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University Daily Kansan / Friday, April 24, 1992
SPORTS
Jayhawks go to Drake Relays
Palacios sets sights on 1,500-meter triple crown
By Chris Jenson Kansan sportswriter
Senior distance runner Cathy Palacios gets a call from her mother before each race she runs in.
"My mom always calls and wishes me good luck," Palacios said. "If I didn't talk to her, it would be a shock to my body."
But the call Palacios received from her mother yesterday before leaving school was a welcome sign.
"She always tries to say something crazy," Palacios said. "She told me if didn't run well she would paint my toenails purple and white. My mom is a dot, but she is one in a million."
With her mother's message in mind, Palacios will attempt to win the triple crown in the 1,500 meters at the Drake Days in Des Moines, Iowa, tomorrow.
The Kansas track and field team will compete at Drake beginning today.
Palacios has won the 1,500 at both the Texas and Kansas Relays. The three relays combine make up the major relay circuit of the Midwest. To win the triple crown, an athlete or relay team must win the same event at all three relays.
Palacios was not a favorite to win at Texas, but she surprised many and beat out a strong field. At Kansas, she took advantage of a slow pace and eas-
"I'm going to have to run the best race I've run all year.I think I am capable of doing that."
Cathy Palacios Kansas distance runner
liely beat the rest of the field. At Drake, however, she will be facing her toughest competition. Karen Glerum of Iowa State has won the event the past two years, and she is expected to compete.
"I'm going to have to run the best race I've run all year." Palacios said. "I think I am capable of doing that. I just need to keep my head in the race and keep in tune with the other runners."
As a team, the Jayhawks will be running in many of the same events that brought them six titles at the Kansas Relays last weekend.
"The they enjoyed the success they had last weekend and are looking forward to the competition up at Drake," said Kansas coach Gary Schwartz. "We're trying to perform very competitively against a very tough field."
Schwartz said he was looking for a strong performance in the men's four by 1,600-meter relay. The men won the event at the Kansas Relys and are looking for a repeat performance.
On the women's side, Schwartz said he thought the four by 100-meter relay and the sprint- and distance-medley relay teams would perform well.
Senior MaryBeth Labosky won the high jump last week and will try to match the feat at Drake. Freshman Natasha Shafer will compete in the 100-yard dash, the event she won at the Kansas Relays.
Schwartz said the field at Drake traditionally had been strong.
Not all of the Kansas track team will be heading to Des Moines.
Junior Julia Saul will travel to the University of Pennsylvania and the Penn Relays to compete in the 10,000-meter run. Schwartz said he wanted Saul to qualify for the NCAA championships in th 10,000 and that the Penn Relays would be an excellent meet for her to do so.
"It's a tough race to qualify for," he said. "Because it is so long, it's hard to run in it a lot. The competition will be strong at Penn also."
Saul can qualify automatically for the championships with a time of 34 seconds.
Cathy Palacios
Derek Nolen/KANSAN
Shooting for a soda
Aiming at a golf ball recovery tractor at Alvamar Country Club, Chris Scherzer, Kansas City, Kan., senior, tries to hit the tractor as part of a bet. Scherzer bet Christmas Mathia, back, Kansas City Kan., senior, a soda yesterday to see who could hit the tractor first. Scherzer, who plays golf regularly, drives golf balls at Alvamar a couple of times a week.
Late surges save Cleveland Boston in playoff openers
The Associated Press
The Boston Celtics and Cleveland Cavaliers used the same formula to win playoff openers last night.
Reggie Lewis scored 36 points for the Celtics, but Indiana had a 106-103 advantage with 52 remaining before a 15-2 run put Boston in control.
Both had unstoppable players, and both had game-winning offensive spurs when they got in trouble near the end.
"In the next game, hopefully we can come to play a little earlier than the last five minutes," Boston coach Chris Ford said.
Despite 40 points, 16 rebounds and nine assists from Brad Daughtery, the Cavaliers trailed New Jersey 111-110 in overtime. The Nets 10-2 for a 120-113 victory.
"Reggie Lewis especially hurt us both offensively and defensively down the stretch," Indiana coach Bob Hill said. "This game changed in a minute. We had a good day tomorrow, make the play, be ready to play, and be here ready to play on Saturday."
With injured starters Larry Bird
and Dee Brown watching in street clothes on the bench, the Celtics beat the Pacers despite being outscored 24-0 on three-point shots for the game. The 15-2 run gave the Celtics a 118-108 lead with 1:33 left.
