SPORTS UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Wednesday, March 2, 1994
9
'Rock Chalk Jayhawk thing'entices prep star
Field house, campus sway shooting guard
By Gerry Fey
Kabsan sportswriter
The University campus. Kansas coach Roy Williams said that if he could get a recruit to see the activity on Mount Oread, he felt confident about the chances of nabbing him.
It has worked again, this time with a 6-foot-4 shooting guard from Shreveport, La. Billy Thomas said that after seeing a game at Allen Field House, he wanted to wear the Kansas crimson and blue.
Thomas is a senior at Loyola College Prep High School who averages 29.5 points a game. Loyola coach Brock Kantrow said that Thomas' visit on Feb. 20 had turned the tide.
"It was clean and nice." Kantrow said. "Most of the people were friendly and outgoing and made him feel comfortable. And of course he liked the field house."
Initially Thomas was drawn by Kansas' basketball tradition.
"Kansas is one of the premier colleges in the nation," Thomas said. "But when I came to visit, all the players were really cool, but the coaches were really straightforward." "Although Thomas' commitment is only verbal, Kantrow said the decision would not be swayed.
Thomas chose Kansas ahead of
Alabama, Florida, Georgetown,
Louisiana State, Notre Dame, Southwest
Louisiana and Tulane.
Not only did he like the campus, he also liked the possibility of playing with Kansas freshman guard Jacque Vaughn, Kantrow said.
"Kansas does a really good job of pushing the ball up the floor," he said. "They are having a hard time scoring, not to knock them or anything. Billy can jump in with someone like Jacque Vaughn, who is not afraid to look to pass first and shoot second. That's any high school player's dream to have that, and I think Billy liked it."
Vaughn befriended Thomas on his visit to campus.
"Jacque is the same way I am," Thomas said. "He's quiet the same way I am. And he's a good player."
Scoring is no problem for Thomas. In Loyola's district championship game two weeks ago, which it won, Thomas had 42 points, 18 rebounds and seven blocked shots, Kantrow said.
"Billy's a big part of that," Kantrow said. "That's a complete player. He does anything he can for the team to win. He's not selfish. He doesn't take 100,000 shots. He looks for his teammates.
Kantrow said Thomas had had a difficult life. Thomas lives with his mother but the two reunited just within the past few years. During junior high school he was without both parents and stayed with a friend of the family.
"Coming up without either parent at one time was tough," Thomas said. "But everything is in order now."
Kantrow said that Thomas had the ability to play basketball and that he had developed it through those difficult years.
"Basketball is his outlet," he said. "That is what he turned to when things got bad at home. When he had problems, he went to the gym and shot baskets. Afterwards, he was just thinking about basketball."
Kantrow said that although he had selfish reasons for missing Thomas, he had done his job as a coach.
"That's my job, to get him to improve as a basketball player and a person," he said. "My job is to get him the opportunity to go to college. I hate to see him go. It's for selfish reasons, for basketball and for him as a person. Everyone here likes him and wishes
him the best of luck."
Loyola is 17-6 and 6-0 in its district, but lost last night in the second round of the district tournament to Many High School 72-71. In his last high school basketball game, Thomas scored 36 points but missed a half-court shot that hit the rim at the buzzer.
"From the beginning to the ending, I didn't think it was my last game," he said. "It really hasn't sunk in yet."
Although Thomas' high school career is finished, he is looking forward to his future years at Kansas.
"I would love to play at the field house in front of all those fans," he said. "And I really love that Rock ChalkJayhawkthing."
'Hawks dominate swim, dive meet on second day
By Andrew Gilman Kansan sportswriter
After dominating day two of the Big Eight Conference swimming and diving championships in Oklahoma City, both the Kansas men and women positioned themselves for the titles.
The men, who led Nebraska 191.5 to 183.5 points after Monday's events, are trying to win their first conference title since 1979. The Cornhuskers have won 14 consecutive men's titles.
The women also hold a slim advantage as they go for a third consecutive title. They led Nebraska 218 to 189. Nebraska defeated Kansas earlier this season in Lawrence.
The Jayhawks placed first in nine of 11 events on Monday, taking the lead going into the last day of competition. Freshman Emily Peters tied a conference record with her victory in the 500-yard freestyle. Her time was good enough to automatically qualify her for the NCAA championships March 17-19 in Indianapolis.
Peters also teamed with freshmen J.J. Bontrager and Rebecca Andrew as well as senior Krista Cordsen, who won the 200-yard freestyle relay. Their time of 1:33.46 ended Nebraska's relay by less than 2 tenths of a second and provisionally qualified Kansas for the NCAA meet.
provisional qualification will allow the relay team to compete if no other team posts a quicker time.
Another double-winner was Cordsen. Besides competing on the relay team, she successfully defended her title in the 200 yard individual medley.
Junior Ronda Lusty out touched Nebraska's defending conference champion, Melanie Dodd, in the 50-yard freestyle and captured first place.
Cordsen swam 2:02.87, which beat freshman teammate Ande Greves by 21/2 seconds. Her time also provisionally qualified her for the NCAA meet.
Townsend led a strong Kansas attack in the 50 freestyle, which he won with a time of 20 seconds.
