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THE UNIVERSITY OF DARY KANSAN
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2008
SPORTS
7B
E 9
kii D
53
CROSS COUNTRY
Tigers top Hawks in weekend race
Despite second place finish, teammates see improvement in young squad
BY JASON BAKER
jbaker@kansan.com
For the Jayhawks, freshman Zach Zarda finished sixth overall and first for the Jayhawks with a time of 27.12. It's the second meet this season that a freshman has finished first for the team, after Donny Wasinger finished first at the Bob Timmons Classic.
The cross country squad went to Columbia, Mo., prepared to take on the rolling hills and the Tigers in the Missouri Cross Country Challenge. However, both the men and the women's teams fell short and took second place behind the Tigers despite solid performances from some of the lavihawks.
"I think as a team, we all had a bad day." Zarda said. "I think I had a less of a bad day but still not a good day."
In the men's 8k race, the top three spots were taken by Missouri runners. The winner was Mizzou sophomore Michael Pandolfo, who ran unattached with a time of 26:42, followed by Mizzou redshirt senior Michael Barrows and sophomore Phillip King.
Zarda ran with a side-stitch during the race.
"It's never happened to me before, but I had to suck it up and tough it out," he said.
Right behind Zarda was junior Isaiah Shirlen and senior Brock Ternes. Despite the effort, the Tigers beat out the Jayhawks by a score of 22 to 33 to take first overall.
Shirlen was optimistic and felt like the team improved in working
together.
"I think we did twice as well as two weeks ago," he said.
Shirlen said he thought his performance in Columbia was
Zarda
better than at the Bob Timmons Invitational.
The Jayhawks had been preparing for the infamous hills at the A.L. Gustin Golf Course in Columbia, but the team said the rain was a factor in their performance, making the hills and grass soggy.
"I've ran on worse hills before," Zarda said. "It still takes a lot out of your legs, and your feet sink into the ground instead of bouncing off."
As for the women's team, junior Lauren Bonds took first place not just for the Jayhawks but first overall with a time of 18:59. It's the second meet in a row that Bonds has taken first place overall with a time under 19 minutes.
Sophomore Amanda Miller took fifth place overall and second for the layhawks followed by Kara Windisch in sixth and Amanda Knoll in 10th. The rest of the top 10 was dominated by the Tigers, giving them a score of 24 to 35.
Miller felt that the team did the best it could under the circumstances.
"It was hard but I think we did the best we could with the footing being bad and muddy on the turns," she said.
Miller also said that prior to the
Bonds
women's race,
there were high
school races
and also the
men's 8k.
"The course wasn't that hilly until the last mile," she said. "I think it got us prepared for that last mile of the course."
helpful.
Miller believed that all of the hill workouts were
Miller said what she got from the race was how their team competed against another Big 12 team and what the competition is like in the conference, since the Bob Timmons Invitational did not feature any Division I schools.
Although the Jayhawks may have not gotten the victory against Missouri, Shirlen felt like the potential for the team is there.
"The team is so young and has so much potential," he said. "I think the marginal improvement is going to be huge two months from now. A lot of the guys will be in much better shape."
Junior Bret Ingmrug, who finished 15th overall, had a similar opinion about the team.
"If we stay healthy and work hard, then it'll come," he said. "It's a long season, we need to focus and keep improving."
The next race for the lajhawks isn't until Oct. 4 when they head to Stillwater, Okla., to compete in the OSU Jamboree. Shirlen said that there's more competition in store for them in Stillwater.
team standings
"We have to stay mentally
MISSOURI
CROSS COUNTRY
CHALLENGE
Men [8K]
1 - Missouri
2 - Kansas
3 - Murray State
Women [5K]
(6) Zach Zarda, 27:12.87
(7) Isaiah Shirlen, 27:18.80
(8) Brock Ternes, 27:24.66
(10) Nick Caprio, 27:33.24
(12) Danny Van Orsdel,
27:38.10
KU Top Performers
1 - Missouri
2 - Kansas
3 - Murray State
4 - Lincoln University
Men 8K
Women 5K
(1) Lauren Bonds, 18:59.29
(1) Amanda Miller, 19:20.75
(1) Kara Windisch, 19:31.91
(10) Amanda Knoll,
19:57.27
(13) Rebeba Stowe, 20:10.8
tough," he said. "Oklahoma State is one of the top two or three teams in the nation. It's tough competition especially for the freshmen, but I think they'll be tough enough by then to handle it."
Edited by Rachel Burchfield
the ball.
Associated Press
Manning passed for 311 yards and moved Adam Vinatieri in position for the winning field goal with 3 seconds left, leading Indianapolis to an 18-15 victory on Sunday after Minnesota led 15-0 late in the third quarter.
"We played a lot of man,got
in their face, got a lot of pressure, but it wasn't enough," said Antoine Winfield, who had one of Manning's two interceptions. "He's been around. He's seen it all. You can never rattle him, I don't think."
MEN'S GOLF
Jayhawks have home course advantage today
BY BRYAN WHEELER
bwheeler@kansan.com
NFL
Manning into the Metrodome turf.
sistency on the course. In the Fairway Club Invitational, Anson
Anson
With two freshmen and one sophomore, Kansas hopes for its underclassman to lead the team.
But the Colts put the Manning touch on another impressive rally, thanks to a handful of clutch completions near the end by their stalwart quarterback, and reminded the Vikings it's just not possible to win without throwing
Coming off a third place finish in the Fairway Club Invitational in Nebraska City, Neb., last week, the men's golf team will host the Kansas Invitational today and tomorrow at Alvamar Golf Club.
"We have the chance to be a really sneaky team," said coach Kit Grove. "Right now we are just gaining some experience."
Manning, Vinatieri rally Colts past Vikings by FG
Freshmen Ian Anson and Blake Giroux, who placed 25th and 42nd in last week's tournament, will look for more con-
"Being at our home course, if we all play our game, I don't see why we shouldn't win," Barbee said.
Sophomore Nate Barbee, who had a career best fourth-place finish last week, believes that coming home to Lawrence will help the team.
Giroux
scored 75 in both rounds and Giroux scored 78 and 76 respectively.
MINNEAPOLIS — The Indianapolis Colts were overwhelmed at the line of scrimmage again, and the swarming Minnesota defense frequently pounded Peyton
"With some maturity some of these guys are looking to grind out 73 and 74 instead of high 70s or over 80" coach Grove said.
Seniors
Walt Koelbel and Andrew Storm round out the Jayhawks starting five and senior Zach Pederson will compete as an individual. Pederson has finished in the top-20 in each of the three tournaments at the Kansas Invitational.
Edited by Ramsey Cox
NFL
New England manages to win without Brady
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Matt Cassel made no mistakes in his first NFL start — at least none that were costly.
Brett Favre, making his 255th straight, made a mistake that hurt the New York Jets badly in a 19-10 loss to New England on Sunday — an interception that led to the game's first touchdown and gave the Patriots the momentum they needed.
Cassel smiled at the comparison.
"He's a great quarterback. I used to watch him all the time when I was growing up," Cassel said. "That's the way this game goes sometime."
The way this game went is the way a lot of games may go for the Patriots without Tom Brady. They did it last week against Kansas City and they did it again Sunday — limit Cassel's mistakes and let Wes Welker, Sammy Morris, Kevin Faulk, Richard Seymour, Vince Wilfork and Adalius Thomas win it.
Associated Press
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