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SPORTS
1.2.2.1
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
WWW.KANSAN.COM/SPORTS
1B
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2002
Golfers improve during road trips
By Ryan Greene
rgreene@kansan.com
Kansan Sportswriter
Both the men's and women's golf teams showed improvement at tournaments this weekend, according to their coaches.
The women's team, under new coach Megan Menzel, finished with an eighth-place finish at the Chip-N-Club Invitational in Lincoln, Nebraska.
After finishing 85-over par and in 14th place at their first tournament, the Jayhawks shot 74-over par the past two days.
The Jahawks shot a final-round score of 509 (+21) in the 14-team field.
"We have played some great rounds late in tournaments, and now we just need to put a good early round together," Menzel said.
Kruggel and junior Jennifer Bawanan both tied for 15th place after shooting 16-over par three-round totals of 232.
"The course was set up to play pretty hard with the pins tucked in some difficult places, but I was confident going into today's round," Bawanan said.
Freshman Chelsey Pryor ended with a third-round score of 83 and finished in a tie for 27th place in her first collegiate event.
Senior Kristy Straub's final-round score of 75 put her in a tie for 49th place.
Senior jill MacDonald finished in a tie for 56th place, 31-over par.
The Inverness Intercollegiate Classic, in Toledo, Ohio, started out grim, but the men's team bounced back with its lowest score of the tournament — 298 — in Tuesday's final round and finished 10th in the 15-team field.
Kansas finished 57 over par with a three-round total of 909. Florida won the tournament with a 26-over-par score of 878.
Senior Chris Marshall was Kansas' top individual finisher in a tie for 24th place after firing a 78 in the third round and finishing with a 13-over-par 226.
Junior Tyler Hall recorded the Jayhawks' top single-round score of the tournament with an even-par 71 in Tuesday's final round. He and sophomore Andrew Price would finish with a share of 29th place, both one stroke behind Marshall.
Freshmen Jason Sigler (+17) and Pete Krsnich (+25) rounded out Kansas' golfers.
"I am encouraged by the way the guys made adjustments in today's round, especially on a difficult course," coach Ross Randall said.
Edited by Matt Norton
Chasing a dream
Former LHS players want walk-on spots with basketball team
By Doyle Murphy
dmurphy@kansan.com
Kansan sportwriter
An oversized novelty check on the wall of Hy-Vee reads "Pay to the order of D.J. Watkins." The check is recognition of the $1,200 scholarship that goes along with Hy-Vee's Lawrence Scholar Athlete of the Year award.
For Watkins, a freshman at the University of Kansas, that year included winning a state championship as a member of the LHS scholars' bowl team, leading the Lions in scoring and in his 107th career three-spointer — a Lawrence High School record.
Watkins 37 points against Kansas City Center, Kansas City, Mo. are the second-most points scored in a game at LHS. He usurped former Kansas All American Danny Manning, who had 56 points in a game during the 1984-85 season.
Watkins and ex-high school teammate Stephen Vinson are trying to become the first Lions on Kansas's men's basketball team since Manning and Chris Piper.
Vinson, the 2001-02 Sunflower League Player of the Year, has already accepted a walk-on position. Watkins must battle for one of two or three remaining spots at open try-outs in October.
"I've just been doing my own
thing and waiting." Watkins said.
'His own thing' means walking early in the morning and running two miles before lifting weights. He then runs two miles in the
afternoon and another two miles, timed, at night. Tack on a couple hours of basketball and a full load of classes, and Watkins is a busy guy.
His mother, Phyllis, said Watkins and his three brothers were enough to keep her mind occupied.
"Any game that they played in, I always worried about broken bones and broken noses," she said. "Not that we didn't have enough broken windows."
As for Vinson, he didn't break any windows this summer, but he hasn't exactly been sitting on his hands, either.
SEE BASKETBALL PAGE 3B
His mother, Cyndi Mona, said he was in the gym an average of four to five hours in the gym each
Contributed photo
Lawrence High School graduates Stephen Vinson, left, and DJ Watkins hope to reunite as members of the Kansas basketball team this fall. Vinson has accepted a walk-on position, and Watkins will try out this fall.
