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Sports
University Daily Kansan / Wednesday, November 1, 1989
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Steve Heffernan warms-up before practice at Memorial Stadium.
Kansas runner looks ahead to district race
By Paula Parrish
Kansen sportswriter
Kansas cross country runner Steve Heffernan's consistent season was flawed last weekend at the Big Eight Cross Country Championships in Ames, Iowa.
"At the bottom of a hill, there was about five yards of mud. Everybody ran out and looked up. Just hit the wrong spot and went down." Hefferman said.
Heferman, a top runner all season,
had expected to finish among the top
five at the meet. But because of his
fall between the third- and fourth-
mile marker, he was only able to
scramble back to 20th with a time of
26:30. The winning time on the 8-kilometer course was 25:04. Kansas
finished fifth overall.
Coach Gary Schwartz said that Heffernan was in ninth or 10th place when he fell.
"I just lost a few places and got dirty, but I wasn't going to quit," he said. "For being the last Big B meet that I'll run, it was disappointing."
Heffernan placed 10th last year at the championships, and he took one first place and two second place teams. He met with the NCAA Regional Districts, just two weeks away, are occupying his thoughts now.
"I'm thinking about what's ahead," Heffernan said. "That's what I'm looking forward to right now and trying not to think about what happened at the Big Eight."
Heffernan, a senior from Kearney, Neb., has led the Kansas men's team to a 21st place ranking nationally, as well as having won country coaches across the country.
It was a nice reward, I guess for the way we're working, but we don't really think about it much," he said. "Right now, I'm more concerned with how to do at districts and hopefully, what the team's going to do at nationals."
ten two weeks from now, although he ran his worst race last year at districts, he said. He finished eighth two years ago.
Heffernan expects to be in the top
"But I was sick or something," he said. "I know I can do it. I just have to get out there and run."
Hefferman has been a team leader all season, and he said that Kansas would still be a threat even after he has graduated.
"They're going to have good depth next year," he said. "They'll be a year older and that much more prepared. They've got a good base to build on."
I'm thinking about what's ahead. That's 07.9.'m looking forward to right now and trying not to think about what happened at the Big Eight.
Steve Heffernan Kansas runner
Kansas runner
Hefferman said he was lucky to have been in the program under Schwartz. Schwartz is in his second year as track and cross country coach.
"I'm glad I had an opportunity to be one of his athletes," he said. "The attitudes and the teams have just turned around so much in a year. In five or six years, KU's going to be a team again, for both men and women."
Despite a disappointing race last weekend, Heffernan couldn't be happier with the course the team has taken this season.
"I'm really pleased with the beginning of the season and with the way my practices have been going," he said.
Florida basketball coach quits amid drug inquiry
"Everything has just really clicked this year. As a team, we all know what the coaches want. And the guys really get along well this year. Overall, I think this is a lot better team than last year."
The Associated Press
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Florida basketball coach Norm Sloan resigned under pressure yesterday, leaving a program that has been under investigation for more than 18 months and was recently linked to a federal drug case.
The school hired former Tennessee coach DeVoce as interim coach.
In a six-paragraph letter to Florida in the interim President, Robert Bryan, Sloan said he resigned at the request of the University Athletic Association, a private organization that governs the athletic department.
"Its officials have presented evidence that certain student-athletes during my tenure have received benefits above those allowed by the NCAA," Sloan said, referring to athletes not now enrolled.
"I deny any such violations have occurred, but I have nevertheless decided to honor the request that I retire now." he said in the letter.
Bryan said, "I regret very much the events that have occurred today. However, I believe what has occurred is in the best interests of the
DeVoe said he was offered the Gators' job in a phone call from Bill Arnsparger, Florida athletic director. DeVoe was at Tennessee for 11 seasons before being forced to resign in March.
Sloan's retirement, announced in a statement by Bryan, came 24 days after Florida football coach Galen Hall resigned and admitted violating NCAA rules.
university's athletic program and the university as a whole."
"I am looking forward to immediately coming down to Gainesville and coaching the Gators." DeVoe said.
