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University Daily Kansan, March 21, 1983
Sports
'Hawks nab 7th in NCAA swim meet
Thomas swims to two national titles with record-breaking freestyle
By COLLIN HERMRECK Sports Writer
sports Writer
Kansas senior Tammy Thomas became the first Jayhawk ever to win not only one but two national individual swimming titles, and she did it by setting collegiate and American records in the 50 and 100-yard freestyle events at the NCAA Championships last weekend in Lincoln, Neb.
Thomas, who stole the show at the granddaddy swimming event of the year, went on to score 45 individual points to lead the Jayhawks to a seventh place finish, the highest ever for a team in a point scoring behind Stanford, Florida, Texas, USC, Alabama and North Carolina.
THOMAS WAS SEEDED first in third星期 50 freestyle and lived up to expectations by racing to a .22.28 in the preliminaries to wipe out the 1982 record of .22.41 set by Texas' Jill Sterkel.
Thomas then went on to erase her own record in the finals, capturing first place in :22.17, bringing most of the Bob Daveney Sports Center crowd to its feet and an exuberant KU coach Gary Kempf out of the swimmers' deck to congratulate her.
She was followed by the former record holder, Sterkel. at: 22.69.
The sparkling win for Thomas marked the first time in her collegiate career that she was able to knock off the Texan, who held NCAA records in men's and women's volleyball and 100 butterflys going into the national meet.
FOR THOMAS, BEATING Sterkel meant a lot more than beating other swimmers, but she had to block it out of her mind until the race was over.
"I couldn't think about her or then I wouldn't have been able think about what I was doing," Thomas said. "Now that I won it means a lot more for me." Mr. Thomas trade it for anything in the world.
Her other record-setting performance came Saturday in the 100 freestyle, where she had earned a spot in the championship finals with the top finisher. She scored one spot higher than her second place seeding.
She went on to better that time in the finals to 48.40 for first place before a noisy crowd and an excited Kansas team. When the official time appeared on the electronic scoreboard Thomas had captured her second NCAA championship and her second American and collegiate record.
"IN THE 50 FREE I was expecting it but not in the 100," Thomas said. "It's been an experience. I hope that it gets me some people's attention. I hope that help me for the team selections for the Olympics."
Coach Gary Kemp said he thought that Thomas had a great chance at both national titles after seeing her win the first event so decisively.
decisively.
"I really felt she would get the 50 record and I thought she had a chance at the 100 record." Kemp said. "When she broke the 50 record to the degree that she did I knew she would have an excellent shot at the 100."
With the 50 and 100 freestyles being two of the fastest lead, all eyes were on Thomas as she took the lead from the start in both events and went on to maintain those leads to capture the wins.
"THERE'S NOT A better sprinter in the country, quite obviously." Kempf said. "I'm not sure there's a better sprinter in the world right now."
Collin Hermreck/KANSAN
Thomas also nabbed second place in the 50 butterfly Friday with a time of :24.52, second only to Sterkel, who won the event in :24.26.
KU's Jenny Wagnas helped the Jayhawks reach their goal of placing in the top 10 by turning in strong performances in the 10 butterfly and in individual medley during finals.
She qualified for the championship finals in the 100 butterfly with the third best time in the prelimits of .55.44 and went on to capture fifth in the finals.
Her time of 2:04.47 in the 200 individual medley qualified her for the finals, where she went on to finish sixth. Wagstaff's other individual points were from a 12th place finish in the 200 butterfly, which made her a three-event All-American. Wagstaff has won All-American honors all three years at KU.
FRESHMAN TAMMY PEASE was KU's other top finisher with a 10th-place finish in the 100 individual medley. Two other times she just missed qualifying for the final 12 spots. She was also involved in the success of KU's relay teams. She swam her fastest time of the season in the 400 freestyle relay.
"I in the morning I had been so nervous and then getting ready for that relay I had to make sure that I wasn't nervous." Pease said.
sure that the relay teams played an integral part of the Jayhawks' success as three of them finished on the top six and four in the top 12.
