4B SPORTS
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MEN'S GOLF
THE UNIVERSITY HARY KANSAN
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2008
Freshman places in top 10
BY BRYAN WHEELER
bwheeler@kansan.com
Sometimes playing away from home can give you an advantage.
In only his third collegiate event, redshirt freshman Blake Giroux had his best performance of his young career. Giroux had a three-round score of 210 and finished tied for ninth place in the Cardinal Intercollegiate in Simpsonville, Ky.
"I'm pretty pleased with the way I played," Giroux said. "I struggled in the first two tournaments and just wanted to help the team out."
Giroux, who is from Omaha, Neb., placed much lower in his first two tournaments of the season. In the Fairway Club Invitational at Nebraska City, he finished at 42nd. At the Kansas Invitational, Giroux tied for 56th.
"I started forcing things a little bit the first two events," he said. "Playing at home in Nebraska and playing in our home tournament, I was a little anxious."
After finishing the first round three strokes under par at 69. Giroux had clearly gained some confidence.
"Until you have one good round, it may seem a little frustrating," coach Kit Grove said.
After the second round finished
on Monday. Giroux was tied for third place after scoring a 68.
Overall, the Jayhawks finished in seventh place out of 15 teams.
Giroux
with a three-round score of 857.
Sophomore Nate Barbee went on to finish one stroke behind Giroux with a three-round score of 211.
"Nate is a really solid player. He is kind of our workhorse," Grove said. "You just expect him to play well, and he does."
After shooting a 68 in the first round, Barbee struggled on
the putting greens in the second round and had a score of 74. In the third round, Barbee led the team with a score of 69 and finished the tournament tied for 15th place.
"We had some good rounds in the first two tournaments of the season," Barbee said. "But I felt we had a pretty solid tournament this time around."
Rounding out the lineup for the Jayhawks were seniors Walt Koelbel and Andrew Storm, along with freshman Ian Anson.
Koelbel finished the tournament tied for 18th place with a score of 213. Storm finished the tournament tied for 58th place with a score of 226. Anson went on to finish the tournament with a score of 223 and tied for 48th place.
Men's golf will conclude the fall season Oct. 27-28, when it travels to Dallas to compete in the Baylor Invitational.
Edited by Lauren Keith
Team finishes fifth at Missouri tournament
WOMEN'S GOLF
Junior Emily Powers led the women's golf team for the
second day in
a row. Powers shot a three-room score of 221 and finished tied for sixth at the Johnie Imes Invitational in
Powers
Columbia, Mo. Powers' performance helped Kansas finish fifth
among the 11 teams at the tournament, and it comes on the heels of Powers' first-place finish at the Marilynn
Smith Sunflower Invitational in Lawrence last week. Sophomores Meghna Bal and Jennifer Clark finished tied for 14th.
Bal
Kansas will hit the golf course again on Oct. 6 and 7 in Lubbock, Texas, at the Jeannie McHanock invitational.
Rustin Dodd
Team Standings
1. Mississippi 300-299-301—900
T2. Arkansas-Little Rock
303-290-309—902
T2. Missouri 300-298-304—902
4. Mississippi State 306-303-302—911
5. Kansas 306-306-301—913
Individual Standings
1. Julia Potter, Missouri 67-70-72—209
2. Dori Carter, Mississippi 72-69-72—213
3. Sara Wikstrom, Arkansas-Little Rock 75-70-70—215
4. Paula Hurtado, Fla., International 78-72-70—220
5. Hannah Weathersby, Mississippi State 71-72-72—220
T6. Emily Powers, Kansas
72-76-73—221
T14. Jennifer Clark, Kansas
74-78-76—228
T14. Meghna Bal, Kansas
79-74-75—228
T39. Grace Thiry, Kansas
82-78-77—237
T62. Kalynd Carson, Kansas
81-81-84—246
MLB
ASSOCIATED PRESS Chicago Cubs pitcher Carlos Marmol, left, talks with Los Angeles Dodgers' Manny Ramirez during baseball practice in Chicago on Tuesday. The Cubs take on the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 1 of the National League Division Series today.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Cubs to take on Dodgers in first step to ending drought
ASSOCIATED PRESS
They are familiar with the curses and bad luck supposedly following the team, and they know how much a title would mean to Chicago's North Side.
While they are aware of that frustrating history, they know it's just that — history.
The Chicago Cubs have heard all about the franchise's 100-year World Series championship drought.
The 2008 Cubs are determined to put the past behind them and take the first step toward ending their century-long championship drought when they host Manny Ramirez and the Los Angeles Dodgers on Wednesday in Game 1 of their best-of-five NL division series.
"It's not fair to put all the expectations of all the past failures here and all the past successes here on the 2008 team," manager Lou Piniella said. "You let this team stand on its own merit and you let
Chicago (97-64) became the first team to win back-to-back World Series titles with championships in 1907 and '08, but the past century has had its share of disappointments as the Cubs have become known as the "lovable losers" due to their futility.
them do what they can do as well as they can do it and let them go as far as they can"
In 1984 — their first postseason appearance since winning the NI pennant in 1945 — the Cubs won the first two games of the NI championship series over San Diego, only to lose the series in five.
In 2003, Chicago was five outs away from advancing to the World Series, but collapsed after the infamous foul-ball episode involving fan Steve Bartman and Florida went on to win the NLCS in seven.
Last season, the Cubs won the division, but were swept by Arizona in the first round, as their offense scored only six runs.
"You can't do anything about the teams before us," Chicago second baseman Ryan Theriot told the team's official Web site.
The Cubs finished with the best record in the NL this season to comfortably win the NL Central by $7 \frac{1}{2}$ games over Milwaukee. They led the league in runs (855) and had five players with at least 20 homers, but will face a Los Angeles team that allowed the fewest runs in the league (648).
While Chicago cruised to its second straight division title, the Dodgers (84-78) trailed Arizona
by 4½ games on Aug. 29 before winning 18 of their next 23 to win the division by two games.
First year Dodgers manager Joe Torre helped direct the team to its second NL West title in four years, but Los Angeles would likely be out of the playoffs if it wasn't for Ramirez.
The Dodgers acquired Ramirez from Boston in a three-team trade on July 31 and he did not disappoint, batting .396 with 17 home runs, 14 doubles and 53 RBIs in 53 games for Los Angeles. The team went 30-24 after getting the 12-time All-Star.
Ramirez was the MVP of the 2004 World Series, and has been at his best in the postseason. He hit .348 (16-for-46) with four home runs and 16 RBIs in 14 playoff games for the championship Red Sox last season, and his 24 career postseason homers are the most in baseball history.
The Dodgers, who are 1-12 in four playoff series since winning the 1988 World Series, lost five of seven to the Cubs this season, but all of those games were played before Ramirez was traded to Los Angeles.
"Since we played them last, they've added Manny and he's quite a player," Chicago leadoff hitter Alfonso Soriano said.
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