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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
FRIDAY, AUGUST 23, 2002
Kansan File Photo
Recreation Services is renovating Shenk Complex, located at Clinton Parkway and Iowa Street.
Field renovations displace teams
Piles of dirt now sit where soccer and football fields once did.
Recreation Services is renovating the Shenk Complex, located at Clinton Parkway and Iowa Street. The renovations will improve irrigation and drainage of the land.
"We're renovating so we can have better quality fields," said Betsy Lafferty, intramural director.
The new fields will be ready for Fall 2003 intramural games.
Soccer games will take place at the field between Robinson and the Computer Center on Sunnyside Avenue. Football teams will play at the north end of Shenk Complex where repairs are not underway.
The renovations include grass seed
"We're renovating so we can have better quality fields."
Betsy Lafferty intramural director
ing, new sidewalks to provide access to restrooms, and a paved drive and parking lot on the south end of the complex.
Recreation Services made the decision to repair the Shenk Complex as part of the project for the new Student Recreation and Fitness Center currently under construction.
The project costs $150,000. Funding comes from the $17 million budget for the new recreation center.
Director of Recreation Services Mary Chappell said the expense was necessary
Athletes do not believe the changes will pose any problems for intramural games.
She said the fields were unfit for play after rain storms because of drainage problems. A new trickle channel will control water run-off.
Lafferty felt confident that intramural participants will not face many difficulties in planning or playing fall sports.
"Problems we may face will be worth it for what we'll have next year," Lafferty said.
Kelly McNearney
Aaron Showalter/Kansan
Rim Rock course grows through work of runners
Justin Schmidt
Kansan sports writer
Iron silhouettes of legendary Kansas runners welcome visitors to Rim Rock Farm, the home of the Kansas cross country teams. But it is not only the home of the Hawks, it was built by them, too.
"Our goal was to develop Rim Rock into one of the best courses in the country," said Bob Timmons, Rim Rock owner and former Kansas cross country coach.
Timmons has achieved his goal.
"Everyone who runs it calls it the hardest course in the nation." John DiCagolo, junior runner, said.
After the 1998 NCAA Championships were held at Rim Rock, Timmons surveyed runners and coaches. Timmons said many coaches felt Rim Rock was a great, but incredibly tough, place to run.
"It is very challenging," Doug Clark, Kansas assistant
cross country coach, said. "Oak Holler and Billy Mills Ascent are some of the toughest hills I've ever seen."
Timmons hopes Rim Rock will hold another national championship. Kansas has put in a bid for the 2004 NCAA Championship.
Timmons bought the land northwest of Lawrence in the mid-1970s to give Kansas cross country and track a place to train and compete. At the beginning of each of the 24 seasons Timmons' coached, his teams would go through a work week. In a typical day, the team would work twice on the course, swim twice, run twice, and eat five meals.
"I think the team enjoyed that week,team bonding took place,"Timmons said."When a team worked on it that long,it became very much their own.The more they worked on it,the more it became home."
Every Kansas invitational cross country meet since 1980 has been at Rim Rock, Timmons said. Kansas will
Bob Timmons owns and maintains the land at Rim Rock Farm, where high school and college cross country meets have been held since 1980. Sculptures of some of KU's famous runners were installed in 1997, including one of John Lawson, who won nationals in 1965. Timmons' first year coaching the team.
hold its first meet, the Bob Timmons Invitational, at Rim Rock on Saturday, Sept. 7.
Before Rim Rock, the cross country team's home meet bounced between several locations. West Campus was the home of the NCAA Championships in 1965 and 1966, he said. Timmons recalls having to find a new course because motorcycles and cars drove on and destroyed it.
Home meets were held at the Alvamar golf course, but that became a problem for both Alvamar and Kansas as golf became more popular, Timmons said.
The flat black silhouettes of former Kansas runners such as Billy Mills and Jim Ryun give Rim Rock its character.
"It's motivating just to be out there working out," Clark said.
