BASEKTBALL: Point guard Stokes leaves Missouri. SEE PAGE 15A. GOLF: Men's team heads to Regional meet. SEE PAGE 14.
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Levi Chronister at (785) 864-
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SPORTS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
WWW.KANSAN.COM/SPORTS
12A
THURSDAY, MAY 9, 2002
COMMENTARY
Chris Wristen
cwristen@kansan.com
Memories life lessons will remain
When I was a kid I thought the most important thing in the world was sports.
Playing sports, watching sports, reading sports, writing sports. All of it mattered more than anything.
The past four years have taught me that I was wrong. Life is the most important thing — all aspects of it. Family matters. Faith matters. People matter. Sports matter, too. They are simply a part of that equation, but man, it's a good part.
Few other things give you the opportunity to paint your entire body blue and not feel out of place. Few other things allow you to feel like you know a total stranger just because you've watched them grow up right before your eyes on the basketball court.
Maybe you and your friends have taken road trips across the country in a cramped car just to go to a game. Perhaps you were the one who was playing.
Regardless, sports can move your soul in the most profound ways. Four years of covering Kansas sports have taught me that those experiences are the stuff that really matters.
My first reporting assignment as a freshman the Kansan sent me to Anschutz Sports Pavilion where the women's soccer team was practicing. I received a warm welcome from the team and soon met Melissa Downing, a senior-to-be on the team that year. Her style and spunk showed me a carefree person who loved life, but through frequent interviews and conversations, she reminded me that what you do for others matters the most.
Downing wanted to make people smile and feel special. Others at Kansas do the same for you, whether intentionally or not. Basketball fans have had their lives enriched by Drew Gooden, who gave you the three best years of his life, gave you a good time at the games and helped the Jayhawks return to the Final Four.
Brett Ballard and Chris Zerbe gave hope to all of the dreamers who grew up wanting to play basketball at Kansas.
Kirk Hinrich gave you a hero to embrace against Stanford in the NCAA Tournament when he played brilliantly on a severely sprained ankle.
Softball sisters Christi and Shelly Musser were even more heroic. Shelly played through back injuries and Christi conquered diabetes while both delivered all-conference efforts on the field.
During a painstaking football season, Ervin Holloman gave you a player to embrace as he set his sights on fatherhood. Derick Mills, a football player and aspiring teacher, sparked the minds of youngsters at local schools as a volunteer math tutor.
As fans we demand so much from our athletes. We follow them every day on the playing field, in the newspapers and on TV, and we selfishly demand more when their best isn't enough. We constantly judge them in terms of victories and losses, but frequently overlook their victories in life. We miss the most important stuff and forget the ways they've affected our lives for the better.
This is my final column at the University of Kansas. I want to thank those athletes who tolerated my interviews, shared their stories and touched my life in the process.
Their efforts might not be earth-shaking, but they have made life a bit more fun.
Wristen is a Leawood senior in journalism.
Budig may take reins of NCAA
Former chancellor Gene Budig possible candidate to replace NCAA president Cedric Dempsey By Brent Wasko Kansan sportswriter
Former University of Kansas chancellor Gene Budig may be in line to replace NCAA president Cedric Dempsey, who announced last month he would retire at the end of his contract on Jan. 1, 2003.
Sports Illustrated reported that Budig, who was chancellor at Kansas from 1981 to 1994, was the early leader to assume the job as president of the NCAA.
"I have not been contacted by anyone associated with the search process," Budig told Mike Fish of Sports Illustrated in the April 30 issue. "Several presidents have encouraged my interest. I just have nothing to say."
The Kansan attempted to contact Budig, but he
was unavailable for comment
Bob Frederick, former Kansas athletics director who worked with Budig for eight years, said he had been in contact with Budig on a regular basis during the past few months. To his knowledge, the NCAA had yet to talk with Budig about interviewing for the position.
"He is enormously qualified for the job because of his experience
dealing with intercollegiate athletics at a high level," Frederick said. "He is an intelligent and responsible individual."
Gene Budig
On April 26, the NCAA Executive Committee outlined the process and the timeline it would follow to select a new NCAA president. The executive search firm of Baker-Parker and Associates, located in Atlanta, had been hired to work with the NCAA to identify attributes in possible candidates and to conduct the search process.
"We expect to be in position to announce the selection of the new president by November 1," said Robert Lawless, president of the University of Tulsa and chairman of the NCAA Executive Committee. "We have great confidence in the process we've defined, our search firm and our search committee. We believe that will lead us to consideration of outstanding candidates."
