PAGE 10
FRIDAY, MARCH 9, 2012
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
TRACK AND FIELD
Jayhawks head to NCAA championship meet
Four Jayhawks will compete against their own best times
MAX GOODWIN
mgoodwin@kansan.com
The Kansas women's 4x400-meter relay team arrives in Boise, Idaho for the track and field indoor national championships as Big 12 champions in the event — arguably the toughest conference in the country for the event.
The team won the Big 12 title by running what stands as the fastest time in the NCAA this season. They hold an impressive resume, but the four women that will compete for Kansas on Saturday still feel underestimated by their competition.
"There is no secure spot on the team because everyone is talented. So you just got to work for your spot," Morris said.
It is a testament to the depth of the team that senior Shayla Wilson, an All-American in the relay just last year, will only be the team's alternate on Saturday's race.
"I think they still believe that we are beatable, but we have the mindset that we are number one now and we are going to keep it that way," junior Danesha Morris said. "It's good for them to think that we're still the underdogs. That would only show them how talented of a group we are."
Morris will be joined by juniors Taylor Washington, Paris Daniels and sophomore Diamond Dixon. Coach Stanley Redwine said even though they are talented sprinters, their success comes from their fierceness as competitors.
The five sprinters said they all want to be a part of this relay team and the only way to do that is to earn their spot. The competitiveness is what drives them to succeed.
Despite common perceptions, track as a sport is not always
focused on the individual. In the relay each runner must depend on their teammates just as much as they depend on themselves to reach the ultimate goal.
Dixon, the individual Big 12 champion in the 400-meter, will likely sprint to the finish for the Jayhawks. Dixon makes it clear that there is no sense of competition within the team but rather a feeling that they can rely on each other.
"Relay is about all of us as a whole, it's not about I need to split this time and be faster than them," Dixon said. "It's about 'I need to split this time for my team. I need to bring the stick in first for my teammates."
The five sprinters emphasized that there is always room for improvement while sitting on the track at Anschutz Pavilion the day before leaving for Boise. That they are never satisfied is a credit to their coaches. They said coach Elisha Brewer can be heard shouting words of encouragement, no matter where they are on the track. The group said Redwine won't let them be complacent.
"At nationals we're ready to run faster, and I think it's because he motivates us, we're not going to stay at that time." Washington said about improving their national-best time.
KANSAS WOMEN'S 4X400 TEAM INDIVIDUAL SPLIT TIMES
Daniels spoke for the group what was on their minds the day before leaving for Boise.
- Edited by Max Lush
"Maintain to be number one," she said.
Diamond Dixon
Paris Daniels
Taylor Washington
Danesha Morris
52. 55 seconds
53. 99 seconds
Shayla Wilson
56. 01 seconds
56. 88 seconds
56. 15 seconds
Team's improvements pay off just in time for finals
I MAX GOODWIN
mgoodwin@kansan.com
Association poll.
A month ago the Kansas women's track and field team was not ranked. Now it's entering the NCAA indoor Championships ranked No. 6 in the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches
It has not been a steady climb, but rather a sudden leap of eighteen spots in mid-February. Since then the team
has held its ground, falling to No. 7 for only one short week.
Redwine
For coach Stanley Redwine he said this does not mean much, it is just somebody else's opinion of his team. Eight Jayhawks will compete this weekend at Boise State University, all women. Coach Redwine brings to the championshipa team that he believes is the best of his coaching career at Kansas.
Junior horizontal jumper Andrea Geubelle is the No. 1 seed in the triple jump, and will also compete in the long jump. It is Geubelle's third time participating in indoor championships. Last year Geubelle finished eighth in the triple jump, the event in which she currently has the best
jump in the nation. In the long jump she will compete against fellow Jayhawk junior Francine Simpson. This is Simpson's first time participating in the championships.
Also entering as top seed is the Jayhawk's 4x400-meter relay team which includes sophomore Diamond Dixon and junior Paris Daniels. Dixon will also compete in the 400-meter race and Daniels will also run in the 200-meter dash. Daniels, who was a 400-meter national champion at the junior college level, said that her goal is to also add a title of some kind at this level, and she will have two chances this weekend.
Senior Alena Krechyk set the University's record in the weight throw and has earned an automatic qualification for this spot in the national championships. She enters as the 10-seed in the event.
The team as a whole appears to be peaking at the right time, and if everything goes as expected the results should continue to improve this weekend.
"Our workouts are set to peak at nationals, not at Big 12 or a meet before that," Dixon said.
Edited by Anna Allen
KANSAS WOMEN'S 4X400 TEAM SEASON TIMES
BASEBALL
3:31.36 Big 12 Indoor Track & Field Championships 02/24/12
3:33.65 Tyson Invitational 02/10/12
3:38.03 New Balance Collegiate Invitational 02/03/12
3:43.88 Jayhawk Classic 01/27/12
3:44.42 Bill Easton Classic 01/07/12
3:46.85 Bob Timmons Challenge 12/02/11
Kansas looks to bounce back in the Twin Cities
Right-handed pitcher Tanner Poppe throws to first to stop a runner from stealing to second base. The Jayhawks were up 9-8 at the beginning of the ninth, but gave up four runs to North Dakota, losing 12-9 after strinking out the Jayhawks struck out at the bottom of the ninth.
