SPORTS
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Monday, April 25, 1994
11
Tennis teams sweep tournament
Men's, women's double victory is Kansas first
By Matt Siegel Kansas sportswriter
The Kansas men's and women's tennis teams did something that had never been done before in Kansas tennis history.
The No. 6 women's team and the No. 32 men's team both came away with Big Eight Conference tournament championships yesterday in Oklahoma City. In doing so, they became the first Kansas teams to gain both championships in the same season.
"This was a historical day for Kansas tennis," Kansas coach Michael Center said. "For our programs to win on both the men's and women's side took a tremendous effort on our parts."
Both teams took different routes to the championship.
The No. 6 women's team lost to Oklahoma 5-4 in the regular season finale. The loss not only crushed the Jsyhawks' hopes for an undefeated conference record but also dropped them to the second seed of the conference tournament.
Kansas got its revenge yesterday for the championship, crushing the Sooners 5-1 en route to its third consecutive conference championship. The top five singles players for Kansas all came away with victories. Playing in the No. 1 singles spot, junior Nora Koves defeated Oklahoma's Nicole Kennely 1-6, 6-1, 6-1. Koves had lost to Kennely the week before. Kansas senior Mindy Weiner, at No. 2 singles, beat Jenny Del Valle 6-2, 7-6 and in the process kept her victory streak alive at 16 matches.
The victory against Oklahoma raised Kansas' overall record to 24-1 and 9-1 in the conference.
The Kansas men's team looked as if it might have an easier path to the championship than the women. On Friday, it received a bye. In the sec-
and round, the Jayhawks quickly dispatched of Iowa State 5-1.
However, things changed yesterday when the Jayhawks faced Oklahoma, which they had beaten 4-3 a week ago.
Kansas sophomore Reid Slattery, junior Martin Ericksson and freshman Trent Tucker lost in the No. 1, 2 and 6 singles spots respectively, but sophomores J.P. Vissepo and Victor Fimbres were victorious at the No. 3 and 4 spots. Kansas also took two of the possible three doubles spots.
After six completed matches, each team had three victories apiece. With the championship hanging in the balance, Kansas sophomore Michael Isroff, playing in the No. 5 singles
spot, appeared to be on the verge of clinching the title for the Jayhawks. He was leading the Sooners' Philip Farmer 5-4 in the third set. But then match play was forced to move inside because of rain.
Isroff overcame the distraction for a 6-7, 6-1, 6-4 victory, which gave the Jayhawks a 4-3 victory and solidified the conference championship for the 13th time in school history. Kansas improved to 8-0 in conference play and 22-5 overall.
"To come down here and defeat Oklahoma on practically their home territory was outstanding." Center said. "This was just a great day for our program."
Brian Vandervliet / KANSAN
Michael Evers, Merrionette Park, Ill., sophomore, dashes toward the bar in the pole-vault competition of the decathlon. Evers vaulted a personal best height of 4.23 meters at the Kansas Relays on Thursday.
Jayhawks shine in Kansas Relays
Kansas took nine first place finishes at annual meet
By Andrew Gilman Kansan sportswriter
By Andrew Gilman
The Kansas track team completed the 69th Annual Kansas Relays with nine first-place finishes, including the relay championship for both the men and the women. The Relays took place this weekend at Memorial Stadium.
"This is an excellent chance for the athletes to perform in front of their families and their friends at home," Kansas coach Gary Schwartz said.
The athletes' families and friends witnessed Kansas junior Natasha Shafer win the 100-meter dash and anchor the 400-meter relay to victory. They also saw Kansas capture two first-place relay finishes, a third consecutive victory for senior John Bazoni in the pole vault and senior distance runner Daniela Daggy win the 5,000-meter run, her second triumph of the meet.
But perhaps the greatest accomplishment of the RELays was the combined efforts of the Jayhawk men's and women's relay teams.
The Jayhawks captured the relay trophy for both the men and the women and placed no lower than third in any of the nine relays entered. The men won the distance medley relay, and the women captured the victory in the 400-meter medley.
I read the best runners in KU history and a good group of friends to cheer me on," senior David Johnston said. But I set all that aside and got the job done."
Johnston, who ran the anchor leg.