Jared Soares/Kansan
The football team expects its hard work will pay off with continued success as it heads into this week's game against Bowling Green. "I feel like we've improved in every area from the first game until today," coach Mark Mangino said.
Football to measure improvement
By Doyle Murphy
dmurphy@kansan.com
Kansas sportswinter
Keep working, improve each week and remain optimistic.
That's the message to the Kansas football team from coach Mark Mangino heading into week four of the season. So far the Jayhawks have responded, he said.
"I feel like we've improved in every area from the first game until today." Mangino said.
The progress and learning has come quickly for some Kansas players as a matter of necessity. Several Jayhawks volunteered to change positions to help the team, and are scrambling to catch up. Freshman Justin Henry, a tight end when he came to Kansas, moved to center this spring and now splits time between guard and center.
Besides learning the intricacies of his new positions. Henry said he needs to add weight. He has added about 15 pounds since this spring, and he now weighs about 260 pounds. Mangino said Henry is one of the hardest workers in the weight room.
Bowling Green defeated Missouri 51-28 last weekend, the second consecutive year the Falcons have beaten Missouri. Cole said he relishes an opportunity to beat a team that defeated the rival Tigers.
The Jayhawks (1-2) want that improvement to continue into Saturday's game against Bowling Green (2-0), senior linebacker Greg Cole said.
"Any time anybody beats your archrival then you want to beat that team," he said. "So we're going to get after them."
Edited by Matt Gehrke
No apologies: Mangino rebuilding team his way
One month. That is about how long Mark Mangino has had to leave his initial mark on the Kansas football program.
Common sense says you won't learn someone's life story in a month's time, nor will you decipher the exacts of someone's personality.
But one month allows you to scratch the surface — discover tendencies and intricacies.
In the 58 days since fall camp opened, Mangino has engraved one lasting message toward his rebuilding efforts. He's going to turn the program across his way—and he doesn't care if you like it or not
You can't blame the guy. He's been a pupil his entire career, doing things another's way as a longtime assistant. It's
Mangino knew taking this job would be nothing like his experiences as an assistant at Oklahoma. Bob Stoops resurrected that program in two years, winning a national title in the third.
about time for him to stand in front of the class, time to put his personal stamp on his team and control its destiny.
And that's exactly what he's doing.In every aspect of the program.
Kansas would be different. There was no Josh Heupel waiting for him at quarterback. No stellar defense. No tradition. No die-hard support. It would be a ground-up project.
Ryan Malashock
rmalashock@kansan.com
So Mangino did the sensible thing. Something Terry Allen never grasped. He refused to place a timetable on future success. He created an extended plan
that would enhance the program's chances every year.
Right now, we're tasting year one of that plan. And though the season has been ugly, it's what Mangino envisioned for year one.
He's playing his young talent — including several true freshmen — and cementing the groundwork for future
teams. While fans may be unhappy with the lack of immediate results, that's reality. And Mangino took the job with a realistic outlook.
His idea of realism has extended to the media. Mangino sees the media as a distraction, an outside force tugging at his team.
So, he placed a media stranglehold on his players. Those used to Terry Allen's free-for-all interviews were greeted with a rude awakening.
He refuses to discuss injuries. For a while, some members of the media believed running back Reggie Duncan's "nagging injuries" were actually a disguise for disciplinary problems. A simple explanation from Mangino would have squashed that talk, but he would not
Eight players who suited up for at least one of Kansas' first two games were not in uniform Saturday, fueling speculation of more disciplinary issues. Included among the unsuited was defensive tackle Brock Teddleton, who saw substantial time in Kansas' first two games. Again, Mangino dodged the issue.
Simply put, Mangino is not worried about making friends. He came here with a dream. To make Kansas a Big 12 Conference power.
He's beginning an era. He's doing it his way. And nothing anyone does or says can change that.
Malashock is an Omaha, Neb., senior in journalism.
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