.
Williams easily won her quarterfinal, eliminating No. 2 Amelie Mauresmo 6-2, 6-2, while Sharapova was on the verge of exhaustion when she clinched a 4-6, 6-2, 6-2 over U.S. Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova in 2 hours, 17 minutes in the baking sun.
Serena Williams once won four straight majors — from the 2002 French Open through the 2003 Australian Open — but she hasn't played that well lately. She'll face Maria Sharapova in the Australian semifinals in a rematch of last year's Wimbledon final.
"I thought I couldn't go any
more." Sharapova said.
Williams was mostly bothered by the persistent talk that she and sister Venus have lost the aura they heid when they won a total of 10 majors from 1999-03.
"I'm tired of not saying anything, but that's not fair. We've been practicing really hard. We've had some serious injuries," she said.
She also discussed the death of half-sister Vetundo Price.
"We have a very, very, very close family," Williams said. "To be in some situation that we've been placed in the past little over a year, it's not easy to come out and just perform at your best when you realize there are so many things that are so important.
"We're not declining. I don't have to win this tournament to prove anything. I know that I'm one of the best players out here."