18B SPORTS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
MONDAY AUGUST 18,2008
COMMENTARY
Don't forget the lesser-known stars
Jon Goering/KANSAN
Katie Martinick, then-sophomore setter, goes for a dig during the volleyball match against Texas A&M on Nov. 6 at the Horejsi Family Athletics Center. Martinick was a B12 Sportsperson of the year in 2007.
todd Reesing hogs the spotlight. Bill Self and Mark Mangino? Media darlings.
You can't really blame them. When you win the Orange Bowl and the national championship, attention comes with the territory.
But while Kansas Athletics Inc's prized possessions bask in the glory of arguably the greatest seasons in University of Kansas football and basketball history, non-revenue athletes often find themselves overlooked and underappreciated.
Need proof? Quick, who is Emily Powers? Does Nickesha Anderson's name ring a bell? What about Brad Hopfinger and Katie Martinicch?
Nothing? You aren't the only one. Powers, Anderson, Hopfinger and Martincich have something Reesing, Self and Mangino will never have in Lawrence. Relative anonymity.
It doesn't have to stay that way. Take Powers for example. Just a junior this year, the All-Big 12 performer competed in the U.S. Women's Open in July as a 20-year-old amateur.
Powers didn't make the cut after posting a 19-over-par 165 after two days, but competing face-to-face with the likes of world No. 1 Lorena Ochoa and Annika Sorenstam can only help the game of the Jayhawks' most consistent performer from a year ago.
An even younger athlete seized the reins of a rebuilding men's golf program during an incredible freshman campaign. Brad Hofinger isn't a household name. He wasn't even the most decorated freshman to join coach Kit Grove's team last year.
But after finishing tied for tenth at the Big 12 Championship
in April, the rest of the conference would be wise to monitor his progress.
Hopfinger led the Jayhawks in scoring average by more than a stroke at 73.39. Along with fellow sophomore Nate Barbee, Kansas seems to have the young, talented nucleus in place to improve on its sixth place finish in last season's Big 12 Championship — it's highest in eight years.
While Powers and Hopfinger led Kansas on the links, Anderson dom'nated Big 12 women's sprinting like no other Kansas athlete before her.
The Jamaican-born transfer from Missouri Baptist University hit the ground running in her first track season in crimson and blue. Anderson recorded seven first-place finishes in 2008 in the
60- and 200-meter dashes, and set Kansas records in both events.
It was enough to earn her AllAmerican honors in both events. Anderson topped it all off with a Big 12 indoor title in the 60 meters, and she wasn't finished there.
At the NCAA indoor track championship in Fayetteville, Ark., Anderson nearly walked away a national champion in the 200 meters. Only 22 hundredths of a second separated her from Kansas' first ever national championship in the event.
And then there's Martinicich,
Unlike most student-athletes, the Shawnee junior is more known for what she does off the volleyball court than on it.
That's not to say she isn't talented.
After all, Martinicin is the Kansas
volleyball team's returning start setter. But unlike Anderson, she is no All-American.
Martinicch received an even more prestigious honor last season. She was named the Big 12 Sportsperson of the year for her work with Habitat for Humanity and the Susan G. Komen Foundation.
Powers, Hopfinger, Anderson and Martinecich aren't Orange Bowl champions or national champions. Odds are you won't find their faces emblazoned on magazine covers like Reesing. They won't ever sign multi-million dollar contracts like Self and Mangino.
- Edited by Luke Morris
That's fine. Revenue dollars can't buy respect. Their accomplishments speak for themselves.
NFL
Warner surprises with performance against Kansas City Cardinals beat'punchless'Chiefs 27-17
his second possession, capped by rookie Tim Hightower's 4-yard touchdown run around right end.
BY DOUG TUCKER ASSOCIATED PRESS
"It's been awhile since I've played," said Warner. "Just to manage the game, to see
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Matt Leinart may be facing more competition from Kurt Warner than Arizona fans had thought.
