10B = THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
SPORTS
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 17, 2002
Kenya sweeps Boston Marathon with top four finishers
The Associated Press
BOSTON — Fourteen Kenyans and more than 600 police officers ran in this year's Boston Marathon, making Rodgers Rop feel right at home.
The Nairobi policeman coasted the last few miles to victory, even directing traffic on the way.
Rop has worked in law enforcement since 1998, although it doesn't keep him from the business of running.
"I run with the police," he said, "but I also help maintain law and order."
And on Monday, he maintained order in Boston.
in the most security-conscious race in the marathon's 106-year history, Rop put his country back on the victory stand for the 11th time in 12 years, leading a Kenyan sweep of the top four finishers and winning in 2 hours, 9 minutes, 2 seconds.
Margaret Okayo completed the sweep, pulling away from fellow Kenyan Catherine Ndereba in the final mile to win in a course record 2:20:43 and give Kenya its third consecutive women's title.
"Last year, I was not happy," said Rop, who finished third in the New York City Marathon last year but had never run Boston before. "Before running, I said, 'We have to reclaim our title.' It's become a tradition in Kenya to win Boston, so I had to try my level best to win."
Eight runners — all Kenyans — ran in the lead pack at the 19-mile mark, separated by four seconds. Three miles later, as the course turned past Chestnut Hill for the last long straightaway into Boston's Back Bay, it was a two-man race between Rop and Cheboiboch.
When Rop pulled away, he
waved at his countryman to hurry.
But Chebolooh didn't have the energy and trailed by about 200 yards after 23 miles.
"running alone is a bit tiring," Rop said. "I had to tell him to come on so we could push together."
The temperatures in the mid 50s were 20 degrees cooler than predicted.
Low clouds limited TV coverage by grounding race helicopters several times and forcing cancellation of a fighter jet flyover before the race — one of many patriotic touches planned for the event that was last won by an American in 1983.
Red; white and blue lines marked the start and finish, Colonial re-enactors made an appearance and four, 90-by-45-foot flags were unfurled near the Copiey Square finish line.
1 the race, in keeping with tradi
tion, was run on the state's Patriots Day holiday, which took on added significance following the Sept. 11 attacks.
Also in evidence were the increased numbers of police, national guard and law enforcement from 40 federal, state and local agencies to guard the 26.2 mile course. Bomb-sniffing dogs, hazardous materials teams and radiation detectors were added or increased this year, and runners submitted information for background checks.
David Goggin, assistant secretary of public safety for Massachusetts, said there was "no suspicious activity whatsoever."
On the course, it was more of the same.
Kenyans had won the men's race for 10 consecutive years before Lee Bong-ju of South Korea ended the streak last year. But this year, the Kenyans were back in force, taking six of the top
seven spots and nine of the top 13.
Fred Kiprop outsprinted Mbarak Hussein, the brother of three-time Boston champion Ibrahim Hussein, to finish third, 43 seconds behind the winner. Lee, the defending champion, was the top non-Kenyan again, but he was fifth after falling out of the lead pack by the 19-mile mark.
Keith Dowling, of Reston, Va., finished 15th and was the top American.
Rop and Okayo each won $80,000 for finishing first, while Okayo's course record was worth $25,000. The winners on the hilly Boston course were almost 31/2 minutes behind the world record of 2:05:38 set on a flatter and faster London course Sunday by Khalid Khannouchi.
Ndereba, running in her first marathon since setting the women's world record of
2:18:47 last year in Chicago, lost a sprint with Okayo in the final mile and finished 29 seconds back. She didn't seem disappointed despite failing to become the third consecutive woman — following Uta Pippig (1994-96) and Fatuma Roba (97-99) — to win three Boston Marathons in a row.
"I just feel proud when I hear that national anthem being played," Ndereba said after she embraced Okayo. "And if it was not for me, it's for Margaret."
Ethiopia's Elfenesh Alemu was third, 5:18 behind Okayo. Jill Gaitenby, of Northampton, Mass., was the top U.S. woman for the second straight year, finishing 13th.
Ernst Van Dyk of South Africa won the men's wheelchair division in 1:23:19, and Edith Hunkeler of Switzerland took the women's wheelchair title in 1:45:57.
BASEBALL
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1B
Shocker outfielder Dustin Hawkins' two-run home run in the bottom of the fourth, the first of four Shocker long balls, proved to be the end of starter Tom Gorzelanny's night. The freshman pitched 3 1/3 innings, allowing five runs and striking out six. He threw 68 pitches in a losing effort.
"He wasted so many pitches, and he allowed them to see so many pitches, that it caught up with him." Randall said.
Wichita State pounded out 14 hits,compared to Kansas's six. Wheeler led the Jayhawk offense going 2-for-4, while junior first baseman Casey Spanish knocked in the only Kansas run on an RBI single in the third.
