22 • THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 5, 2002
Two All-Americans finish college career
By Matt Norton Kansan staff writer
The Kansas track and field team returned from the NCAA Championships with two All-American awards.
The Championships were held in Baton Rouge, La., from May 29 to June 1.
Senior Scott Russell won the javelin throw Thursday night with a toss of 261 feet, 11 1/2 inches,the ninth-best collegiate throw of all time.
Russell beat runner-up Nathan Junius of Texas by over 17 feet.
"It feels great to come in here and get a win," Russell said. "I couldn't ask for a better way to cap off my college career."
"He knew what he came here for and he did it," Coach Stanley Redwine said. "We're very proud of him and of what he has done for the University of Kansas."
The win is Russell's second NCAA title. He won the 35-pound weight throw at the indoor championships in March and leaves Kansas as a six-time All-American.
Senior Charlie Gruber won his fifth All- American award during his Kansas career, placing seventh in the finals of the 1,500-meter run. His time of 3:43.86 trailed the winner, Donald Sage of Stanford, by 1.21 seconds.
Gruber was in contention to win the race with 300 meters to go, but couldn't match the finishing kick of Sage and others.
Gruber said that the full weight of ending his college career hit him after the race.
"I'm not satisfied because I came here to win," Gruber said. "Coach (Doug Clark) and I put a plan together for the race and I ran that plan and gave it everything I had."
Senior Jennie Wonder broke her own school record in the 100-meter hurdles in Thursday's preliminary heat, running it in 13.32 seconds and qualifying for the semifinals. She finished 11th in the semifinals with a time of 13.46 seconds and did not advance to the final.
Senior Katy Eisenmenger, ranked fifth in the NCAA heading into the meet, finished 18th in the preliminaries with a time of 4:27.72 and did not advance to the final.
Junior Mark Menefee placed 16th in the 5,000-meter run with a time of 14:42.12 well ahead of his personal best of 13:52.80 earlier this season. David Kimani of Alabama won the event with a time of 13:59.30.
Freshman Broklyn Hann finished 17th in the triple jump with a mark of 40-83/4 feet. Teresa Bundy of Florida State won the event with a jump of 44-0 feet.
Redwine said the team's showing would be a springboard into further success next season.
"All of these seniors who are here have done a great job and are going to be missed," he said. "Katy ran a great race but just didn't qualify, and the same thing goes with Jennie."
Contact Norton at mnorton@kansan.com. This story was edited by Mike Gilligan.
Pitcher leads Royals to victory
CHICAGO (AP) — Miguel Asencio couldn't get a White Sox batter out in his big league debut. Nearly two months later, Chicago couldn't figure him out.
Asencio got his first major league win as the Kansas City Royals defeated the Chicago White Sox 3-2 Tuesday night.
In his big league debut April 6 against the White Sox, Asencio walked all four batters he faced on a total of 16 pitches.
"It was another great performance by Asencio — that's three now," Royals manager Tony Pena said. "He's making it tough to move him out of the rotation. He's been pitching well for me. He's tough."
In his third career start, Asencio (1-0) limited Chicago to four hits and a run in 6 1-3 innings. He walked two and struck out two.
Asencio has also made 10 appearances in relief this season.
Asencio was able to keep the White Sox 3-4-5 hitters in check. FrankThomas, Magglio Ordonez and Paul Konerko went a combined 1-for-8 against Asencio. Konerko singled in the fourth inning.
(The White Sox have loss eight of nine and
"Sometimes you try too hard that you struggle and struggle because you are too tense and not relaxed," Chicago third baseman Jose Valentin said.
Mark Buehrle had his second opportunity to become the first nine-game winner in the AL, but was not helped by a struggling White Sox offense. In Buehrle's last two starts the White Sox have combined for five runs. Buehrle was 5-0 against the Royals lifetime before Tuesday's game.
have fallen to .500 (29-29) on the season.
"I think I would take this outing next time," Buehrle said. "Because ninety percent of the time we are going to win — when one of our starters goes out there and throws eight innings and three runs."
Buehrle (8-4) pitched eight innings and gave up seven hits and three runs.
Roberto Hernandez picked up his ninth save in 10 opportunities but not before Tony Graffenino hit a ball off him to load the bases with one out in the ninth. Hernandez then got Sandy Alomar to ground into a 6-4-3 double play to end it.
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