The 200 freestyle relay, consisting of Thomas, Pease, Celine Cerny and Stephanie Raney, and the 400 medley relay of Tana Bowen, Pease, Wagstaff and Thomas, both finished fourth behind powers Stanford, Texas, Florida and Alabama.
IN THE FINAL event of the championships, KU's 400 freestyle relay team of Pease, Wagstaff, Raney and Thomas finished fourth to seal up seven place and a happy ending for the Jayhawks, who finished with 108 more team points than last year.
"Some of our times might not have been quite what they were at the Big Eight meet." Kempf said. "Yet this is one of the most highly pressure-packed meets in the country and anytime you swim to the level that they do it's tremendous."
"They did it with a tremendous amount of hard work through the season, a tremendous amount of dedication and a tremendous amount of desire to be winners.
"In the past we haven't been able to perform as a team at the national level, and this year we did."
The meet carried the enthusiasm of any national meet — sixty-seven schools were represented and 33 scored. KU wiped out many of its varsity records as the team placed highest among Midwest teams while reaching its goal of breaking into the top 10.
"WE'VE ALWAYS struggled a little bit and we never quite got over the hump, but this year's team made it," Kemp said.
JAYHAWK NOTES — The finals of the national meet were taped by CBS and will be shown from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. Sunday, April 3.
KU's Tammy Thomas receives her award for winning the 50-yard freestyle at the NCAA Championships in Lincoln, Neb. Thomas set a collegiate and American record in that event and the 100 freestyle to pace the Jayhawks to a seventh place national finish.
KU head swim coach named women's coach of the year
KU head swim coach Gary Kempf was named women's national coach of the year Saturday after directing the Jayhawks to a seventh place finish. NCAA Swimming and Diving finals
Kempt was awarded the honor during the finals competition Saturday night. He was chosen by the 67 coaches whose teams qualified for the finals must meet this past weekend in Lincoln, Neb.
"I'm really honored, of course, to get an award like this," Kempf said, "but I think there's two things that need to be understood very plainly.
"NUMBER ONE, the biggest thing is that it's a tribute to the women and to the work that they've put in. Their performance, of course, led to the receiving of this award, and it's a tremendous tribute through me that they get recognized this way."
Recognize Kempf, in his seventh year as the women's coach, has also been in change of the men's program the last two years. Kempf credited his four assistant coaches with making it possible for him to coach two strong teams.
team.
"Our coaching staff was elected coaching staff of the year, is the way I see it. It's quite an honor for our program."
"I OWN ONE-FIFTH of this award." Kempf said. "There is no possible way that we would've attained the level that we have had it not been for the five of us working as a close group, as a
A former standout swimmer at KU who finished his career with eight individual gold medals and the 1973 Conference swimmer of the year honor, Kempf has guided the Jayhawk to the last seven of their nine straight Eight titles. Kempf celebrated his 25th birthday Saturday.
EACH YEAR, his women's team has finished higher at the national meet. The squad moved up to seventh from last year's 14th place finish at the NCAA meet.
He has also coached numerous All-Americans, including this year's team members Tammy Thomas, Jenny Wagstaff, Stephanie Raney, Susan Schafer, Celine Cerny, Tammy Pease and Tana Bowen.
Mizzou upset by Iowa win in NCAA race
By United Press International
North Carolina State is showing the quality that every team needs to win a championship: the ability to come from behind.
Thur' Bullie scored 25 points, including a layup with three seconds to play, to give North Carolina State a 71-70 comeback victory over North Carolina in gas in a second-round NCAA game award.
North Carolina State will play Utah Thursday at Qden, Utah.
East
On Friday, the Wolfpack rallied to beat Pepperdine in double overtime in an opening round game.
