Friday, October 24, 1997
The University Daily Kansan
Section B · Page 7
Swimmers, divers to test Big 12 waters
Conference meet to help gauge talent
By Dawn Wolf
sports@kansan.com
Kansas sportswriter
The Kansas swimming and diving teams are not just going to Lincoln, Neb., this weekend to perform with the rest of the Big 12 Conference. The swimmers and divers are going to compete against their conference rivals.
"We need to see how we compete this weekend," Kansas swimming coach Gary Kempf said. "We have some new kids, and we want to see what kind of racers they are."
The Big 12 Invitational begins with the mile race at 3 p.m. today at the Bob Devaney Sports Center Pool. A relay meet begins at 6:30 p.m.
The individual events will start at 9 a.m. tomorrow. Although the relay meet will be scored, the events tomorrow will not.
Kempf said this was the reason the team had no set goals concerning what place it captures.
"We're going [to the invitational] for experience," Kempf said. "The meet is an opener for all the teams in the Big 12 to see what type of new talent has come into the conference."
Diving coach Kevin Lawrence said the Big 12 Invitational was a good first meet to make sure the divers were comfortable competing.
"I'm looking for the divers to have solid dives and consistent takeoffs," Lawrence said. "We can use this meet as a starting point to build on for the season."
Although this is the first official meet of the season, both the men's and women's team said they were ready for the competition.
Co-captain Jama Crady said the women's team had become more close-knit during the past few weeks of training.
"We get along really well, and we've been practicing really well," Crady said. "We're ready to compete with people outside our program."
Men's co-captain Mike Blundell had the same sentiments.
"We know we have a good team this year," Blundell said. "We just want to get out there and show everyone we can compete on the same level as all the schools in the Big 12."
Brad Artis, senior, practices the breast stroke, he is preparing for the Big 12 Invitational. Photo by Holly Groshong/KANSAN.
Cyclists gear up for final bike championship
Route to Clinton Lake
By Amanda Kaschube
sports@kansan.com
Kansan sportwriter
M. D. Bradshaw /KANSAN
The cycling club will finish its season at home with the North Central Collegiate Mountain Bike Championship on Sunday.
Starting at 10 a.m., both men and women will race in six classes at Clinton State Park for five and a half miles. No preregistration is necessary; only a student ID, an NCAA/National Off Road Bicycle Association license, and $10 are needed to participate.
Thirteen schools will be represented this weekend including Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota. The top finishers will advance to the national championship in Merrimac. Wis.
"All the riders are ready to go," said senior Tony Stanislav of the Kansas team. Stanislav, secretary of the club, is hoping to qualify for his fourth appearance at national. He, along with fellow Class A riders senior Todd Berger and senior Doug Plumer, will be competing for the top position.
"I hope to be in the top three this weekend," Plumer said.
"We had a good showing and maintained our focus," said Stanislav, who placed fourth overall.
Dakota State.
The season kicked off with the Kansas State Invitational, where the Jayhawks defeated Kansas State, Nebraska, and North
The cycling team was formed three years ago with 10 active riders and has grown to more than 40.
The team is filled with both experiencedriders who compete often and studentswho want to ride for pleasure.
"The club is trying to break out," Stanislav said. "There is a lot of competition out there, and the Midwest is full of strong riders."
For the past three years, members have won the conference title and have placed in national competitions. In 1996, the team sent 14 riders to nationals in Kentucky, where they placed ninth out of 62 teams.
The team is also involved with Lawrence youth.
"We have bike rodees every summer with the police to inform the public on helmets and bike safety," Stanislav said. Riders from the team talk to the public about riding to try to raise public awareness about safety issues.
Stanislav said he believed the team members would place well this weekend as long as they maintain their focus and the weather remains sunny.
Rowing team requires speed to gain respect
By Brad Hallier sports@kansan.com Special to the Kansan
Kansas women's rowing team coach Rob Catloth said speed was the only thing missing from the two boats that competed in the Head of the Charles Regatta in Boston on Saturday and Sunday. The women's lightweight eight placed 18th, and the open eight team placed 39th.
"We did a lot of technical things like rhythm and balance well, but we need to get faster, and that will come with more experience," Catloth said.
Despite the lack of speed, Catiloth said he thought the overall performance wasn't bad.
Senior Birgit Ederer, a member of the lightweight eight, agreed with Catloth.
"Our times weren't that slow, and we finished close to Iowa and Ohio State, but we still need more speed," he said.
"I thought we were really good, but we need power and more efficiency," she said. "But it was out first race, so we'll make improvements from there."
