SPORTS UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Wednesday, March 3, 1993
11
Swimmers prepare for Big Eight meet
Renee Knoeber / KANSAN
Men seeking end to'Huskers hold on league
Senior Zhawn Stevens practices in Robinson Natatorium. The Big Eight Conference Swimming and Diving Championships begins today in Oklahoma City. The Kansas men's team is hoping to end Nebraska's 13-year reign as conference champion. The women's team is the defending Big Eight champion.
By Matt Doyle
Kansan sportswriter
Bad memories are sometimes hard to forget.
Senior swimmer Zhawn Stevens remembers how muscommunication in the 400-yard medley relay at last year's Big Eight Conference Swimming and Diving Championships probably cost the Jayhawks the con-ference championship.
Officials said Stevens dove into the pool to swim the breaststroke portion of the relay before Tim Cormineh finished the backstroke portion.
"There was a big dispute because I thought Tim had touched the wall when dove in, but the official said he didn't," Stevens said.
Kansas was disqualified in the event and ended up losing the meet by 17 points. The disqualification was a 26 point turnaround that catapulted the Huskers to a 13th consecutive conference championship.
The Jayhawks hope to end the Nebraska strangle hold on the conference title this weekend at the 61st annual Big Eight Conference Swimming and Diving Championships in the Aquatics Center at Oklahoma City Community College.
Last summer, Kansas swimming coach Gary Kemp sent a letter to team members that said to forget what happened in the past.
"I said the longer we live in the past, the longer it's going to take to recover," Kempf said. "We need to be ready when we get another opportunity."
Stevens recovered from the disqualification at last year's Big Eight Championships and won the 200 individual medley and swam a leg on the victorious 200 medley relay team.
This year, he will swim the 200 breaststroke, 200 individual medley, 400 medley relay, 200 medley relay and 800 freestyle relay.
Swimmers are allowed to swim only three individual events and four relays at the conference championships.
*Gary tries to pick events that we're good in that are on different days so
we can get a rest," Stevens said. "These events that I'm swimming in are the ones I have been focusing on all year."
Kemp visits this weekend's conference meet as a two-team battle between his squad and Coach Cal Bentz's Nebraska squad.
"We're going down here to battle Nebraska for the championship, not for second place," he said. "We got an even chance on a even playing field."
Nebraska, which defeated Kansas
"You can never ask for any more than that."
138-105 on Feb. 6 in Lincoln, returns two defending individual champions in sophomore Dong Humphrey and junior Jonathan Kerr.
Humphrey won the 200 and 500 freestyle titles, and Kerr won the 200 backstroke title.
Stevens, though, was not impressed with the 'Huskers swimmers when Kansas faced their last month.
they had some guys step forward for them in the dual meet victory," he said. "But looking at it as a whole, we have the potential to beat them."
Women hope to continue season's success
By Matt Doyle
Kansan sportswriter
Kansas swimming coach Gary Kempf knew before this season that he had 16 returning veterans from last season's Big Eight Conference women's championship team. Kansas was expected to defend its conference championship.
But the presence of two freshmen have helped make the Jayhawks one of the top teams in the nation.
Katie Chapeau and Donna Christensen, who have stepped into areas that concerned Kempf at the beginning of the season, have helped the Jayhawks to an undefeated dual meet record and their best season in 10 years.
In 1983, Kansas finished seventh at the NCAA Championships.
The Jayhawks hope to continue their success at the 20th annual Big Eight Conference Swimming and Diving Championships. The event runs from today through Saturday at the Aquatics Center at Oklahoma City Community College.
"They have both established themselves as impact athletes," Kempf said. "Both of them had to learn the ropes, as most freshmen do in the beginning, but both of them have stepped forward to become a vital part of this team."
Christensen was a junior national finalist in high school in the 200- and 400-yard individual medley, but her personal best performance of this year came in the 200 butterfly, with a time of 2.05.55, in the season opening
meet against Missouri.
"I was hoping to come into this season and get some personal best times," she said. "The time in the 200 fly surprised me a lot and made me realize I was becoming a good 200 flier."