At Hartford, Conn., sophomore guard Chris Mullin, the Big East Player of the Year, scored 14 of his game-high 24 points in the second half to power No. 3 St. John's to a 66-53 victory over Rutgers in a second-round game.
Larry Huggs scored two baskets to trigger a 12-0 spurt midway through the second half that sparked Ohio State to a 79-74 victory over Syracuse.
St. John's, the Big East champion, advances to the East semifinal next weekend at the Carrier Dome against Georgia, Ohio State will meet defending NCAA champion North Carolina.
Midwest
At Louisville, Ky., center Greg Stokes scored 22 points to lead Iowa to a 77-63 upset of No. 12 Missouri to advance to the Midwest semifinals against No. 11 Villanova Friday night.
Iowa, 21-9, took the lead for good with 6:29 in the first half and used a peeky zone defense to hold Missouri, 26-8, scoreless for the rest of the period and take a 32-20 halftime lead.
sunvond enced his college playing career with a game-high 29 points on 14 of 24 shooting from the floor and 1 of 2 from the foul line while Stipanovich, a senior also ending his college playing career, ended the game with just six points.
Missouri coach Norm Stewart said "obviously we weren't aggressive" and added, "It's just a tough way to wind up a season."
tough way to win him.
In the first game, All-America Keith Lee scored 28 points and grabbed 15 rebounds to help No. 17 Memphis State to a 66-57 victory over No. 20 Georgetown. Memphis State meets No. 1 Houston Friday night.
Mideast
At Evansville, Ill., fifth-ranked Indiana combined the long-range shooting of Randy Wittman with a ball-control offense to trounce Oklahoma 83-49. The victory, the Hoosiers' 24th in 29 games, moves the Big Ten champions into the Mideast semifinals at Knoxville, Tenn., Thursday against Kentucky. In the other second-round game, second-ranked Louisville met Tennessee.
In the West, Utah scored a 67-16 upset over No. 7 UCLA and No. 4 Virginia posted a 54-49 victory over Washington State.
over Washington state.
In the East, Georgia notched a 56-54 victory over Virginia Commonwealth and North Carolina beat James Madison, 68-49.
IN THE MIDWEST, Vilanaon topped Lamar,
60-38 and Houston ripped Maryland. 60-50.
608, and House No. 10 Kentucky beat
Also in the Midteast. No. 10 Kentucky beat
Ohio, 57-40, and No. 9 Arkansas outgunned
Purdue, 78-68.
KU women lose against Arizona State
Though bad weather hit much of the Midwest this weekend, the Kansas women's track team members found sunshine and warm weather on Saturday and competed against Arizona State in Tempe, Az.
Kansas drew six first place finishes in the outdoor season opener, but lost the meet. 78-54.
After the meet, the Jayhawks were reminded that Arizona State weather was a treat, when their flight from Denver to Kansas City was delayed because of the bad weather.
"Despite the low score, I felt that the team showed a lot of promise in this first outdoor meet," said Carla Coffey, women's head track coach. "We lacked depth in the field, but the team balanced themselves out nicely, so that we came out looking good."
Donna Smithherman took first in the 100-yard high hurdle in 14.54 seconds. Dora Spearman broke the tape in the 200-meter dash in 25.0 seconds. Lorna Tucker won the 400-yard dash in 54.83 seconds, and Gretchen Bajema won the 1500-meter race in 4:50.09.
COFFEY SAID THAT despite the weakness; this weekend's results indicated a promising field of talented athletes.
1500 meter race in 2013.
The 400-yard relay team of Connie McKernan,
Tucker, Spearman, and Cherise Taylor won the
race in 46.43. The mile relay team of Smithern,
Tucker, Taylor and Cindy Cox, also took first
place in a time of 3:48.42.
place five Jayhawks took second place to add points to the Kansas team total. Stine Lerdahl placed second in the shot put with a 49-11 % throw and teammate Lisa Booch tossed the discus 150-1 for second place.
the 3,000-meter Race.
