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SPORTS
VOLLEYBALL TEAM LOSES TO K-STATE
Jayhawks start strong in first set, but falter in last four to No. 17 Wildcats. SPORTS | 6B
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
WWW.KANSAN.COM
CONFERENCE PLAY BEGINS THIS WEEK
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2008
Big 12 teams begin battling each other as ranked teams face unranked teams. BIG 12 FOOTBALL | 5B
PAGE 1B
SOCCER
SWEET ESCAPE
Freshman forward Emily Cressy (right) hugs a junior midfielder after hitting a shot just out of reach of the goalkeepers hand. Kansas defeated the University of Alabama at Birmingham 5-2 Friday afternoon at the Jayhawk Soccer Complex.
Weston White/KANSAN
Deafness doesn't affect Emily Cressy's prowess on the field
BY ANDREW WIEBE
awiebe@kansan.com
For 90 minutes Emily Cressy is just like everyone else.
Except for one thing.
From the time she steps between the white chalk lines until the final whistle blows, it's impossible to distinguish her 5-foot-5-inch frame from the rest of the 21 other players on the field.
Cressy's head is always up, neck on a swivel as she processes her surroundings. Her eyes scour the field, searching for the ball, a teammate's eyes or a crease in the defense.
Coach Mark Francis screams instructions from the sidelines. But Cressy doesn't hear him.
She's deaf. The game is her escape.
"When I'm on the field, I'm not just a deaf person," she said.
Here, on a rectangular patch of grass with goalposts on both ends, Cressy is just a 19-year-old college student from Ventura, Calif. Her hair — blonde until a recent dark dye job — obscures the hearing aid in her left ear.
Cressy never let her impairment hold her down, and once she found soccer, she never looked back. She found a comfort zone on the field.
It's the only physical sign of the hearing impairment that doctors discovered months after she was born.
Her teams won tournament after tournament. Her play attracted awards. And she was a teen Olympian, chosen to represent her country in Australia as one of its most gifted deaf athletes.
Then Kansas came calling. Cressy knew right away that Mount Oread was where she wanted to take her game to the next level as a collegiate athlete.
The game was also there when times weren't so good. A welcome escape when fate finally took the little hearing she had in her right ear. Then so close, but just out of her reach, when she took a redshirt to focus on academics.
"When she is out there, she loves the game," her mother, Rhonda, said.
At first she kept it to herself, discreetly testing Cressy with a finger snap or a few gentle words when her daughter wasn't looking.
--to an audiologist. Four visits later the doctor delivered the news. Cressy was born with severe to profound hearing loss. With hearing aids she would have some residual hearing. No one was certain how long it would last.
It was Cressy's grandmother who first noticed something peculiar about her 6-month-old granddaughter.
The baby didn't respond to sound.
"I don't think she wanted to scare me"
Rhonda said.
Eventually the family had no choice to seek help. Rhonda and Rick took Cressy
Rhonda was devastated, as at time went on and Cressy grew up, it became clear she wouldn't be held back by her hearing loss.
just one of many in a large extended family, Cressy never felt like an anomaly. The second of three girls, she was never short of playmates. With the help of hearing aids she developed her speech to the point that most people never noticed her impairment.
"Growing up, we just treated her the same?" Rhonda said.
And she found soccer. Following closely in the footsteps of her older sister, Erica, Cressy began dominating American Youth Soccer Organization (AYSO) recreational-league soccer at the age of four. She was hooked from the start, playing with Erica, boys from her neighborhood and whoever else wanted to kick the ball around.
"I just wanted to play soccer." Cressy said.
There was plenty of time for that in temperate Ventura. Soccer helped her cope with the daily reminder that she was different.
"She doesn't let it get her down too often," Rhonda said. "I think sometimes it does get to her, but for the most part she is very upbeat. She has always been like that."
Cressy excelled on the soccer field, garnering interest from a Ventura youth coach when she was eight. He wanted Cressy on his team.
Despite Rick and Rhonda's initial apprehension, Cressy joined the Eagles the next year. The Eagles captured two national titles and won more than 70 percent of their games in the next eight years.
"We weren't that good in the beginning." Cressy said modestly.
She was at the center of the action as always, capturing the title of top scorer and MVP at the 2007 U.S. Youth Soccer National Championships in Frisco, Texas.
The Eagles had chemistry on and off the field. Cressy developed lifelong friendships, and her teammates made sure she felt like one of the girls.