The Warriors, playing with a home-court advantage for the first time since 1977, lost it in the best-of-five series when the Sonics exploited their size advantage, outbounding the Warriors 52-34.
Kevin McHale scored 21 points, Kevin Gamble 20 and Robert Parish 19 as the Celtics posted their ninth consecutive victory and 16 in the last 17 starts — with the only loss in Indiana on April 3.
In Western Conference games last night, Portland beat the Los Angeles Lakers 115-102, and Seattle beat Golden State 117-109.
Derrick McKey scored 19 points, and Gary Paoney had 14 points and 12 assists for Seattle, the sixth seed in the conference. Kemp grabbed 16 rebounds.
Shawn Kemp and Ricky Pierce each scored 28 points underdog Seattle's wildness.
Billy Owens scored 25 points, Sarunas Marculionis 23 and Tim Hardaway 22 for third-seeded Golden State. Chris Mullin struggled throughout and finished with 16 points, nearly 10 under his regular-season average.
Trailing 74-41 at halftime, the Lakers scored 16 straight points early in the third quarter as Portland didn't have the goal of the period until the 7:05 mark.
Clyde Drrexer had 22 points and 10 assists, Buck Williams 21 points and 13 rebounds and Terry Porter 20 points, 8 assists and 7 rebounds.
Cliff Robinson scored a career play-off-high 24 points, leading four Blazers with 20 or more points.
Portland opened a 36-point lead in the first half and scored 75 points by halftime before coasting over Los Angeles.
Byron Scott and Terry Teague each scored 22 points for the Lakers, who wanted to slow the tempo, but failed miserably in the first half when top-seeded Portland outscored them 25-2 on fast-break points. Eight of the Blazers' first-half baskets were slam dunks.
Kansas tennis players begin tournament play
By Lyle Niedens
Kansan sportwriter
The time is now for the Kansas men's and women's tenis teams.
After cruising through their Big Eight Conference schedules with undefeated records, both the men's and women's teams earned the No.1 seed in the conference tournaments, which begin today in Prairie Village and Leawood.
But a trip to the NCAA tournament in May will not be assured for either team until they capture the conference tournament championship.
Both the men's and women's NCAA tournament seedings consist of eight regional qualifiers and 12 at-large selections. If the Kansas teams win the conference tournament, they will qualify as the regional selections.
But if they don't win the conference tournament, chances for a trip to the NCAA finals are simm, at least for the team that has men's coach Scott Perelman said.
The Jayhawks, 19-8 overall and ranked No. 25 in the country, placed second in the conference tournament as a member of the ATA tournament as an all-major selection.
"We're not in line for an at-large berth, in my opinion," Perelman said. "We just have not had enough quality wins."
Perelmansaidthatwasbecauselast
"I think this team deserves to go to the NCAA tournament," Perelman said. "But we have to prove ourselves this weekend."
year's team had two victories against Tennessee, which was ranked in the top five in the country on the two occasions that it lost to Kansas. This season's men's squad does not have a victory against a nationally top-ranked team.
The Kansas women's team, 16-4 overall and ranked No. 19, does not have a good chance of earning an atlargerbeither, coach Michael Center said.
"We would be a team on the bubble for an at-large berth," Center said. "We need to be a regional selection to assure ourselves we'll make the NCAA tournament."
Center said he was confident the Jayhawks would win the tournament championship and the automatic berth to the NCAA tournament.
"We're going to expect something to happen, and my reason why we shouldn't," he said.
Kansas will be using a lineupheaded by three-time All-American senior Eveline Hamers, who is ranked No. 13 in the country at singles. Hamers will play No. 1 singles, followed by freshmen Nora Koves and Rebecca Jensen at No. 2and No. 3 singles, respectively.
Senior Renee Raychaudhuri, sophomores Abby Woods and Buffy
McLaine will round out the No. 4,5 and 6 singles spots.
At doubles, Hamers-Koves will play No. 1, Jensen-McLiney will play No. 2 and sophomore Casey Cooley will team with Woods at No. 3.
The women's team begins play at 9 a.m. today against Missouri, which does not offer tennis scholarships and finished the conference season 0-7.
The men's team has a first-round bye and does not play until tomorrow afternoon, when the Jayhawks will play the winner of today's match between No. 4 seed Colorado and No. 5 seed Nebraska.