The 200 freestyle relay team of seniors Scott Townsend and Curtis Taylor, junior Marc Bontrager and sophomore Dan Phillips has not been defeated yet this season. That streak continued as they wrapped up a first-place finish.
The men's team continued to show that it is one of the best sprint teams in the country with victories in the relay and the 50 freestyle.
Bontrager finished third and Taylor fourth. All three earned provisional qualifications for the NCAA championships.
The distance swimmers also performed well. The Jayhawks wrapped up first, second and third places in the 500 freestyle.
Freshman Erik Jorgensen won and senior Dan Quercigrossa came in second. Phillips finished third. Again, all three provisionally qualified for the NCAA meet.
Senior diver Tim Davidson won the 1-meter diving event and earned an automatic qualification for the NCAA championships. Freshman Brian Humphrey also qualified and finished fourth.
On the women's side, Iowa State is in third place with 94 points and Missouri is in fourth with 79.
Iowa State and Missouri are in third and fourth place on the men's side with scores of 110 and 86 respectively.
William Alix / KANSAN
Tom Leininger / KANSAN
Kansas women's tennis senior Abby Woods was a high school basketball star, but she chose to pursue her athletic career as a tennis player at Kansas. Woods and her doubles partner, senior Kim Rogers, are ranked No. 15 nationally. Woods, who is now captain, earned a tennis scholarship after being a walk-on player her freshman year.
THE RIGHT COURT WAS SERVED TO TENNIS STAR
Choosing between basketball, tennis was hard for senior
By Matt Siegel
Kansan sportswriter
Going into her senior year in high school, Woods, who once scored 49 points in a game, was certain that she wanted to play basketball. Several schools were recruiting her, including Oklahoma State. However, after a heartfelt talk with her father, she changed her mind.
Senior Abby Woods lives out a fairy tale every time she steps out on the court for the Kansas women's tennis team.
As a freshman she walked onto the tennis team before she received a scholarship, but she was better known for her basketball exploits.
"When Coach Center was recruiting me, he always wanted my results," Woods said. "But I didn't play any national tournaments or have a national ranking, and so I didn't have any great results to send him. But I would score 40 points in a basketball game and send that to him. I'm not sure he thought I was going to be a great tennis player, but he knew that I could sure shoot the ball."
"My dad said he really wanted me to play tennis," Woods said. "I looked at him and said, 'Dad, I can't make it as a tennis player.' He told me I was wrong and that he thought there was a lot more I could do with tennis than I could with basketball once I finished college. That was the first time I ever thought about playing college tennis."
When Woods arrived at Kansas, Center, now the men's coach, had four freshmen but only one scholarship available. Woods said that Center told the freshmen that he would give the scholarship to the player who was most deserving of it. In December, a few days before Christmas, Woods was told that she had earned the scholarship.
Now Woods is the captain of the tennis team and the only four-year player on the team.
"She has grown with the program," Kansas coach Chuck Merzbacher said. "She's the ideal student-athlete. She's scrappy, has a big heart and competes hard. She bleeds blue and red."
It is that heart and desire that Woods said had been the key to her success — whether she was on the basketball or tennis court. Woods said that she had been born with her competitive nature and that she wanted to do well in all areas, be
it sports, grades or any other activity.
"I'm not a pretty tennis player," Woods said. "I don't have beautiful shots. But if I'm going to lose a match or a basketball game, it's because the other person beat me. It's not going to be that I gave up or I quit or any other circumstances.
"There have been a lot of matches where I have been losing. Just two weeks ago against Alabama, I lost the first set and was down 5-3 in the second set. I just kept fighting and hung in there."
She ended up winning the second set and the match. Woods has become accustomed to winning. Behind Wood's leadership, the No.15 Kansas women's team is looking to break into the top-10 rankings for the first time in Kansas history. She and senior Kim Rogers are ranked No.15 nationally in doubles.
"I always looked at the rankings and recognized girls' names and dreamed, 'Wouldn't that be nice if I could get my name in there,' she said." The first time I saw my name on a college ranking sheet and saw that I'm one of the top-15 doubles players in the country was overwhelmed.
But that emotion may never have been felt. Woods still wonders what it would have been like if she would have pursued a college basketball career. She still plays intramural basketball and likes to watch the Kansas women's basketball team
play. Woods played against Kansas freshman forward Shelly Canada in high school.
In fact, Woods said, she was named to a 10-member Oklahoma all-star team. The other players from that team planned to play basketball at the collegiate level, and they had a hard time understanding Woods' decision to play tennis, she said.
"They thought it was the craziest thing they had ever heard," Woods said. "They couldn't believe that I wasn't going to play basketball."
But in typical Woods' fashion, she has quieted any doubts. Merrzbacher said that she wasn't the prettiest player, that she just wins.
"It's a dream," Woods said. "If you would have told me my freshman year that I would have been in a top-10 program or been ranked in doubles, I would have said, 'That sounds good, but it's not going to happen.' It just shows you with good coaching and hard work, anything is possible."
For Woods, this season has been extra special. She qualified for the Rolex National Indoor Championships, and the team is nationally ranked. All of this from a player who wasn't even sure whether she would have a scholarship when she arrived at Kansas.