"It sort of was a little family for her." Rhonda said. "All the girls started out together, and they were all good players. A lot of them learned sign language so they could help Emily so I think that made her feel very comfortable."
She thrived. Other coaches took notice.
--the Jayhawks in 2008. His 37 catches are tops in the nation — an average of 9.25 per game that just edges out James Casey of Rice, who is averaging 9.0.
SOCCER
It's January 2005. Cressy stands in a bustling terminal of Los Angeles International Airport surrounded by people clad in nothing but red, white and blue. Her parents stand beside her, her teammates next to them.
SEE CRESSY ON PAGE 4B
Meier keeps his eye on the prize
Leading the nation in receptions per game, he wants a shot at the NFL
BY B.J. RAINS rains@kansan.com
Jayhawk broadcaster Bob Davis calls him "Old Reliable." Quarterback Todd Reesing refers to him as "Old Faithful."
But for junior wide receiver Kerry Meier, calling him by his name would be just fine.
"I don't know about old," Meier said, "But I guess you can call me faithful."
Meier has been both reliable and faithful for
Meier
"It's still kind of strange to me," Meier said of leading the nations in receptions. "It's not what I thought was going to happen."
Meier's success at the wide receiver position is truly remarkable when you realize that he only spends about 30 minutes of each practice working with the wide receivers. He still spends almost
two hours of each practice working on his job as the back-up quarterback.
"I'm still learning a lot at quarterback," Meier said. "In college football, you never know what's going to happen on the next play. I have
Meier's college career got off to a rocky start when he was injured for part of the 2006 season before losing his job to Todd Reesing a year ago. Instead of transferring, Meier made the unusual transition to wide
to be readv."
receiver and has become the Jayhawks' go-to receiver through the first four games of the season.
After never lining up at receiver and catching a pass before last September, Meier now has thoughts of playing in the sport's ultimate destination: the NFL.
"I still have all of this year and all of next season as well, but that's why I came to college football — to play in the NFL."
Meier's oldest brother Shadley played at Kansas State and went on to play six years in the NFL as a tight end for both the Tennessee Titans and the New
"I still have all of this year and all of next season as well, but that's why I came to college football — to play in the NFL," Meier said. "If it's not in your mind, then I don't really know why you're playing the
KERRY MEIER Junior wide receiver
game. It's always been a goal of mine."
Orleans Saints. He has another brother, Dylan, who plays professionally in Germany.
Meier's switch to wide receiver may be the best decision he will ever make. The former Sports Illustrated cover boy now has become one of the most crucial
pieces to the Jayhawks success in 2008. A guy that continues to learn every day, Meier is just going to sit back and see where his magical ride will take him.
"It's just like life; anything can happen" Meier said. "You just have to roll with the punches and keep coming at it. In the end, hopefully you will be happy with the outcome."
Edited by Kelsey Hayes
COMMENTARY
Sports fans: What does cash crisis mean for us?
We are living in a time of uncertainty. As of press time, the House of Representatives was poised to vote on a revised bailout bill Wednesday evening. But with how things have gone lately, ritual human sacrifice and cannibalism are as likely to happen in Washington by the time this paper reaches your hands.
Meanwhile in Atlanta, there is virtually no gas. And in Iraq, today's weather is 105 degrees with a chance of continued warfare.
Danic. Fear. Loathing.
What are Trees?
When our Treasury Secretary knelt on his knee and pleaded with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi last week during talks regarding the economic crisis, no one should have been surprised days later when the financial bailout bill failed.
What does it all mean for us? You know, pretty fine.
Kansas football opens Big 12 play Saturday at Iowa State as we ponder the Jayhawks' chances in league play while wondering at the same time if there will be loan money available next year to come back to school.
It is a clash of priorities, an attempt to gain some much needed enjoyment from our sports teams or the latest episode of
Our leaders would much rather point fingers than put aside political differences and start fixing this damn fine mess we're in.
Oh, but the Dow was up 485 points Tuesday. Well it was down almost 800 the day before.
"The Office" while pure darkness stares in the face.
Gas is only $3.25!
It was roughly a dollar less a year ago.
It has never been so easy to forecast a future in which many of us are cooped up inside with a shotgun in tow, ready to put a hole in anyone trying to wrangle away our baked beans.
It has never been so easy to lose focus on the things that make us smile.
SEE CRISIS ON PAGE 5B
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