The 69th Annual Kansas Relays Kansas winners:
Long jump: Freshman Marcus Scheid; 24-04 1/2
Shot Put: Senior Cheryl Evers; 46-03 1/4
Pole Vault: Senior John Bazzoni; 17-04 1/2
3,000-meter run: Senior Daniela Daggy;10:07.24
Melissa Lacev/ KANSAN
Senior distance runner Daniela Daggy leads the pack in the women's 3,000-meter run, with Michigan's Katie Hollbacher and Oklahoma's Annette Acuff trailing close behind. Daggy placed first in the run with a time of 10:07:24 Saturday, adding to her previous victory in the 5,000-meter run Thursday.
5,000-meter run: Senior Daniela Daggy; 17:22:31
Discus: Junior Michael Reichert: 175-01
100-meter dash: Junior Natasha Shafer; 11.44
400-meter relay: Junior Katrina Brooks, freshman Latanya Holloway, senior Katrina Lawrence-Case, junior Natasha Shafer. 45.42
Distance Medley: Sophomore Tim Fortune, senior Joe Pickett, senior Dan Waters, senior David Johnston; 10:00.29
teamed with sophomore Tim Fortune, senior Joe Pickett and senior Dan Waters and beat second-place Arkansas State by nearly five seconds with a time of 10 minutes, 00.29 seconds.
A provisional qualification does not guarantee that the team will be running at the meet, but it does assure that someone has to beat its time for
Shafer anchored the women's 400-meter relay team of senior Katrina Brooks, freshman Latanya Holloway and senior Katrina Lawrence-Cass for a winning time of 45.42 and a provisional qualification to the NCAA meet.
the team not to go.
"I knew we could do it," Shafer said. "Our handoffs were good, and the wind was strong. If the wind would have been less, we could have decreased our time and automatically qualified."
Daggy, who won the 5,000-meter run Thursday, came back and won the 3,000-meter run Saturday with a time of 10:07.24 after she originally was not scheduled to compete.
"This win was for my family," Daggy said. "My parents came from Indiana, so I asked to run the 3,000. This was their last chance to see me run because I'm a senior."
Aside from the competition, the talk among Kansas athletes centered on the weather and the home crowd.
The mild temperatures and strong winds were a change for the better for junior middle distance runner Melissa Swartz.
"I'm just happy it's not raining," she said. "It's perfect weather for running."
Freshman Marcus Scheid, who won the long jump Friday, also recognized the weather and the crowd.
Relays during his high school years at Blue Valley North. "The head wind kind of messed up my steps. I just tried to wait for a tail wind.
"I usually don't jump well here. It's nice to compete in front of the home crowd."
"I thought I could have done better," said Scheil, who competed at the
Bazzoni, who won the pole vault for the third consecutive year with a vault of 17-04 1/2, also said he had been concerned about the winds.
"The winds were pretty bad during my warm-ups," he said. "I felt good during every jump. Even though they weren't the prettiest jumps, they did the job."
Baseball team rolls past Cornhuskers, improves to 30-13
SPORTS BRIEFS
Brohawn, who had beaten the Jaywhawers earlier this week, also defeated the Jaywhaurs last season in a game that denied Kansas the regular season Big Eight Conference championship. He was tagged with the loss yesterday in the Jaywhaurs 6-2 victory.
The Kansas baseball team finally beat Nebraska junior minor trov Brohawn.
Kansas jumped on Brohawn for two runs in the first and never trailed in the game, completing a three-game sweep of the Cornhuskers at Buckt Field in Lincoln, Neb.
Kansas, with just five Big Eight Conference
games remaining, moved to 30-13 overall and 14-9 in the conference.
The Kansas offense was supported by the three, four and five hitters in the lineup. Senior center fielder Darryl Monroe, junior third baseman Brent Wilhelm, and senior right fielder Ron Oelschlagger combined to go seven for 12 and knocked in five of the six Kansas runs.
Yesterday, senior pitcher David Meyer, 6-4,
pitched six and two-thirds innings, giving up
just one earned run for the victory, and freshman
Jason Schreiber collected his fourth save.
Nebraska, after beating the Jayhawks twice in Lawrence last week, fell to 26-19 and 10-10.
Monroe moved past former Jayhawk All-American catcher Jeff Niemier on the all-time hit list at Kansas and led the Jayhawks to a 9-7 victory against the Cornuskusers on Saturday.
Monroe went three for five with two RBI, and sophomore Clay Baird, 4-2, pitched five innings for the victory.
Kansas scored in each of the first four innings, building a 7-1 lead, but needed help
from junior relief pitcher/shortstop Dan Rude to seal the victory.
Rude pitched two innings and did not allow a hit. He avoided a jam in the ninth and recorded his fourth save.