Shocker Mathew Jakubov, brother of Kansas' Ryan Jakubov, pitched five innings, allowing one run on four hits for the victory. Four other pitchers threw for Wichita State, and all of them seemed to have the answer for shutting Kansas bats down.
"We came out to batting practice, and saw the wind blowing on, and thought we could lift the ball in the air," Randall said. "It ain't gonna happen. It never works to try to swing for fly balls."
Kansas will travel to Columbia, Mo., to start a three-game series with Missouri on Friday. The two teams will then return to Lawrence to play the final two games on Saturday and Sunday.
"Hopefully we'll take some of what we learned from this game," Wheeler said, "and take it into the Missouri series."
Contact Wood at rwood@kansan.com. This story was edited by Justin Henning.
Cornhuskers' home win ends in shouting match
The Associated Press
LINCOLN, Neb. — If it wasn't before, Creighton-Nebraska clearly is now a state rivalry.
Joe Simokaitis' single in the ninth drove in the winning run as Nebraska beat Creighton 6-5 last night in a heated game that nearly ended with a fight.
"It's just hostility between the two teams," Nebraska first baseman Matt Hopper said. "They've got to take a loss and they probably didn't feel like they deserved it."
A confrontation at home plate between the state's only NCAA Division I teams started when Adam Riddle came around from second and slid head first under the tag of catcher Tim Gradoville.
Nebraska assistant coach Mike Anderson bumped into Creighton reliever Steve Grasley as Anderson was celebrating. Grasley and Anderson exchanged words and both benches emptied with the players meeting at home plate.
The teams shouted for a few minutes and several players were restrained, but no punches were thrown.
"We lost. We handled it with class and that's all I'm going to say. I'm very proud of how our guys handled the situation," Creighton coach Jack Dahm said.
The Bluejays and Cornhuskers play again May 15 at Rosenblatt Stadium in Omaha.
Grambling Nebraska (24-13) led 5-4 in the eighth but couldn't hang on to the band. Tyler Davies hit a solo homer for the Bluejays (18-13) in the eighth off Mike Sillman to tie the game at 5-all.
Jeremy Becker (1-1) pitched 1 2/3 innings of scoreless relief for the win. Grasley (2-5) took the loss.
"I'm very disappointed that we lost the ball game, but I'm very proud of the way our guys played and battled the whole nine innings." Dahm said. "It was a great game and unfortunately it had to end like that."
A storm brought pouring rain as the bottom of the ninth started, but the game went on. John Grose led off the ninth with a bloop to right that turned into a hit when the gusting wind caught it and it dropped safely.
Riddle came in to run and after Will Bolt struck out, was able to score with two outs when Simokaitis hit a line drive to left.
"I got down two strikes and I just tried to put the ball in play." Simokatila said. "I saw it drop over the shortstop's head and I was just hoping Riddle was going to be able to score. It was kind of muddy out there with the
rain, but fortunately he got in there."
Dahm said the bottom of the ninth should have never started because of the rain and lightning in the area.
"But that's a judgment call," he said.
Creighton had won 8-of-9, including an 8-3 win over Nebraska last Tuesday in Omaha.
Nebraska never managed more than one hit in an inning until the sixth when the Huskers scored four runs on four hits.
"It was really frustrating early. The team was really into it. We wanted to play well," Nebraska coach Dave Van Horn said. "We made an honest effort to play hard tonight because we were embarrassed about our lack of hustle last Tuesday."
Simokaitis led off the inning with a double and went to third on a double by Daniel Bruce that landed just out of the reach of diving right fielder Matt Daeges.
Douglas Simokaitis scored on an infield hit by led Morris. Hopper followed with a walk, loading the bases with one out.
Bruce scored on a balk that also moved Morris to third and Hopper to second, then Drew Anderson cleared the bases with a double to the gap in left-center field, putting the Huskers up 5-4.
Defensive mistakes put the
Huskers in an early jam
In the first inning Bruce misplayed leadoff hitter Joe Pietro's double down the third base line and Pietro went to third. Third baseman Jeff Blevins dropped Scott Allen's sacrifice bunt and Pietro scored.
Two more blinders put Creighton up 3-1 in the fourth. Matt Davies led off with a double to left and scored when starting pitcher Phil Shirek overthrew third on a fielder's choice.
Shirek threw a wild pitch to the next batter that allowed Gradoville, who reached on Shirek's error, to advance to third. Gradoville scored on a single by Ryan Fitzgerald.
Jeff Leise had an RBI triple in the third for the Huskers that tied the game at 1-all.
Anderson hit a two-out triple in the eighth to center field and tried to make it an inside-the-park homer but was thrown out at the plate.
Hopper started at first base for the first time since tearing cartilage and ligaments in his throwing shoulder while diving back on a pickoff attempt April 5.
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