IN TOMORROW'S SPORTS SECTION: A preview of the tennis team's weekend at the Big 12 Championships.
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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
THURSDAY, APRIL 25, 2002
Kate Eichten
keichen@kansan.com
'60 Minutes inspires look at KU records
Call me a nerd if you want to, but every Sunday night I sit down and tune into Andy Rooney on 60 minutes.
For some reason, I get a kick out of watching a bitter old man complain about whatever bothers him during that particular week, and last Sunday it happened to be about sports.
Rooney began by saying that every sport has a different scoring system, and that some are better than others. I couldn't agree more with Rooney. Some scoring systems are simple, while others are more complicated, depending on how well a person understands all of the rules.
Rooney complained that too many points were scored in basketball games, while soccer and hockey scores were too low.
In basketball games scores can easily get above 100 points per game, but in soccer, players can run up and down the field for 90 minutes and not even score five points. Hockey follows in soccer's path as fast-paced, but low-scoring.
Football gets more complicated with all the different combinations of how a team can score points. Six for a touchdown, three for a field goal, two for a safety or two-point conversion, and one for an extra point — if one doesn't know the scoring method, it can get a little messy.
Rooney also joked about not understanding the way tennis was scored. He asked what "love" was all about, but also said that tennis wouldn't be as much fun without the crazy scoring system.
Since Rooney was talking about scoring methods, I became curious as to what some of the records were in Kansas sports history. What are some of the largest point spreads? The highest amount of points scored in a single game? Well, for those of you who don't memorize stats and figures like some sports fanatics, here are some amazing statistics that have made it into the record books.
What sport would a score of 150-95 belong to? That's right, men's basketball. This was back during the 1989-90 season, against Kentucky in our own Allen Fieldhouse. The victory margin in that game was the 13th highest in KU history. The greatest was against Brown the previous season, 115-45.
So next time you're attending a football, basketball, or other sporting event ask yourself, "could this be the game where a new record is set?"
Next we have women's basketball. The most points scored in a game took place in 1979 against Wichita State, in which the Jayhawks scored an outstanding 122 points. At a close second is 118 points scored against those evil Missouri Tigers in 1983.
You never know -but always remember,it's all in the numbers.
Then we have football, where we all know depending on the opponent, can be pretty easy at times to run up the score. The most points scored in a game is a record high 86 against South Dakota State in 1947, which is the second greatest victory margin. The greatest was against Washington (Mo.) in 1923, with a score of 83-0.
What was the greatest conference victory margin you ask? Believe it or not, it was against the Kansas State Wildcats that same year, 1947, the score being 55-0. I wonder if that margin will ever happen again while I'm here?
Eichten is a Topeka sophomore in journalism.
Drake Relays beckon'Hawks
The Drake Relays in Des Moines, Iowa, will pit Kansas' best against the nation's top competitors in all track events
Senior thrower Scott Russell will compete in the Drake Relays this weekend against some of the nation's best track and field athletes. The team will participate in a wide range of events. through," Gruber said. And that was with only he
By Matt Norton Kansan sportswriter
Two Kansas athletes who will face particularly stout competition are junior Vadim Gvozdetskiy in the men's special pole vault and senior Charlie Gruber in the Pat Deveny men's special mile.
The Kansas track and field team is competing in the prestigious Drake Relays this week in Des Moines, Iowa.
The field in the mile includes: Bryan Berryhill, last year's NCAA 1500-meter champion; Abdi Abdirahman, the 2001 U.S. champion at 10,000 meters and 10th-place finisher in that event at the 2000 Olympics; Seneca Lassiter, 1997 U.S. champ at 1500 and ranked No.2 in the country in the event last year; Tim Broe, the American record holder for 3000 meters indoors; and Kip Lagat, the 2000 Olympic bronze medalist at 1500 meters and owner of the second-fastest 1500 time in history with a time of 3 minutes, 26.34 seconds.
Coach Stanley Redwine said these types of races were what Gruber needed to get better.
"We think Charlie is capable of being a world-class athlete," Redwine said. "In order to prepare to be that type of athlete, he needs to compete against those types of guys. It's going to be a great field, and he's in position to do well."
Gruber said he thought the field could be better than the one he faced last year at the finals of the U.S. National Championships. He said in the past he might have been intimidated by a field like this one, but now he saw it as an opportunity.
"My training has been going really well and whether it happens this weekend or not, I'm ready to have a big break-
Senior thrower Scott Russell may also be ready to have a big meet this weekend, if this week's practices are any indicator, said his coach, Doug Reynolds.
In practice Tuesday, Russell launched a 77-meter, or 252-foot toss, with a lighter javelin that would have vaulted him to the top of the NCAA list this season.
And that was with only half of his usual approach.
Last year before his Canadian-record performance at the World Championships in August, Russell needed a full approach to throw the same lighter javelin 77 meters Reynolds said.
"We've been working on some things we didn't get to last
SEE RELAYS ON PAGE 12A
Quarterback's renewed focus could land him starting job
By Brent Wasko Kansan sportswriter
Junior quarterback Zach Dyer's career at Kansas hasn't exactly been spectacular. But like the rest of the football team, which has struggled the past few seasons, he's ready for a fresh start.