Budig is an obvious choice as a candidate because of his experience working with major universities and professional athletics.
He became the seventh president of the American League in Major League Baseball on Aug.1, 1994. When baseball owners voted to eliminate the league president's position, Budig resigned and was appointed as senior adviser to commissioner Bud Selig.
Budig continued to receive his $650,000 annual salary, but that contract is set to end in December 2002, about the same time the NCAA president's job opens up.
The NCAA Executive Committee expects to nar
SEE BUDIG ON PAGE 13A
Momentum runs through team
The track and field team will start the championship portion of its outdoor season pushed by recent achievements of members
By Matt Norton Kansan sportswriter
The Kansas track and field team will head into the championship portion of its outdoor season with as much firepower and momentum as any in recent history.
Last weekend, seven athletes posted NCAA-qualifying marks, led by 1,500-meter runners Katy Eisenmenger and Charlie Gruber, who each automatically qualified for the NCAA meet May 29-Iune 1, in Baton Rouge, La.
The Jayhawks have 10 athletes who have posted provisional or automatic marks on the national list: seniors Gruber and Eisenmenger; sophomore
Laura Lavoie in the 1,500; senior Jennie Wonder in the 100-meter hurdles; freshman Brooklyn Hann in the triple jump; senior Andrea Bulat in the javelin; senior Scott Russell in the hammer, discus and javelin throws; junior Mark Menefee in the 5,000 meters; junior Benaud Shirley in the triple jump; and junior Vadim Gvozdetski in the pole vault.
CHRISTIANA NEFF/KANSAN
Andrea Bulat, Windsor, Ontario, senior, practices her javelin throw. Bulat qualified for the NCAA championship in javelin.
Last year, only three athletes qualified.
But there is still plenty of work to be done. Only Russell, who automatically qualified in the javelin, is certain to join Gruber and Eisenmenger, and there are several other athletes well within range of qualifying marks as well.
Some of the Jayhawks will compete Saturday at Emporia State before the team travels to the Big 12 Conference championships, May 17-19, in Columbia, Mo.
The Big 12 meet will be the team's last meet before the NCAA championships.
CHRISTINA NEFF/KANSAN
Last year, both the men and women finished 11th, but this indoor season, the women improved to sixth and the men improved to seventh. The men
The last opportunity to qualify for nationals, and the chance to better last season's placing at the Big 12 Conference Championships, should make this year's conference meet an exciting one for the Jayhawks.
Junior Vadim Gvozdetskiy is one of 10 Kansas athletes who have posted provisional or automatic marks on the NCAA qualifying list. The Jayhawks will compete in the Big 12 Conference championships, May 17-19, in Columbia, Mo. then placed 8th at the NCAA indoor in Columbia, which could push him to meet the necessary mark.
Shirley is one of the Jayhawks who needs only a little improvement to earn a trip to nationals. He sits in 24th place on the national list with his mark of 51 feet, 9 inches at the Kansas Relays.
Shirley said it would take a jump of about 53 feet to make it to Baton Rouge.
He'll be chasing a 53-foot jumper,
Daniel Iohnson of Nebraska, next week
Shirley said he would focus on technique during the early phase of the jump, rather than the result, in an effort to produce an improvement.
"IIf work on coming out of my hop, I think I can get it," he said.
Tuesday night at the annual Acade
SEE TRACK ON PAGE 13A
Golfers prepare to face regionals
By Ryan Greene
Kansan Sportswriter
Next women's golf team will compete in its biggest tournament of the season.
season, the NCAA Central Regionals.
Next week, the Kansas
However, the team is looking to move on and make an impact after a disappointing 10th place finish at the Big 12 Conference tournament.
The Jayhawks will leave early next week for Little Rock, Ark., where the tournament will be held at the Pleasant Valley Country Club.
After a Big 12 tournament outing that saw the Jayhawks leave expectations unfulfilled, the team expected its 13th seed in the field of 27 teams at regionals.
"After our performance at Big 12, it doesn't surprise us much," senior Casey Harbour said. "Being the 13th seed doesn't matter once you're there, it just determines who you'll be paired up with, so we're not really at any kind of a disadvantage compared with other teams."
SEE GOLF ON PAGE 13A
ACAPITOLPERFORMANCE
AARON SHOWALTER/KANSAN
Kansas basketball coach Roy Williams addresses the state Legislature during a pause in the day's work to honor the team's performance this season. "I've had a lot of fun seasons," Williams said, "but this one was the most fun I've had."
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