Catloth said he also thought inexperience hurt the young team last weekend and next year he would try to schedule more regattas before the Head of the Charles, which is the largest regatta in the world.
This weekend, the team is headed to Iowa City, Iowa, to compete in the third annual Head of the Iowa Regatta.
Fifteen to 20 schools will compete, and Catloth said he was happy all of his team members would get a chance to race.
Catloth complimented the second heavyweight eight boat, which has been pushing with the first heavyweight boat in recent practices.
Ederer said she was looking at this weekend as an opportunity to earn some respect.
"It would be big to beat Wisconsin because they always seem to beat us by just a boat length, so if we want to be recognized, we have to beat (Wisconsin)," she said.
Ederer also said it was obvious last weekend the rowing team would have to start doing better in the big regattas to earn some respect.
"There were people everywhere (in Boston) asking us if there was even water in Kansas, so we need to keep going to the big regattas and doing well to get recognition," she said.
No time to relax, team off to Rolex
Tennis players expect success in Region V play
By Jason Franchuk
Kansan sportswriter
With time quickly ticking away for the fall season of men's tennis, it's only appropriate that coach Mark Riley's squad will compete this weekend in the Rolex Region V Championships in Wichita.
Riley will be on a watch-out of sorts, scouting out the team's spring season competition and patrolling the eight players that will represent Kansas.
Region V consists of the old Big Eight Conference squads, which Kansas will face in Big 12 play next spring. University of Tulsa and all Missouri Valley Conference teams also play in the
regional bracket.
Seniors Enrique Abaroa, Xavier Avila and Trent Tucker, along with junior Kenny Powell, have already qualified to play in the tournament. Riley elected to send freshmen Ed Dus and Micah Zomer and sophomore Bryan Maier to the tournament and they must first battle through qualifying rounds.
"Our goal is to have all eight players in the 64-player field," Riley said.
Kansas has had individual success in the tournament in past years. Abaroa is the two-time defending singles champion of Region V, and he combined with Avila last fall to capture the doubles title. In the doubles final, Abaroa and Avila defeated teammates Luis Uribe and Fernando Sierra.
"This has been a great tournament for us in the past," Riley said. "We have has some domination in it the past few years, and
we expect to continue that level of play."
Abaroa said he would compete in the tournament despite recently burning his leg with boiling water during a cooking adventure.
The severe burns kept Kansas' No.1 singles player from participating in the singles draw in the All-American Championships in Austin, Texas, last week. Abaroa attempted to play doubles with Avila in Austin, but his injured leg caused too much discomfort, and the duo was defeated in the early rounds.
Enrique Abaroa Will compete despite burns
"It was amazing that he even played in the All-American tourney," Riley said. "He showed
some true grit to do that, because the leg didn't look too good." Abaroa has had few practices since the injury, but said that he would be competitive this weekend. "I'm starting to heal, and my leg is starting to feel good again," Abaroa said. "I'm not that well prepared because I haven't been able to practice, but I'm just going to go and try my best." After the Region V showing the team
"These next two tournaments really allow our guys to solidify their (national) rankings," Riley said.
has the Region V team championships, which keep track of team scores instead of just individual results.
Sooner coach John Blake removed Butler from the team indefinitely. He did not refer to the charges against Butler and had no comment.
On Oct. 17, prosecutors charged outside linebacker Anthony Davis and starting linebacker Dale Boyd Allen Jr. with misdemeanor malicious injury to property for damage at an apartment complex.
Butler is the third Oklahoma football player charged in less than a week.
Davis is suspended from the team. Allen served a one-game suspension last week and is back on the squad.
Butler had played in six games and has been returning kicks on special teams. He has carried 12 times for 45 yards in his limited role at tailback. He returned two kicks for 58 yards.
The woman was not seriously injured. The child was later returned to her mother. An arrest warrant was issued for Butler, but he had not been apprehended by mid-affternoon yesterday.
NORMAN, Okla. — An argument that allegedly began about diapers led to a misdemeanor domestic abuse charge yesterday against Oklahoma reserve tailback Bennie Butler.
An affidavit filed with the charge alleges that an argument began about diapers. The woman said she went to a convenience store to call a friend after being thrown out of the apartment.
Sooner player charged with domestic abuse
The Associated Press
Butler's 21-year-old girlfriend alleges that he pushed her repeatedly, threw her into a wall, took their 1-year-old daughter from her and locked her out of his university-owned apartment, district attorney Tim Kuykendall said.