TYLER BOSTE/KANSAN
MAX LUSH
mlush@kansan.com
After starting the season 4-0, Kansas baseball has dropped four of their last five games and are 6-6 on the season.
The Jayhawks travel to Minneapolis, Minn., Friday for the Metrodome Tournament following their one of their worst losses of the season. They fell to the previously winless Fighting Sioux of North Dakota 12-9 Wednesday. The Fighting Sioux who have been outscored this season 78-19 — Jayhawk pitching accounted for 16 of those 19 runs.
"Having it slip away from us, it was a little disheartening," said freshman outfielder Conner McKay. "But it will definitely be motivation for this weekend. It will make this next series all the more important for us."
Kansas will play a double-header against Stony Brook (4-3) in the Metrodome Friday before facing Minnesota (6-6) on Saturday.
Stony Brook's three losses all came against East Carolina by a
Minnesota has yet to play a game on the road and has scored as many runs as its opponents this season.
total of just three runs and is coming off a 42-12 and season. They've outscored opponents by 21 runs on the season. Kansas has outscored its opponents by 15 runs.
Coach Ritch Price says this Jayhawks team is the youngest he's ever coached. Three of five potential starting pitchers are freshmen. In the field, four freshmen see regular playing time. Coming off a tough loss, the Jayhawks need their veterans like to lead the team and inspire the young players.
"For us to be good, the seniors have to produce," Price said. "If they don't produce, we're going to struggle while those young guys figure it out."
Price said redshirt junior first baseman Jake Marasco, senior third baseman Zac Elgie, senior designated hitter Chris Manship and senior catcher James Stanfield are the leaders of the team. This season they've combined for just 22
RBIs in 12 games. Take away Elgie's bat, and the team's emotional leaders have a combined 10 RBIs on the season.
McKay said he is looking forward to getting back on the field this weekend and to prove that they are a better team than the one who lost to North Dakota, Wednesday.
"We take this loss with a chip on our shoulder," McKay said. "Everybody's going to be scrapping for hits and everybody's going to be working that much harder."
Kansas likes to score in the first inning. Of the 64 runs Kansas has scored this season, 19 came in the first inning, or 29.6 percent of their runs. To be successful this weekend, Jayhawk hitters will need to score more consistently throughout the game.
The lajhawks will turn to freshman Wes Benjamin (1-1, 3.06), junior Thomas Taylor (1-1, 2.29) and sophomore Frank Duncan (2-1, 3.48) to bounce back from a 1-4 week.
Edited by Nadia Imafidon
SOFTBALL
Team focuses on games ahead, not on current win-streak
ALEC TILSON
alectilson@kansan.com
The Kansas softball team, after starting the season with two losses, has rattled off 15 wins in a row, the second-longest streak in school history. The team has not lost in more than three weeks and, yet, the team would rather not talk about it.
"It doesn't matter," coach Megan Smith said. "We don't think about how many in a row, it's just about executing each day we go out." Kansas (15-2) has a chance to extend that streak today when it begins a five-game weekend at the Osprey Classic in jacksonville, Florida. The team faces Delaware
Perhaps overshadowed by the team's win streak was senior outfielder Liz Kocon's record-setting day on March 3 against Wisconsin.
St. three times and North Florida twice this weekend before conference playbegins next Friday.
Uda. The team faces Delaware
Leading 1-0
R. Hull
Kocon
and already having scored the team's only run, Kocon hit a three-
run home run and became KU's all-time RBI leader with 119. She passed the 2006 Big 12 Player of the Year Serena Settlemier (117) and accounted for every run in the Kansas' 4-0 victory.
Kocon said she didn't know she was close to the milestone until teammates told her the week before. Now, she's relieved that it's in the books.
"I was kind of pressing for it," Kocon said. "It was definitely good to have it over with. I can just relax and be my aggressive self again up at the plate."
Kocon leads a Kansas offense that ranks second in the Big 12 in team batting average .322). Three hitters rank in the top 10
in the conference in individual batting average: junior outfielders Rosie Hull (.412) and Maggie Hull (.386) and sophomore infielder Ashley Newman (.407).
"We have a lot of go-to hitters," Smith said. "It's not just two or three; now we have a complete lineup of people that are stepping up."
Still, it is the pitching staff's turnaround that underlies the team's string of victories.
After walking nine batters and allowing six runs in her first two starts, freshman pitcher Alicia Pille (7-2) pieced together seven straight wins. She allowed just seven runs and struck out 70 in those starts.
Pille's 81 strikeouts already total more than any KU pitcher recorded last season and gives the team a power arm it lacked a year ago.
"Those were just awful games," Pille said. "I think sometimes you just need a reality check."
She said those first two losses were forgettable, but not necessarily a bad thing.
"She's the missing piece," Smith said. "We've missed someone like Alicia who is a strikeout pitcher, who can come in and be dominant and get an out herself when she needs to."
Junior pitcher Morgan Druhan (5-0) has posted two complete games and sophomore pitcher
Kristin Martinez (3-0), who won 12 games last season, leads all starting pitchers with a 2.14 ERA.
Smith said all three pitchers would get the ball this weekend as the team could tie or pass the school's longest streak of 17 consecutive wins.
Without mentioning the streak, Kocon wasn't bashful in her expectations for the weekend.
"We're going to go out and just dominate Florida," Kocon said. "If we do that - when we do that - it will be really good and we'll be in a good position."
- Edited by Max Lush