Sloan, who won the national championship at North Carolina State in as many as 79-year career games (627-390 and 225-194 mark in 15 years at Florida.
Sloan, 63, led the Gators to the school's first-ever Southeastern Conference championship last year and angrily confronted the media two weeks ago in the wake of reports that he and his staff had resigned or would be fired soon.
He said he had grown tired of an internal probe of the basketball program that began last year and offi-
cally was joined by the NCAA on June 30.
In his letter, Sloan said he decided against fighting to keep his job.
"I believe such would be counterproductive for our university athletic program, and I believe that you face a great task in keeping our school as the academic flagship of Florida universities. My very strong loyalty prevents my doing anything that might focus energies away from that principal mission."
Sloan said his greatest regret was leaving his players.
"My retirement might be considered by them as abrupt, but it is in their best interest, which they will know in time," his letter said. "I leave with great sadness but with my head held high."
"Gentlemen," Sloan said that day, "this has been going on for a year and a half. I don't know how you could more intensely investigate a program."
Arnsparser said Sloan's departure will enable "us to continue to move forward and build our athletic program.
Barry, a 6-foot-1, 175-pound rookie from the University of Kansas and the son of former NBA star Derek Ewing, will play in the games, scoring six points.
Popson, who played in college at North Carolina, has played 17 NBA games with the Los Angeles Clippers and Miami Heat.
Another former Kansas player forward Milt Newton, was cut by the Los Angeles Lakers.
Sport briefs
On Monday, Andrew Gaze, who helped Seton Hall reach the NCAA championship basketball finals against Michigan, was released by the Seattle SuperSonics.
Fennis Dembo, who watched mostly from the bench as Detroit won its first NBA championship, was cut by the Pistons. Bavar,
SERIES FLOPS: The Bay area World Series was a flop on television.
The Oakland Athletics' fourgame sweep of the San Francisco
The ratings plunged to their lowest levels in at least 21 years, with an average of less than a sixth of the TV sets in the United States tuned to the games.
Giants on ABC got a 16.4 rating, according to statistics released yesterday by Nielsen Media Research. Nielsen, which has been keeping ratings since 1950, said it was the lowest numbers since at least 1968, but that it would take additional research to determine if the ratings were the lowest ever.
BASKETBALL HONORS: Premier pivotwoman Elvin Hayes and Bob Lanier were among 15 people nominated for election to the basketball Hall of Fame yesterday, but former MBA Commissioner Larry O'Brien asked that his name be withdrawn because he disapproved of the secretive process.
Game 4 on Saturday night was the lowest-rated primetime World Series game ever, getting a 14.7 rating and a 28 share. It was outdrawn by three programs on NBC, "Golden Girls" "Empty Nest" and "Hunter."
Hayes and Lanier, dominant collegiate players who each played in eight NBA All-Star games, were nominated for the first time, as were players Nate Archibald and Calvin Murphy and former Marque coach Al McGuire.
Players renominated for possible enshirment were Earl Monroe, Dave Bing, Walt Bellamy, Larry Foost and two women —
former UCLA and Olympic star
Ann Meyers and Nera White, who
led her Nashville-based team to 10
consecutive AAU championships.
Also renominated were coaches Jack Hartman, Jack Ramsay and Wil Robinson and sportscaster Curt Gowdy, who served as president of the Hall of Fame for seven years.
**COMETS UNDEFEATED:** Kim Roentveld had one goal and two assists last night as he led the Kansas City Comets to a 5-4 Major Indoor Soccer League victory against the Tacoma Stars in Kansas City, Mo.
Election requires 18 votes from the 24-member Honors Committee. Inductees are announced in February.
Trailing 3-1 at the half, the Comets came back with four unanswered goals in taking a 5-3 lead in the second half.
Roentved assisted on Kevin Huntdelt's goal at 10:26 in the third quarter. At 6:41 in the fourth quarter, Roentved unloaded a 50-foot goal for a 3-3 score.
Gerry Gray added a power play goal and Jan Goosens's goal with Roentveld assisting cameo. He played well, including the score 5-3 in favor of the Comets.
