INSIDE: Legal dispute over Bond's 73rd homerun ball. SEE PAGE 7A. INSIDE: Anthrax scare slows Colorado's arrival at media day. SEE PAGE 7A
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SPORTS
WWW.KANSAN.COM/SPORTS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
TALK TO US: Contact Jay Krall or Sarah Warren at (785) 864-4858 or sports@kansan.com
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2001
Commentary
Chris Wristen
Columnist
sportsokansan.com
Soccer team hopes scooter returns soon
DALLAS — Monica Brothers wishes she was here right now. In two weeks, she will be in nearby San Antonio with her Kansas soccer teammates for the Big 12 Conference championship tournament, but when she gets here something probably won't feel right.
Something is missing.
Last Thursday, while most students were enjoying the first day of fall break and Brothers was at soccer practice, one of her best friends was kidnapped.
kidhapped.
Brothers' scooter, Barry, has been missing for a week. There have been no leads discovered and no arrests made. No ransom notes were left behind. The silver, two-wheeled RAZOR scooter, mostly popular with junior high students too young to drive, has not been heard from in seven days, but Brothers maintains hope that Barry will be returned soon.
She knows he didn't just get up and roll away. He must have been taken
So she worries. Is he in good hands?
Is he in a safe place? Is he in danger?
But she keeps her spirits up and remembers the good times they spent together rolling across campus, rolling to practice, rolling from practice. rolling . well . everywhere.
She loved that scooter. She misses it and she wants it back.
She still recalls the last moments they spent together, before a thief burst her image of a perfect world in which people could ride scooters in safety and not worry about some middle school kid stealing them.
"I left it in the bushes by practice because I had to run through the gravel," Brothers said during a Monday interview on KJHK's The Bench sportstalk. "It was 9 in the morning on Thursday over fall break and I figured, 'Who's up at 9 in the morning? No one will take it."
Sadly, she was wrong.
Brothers said that at first, she had thought one of her teammates took the scooter. "They haven't fessed up, and I think they would by now," Brothers said.
But as was proven during Friday's 4-0 loss to No.17 Texas A&M and Sunday's 2-0 loss to No.12 Texas, Barry clearly plays a vital role in the soccer team's success and its absence rocked the Jayhawks in both games. The Jayhawks are 9-3 with Barry in Brothers' possession. Without the scooter, the team is 1-2. Clearly, Barry was a catalyst for the team, a silent leader that did all of the intangibles, such as providing moral support and giving Brothers rides to and from practice.
Brothers needs her scooter back, and she needs it now.
and she needs the scooter can help elevate her game Sunday when the Jayhawks battle Baylor at 1 p.m. at Super Target Field. She will need it in San Antonio to help the Jayhawks, who are 10-5, roll to the Big 12 title game.
It's nearly 80 degrees today in Texas. It's a great day for soccer and wonderful scooter-cruisin' weather. Brothers would like to do just that while celebrating a Big 12 tournament championship, but unless Barry is here with her, then she'd just assume stay home.
Wristen is a Leawood senior in journalism. He is in Dallas for the Big 12 basketball preseason media day.
'Hawks sweep Oklahoma
September loss avenged as volleyball team wins in three close games
By Steve Laurenzo
Kansan sportswriter
After losing to Oklahoma in September, the Kansas volleyball team redeemed itself last night by sweeping Oklahoma in three games at the Horejsi Family Athletic Center.
On Sept. 22, Oklahoma stunned Kansas, winning the match 3-1 and breaking Kansas' program record-setting 10-0 winning streak.
Last night, Kansas was led by junior middle blocker Molly Scavuzzo, who had 17 kills. Sophomore outside hitter Sarah Rome scored a double-double
with 14 kills and 10 digs.
"I thought Scavuzzo really was great tonight," coach Ray Bechard said. "Seventeen kills, only three errors and hitting 51.6 percent. That was big for us."
The Sooners (2-18, 1-9) stuck with the Jayhawks (13-9, 3-8) through the midway point of game one, staying as close as 13-12, but the 'Hawks slowly pulled away as Scavuzzo pounded three of the Jayhawks next five points. The Jayhawks took an 18-13 lead and held on, winning 30-24.