"We started spring practices with a new staff, a new offense," Dyer said. "I saw it as an opportunity to just come in and really give it my best."
Kansas coach Mark Mangino said Dyer's play this spring had been impressive and that the former Olathe South standout had established himself as the front-runner for the starting quarterback job next fall.
"He's throwing the ball very well, he's taking command of the
Mangino said Fort Scott Community College transfer quarterback Bill Whittemore had been giving Dyer tough competition this spring and that he would be certainly be considered as a possible starter.
offense, he's shown leadership qualities and I'm really pleased with all that he's done." Mangino said. "He's certainly not a finished product, but he's well on his way to being a very fine quarterback for us."
"Bill's arm is a little bit fatigued, and we'll be careful with his repetitions in the spring game," Mangino said. "We want to make sure he is 100 percent or pretty close to it."
But Dyer has been getting more snaps with the Jayhawks' No.1 offense.
Junior quarterback Zack Dyer is the front-runner for starting quarterback in the upcoming season. Like the rest of the team, Dyer has been working hard to improve from last season. "I feel a lot more comfortable about what we're doing", he said.
Russian pole vaulter conquers Kansas
Dyer began spring drills with the most
SEE DYER ON PAGE 12A
By Matt Norton Kansan sportswriter
Junior pole vaulter Vadim Gvozdetskiy took a long and winding journey to become one of the best collegiate pole vaulters in the country at the University of Kansas.
Now a junior, Gvozdetskiy will take on a star-studded field at this weekend's Drake Relavs.
The Krasnodar, Russia, native originally signed on to the track and field program at Arkansas State in the summer of 1999 and lived with a Russian family there that helped ease the culture shock of being in a new country.
After a semester on the Jonesboro campus, Gvozdetskiy was ready to move on. The tradition of great former Kansas pole vaulters brought him to Lawrence.
"I wanted to stay away from Russian families and just be on my own and get my own life," Gvozdetskiy said. "And I knew a lot about Kansas and the pole vault, names here like Scott Huffman, Pat Manson, made it very attractive to go here."
Gvozdetskiy said he thought about how difficult it would be at the University on the bus ride to Lawrence.
The only person he would know was former pole vault coach Rick Attig, and improving his English enough to pursue a degree would be a challenge. There was no certainty that any of it would work out, just a hope that hard work and perseverance would pay off.
"It took a while to get to know people and get some friends," he said. "I couldn't wait to go home for the summer the first year. I was just counting every day."
Gvozdetskiy's roommate
and teammate,
sophomore
Colin Dutton,
has helped ease that transition.
Vadim Gvozdetskiy
The two became friends soon after Dutton arrived on campus in the fall of 2000.
Gvozdetskiy likes to expose Dutton, who is from North Hollywood, Calif., to Russian films in their free time.
"They're ridiculous," Dutton said. "I can't understand what's going on. There's a lot of violence though so that's all right, I guess.
Then there was the language barrier.
Gvozdetskiy had to take proficiency exams and highlevel English courses before he could start regular classes this semester.
"I don't think it's a problem right now, it just takes more time to get into it, like reading assignments and sophisticated information, like religion and economics," he said.
After finishing fifth at the NCAA indoor championships with a jump the same height as the winner, Gvozdetskiy had to sit out the Texas Relays and the John McDonnell Invitational with an injured ankle.
He returned last week at the Kansas Relays, but without any practice for more than three weeks, he failed to clear
SEE POLE VAULTER ON PAGE 12A
Softball team splits games with Nebraska
With only one Big 12 Conference series remaining this weekend, the Kansas softball team needed to beat No. 4 Nebraska in last night's doubleheader in Lincoln, Neb.
The Jayhawks got half their wish, winning the night-cap 3-2 after dropping the first game 9-4.
The firstgamewasan offensive onslaught that lasted nearly three hours. Kansas (30-22 overall, 6-10 Big 12) had nine hits to Nebraska's twelve. The Jayhawks got two
hits in the first, a single by freshman first baseman Lindsey Weinstein and a double by senior right fielder Leah Tabb. but stranded three runners and were held scoreless.
Nebraska (40-11 overall, 9-5 Big 12) scored two runs in the bottom of the first. Kim Ogee led off with a double to center and scored on a fielder's choice two batters later, and Peaches James singled to drive home the
SEE SOFTBALL ON PAGE 12A
Morris leads Drake decathlon
Des Moines, Iowa Kansas senior Andy Morris leads the decathlon with 3,957 points after the first day of competition at the Drake Relays.
Morris, who has been forced out of action for much of the season because of injuries, is competing in his first decathlon in nearly two years.
In his first day, Morris
posted marks of 10.99 in the 100 meter dash, 22-7 in the long jump, 138-5 in the shot put, 6-6 in the high jump and 48.92 in the 400 meter dash. Additionally,the 22-7 in the long jump was a new personal best.
"Andy is such a great com petitor," head coach Stanley Redwine said. "This is his first decathlon in two years and it is great to see he can come backand do this well."
Morris will try to hang on to his lead in day two of the decathlon today.
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