Women form Kansas lacrosse team; club attracts enthusiastic players
By Andres Caveller
By Andres Caveller
Kansan sportswriter
Lacrosse may not be a popular sport in Kansas, but that didn't stop Jeanne Brennan from forming a women's club at the University of Kansas.
Brennan, Denver, Colo., sophmore, who played lacrosse for a year and a half in high school, said, "I was shocked when I came to KU. I expected there to be a team, but there wasn't."
Brennan, with the help of some of the members of the men's team, formed the club at the beginning of the semester.
The women's team has about 25 members who practice four times a week with the men's team at Shenk Complex at Iowa and 23rd streets.
demanding as varsity sports. Now, she said she had found the game addictive.
Peggy Maday, Chicago sophomore, said she joined because it was something different and because it looked fun.
Darci Davenport, Chicago freshman, said she joined because it was fun to be part of a new club and she wanted to play a sport that was not as
Brennan, president of the club,
said the club got started when some
members of the men's team put a
sign-up list in the Kansas Union
during fall enrollment for women
interested in playing lacrosse.
Twelve people signed up to play, she
said.
Although all 12 women have dropped from the team, it now has more than 25 members who practice whenever they can, she said.
Brennan said that they had worked on basic drills, such as running the ball and getting accustomed to the stick. She said the team scrimmaged occasionally with the men's team to get more experience.
from men's. Women do not wear pads and special equipment, and the players have little contact with one another. In the men's game, players wear helmets and pads, and the game has more contact.
Davenport said practices had not been strict this fall, but next semester they needed to become stricter to gain more aggressiveness and become more competitive.
The club does not have a coach, but the most experienced players take that role, she said.
"It's difficult for me to coach and play at the same time," she said.
Brennan, who has plans to make the club better, said she hoped to take the club next spring to Colorado and Missouri to play matches against universities and high schools.
Lacrosse, a combination of field sports such as soccer and hockey, is not as popular in Kansas as it is in Colorado, Brennan said.
But women's lacrosse is different
KC area misses out on hockey
Hockey season started three weeks
Didn't notice, did you?
Didn't think Don't care?
Thought so.
I discovered many peculiarities when I came to Kansas three years ago, not the least of which was the discouraging lack of interest in ice hockey. No Buffalo chicken wings, no good football, no snow, no hoo
Elaine Sung Sports editor
I was excited when I heard Kansas City was once again thinking about getting a minor league hockey franchise. Then I realized there was no way the city could handle something like that when it can't even figure out how to deal with the American Royal.
Needless to say, Kansas basketball was (and still is) the craze, while football was being dragged around in a deep murk. So I willingly adopted basketball, watched football with a miserable fascination and kept wishing for hockey games. Of course, it was kind of odd watching the game when it was still 60 degrees outside with no wind of Arctic winds on the way — another peculiarity.
People here always wrinkle their noses when I mention how much I like hockey (I used to play it, too). I'd ask what's wrong with the sport, and I'd get reactions like:
▶ "It's so stupid." Yeah, and bowling isn't?
▶ "It's too violent." What about boxing?
▶ "I'm from the middle of Kansas.
We don't have ice there."
The litany continues. But my ice hockey friends and I argue about the merits of each team, just like other people will argue whether the Chiefs are ever going to get ONE decent quarterback (no), or who's better, the Cubs or the Cardinals, (the Cubs). It's a real sport, and people who have never gone to a real hockey game or even seen one on television are missing out.
(Unfortunately, the sport shot itself in the foot in that area when it signed with a private and smaller cable station network instead of ESPN. That's why no one in Kansas will see a televised hockey game for the next eon.)
The people I did find at Kansas who knew something about hockey also knew the game wasn't just a sport of skating, but a sport of wall-crashing, goalie-killing fun.
It's a game with some finesse involved because everyone can run and jump, but it takes some work to learn how to skate (and not the kind where you hold on (and the railing for support).)
It's true that there are some pretty vicious fights on the ice, but like any sport, there will be flaws. I certainly don't think fighting is any worse than the drug problem flooding some of the other sports.
