4B = THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
SPORTS
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WEDNESDAY, APRIL 10, 2002
HELP WANTED
J. CREW WAREHOUSE SALE April 16-21 MOTIVATED WORKERS NEEDED
Former Roach Hardware Store 1181 W.6th St. Lawrence,KS66044
$7.50/hr Am/Pm Shifts Available $-Hour shifts
Call (800)329-2015
PRIDE WEEK
"Gay Comedy for the Whole Family Monday April 8, 8:00 P.M.-10:00 P.M. Kansas Union, Alderson Auditorium Features the comedy of out comedian Jason Stuart
Jason Stuart
"Play-Writing Workshop by TAPIT/ new works"
Thursday April 11,
3:00 P.M. - 5:00 P.M.
Kansas Union, Alderson Auditorium
"Brown Bag Drag"
Friday April 12,
"Stacyann Chin, Slam Poet"
Tuesday April 9,
3:00 P.M. - 5:00 P.M.
Kansas Union, Alderson Auditorium
Ms. Chin will perform slam poetry followed by a slam poetry workshop.
12:00 P.M. - 1:30 P.M. eX
"Questionable Origins by TAPIT / new works"
Thursday April 11,
7:00 P.M. - 9:00 P.M.
Pack a lunch for a Mary time with local drag queens
Kansas Union, Alderson Auditorium While using tap dance and theater, this play explores questions of sexuality and queer rights
ALLEVENTSAREFREE
For more info please contact
For more info please o
Queers & Allies
785-864-3091
qanda@ku.edu
www.ku.edu/~qanda
"Pride March"
Saturday April 13,
10:00 A.M.
at Train Park, 7th and Kentucky
Join us in celebrating diversity and pride.
The parade will be followed by a picnic
at South Park.
First
Nations Student Association
of The University of Kansas
SPRJNGPOWWOW
public welcome
Saturday, April 13,2002 Grand Entry 7 pm
When
free admission
Where
Come enjoy
Anschutz Sports Pavilion on the University of Kansas Campus
traditional/cont
test dancing and native arts & crafts.
contact Steve for more information (785)842-9327 stevieb@ku.edu vendors welcome
Pole vaulting accidents renew calls for more safety measures
The Associated Press
Six weeks in Kelsey Koty's life are just a blank, spent first in a coma and then in intensive care. Still, she cannot wait to get back to pole vaulting, the very sport that almost killed her.
"The things that helmets bring into play can make it more dangerous. Things on your head could throw off your balance or your general awareness."
The Eastern Washington University student survived a head injury in a track-and-field event that one research group calls the most dangerous of all sports it studied.
Three U.S. athletes — a college sophomore and two high school students — have died in pole vaulting accidents in the past seven weeks after hitting their heads on hard surfaces. In the past two decades, on average, one U.S. vaulter has died each year.
valuer has died early. The deaths have renewed calls for change. A bill in the New York Legislature calls for mandatory helm use by high school and college vaulters, and at least one college coach has ordered his team to wear such protection.
But Koty and other athletes say that is not the solution.
"Had I been wearing a helmet, I still probably would have had a severe neck injury," she says. "Just because you get in a car and put a seat belt on, don't think you're going to be totally safe."
Vaulters argue that the only helmets available are made for skateboarders or inline skaters, not for athletes who fall from the equivalent of a two-story building.
"I'm not for helmets. I wouldn't wear them," 2000 Olympic silver medalist Lawrence Johnson said.
Johnson and other athletes argue that proper technique is the key and that the sport is safer than ever if done right.
Ed Dare, whose son Kevin, a Penn State sophomore, died recently in a pole vaulting accident, has been leading the fight for helmet requirements. He points out that hockey resisted helmets for years but now accepts them.
Jan Johnson, the 1972 Olympic bronze medalist, runs pole vaulting camps nationwide and leads USA Track & Field's committee on pole vault safety. One of the biggest problems in high schools, he says, is that even minimum safety standards are sometimes ignored.
Montwood High School in El Paso, Texas, banned pole vaulting for two years in the 1990s after a fatal accident. When the event returned, track coach Joe Vazquez bought kayaking helmets and made them mandatory.
ignored
Pole vaulting pits are supposed to be no smaller than 161/2 feet wide and extend 12 to 13 feet behind the metal box in which vaulters plant their poles. Jan Johnson wants them even bigger, at least 19 feet, 8 inches wide, and 16 feet, 5 inches deep.
for years Idaho State track coach Dave Nielsen last week ordered all his vaulters to wear helmets. He also requires his two sons to use them when they compete in high school.
More important, he says, padding should be required on the area around the landing pit. Often the landing pads are on concrete that is not fully covered.
that is not necessary.
Jan Johnson first vaulted as a youth in his barnyard in 1963 and learned proper techniques at Bloom High School in Chicago Heights, Ill. He set a world indoor record in the University of Kansas.
"Pole vaulting pads are so much better today," he said. "I vaulted onto hay bales and straw piles when I was growing up. People knew how to land on their feet. Today's kids are dependent on the pit being there and they have a
perception the pit is going to catch them, as opposed to the perception we had 30 years ago that we had to know how to land."
Only two states do not have high school competition in pole vault—Iowa and Alaska.
"One reason is it increases the safety a little bit. The other reason is to try to create the awareness for safety. The real issue is education," he says. "This is a sport that has a great deal of height to it, and you're inverted. You put yourself in peril, so you find all the ways you can to protect yourself."
The most recent death was that of high school student Samoa Fili, 17, who was killed April 1 at the Wichita East Relays in Kansas. He fell about 12 feet onto the landing mat, but his head struck the concrete.
Kansas player commits to Nevada
The Associated Press
todd Okeson told the Reno Gazette-Journal he would sign a national letter of intent when the signing period began today.
RENO, Nev. — A first-team, all-Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference guard said he had committed to play basketball next season at Nevada.
Okeson helped lead the Dodge City Conqistadors to a 21-12 overall record and a 11-5 mark in the Jayhawk Conference's Western Division, one of the better junior college league's in the nation.
The 6-foot, 160-pound Okeson, who averaged 15.3 points, 4.5 rebounds and 3.5 assists as a
(present)
"The Pack) showed the most interest in me the whole year. There were some people (college recruiters) that came in after the season was over." Oksen said.
sophomore last season, played the point and scoring guard at Dodge City, but said Nevada coaches had told him he would play the point for the Wolf Pack. As a senior at Weskan High, he led the state in scoring at 32 points.
Okeson said he was impressed with Nevada head coach Trent Johnson and associate head coach Mark Fox, a former Kansas State assistant who was reared in western Kansas. NCAA rules don't allow coaches to identify or comment on potential recruits
Okeson is a sharpshooter who
hit 44.8 percent of his 3-pointers for the season on 74-of-165 shooting and 50.6 percent on 44-of-87 in 16 conference games
"He's one of the top 10 players in the state." Dodge City coach Brian Hoberecht said. "He doesn't turn the ball over. He has great instincts for basketball."
Okeson said the other schools that showed the most interest in him were Oregon State, Denver, Illinois-Chicago and Eastern Kentucky. But Okeson never took another visit after taking a recruiting visit to Reno.
"One visit. That's all it took."
Okeson said. "I liked Reno a lot.
Nice town, good clean town. It's not too big, but big enough there are things to do."
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