Christensen said that the 200 freestyle was her best event, with a season best time of 1.52.50 in the meet against Southern Methodist.
"Donna was one swimmer we knew that could come in and swim a number of events for us," Kemp said.
Kempf brought in Chapeau to help improve the Jayhawks in the backstroke events. Her performances in this year have brought praise from Kempf.
"Katie is one of the best backstrokers in the nation without a doubt," he said. "She came in with faster times and any backstrokers we ever had."
Chapeau's fastest time in the 100 backstroke, 55.87 seconds, came in the 152-148 dual meet victory against Southern Methodist.
"The time came as a shock to me because it was a dual meet against a great team," she said.
Jayhawk seniors to play final home game tonight
Both Chapeau and Christiansen said they feel that they have been able to fit in with a veteran cast. They have also been able to be a part of a program that has achieved an undefeated dual meet record, a top 10 ranking and the program's 100th dual meet victory.
"We've come out and proved we are one of the best teams in the nation," Chapeau said.
By David Dorsey
ansan sportswriter
The Kansas seniors — guards Adolis Jordan and Rex Walters and center Eric Pauley, will play their final home game at 7:30 tonight in Allen Field House.
The No. 8 Kansas basketball team will try to avoid a regular-season sweep by Nebraska. With a victory against the Cornhuskers, the Jayhawks, 22-5 overall and 9-3 in the Big Six Conference, can clinch the conference championship and avoid a must-win situation this weekend at Oklahoma State.
A loss would give Oklahoma State, 5 in the conference, a chance to tie the Jayhawks for the championship Sunday at Stillwater, Okla. The Cowboys' loss Monday night at Oklahoma knocked them out of contention for sole claim to the title.
The Jayhawks shared the conference title with Oklahoma State in 1991 and won it last season. The Kansas seniors said the Jayhawks do not want to share the championship with anyone this year.
"They're not going to give up." Jonan said of the Cornhuskers. "I think it's going to be a good game, and hope the grove will get into it."
Pauley, who did not play Feb. 22 at Iowa State after he injured his left
knee during pregame warmups, will be back in the starting lineup tonight. Sophomore center Greg Oertagt started for Pauley during Saturday's victory against Colorado, but the senior said his condition had improved.
Since Roy Williams has been coach at Kansas, seniors traditionally start their final home game.
"The pain is almost all gone," Pauley said. "Coach Williams has got me going for more than half the practice just to get it back in shape. I should be all right."
Nebraska, 19-8 overall and 7-5 in the conference, defeated Kansas 68-64 on Feb. 7 in Lincoln, Neb. The Comhuskers are led by junior guard Eric Piatkowski, who averages 16.3 points a game. Senior center Derrick Chandler leads the team in rebounding, averaging eight a game, and is second in scoring with 11 points a game.
onds.
Walters had a chance to tie the last game against the 'Huskers on the Jayhawks' second to last possession, but his driving, pull-up jumper did not fall. On the Jayhawks' final possession of the game Walters turned the ball over, and Nebraska freshman forward Terrance Badgett ended the game with an open-court slam dunk.
"In certain situations I didn't perform the way that I wanted to," Walters said. "During the game, I lost my focus. I made the right move, but I got bothered by Derrick Chandler coming up and rejecting one of my shots. I was unsure of exactly what I wanted to do. That's not going to happen again.
Kansas coach Roy Williams refused to blame Walters, but Walters said he made a mistake during the final sec-
"I can live with us losing a game and me taking the blame for missing a shot. But I expect more out of myself."
The seniors said they wanted to leave the field house on a high note. Pauley said that last season's loss to the University of Texas El-Paso in the second-round of the NCAA Tournament still haunts the memories of his two-year Kansas basketball career. He said he did not know how he would react to tonight's final home appearance.
"It's easy for me to say now that it's just another game," he said. "The heartbreak of last year's tournament still rests in my mind. We want to finish up strong and do well enough to put that our of our memories."
Though tickets for tonight's game were printed with a 7:00 tipoff, the game will start at 7:30.
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