Kansas returns home with a 7 p.m. game tomorrow against Southwest Missouri State before returning to conference play with a Wednesday double-header against league leader Oklahoma State.
Kansas softball team rides out roller coaster series in Oklahoma
strikeouts, she also recorded the 5-1 victory and tied the conference mark for victories with 102. But Oklahoma State came back in the second game for a 2-1 victory.
On Saturday, senior pitcher Stephani Williams tied one Big Eight Conference record and broke another when the Jayhawks handed Oklahoma State its first conference loss of the season. Not only did Williams break the former conference mark of 893 for career
The Kansas softball team had an up-and-down weekend in Oklahoma.
Oklahoma State took three of the four-game series and defeated the Jayhawks twice yesterday, 1-0 and 7-3. Williams took both losses, which denied her from becoming the all-time conference victory record holder.
The first game saw the Jayhawks collect only three hits and commit two errors. In the second game, the Jayhawks produced eight hits but managed only three runs. It was the first time the Jayhawks were swept since March 19. The losses dropped Williams' record to 26-11 overall and 8-6 in the conference.
The 1-3 record against the Cowboys this weekend moved Kansas to 31-17 overall and 8-6 in the conference.
SPORTS EDITOR
Compiled from Kansan staff reports.
Athletes face tough decision on pro career
Wait another season, or take the money and run.
During the past month, two Kansas athletes faced this decision regarding their futures in professional athletics. Junior basketball player Greg Ostertag decided on the former. Junior tennis player Rebecca Jensen will attempt the latter.
Had Ostertag decided to turn pro, he easily could have provided more financial support for his wife, Heidi, and his 8-month-old son, Cody. But a talk with Kansas coach Roy Williams helped in his decision to stay.
Oertagt, the Jayhawks' starting center, will return to Kansas for his senior season. There had been speculation that the 7-foot-2 pivotman would in cash by declaring himself eligible for this year's NBA draft.
"I figured that next year would really help me and my basketball." Ostertag said. "I can probably go at a higher spot in next year's draft."
Earlier this month, Ostertag seriously considered trying out for the Kansas baseball team, but the desire to be with his family and work more on basketball will keep him on the court and off the mound.
"The last time I played was in eighth grade," Ostertag said. "I wanted to try to play here, but I couldn't because of the family. I felt like I needed to spend more time with them."
Believe it or not, Kansas baseball coach Dave Bingham said that Ostertag had a good arm.
"He came out and worked out with us for several days," Bingham said. "I thought I saw some talent there, but we didn't have a lot of room for experimentation. He might have gotten an opportunity later in the season. The biggest problem we would have had would be finding a uniform that fit him."
Bingham said he respected Ostertag's decision to focus on his family and his basketball future.
"I'll give myself three to four years, and if it doesn't work out, I'll deal with it then," Jensen said. "There's some pros and cons to leaving school. It's selfish. I'm looking out for what's best for me and not for the team."
"I'm no expert in basketball, but a lot of guys his size seem to have long playing careers," Bingham said. "He's so far along in his career there that I think he's going to focus his efforts on it."
Jensen admitted that turning professional would end what could be the nation's top doubles team. Jensen and junior Nora Koves are ranked No. 2 in the nation in doubles. Koves, who is ranked No. 10 in singles, plans on returning next season.
On the tennis court, Rebecca Jensen has decided to forgo her senior season and bring her skills to the professional level alongside her siblings. Jensen's twin sister, Rachel, plays professionally, and her older brothers, Luke and Murphy, won the men's doubles championships last summer at the French Open.
Although Jensen will leave Kansas without a degree, she has a legitimate shot at making it on the professional tour. If she makes it, she will achieve what most college graduates strive for — a high paying job that she loves.
Rebecca Jensen, who last season became the first Jayhawk to be named an All-American in both singles and doubles, said she wanted to add her name to the family profession.
"I think I need a change. It may be the wrong move, but it may be the right move."
"I've never really been here for the education," Jensen said. "I came to KU because I didn't think I was ready to play professionally, and I may not be ready now. I love KU, but I'm not really happy.
And if she doesn't make it? One's athletic prime doesn't last forever. But one's education does.
An athlete who turns professional early doesn't have to forgo an education for millions of dollars. If the money is there, the athlete should take it. When the athletes' skills diminish, they always can return to school for the education.
When and if Jensen returns to complete her degree, she will bring her temporary fame and fortune. But when and if she graduates, she will leave with something irreplaceable and invaluable—a college education.