And like other sports, ice hockey involves practice, talent, defness, speed and luck. Unlike other sports, ice hockey players are not high-priced ego-stroking sports figures. On average, they are paid less per year than baseball and football players. Which, I realize, might not be saying much, but we have to talk perspective nowadays.
But the game is usually clean, there's no free agency, the number of fights have decreased recently with stricter rules and the season isn't broken up by a players' strike.
There's a lot to be said for ice hockey — even in Kansas.
> Elaine Sung is a Rochester, N.Y.
senior majoring in journalism.
KU volleyball defeats K-State
By a Kansan reporter
The Kansas volleyball team took a cue from the football team and beat the Kansas State Wildcats, 15-13, 15-6, 15-11, last night at Allen Field House.
"We didn't play our best," said Adrian Powell, St. Louis freshman. "That is the sign of a good team, when we can win without playing our best. Our blocking and serving were really good, but our passing wasn't that good. We needed this win."
Coach Frankie Albizt agreed with Powell that this match wasn't Kansas' best and added that the absence of freshman Kris Kleinmidt, who missed the match
The victory improved the Jayhawks' record to 12-14 overall and 3.4 in the Big Eight.
with an injury, hurt the team.
“It’s nice to win when we could have played better,” freshman Tami Taber said. “This shows how good we can be.”
"If we play as well as we did this weekend, we still have a chance," Albizia said.
"We played rough, but it was nice to win." Albitz said. "We played much better last-weekend, but I think we missed Kris."
The victory kept the Jayhawks in fifth place and still within reach of qualifying for the Big Eight Conference Tournament Nov. 24-25. The top four teams in the conference compete in the annual tournament.
The Jayhawks' next match is against Colorado Nov.4 in Allen Field House.
Chiefs get report card
The Associated Press
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — It's midterm in the NFL season, and Marty Schottenheimer's report card gives the Kansas City Chiefs passing grades.
"Record-wise, we're not where we'll like to be," Schottenheimer said of his squad, 3-5 after last week's disappointing loss to Pittsburgh. "But if you look at our team, I believe we are better right now in most areas than we were eight weeks ago. I'm very pleased with the progress."
Schotteneheimer was hired in February to take over a team that had won just eight games the previous two seasons and made only one playoff appearance since 1971.
Ole Miss establishes trust fund
The Associated Press
OXFORD, Miss. — Mississippi established a trust fund yesterday to help provide lifetime care for Ole Miche defensive back Roy Lee "Chuckie" Mullins, who was paralyzed during a game Saturday.
"Chuckle will require lifetime care, and neither insurance, state or federal programs will provide Chancellor R. Gerald Turane said.
"The overall incidence of recovery for this is not good," said
Mullins, a 6-foot, 178-pound backup defensive back, fractured the third, fourth, fifth and sixth vertebrae of his neck when he took a blow on the top of his head during the game against Vanderbilt.
Clarence Watridge, one of two surgeons who operated for five hours Monday on Mullins.
Watridge and fellow surgeon Marvin Leventhal operated on Mullins at Baptist Memorial Hospital in Memphis, Tenn., to realize his twisted spine and fuse the broken vertebrae.
Mullin' condition was changed yesterday to serious. He previously was listed in serious but stable condition, hospital officials said.
"For someone who has no feeling and no movement below a car
Yesterday, doctors performed a tracheotomy on the player, which involves creating an opening into the trachea through the neck. Hospital officials said the surgery would help Mullins with secretions and the prevention of infection.
tain level, the general prognosis is quite poor for a return of function below that level." Watrigue said.
On Saturday, representatives of the Mullins Fund will stand at each gate of Vaught-Hemingway Stadium in Oxford to receive donations before the Ole Miss-Louisiana State game. At the end of the first quarter, students will ask for contributions.
"Our goal is to raise $50,000 at Saturday's game. If each of the more than 40,000 expected to attend gave just $2, that goal could be easily reached and exceeded," said Warner Alford, Mississippi athletic director.
Aldford said the university's insurance for athletes will cover all medical expenses during the first few years.
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