Volume 124 Issue 139
kansan.com
Friday, April 20, 2012
You really like the memories, but it's only worth opening up once in a while.
Edited by Anna Allen
But — like many things outside the confines of Allen Fieldhouse — it doesn't get the recognition by the student body.
Results are important, but not everything for a track and field athlete. More than anything they want to stick out to everyone that's actually paying attention, before they're put back on the shelf until 2016.
Throughout the storied history of the Kansas Relays, it's always been looking off as a jumping point for the summer track and field season.
She will not only dazzle in the NCAAs or the outdoor Big 12 Championships, but look for her to possibly make some noise in Eugene, Ore., when America's eyes are on the best group of athletes competing for a plane ticket to London gor the Olympics.
But regardless if it's an Olympic year or not, Lawrence gives all of the athletes competing at the Kansas Relays its full attention for one weekend of April whether the Olympics are on display or not.
Dixon, a sophomore from Houston, will be someone to watch during the next couple of months, as we get closer to the Olympic Trials.
The Kansas Relays are a special campus tradition right up there with waving the wheat and the Rock Chalk chant.
COMMENTARY
Track and field is one of those tricky sports that we only pay attention to every four years. It's kind of like that yearbook collecting dust on your shelf.
Here's what I can tell you about these track athletes. They are persistent and focused. For the most part they all run, jump and chuck through injuries of all sorts.
Relays show off athletes
Usually throughout a season, a track athlete gets clipped in a race, blisters open up on the foot, or maybe a stress fracture impedes them from running at 100 percent. And you know what? They keep going.
People don't notice their hard work throughout the year, but right now people are paying attention to them. Not just because it's an Olympic year, but also because the Jayhawks have put together a solid showing this year.
The women's team took second at the NCAA indoors in March. They also had two NCAA champions in the 400-meter. Sprinter Diamond Dixon.
From my experience around track athletes, it's usually the latter. They're a tight-knit group who realize this is their time to shine.
Each one has a unique set of qualities to them.
The most interesting part of track athletes is the camaraderie that they share with their teammates. Many of them spend countless hours training with their fellow runners so there are usually two options: Either hate the person, or learn to like them.
These are fascinating athletes who've homed their body to perform in a specific event that makes them run the longest, sprint the quickest or throw the farthest.
KANSAS RELAYS
LEAPS AND BOUNDS
KATHLEEN GIER
kgier@kansan.com
Janay DeLoach is enjoying her first trip to Kansas. Thursday night she competed in the unique downtown long jump and quickly became a crowd favorite.
"The fans are closer to you and they get to really see what it is like up close and personal," DeLoach said. "I like to put on a little bit of a show, so I liked it."
She came to the Kansas Relays as the defending USA Indoor champion in the long jump. After a couple hours she left with another victory, claiming the Long Jump title in Lawrence.
With her attempt, DeLoach set a high precedent clearing 6.37 meters which led competition for the first four rounds. Tori Polk pulled ahead with a jump of 6.43m on her third attempt, but one round later DeLoach recorded a jump of 6.61m which won her the title.
DeLoach was the most consistent of the jumpers, only being disqualified once. This was her first outdoor meet of the season and she said she still has a lot to do before she can go where she wants to.
"The one and only goal this season is to make it to the Olympics," DeLoach said.
While DeLoach had never been to Kansas, the athlete who followed her has quite the presence on campus and in the Relays. Kansas graduate Crystal Manning finished seventh, but garnered the loudest cheers from the Jayhawk faithful.
"It is unexplainable, it is just great to be back home," Manning said. "Everyone shows you so much love."
She graduated in 2008 and earned All-American honors that year. She was also the Big 12 Indoor Champion in the
long jump and triple jump that season.
Manning will also be competing in the triple jump later this weekend. In preparation for that event she jumped off her other foot during the long jump. Considering the recent change, she was pleased with her performance, but said there is a lot of work to do.
Late in the competition, the DJ switched her walk-up song to the Kansas fight song. She followed with her best jump of the night for 5.98m.
"It was pretty cool. I almost cried," Manning said.
Tori Polk finished second with her best jump remaining 6.43m from the fourth attempt. Brianna Glenn took third with 6.37m on her best jump.
Rose Richmond was a 2004 Olympian and she trains in Lawrence throughout the season. She got off to a strong start improving in her each jump in her first couple attempts, but peaked with a 6.36m jump before finishing with two scratches in her last three attempts.
She was disappointed with how it ended, but her consistency in the early jumps was encouraging.
Edited by Max Lush
FINAL JUMPS
Janay Deloach 6.61
Tori Polk 6.43
Brianna Glenn 6.37
Rose Richmond 6.36
Bettie Wade 6.16
Amber Bledsoe 6.13
Crystal Manning 5.98
Natasha Coleman 5.95
Kansas alumna Crystal Manning soars in the air as she competes in the Kansas Relays' women's long jump invitational on Thursday evening on Massachusetts Street. Manning came in 7th place.
MORGAN LAFORGE/KANSAN
BASKETBALL
Larry Brown officially named to coach at SMU
Coach Bill Self and former Kansas coach Larry Brown sit on the sidelines during Legends of the Phog at Allen Fieldhouse.
KANSAN FILE PHOTO
Brown, a Hall of Famer, spent the past season spending time with different college programs across the country, most notably with Bill Self and Kansas. He could be found sitting directly behind the Kansas bench on numerous occasions throughout the season.
Brown began his coaching career in 1973 with the Carolina Cougars of the ABA and has coached at a number of places since, most recently with the NBA's Charlotte Bobcats in 2010. He's the only coach to win an NCAA championship (Kansas, 1988) and an NBA championship (Detroit Pistons, 2004).
Southern Methodist University officially named Larry Brown as head coach of the men's basketball team on Thursday.
KORY CARPENTER kcarpenter@kansan.com
"I've built so many relationships in the basketball world and my success has been due to the coaches I've played for and the players I've coached," Brown said in a statement Thursday according to smumustangs.com. "I want to thank them all. I always thought of myself as a college coach and this gives me a wonderful chance to get back where I started."
At 71 years old, Brown will be coaching his 13th team next season with the Mustangs. The Mustangs
will be playing basketball in the Big East conference beginning in 2013. Brown is the 6th winningest coach in NBA history with 1,098 victories and has spent the majority of his coaching career at the professional level.
He coached at Kansas from 1983-1988 where he compiled a record of 135-44 over five seasons, highlighted by the 1988 national championship. While in Lawrence he gave Bill Self his first job as an assistant in 1985 as well as working with John Calipari the two years before.
"Larry Brown is one of the top coaches in the history of the game," SMU athletic director Steve Orsini said. "He is a legend and has made every team he has ever coached a winner. As we transition into the nation's top basketball conference, the Big East, his leadership will be invaluable."
Brown will look to guide the Mustangs to their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 1993.
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"Athletics is an integral part of SMU and developing a winning basketball program will dramatically increase our national profile" SMU President Dr. R, Gerald Turner said. "While providing a rallying point for our students, alumni, faculty, staff and the city of Dallas"
— Edited by Max Lush