Coach Ken Whisenhunt raised a few eyebrows Saturday night by giving Warner the start against Kansas City. And the 11-year veteran threw some nice passes, directing a 78-yard touchdown drive in the Cardinals' 27-17 victory over the punchless Chiefs.
"They both conducted drives that scored, which I thought was important," said Whisenhunt, who didn't play Warner at all in last week's game against New Orleans. "On the surface, I would say they both played well. The best thing about it today is to win on the road."
Warner completed six of nine passes for 54 yards for the Cardinals (1-1) and directed a 13-play drive on
things, to get comfortable in the pocket again, all those things. I felt very good for the limited action I got. It's always fun when you get out there."
"I felt pretty comfortable out there.I think overall I had a decent game. I can always get better."
BRANDON FLOWERS Kansas City Chiefs cornerback
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"You always want to try to get a drive going and we stumbled a little bit," said Leinart. "We couldn't make some plays, myself included. I wanted to get a good drive in and we did in the second half, a nice long drive, converted on third down and got a touchdown."
Brodie Croyle directed the Chiefs (1-1) on a scoring drive on the opening possession for the second week in a row. But the offense of first-year coordinator Chan Galley produced only three field goals for the first 59 minutes of Kansas City's first appearance in Arrowhead Stadium since losing its last nine games of 2007.
"It was good to come out two weeks in a row and get a sustained drive and some third-down conversions," Croyle said. "But we want touch-downs. We don't want field goals. We've got to eliminate the three-and-outs."
Leinart got off to a horrible start and was almost intercepted twice. But he wound up going 7-for-11 for 62 yards, including a 14-yard touchdown pass to Steve Breaston.
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In the third period, Brian St. Pierre hit Tim Castille with a 24-yard
pass against the Chiefs' reserves following JJ. Arrington's 78-yard kickoff return.
The Chiefs' two rookie cornerbacks, Brandon Flowers and Brandon Carr, both got a good workout from the Cardinals' receivers.
With less than 2 minutes to go, Dennis Keyes, a free agent rookie safety, intercepted a pass from Kansas City backup Tyler Thigpen and returned it 84 yards for a touchdown.
"I felt pretty comfortable out there. I think overall I had a decent game," he said. "I can always get better."
Carr, a fifth-round pick out of Grand Valley State, was practically twisted into the turf as Breaston turned a short pass into an 11-yard gain.
"Tim, every time he's gotten an opportunity, has shown to be a pretty strong runner," Whisenhunt said. "I think he's got a good knack around the goal line of finding a way to get the ball in."
Flowers said he couldn't wait to get in the film room to study how he'd done.
"I thought he did good," Chiefs coach Herm Edwards said. "The first play, we knew they were going to go deep on him. He's a competitive guy. It wasn't too big for him."
Flowers, a third-round choice out of Virginia Tech who's already locked down the right cornerback job vacated by the retired Ty Law, made a nice play when he broke up a long pass intended for Anquan Bolton on Arizona's first possession. But Larry Fitzgerald juked him on a first-half play that went for a 9-yard gain.
Hightower, a rookie from Richmond, made a good argument for himself with several impressive runs.
Nick Novak may have separated himself a bit from rookie Connor Barth in the Chiefs' battle for a job as place kicker. Novak hit field goals of 40 and 33 yards while Barth connected from 35 yards but had a 46-yarder hit the right crossbar.
Thigpen got the Chiefs' lone TD on a 14-yard TD pass to Sergio Joachim with less than 1 minute left, and Dantrell Savage ran in the 2-point conversion.
Defensive tackle Glenn Dorsey, the Chiefs' first-round draft pick who sprained a knee in the second week of camp, made his first appearance, playing one series.
Savage, a rookie free agent running back from Oklahoma State, made a bid to win another job that's up for grabs when with a tackle-breaking 45-yard kickoff return after Leinart's TD pass.
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