MONDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2003
SPORTS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN = 7A
Personal bests highlight meet
By Chris Wintering
cwintering@kansan.com
Kansan sportswriter
The Kansas track and field team competed in its biggest meet of the year this weekend in Fayetteville, Ark. The Tyson Invitational, hosted by the University of Arkansas, saw more than 27 universities and colleges compete.
Kansas rose to the occasion and had a number of strong performances, with many athletes setting personal best times. One of these athletes, junior spinner Leo Bookman, finished fourth in the 200-meter dash with a time of 20.77 seconds. Bookman, an All-American in the 200-meter run last year, broke his own schoolrecord. He also automatically qualified for the NCAA Indoor Championships with his performance Friday.
Kansas coach Stanley Redwine said he was proud of the way his entire team preformed at the meet.
$ ^{10} $To have our kids do this well
at a quality meet like this, against elite athletes, is really something." Redwine said.
The meet was a two-day event, with the universities and colleges competing Friday along with a number of unattached runners. Saturday's competition was a mixture of collegiate runners, unattached runners and professionals traveling on the United States of America Track and Field Golden Spike Tour.
Only the men's distance medley relay team competed in Saturday's meet for Kansas. The team, made up of Bookman, sophomores Brandon Hodges and Jeremy Mims and freshman Cameron Schwehr, finished fifth in the race with a time of 10:00.97.
Along with his performance in the distance medley, Hodges also finished second in the 800-meter run with a time of 1:50.83 on Friday. This was Hodges' personal best in the 800-meter run.
Redwine attributed his team's performance to the strong competition at the meet.
"We witnessed some of the world's best times and performances," Redwine said. "Most everyone ran better times today, so we're getting better and that's what we're looking for."
The women's team had eight athletes set or reach personal best times or marks. Highlighting the women's performances was sophomore Lauren Brownrigg, who won the 3,000-meter with a time of 10:15.73, and sophomore Megan Manthe, who won the mile with a time of 4:49.67. Freshman Yvonne Calzonetti continued to perform strong by placing second in the pole vault by clearing 12-8. Other women athletes setting personal best times or marks were sophomore Kim Clark, who finished third in the 800-meter run (2:10.83), freshman Angela Pichardo, who finished third in the mile (4:55.25), junior Paige Higgins, who placed fourth in the 5,000-meter run (16:59.12), sophomore Sondra Rauterkus, wh
was fourth in the high jump (5-8 3/4), and sophomore Brooklyn Hann, who finished eighth in the triple jump (40-9).
In addition to Hodges and Bookman, Kansas had six other men's athletes set personal bests. They included freshman Benson Chesang, who placed second in the 5,000-meter run (14:33.83), sophomore Dan Ferguson (8:36.87) and sophomore Joshy Madathil (8:58.34), who finished fourth and fifth in the 3,000-meter. Senior Anson Jackson improved on his provisional qualifying time in the 60-meter hurdles by finishing fifth (7.89). Sophomores T.J. Hackler, who placed fifth in the high jump (6-11), and Abraham Kimeli, who finished fifth in the mile (4:17.51), also set personal bests.
The men's team is now 5-3 overall and 2-2 in conference, while the women's team is 4-1 overall and 3-1 in Big 12 competitions.
Edited by Brandon Gay
Tennis drops game, wins against Utah
By Jonah Ballow
jballow@kansan.com
Kansas sportswriter
After suffering a crushing 7-0 defeat Saturday to No.15 Texas, the No.47 Kansas tennis team bounced back, defeating Utah 7-0 yesterday.
"I'm glad that we won at every spot," coach Kilmeny Waterman said. "It was a good weekend to show me what the team needs to work on."
Against Utah, the Jayhawks
began the match by winning all three doubles matches to earn the doubles point.
Juniors Courtney Steinbock and Kristen Steinbock edged out Cassie Kasteler and Ellen Svensson 9-7 at the No.1 doubles position. Sophomore Paige Brown and junior Emily Haylock would follow with an 8-6 victory over Allison Hansen and Maria Svensson. Two freshmen, Luiza Loureiro and Christine Skoda, teamed up at No.3 doubles to beat Hilary Doyle and Rachel Alder 8-4.
In singles play, the Jayhawks cruised to win all six matches. Brown won a thrilling match that ended in a tiebreak. She rallied to defeat Svensson, 6-4, 6-7 (10-4).
"She had a different style of game, and I had a difficult time adjusting." Brown said.
Saturday, Kansas struggled and was unable to win a match against Texas. Haylock took Lindsay Blau to the limit but could not earn the victory, 2-6, 7-5 (4-10). Loureiro lost against Macey Breece 4-6, 6-3 (8-10).
For complete tennis results go to kansan.
kansan.com
"I felt like we gave Texas a good match," Waterman said. "If they have an opportunity, they take care of it."
The Jayhawks (5-1 overall, 0-1 Big 12 Conference) will hit the road for their first away matches of the spring season against the University of Denver on Saturday and New Mexico on Sunday.
— Edited by Michelle Burhenn
Softball goes 3-1 in weekend play
By Steve Schmidt
sschmidt@kansan.com
Kansan sportswriter
Heading into the Campbell/Cartier Tournament in San Diego on Friday, the Kansas softball team was soaring with a 4-0 start on the new season.
By yesterday, the Jayhawks were still flying high — recovering from an opening 4-0 defeat to Sacramento State on Friday to pull off three straight victories to close the tourney.
After Friday's mishap, Kansas (7-1) came back on Saturday to upend San Diego State, 6-3, and Fresno State, 1-0. The team went on to play Cal State-Northridge on Sunday, defeating the Matadors 4-0.
"If you would have asked me before the season if we'd be 7-1 at this point in the season, I'd probably say no," coach Tracy Bunge said. "The reason we're 7-1 is because we've played consistently and gotten some very good pitching."
Sacramento State pitcher Brianne Ferguson showed Kansas some good pitching in the first game when the sophomore pitched a one-hitter. Freshman Melaney Torres was the only Kansas batter to register a hit against Ferguson, knocking a single in the second inning. Junior Kara Pierce picked up her first loss of the year.
On Saturday, the once dormant Jayhawk bats came alive in the first inning against San Diego State. Freshman Jessica Moppin and junior Sylvia
Pfeiffer cleared the fences in the first inning, both registering their third home runs of the season. Senior Kirsten Milhoan picked up the victory, improving her record to 2-0.
Later in the day, the first inning magic continued for Kansas as freshman Destiny Frankenstein hammered a solo home run to give the Jayhawks the 1-0 lead over Fresno State. As it turned out, that the one run was all Pierce needed for support. She pitched her first shutout of the year, surrendering just two hits.
Junior Mel Wallach made the difference against Cal State-Northridge,going 2-for-3 with three RBI and a firstinning homer. Kara Pierce once more got in shutout mode,improving her record to 5-1.
Despite the offensive production, Bunge said there were other key factors to her team's early success out of the gate.
"We've been steady defensively and emotionally," Bunge said. "And for a young team, that speaks volumes about where we are right now. We just beat three teams that were in the postseason last year."
The Jayhawks will continue their tour de California next weekend when they return to the West Coast to play five games in the Softball by the Beach Tournament in Santa Barbara, Calf., starting Friday.
—Edited by Ryan Wood
LAWRENCE AUTOMOTIVE DIAGNOSTICS INC. 842-8665 2858 Four