Kansas will use a lineup of senior Rafael Rangel at No. 1 singles, senior Paul Garvin at No. 2 singles, senior Pat Han at No. 3, junior Carlos Flemming at No. 4, sophomore Ruhain Bhat at No. 5, sand freshman Manny Ortiz at No. 6.
At doubles, conference champions Garvin-Fleming will play No. 1. Rangel-Han will play No. 2 and Buth-Ortiz will play No. 3.
Fleming said the tournament would offer a chance for the Jayhawks to do something they hadn't done since he had been at Kansas: win a conference tournament championship.
"We've been in this position every year since I've been here," Fleming said. "It's one hurdle we've geared up for and haven't achieved yet."
Two former Jayhawks anticipating NFL draft
"It is my hometown," said Perez, who is from Palatine, Ill. "I don't expect to go there, but it would be nice."
Former Kansas tackle Christopher Perez said it did not matter that much team picked him in Sunday's NFL draft. But the Chicago Bears could make a dream come true.
Perez, a four-year starter at Kansas, said a couple of scouting services rated him one of the top 20 offensive linemen in the nation available for the draft.
"One rating service had me 15th or 16th overall," he said. "In the NPL scouting service, I was one of the top 10 tackles, which is the only one that matters."
By Jerry Schmidt
Kansan sportswriter
Perez recently participated in an NFL scouting combine in Indianapolis, Ind., with about 70 other athletes. He partially toed the medial collateral ligament in his knee in the Hula Bowl on Jan 11, and the scouts wanted to make sure his knee was progressed.
"Basically, I was in the doctor's office the whole time," he said. "I think I proved my knee was healthy."
NCAA record-holder Tony Sands also is anticipating the draft, Sands, who ran for 396 yards on 58 carries against Missouri in his final college game, said he was not going to make any predictions for his chances in the NFL.
SPORTS BRIEFS
' Hawksto plav Spring Game
Perez said he had worked out for nearly a NFL team. He said if a player worked out for one team, five others will have the information on his workout because of the scouting service.
The Kansas football team will conclude spring practice with its annual Spring Game at 1 p.m. Saturday at Memorial Stadium
The Jayhawk and bioreinforcement
Treatment in both the two sites.
The game is free and open to the pubiic.
Golfers get academic honors
Five Kansas golfers have earned first-team Academic All-Big Eight Conference honors, and two others have received honorable mention.
Seniors Laura Myers, Shelly Triplett and Laura Martin were named to the women's honor roll for the third time. Myers is a recreation major with a 3.71 grade point average. Triplet is a speech/language/hear
A total of 41 student-athletes were selected for the men's and women's honor rolls. To be eligible, a student-golfer must be a regular participant and post a minimum GPA of 3.00, either cumulative or in the previous academic year.
Sophomores Casey Brozek and Jeff Moeller were named to the men's team. Brozek is a communication studies major with a 3.14 GPA, and Moeller is a business administration studies major with a 3.78 Sadiq, who has not declared a major, was an honorable mention with a 3.78 GPA.
Sands said he had been running for some NFL teams, including Tampa Bay, Houston and the Los Angeles Raiders. He said he was going to stay in Lawrence for the draft, and Perez said he was going to head back to his Chicago home to relax.
"I think a lot about it," Perez said of draft day. "I lie in bed, and I'm wide awake. My mom wants me to come home and just relax."
Perez and Sands are not the only area players who have a chance to be drafted to an NFL team. Kansas State wide receiver Michael Smith and tight end Russ Campbell also are expected to be factors in the draft. Campbell was listed as the ninth-best tight end in the country in some of the latest scouting reports.
From Kansan staff reports
ing major with a 3.64 GPA, and Martin is a business major with a 3.18 GPA. Sophomore Holly Reynolds, who received an honorable mention, is a recreation major with a 3.07 GPA.
"Things go funny on draft day," Sands said. "I don't really know where I might go."
Today in sports history
1945 — Albert B. "Happy" Chandler, junior Senator from Kentucky, is elected commissioner of the state and state of the major leisure club owners.
1963 — Bob Cousy ends a 13-year career by scoring 18 points to lead the Boston Celtics to its fifth consecutive NBA championship, beating the Los Angeles Lakers in six games with a 112-109 victory.
1967 — The Philadelphia 76ers won the NBA championship in six games with a 125-122 comeback over the San Francisco Warriors. Billy Cunningham scored 13 points in the final 12 minutes and the 76ers overcame a five-point deficit entering the fourth quarter.
1974 Tampa, Fla. is awarded the NFL's 27th franchise.
From the Associated Press