Games two and three were much tighter, but Kansas prevailed, 30-28 and 33-31. Bechard was pleased with the win,but not ecstatic with his team's performance.
"The second time around, sometimes the matches aren't as pretty because the teams get to know each other's tendencies pretty well," he said. "That was not a
thing of beauty by any means, but I was excited by the fact that we fought and won some games that we needed to win."
Bechard acknowledged the importance of the team's first win at home since Sept. 29
"It was more important tonight to win than it was to have great execution," he said. "I told the team any time you get a win in the Big 12, rejoice and be happy because it's a great conference and it's a very difficult match night in and night out."
Junior defensive specialist Jennifer Kraft made her way into the Kansas volleyball record books by sliding four service aces past the Sooners, giving her 107 career kills and tying her for eighth place in the books. Kraft was happy with her accomplishment but attributed her success to someone else.
"It wasn't something I ever really thought about having as a part of my career, but I'm really excited about it." Kraft said. "It's pretty much my coach's job to tell me where to serve, so he gets the aces, not me."
losing streak.
"Its such a great feeling," she said.
"Practice tomorrow is just going to be a lot brighter. People are going to come in with a lot higher heads we'll work a lot harder."
Kraft was also excited about the Jayhawks breaking their four-game home losing streak.
The Jayhawks head to Texas for matches at Texas Tech on Saturday and Baylor on Sunday.
Runner continues to improve
Contact Laurenzo at 864-4858
Sophomore cuts down run times shows renewed confidence
By Matt Norton Kansan sportswriter
As Katy Eisenmenger breezed through a pair of crisp one-mile runs at Rim Rock Farm Tuesday afternoon, it was easy to see this was not the same runner who finished 67th at last year's Big 12 Conference cross country championships.
She and the rest of the Jayhawks will compete at the 2001 Big 12 championships in Norman, Okla., Saturday.
Eisenmenger said her good track season last year helped her out a lot.
"Ive always been more of a track runner, and I ran quite a bit more this summer than I have in the past," she said. "That boosted my confidence coming into the season right away."
Eisenmenger said she had mononucleosis and anemia late in the indoor track season last winter, just as she was starting to finally recover from it.
ing to many seas. Relieved that perhaps illness was the reason for disappointing performances in cross country and early in the track season, the junior from Fairmont, Minn., said she had renewed confidence to attack her competition at the Big 12 indoor track championships.
Cutting nearly 10 seconds from her previous best at 1,000 meters, she ran the second-fastest time in Kansas history, 2.51.51, in the preliminary heat. She went on to finish a surprising fourth in the final behind three of the best middle-distance runners in the country.
Assistant coach Doug Clark said that as Eisen-
AARON SHOWALTER/KANSAN
menger headed into the big meet at Lincoln, Neb., she was ready for a breakthrough.
"I can't say that it was a complete surprise, but it was just great to see it happen," he said. "She's been on a tear ever since."
During the outdoor season, she took more than 20 seconds off her 1,500-meter best, recording the fourthfastest time in school history. She finished the season with an eighth-place finish at the conference championships.
Her improvement has continued into this cross country season.
season. In each of the Jayhawks three meets in 2001, Eisenmenger has improved her times from those on the same courses a season ago.
Junior runner Katy Eisenmenger races toward the finish line during the final stretch of the season-opening meet at Rim Rock Farm outside Lawrence. Eisenmenger has improved her time on nearly every course this year and has become one of the strongest runners on the women's team.
At home in the Bob Timmons Invitational, she chopped 35 seconds off last year's time. Three weeks later at Oklahoma State, she finished a staggering 1:34 faster than in 2000. Then at the Chili Pepper cross country festival in Arkansas two weeks ago, she sliced 1:07 from her performance there last season.
Eisenmenger said the adjustment to team leader had been easy.
"I think our team has always meshed pretty well," she said. "I don't feel like there's any strong divisions between anybody. It is kind of fun seeing some of the new girls coming in and show them the ropes a little bit. You see that they obviously look up to you a little bit."