Kansas practices at Rim Rock two or three times a month, Clark said. He said he believed the hill training at the farm was important for both cross country and
SEE RIM ROCK ON PAGE 3B
Bears present first test for soccer team
By Nikki Overfelt
Kansas sportswriter
The Kansas soccer team, picked to finish sixth in the Big 12 Coaches Preseason Poll and ranked sixth in the Central Region poll by online soccer publication Soccer Buzz, faces Southwest Missouri State in an exhibition game today at 7 p.m. in Springfield, Mo.
Since this is the team's first game. Coach Mark Francis believes that adjusting to the addition of new players and the switching of roles will be difficult.
"I think the toughest challenge will be, being so early in the year, everyone understanding what their roles are," he said.
"I think organizationally we are getting there," he said. "We are a long way from where we need to be, but we are a lot further than our first day of practice. That's progress and that's what we are looking for."
Francis also said that the second week of practices had been going well and the team had shown improvement.
"It's time for us to come together and show other teams what we have and what we are going to bring to the field this year," she said.
Brianna Valento, senior defender and co-captain, is very excited about the game, especially to see how the team plays together.
SEE SOCCER ON PAGE 3B
Midfielder leaves team
University of Kansas officials announced Tuesday that Pardis Brown, defender midfielder for the women's soccer team, will not play her senior season because of reoccurring concussions.
Her seventh concussion occurred about three weeks ago while playing for the Kansas City Mystics, a National Soccer League team. Brown said she was having a hard time with not being able to compete anymore.
"I'm disappointed," she said. "It (her senior season) just doesn't feel complete. Going from being a captain to not playing at all is really hard."
John Nowak/Kansan
Kansas Soccer Co-Captain Lindsay Hunting.
Ontario, Canada, junior (bottom) stretches after
Wednesday's practice.
Ryan Wood
rwood@hansan.com
Hill's gone Gasaway is football's leader now
Senior wide receiver Harrison Hill is gone now, a victim of chronic dehydration.
It's a team short on talent, and in recent years, even shorter on common sense.
When Kansas football lost a player with a little bit of both, it might have been a devastating blow.
Hill was a leader and arguably the Jayhawks' best player. And most importantly, while his teammates were getting lodged in drive-thru windows and stealing purses from beauty queens, Hill, like most people on campus, stayed out of trouble.
Now, it's up to Byron Gasaway to lead the receiving corps.
The 6-foot-3, 210-pound wideout has what it takes to step in and be the leader this team so desperately needs.
"We have high expectations for him," first-year coach Mark Mangino said. "We need him to get out there and get it done for us."
Mangino made those comments on Aug. 9, two days before the abrupt ending to Hill's sixth and final season at Kansas. Can you imagine how much芒因 needs Gasaway now?
High expectations are nothing new for the senior. They've followed him for years, but in the recent past, the Grandview, Mo., native has struggled to live up to them.
"The expectations are always kind of big." Gasaway said. "Especially coming from a small town like Grandview."
Whether it was jaw-dropping. 75-yard touchdown runs, spectacular rim-shaking dunks or seemingly unfair 100-meter dashes, Gasaw was simply outstanding during his prep playing days.
He could have starred in baseball, too, had there been enough time in his schedule.
But football was Gasaway's passion, and Kansas was where he wanted to go.
He showed Jayhawk faithful a hint of his potential early, when he caught a game-tying, 35-yard touchdown reception in his collegiate debut in 1998. The ball was pulled down in double coverage against conference foe Oklahoma State, but with Gasaway's size, hands and speed, the Cowboy secondary had no chance.
Gasaway ended his freshman campaign with 12 catches for 148 yards.
But then he broke his jaw in a nasty weight room accident before his sophomore season, and it's been downhill ever since.
Now, it's critical for a healthy Gasaway to be the star Kansas coaches say he can be. With Hill's departure, the offense that was so terrible last year has no proven upgrades.
Optimism always comes with a new coaching staff,but to be realistic,a lot of players Gasaway included need to have breakthrough years if significant improvement is going to be made.
Mangino didn't inherit much. The talent just isn't there, especially compared to several opponents the Jayhawks will see this season.
In terms of raw ability and athleticism, Gasaway may be the best player Mangino has.
"Players," Mangino says, "will live up to the expectations you set on them."
Kansas fans better hope he's right.
Wood is a Lee's Summit, Mo., senior in journalism.
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