TY
Volume 124 Issue 140
Monday, April 23, 2012
kansan.com
If he's ready to play with passion and speed and his natural abilities, the NCAA should be ready to let him. We'll see what happens on May 1.
It is time to free McCay
Edited by Nadia Imafidon
A new situation, right among his family and his former high school coach, is the optimal situation.
GOOD AS GOLD
There are some things about next year's football team that we know with near certainty.
Dayne Crist will be under center. Charlie Weis will say meaningful and interesting things at press conferences, unlike his predecessor. The defense will be worse than Alabama's (and probably a few dozen more schools, too).
But we won't know about the status of sophomore wide receiver Justin McCay until May 1. If he's rightfully made eligible, the football team may not be down in the dirt for long.
After two seasons in Norman, one a redshirt year, McCay transferred to Kansas. He never played much, but it's pretty clear that his decision is based much more on being closer to family than getting more playing time.
McCay was a four-star recruit out of Bishop Miege High School, the sixth-highest ranked receiver in Rivals.com's Class of 2010. The sixth-highest ranked receiver in the Class of 2008 was Michael Floyd, who could be a top-10 pick in this year's NFL Draft. Ranked two spots higher than Floyd on the Class of 2008 list? The guy who might get to throw McCay the ball this season — Crist.
Delcaring McCay eligible would certainly be good for the football team. Crist could definitely use a 6-foot-2, 215-pound receiver that can run a 4.5-40-yard-dash.
McCay had offers from Florida, Oregon and Notre Dame, to name a few. But he chose Oklahoma.
But it's also the right thing to do for the NCAA. When McCay was going into his senior year of high school, he lost his father. He went to Norman, Okla., and seemed to lose a little fire for the game. Very understandable for a kid dealing with the death of his father and other private family issues.
Weis and offensive line coach Tim Grunhard, McCay's former high school coach, also vouch for McCay as vehemently as you can vouch for somebody.
To play next season, McCay had to submit a hardship waiver to the NCAA. That waiver was denied on Friday, but the NCAA told Kansas to appeal the ruling. A smaller subcommittee may be able to skirt around some of the waiver request guidelines that the NCAA as a whole cannot.
Exhibit A: Wisconsin basketball coach Bo Ryan wouldn't allow one of his players to transfer without ridiculous restrictions until the media bashed him. Coaches don't want to let go.
If we take the bureaucracy out of the equation, we're left with a genuine kid who Bob Stoops allowed to transfer within the conference. The issues that McCay is dealing with aren't being made public, but bigtime coaches generally don't let quality players transfer this easily.
SECOND THE BEST
TARA BRYANT/KANSAN
Sophomore sprinter Diamond Dixon prepares to run the Women's 400 Meter Dash Invitational Saturday afternoon at the Kansas Relays. Dixon recorded the NCAA's the best time in the event.
MAX GOODWIN
mgoodwin@kansan.com
As the only collegiate athlete running in the women's 400-meter invitational with six professional athletes, sophomore Diamond Dixon finished in second place on Saturday, ahead of Olympic gold-medalist Mary Wineberg, who won the 400-meter relay in 2008. Dee Dee Trotter, who was an Olympic gold-medalist in the 400-meter relay in 2004, was the only woman who ran faster than Dixon at the Kansas Relays.
Dixon ran the race in a time of 51.80 seconds, the fastest in the NCAA this year, but Dee Dee Trotter won first place with a time of 50.94 seconds. Following the race, Dixon walked up to Trotter, "Great job" she said. "You had a great run kiddo!" Trotter responded.
Trotter said Dixon, who is just 19 years old, reminds her of herself at that age.
"She's actually better than me because at least she has a focus on what she's doing." Trotter said after the race. "I wish I had that same focus that she has."
"She has a lot of determination when it comes to not being scared, getting out here and competing with the big dogs, the professionals, and she has taken it very seriously." Trotter said.
Dixon said that running with some of the world's fastest 400-meter runners on Saturday at the Kansas Relays gave her an idea of what future competitions will be like. As far as actually beating some of those professional athletes, Diamond was very respectful and actually quite surprised.
"I'm kind of speechless about it. I didn't think I would beat Miss Wineberg." Dixon said.