Kari Haggy threw the discus 146-11 to place third. Taylor placed third in the 400-meter high hurdles in 64.76 seconds and Annette Craighead finished third in the 800-yard run in a time of 2:21.
ALSO TAKING SECOND for the Hawks were Mckernan in the 60-yard high hurdles, Taylor in the 400-yard high hurdles, and Lisa Greenley in the 3,000-meter race.
KU center Kelly Knight watches his stam dunk bounce off the face of Oklahoma State's Raymond Crenshaw.
'Hawks close season with 90-83 OSU loss
By JEFF CRAVENS
Sports Writer
The Kansas Jayhawks, inconsistent from start to finish, ended their basketball season with a 90-83 loss to the Oklahoma State Cowboys in the semi-finals of the Big Eight tournament March 11 in Kemper Arena.
KU's final game featured a shoot-out between the two centers, Kelly Knight for Kansas and Leroy Combs for the Cowboys. Knight finished with 26 points and 14 rebounds and Combs countered with 26 points and 15 rebounds.
"I tell we had our chances to win," said KU coach Ted Owens. "We didn't play defense in the first half and down the stretch we forced some critical shots."
rebounds.
Oklahoma State raced to a 52-45 lead at the half with Combs and Clark scoring 16 and 12 points respectively. Boagni was red-hot in the first half, hitting eight of ten from the field for 16 points.
KERRY BOAGNI finished with 22 points, but could only manage six in the second half. Carl Henry added 21. Calvin Thompson, who had 30 points against Oklahoma in the first round, hit for five points, all in the first half.
for the Cowboys, Matt Clark added 23 points and Raymond Crenshaw had 17 points and 10 rebounds.
KU, behind Knight and Henry, surged back in the second half to tie the score at 59, 61 and 63 before Lorenza Andrews put OSU ahead for good with 9:54 left in the game.
THE JAYHAWKS CLOSED the Cowboy lead to four points, 87-83 with 38 seconds left to play, but Knight missed a dunk off an inbounds pass. Clark hit a free throw and Crenshaw a shot at the buzzer to close out the scoring and end KU's season.
"I'm very disappointed," Knight said. "We played well until the last few minutes of the game. We hurt them all night, then down the stretch, we went away from that."
Oklahoma State went on to beat Missouri in the
finals and advance to the NCAA tournament before bowing to Princeton.
Kansas opened the season with four highly-regarded freshmen, but it was another newcomer who became KU's most consistent performer. Carl Henry, a junior who transferred from Oklahoma City, led the 'Hawks in scoring, averaging 17.6 points a game.
averageing 16.0 points for the year.
Kerry Boagni, the freshman forward from California, was second on the team in scoring, averaging 14.1 points a game. His high game was 27 against Michigan. Boagni led the club in turnovers, committing 90 for the year.
The Jayhawks finished 13-16 overall, their second consecutive losing season under Owens. The last time that KU had two losing seasons in a row was 1971.72 and 1972.73. However, Kansas made its way to the Final Four the following season.
OWENS, WHO HAS a lifetime 348-182 record at KU, saw improvement from the young Jayhawks as they won their last three regular season road games. Before that streak, KU had not won a conference road game in two years.
"Our goal was to improve with each game, and I think we did that," Owens said.
Knight recovered from early season injuries to average 12.3 points a game while shooting 55 percent from the field. Knight led the team in rebounding, pulling in 7.2 boards a game. The junior center also led the team in steals and blocked shots.
1
KANSAS CITY FRESHMAN Calvin Thompson, who poured in a career high 30 points in the Big Eight tournament upset of Oklahoma, was pivotal in game while shooting 47 percent from the field.
Senior Jeff Dishman ended his career at RU by averaging 5.7 points a game while pulling down 4.3 rebounds a game.
Tad Boyle came on in the last three regular season games and stabilized the up and down play of the Jayhawks' point guards. Boyle finished second on the team in assists with 82, two behind freshman Jeff Guiot.
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