"I think a lot of it is taking it easy and not being too hard on themselves," she said. "Everyone their bad days
She said she had tried to impart some of the wisdom she had attained through her struggles to get better at this level.
Clark recruited Eisenmenger while he and Kansas coach Stan Redwine were on staff at the University of Tulsa.
and you're not always going to perform your absolute best."
He said while he was disappointed Eisenmenger didn't choose Tulsa, he was excited to work with her when he moved to Kansas in the fall of 2000, the beginning of Eisenmenger's sophomore year.
"At the start of the school
year last year, I said 'She's just got a lot of rust on her, she's just got to knock it off and get back down to the athlete and start working again,'" Clark said.
"She's done a great job ever since," he said. "She's always worked hard since I've been here; we just started behind. The shape she came into this year compared to the shape she came into last year, there is no comparison."
Contact Norton at 864-4858
Five netters head to regionals
Freshman Paige Brown acquired a spot in the singles main draw. She won two preliminary matches against Utah State's Caroline Pollock, 6-1, 6-3, and Kansas State's Paula Castillejos, 6-2, 6-4. Brown will join three teammates, senior Cheryl Mallaiah, junior Emily Haylock and sophomore Courtney Steinbock, who were invited as automatic entries into the 64-player singles tournament.
The Kansas tennis team advanced one of two players in the singles qualifying round at the ITA Central Regional Tournament in Tulsa, Okla., yesterday.
KANSAS TENNIS
Amy Hall, Kansas assistant coach, said she was pleased to see Brown do well and that Brown could stun opponents.
"Paige played awesome today. She really worked out there today." Hall said. "If she keeps her momentum going, she is going to surprise a lot of people in this tournament."
In addition to playing singles, Brown also will play with Mallaiah in the doubles tournament.
Junior Kim Lorenz lost her single elimination qualifying match to New Mexico State's LeJla Porobic, 1-6, 1-6. She will play with partner Emily Haylock in doubles action.
The singles and doubles main draw started today and ends Sunday. The top two finishers in singles and doubles in the ITA Central Regional Tournament will advance to compete Friday, Nov. 9 to Sunday, Nov. 11 at the National Indoor Championships in Dallas.
— Jason Hwang
Allen upset media focuses is on his job not on team
By Brent Briggeman Kansan sportswriter
Kansas football coach Terry Allen doesn't like to talk about his job status. But he really doesn't like it when his players are asked about it too.
Allen used the first 10 minutes of his weekly press conference yesterday to berate the media's focus on his job status. He asked that emphasis instead be shifted to the play of his 2-4 Jayhawks.
4. jayhawks.
It's bad for the team, Allen said, if all they ever hear about is Terry Allen and his job, and worse now that they're being asked about it.
"That doesn't bother me because I'm going out to play for myself and for the school and also for coach Allen, but I can't decide whether he's here or not."
"I read the statements in the paper this morning about coach Allen and the coach's show," said Mario Kinsey, freshman quarterback. "People calling in and telling him he should resign and he's not a D-I coach.
Senior captain Nate Dwyer said he could see both sides of the story.
The Kansas players are aware of their coach's situation, but said they pay little attention to it.
"I don't know if I'm going to be here next year," he said. "But right now we're doing everything we can to prepare this team to play Kansas State."
they are being asked "Let's talk about Roger Ross and his 110 punt-return yards last week," Allen said. "Or Mario Kinsey's progression at quarterback."
However, after seeing that his players had been brought into the issue, Allen decided to voice his displeasure.
Allen said he understood why his job security has been a hot topic. In four-plus seasons in Lawrence, Allen has a 19-29 record, including a 0-4 mark against Kansas State.
he could see back to "We know he's a good coach and we like him a lot and respect him," Dwyer said. "But it comes along with the job I suppose. There's always the pressure to win."
Talk of his potential firing intensified in area newspapers after last week's 38-34 home loss to Missouri.
Allen can go a long way to silence his critics with a win in Manhattan on Saturday. Kickoff for the Sunflower Showdown is set for 2:30 p.m.
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Contact Briggeman at 864-4058