Dixon had some difficult stretches early in her life. Dixon's
mother was about 16 years old when she was born, too young to raise a child, so she lived with her aunt. After Dixon's mother left home, she did not see her again for nine years. Dixon's aunt stepped up and raised her as her own daughter.
Diamond began running track when she was nine years old to motivate herself to improve her grades. Dixon said she has dreamed about making the Olympics from the time she found out she was good at running track.
"It would mean everything because I've worked so hard," Dixon said of fulfilling her goal to compete at the Olympics. "Just the fact that I took myself out of a situation that could have been really bad and bettered myself and stayed strong and the fact that I am doing something that could take me to a big event like that would just be amazing."
With the time she ran on Saturday at the Kansas Relays, Diamond Dixon is currently ranked ninth in the world.
It does not surprise Trotter that Dixon runs as fast as she does as a sophomore in college; success at a young age is something that Trotter is very familiar with. She is the University of Tennessee 400-meter record holder with a time of 50 seconds. Trotter made her first Olympic team during her junior year of college, and she says Dixon is on the right path to accomplish.
"She's on the road to greatness." Trotter said of Diamond. "My advice to her is to continue doing what she's doing, stay focused, keep competing, and keep coming up against any contender that wants to step on the track with her and keep giving it her best."
— Edited by Caroline Kraft
SOFTBALL
Kansas closes series with two victories against Iowa
ALEC TILSON
atilson@kansan.com
Freshman catcher Lexi Bryant catches during Sunday afternoon's game against Iowa State. The Jaihawks won their series after defeating Iowa State 8-0.
The Kansas softball team brushed off a disappointing loss Saturday and defeated Iowa State 8-0 in five innings on Sunday, taking two of three games in the series and notching two important conference victories.
Kansas (28-16, 5-13) blew a six run lead in a 10-9 loss in game two of the weekend, a defeat that coach Megan Smith called "unacceptable," but Kansas' offense poured on 25 runs in the series and helped Kansas move to five victories in Big 12 play.
TYLER BIERWIRTH/KANSAN
Saturday's loss left the series tied at one game apiece and Kansas feeling as if it had given a game away, but Smith was pleased with the way the team responded Sunday.
"It's tough to sweep anyone in conference, especially a team that hits like Iowa State hits," Smith said. "We needed to win the series and the girls bounced back today and had a dominant performance."
Freshman pitcher Alicia Pille needed just 58 pitches to record the win, throwing a one-hit shutout, walking none and striking out three.
Pille's (15-9) second one-hitter of the season came a day after the Kansas pitching staff surrendered nine earned runs and could not take advantage of a six-run cushion.
It was another freshman, first baseman Maddie Stein, who shouldered a good portion of Kansas' offensive output on the weekend.
"I think it was more my attitude today than anything that was helping." Pille said. "We knew we could play this team hard. We were focusing on that and I think that attitude made a difference today."
"I think we had that chip on our shoulder and that fire underneath us," Stein said of Sunday's victory after the Saturday loss. "We know that we should never have lost that game and we were never expected to lose that game, so I think we might have been maybe ever a little embarrassed."
Stein went 7-for-12 with five runs and seven RBIs in the series. She connected on her first two collegiate home runs on Saturday and added a third on Sunday.
Junior outfielder Maggie Hull did her part as well and continued to swing the hottest bat on the team.
Hull added eight hits to her conference-leading total now at 61 and is batting .424 this season. She currently owns a 12-game hitting streak and has multiple hits in seven straight games.
On Friday, Kansas battled Iowa State to a 1-1 tie through five
innings in what appeared would be a close finish.
Kansas loaded the bases with one out in the sixth inning after taking a 2-1 lead on freshman catcher Lexi Bryant's home run.
After a substitution error occurred — a ruling that erased an Iowa State inning-ending double play — Stein received a second chance at the plate with
Stein knocked in Kansas' third run and continued what would become a seven-run inning and the difference in the 8-2 victory for Kansas.
The five conference victories come a year after Kansas won just one Big 12 game and figure to help in the team's goal of reaching NCAA postseason play.
Smith said winning the series after Saturday's loss shows a degree of toughness the team has been building all year.
"They're fighters," Smith said. "You can never count them out and when you think you've got them down, you don't."
the bases loaded and one out.
- Edited by Pat Strathman