THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Inside Section B
Sports
A Kansas University student is doing his part to help out NASA from right here in Lawrence. See Page 6B.
Friday
September 5, 1997
Section:
B
Page 1
The Big 12 Conference graduation rates are out and Kansas is not even in the top half.
Big 12 Graduation
Pro Football
SEE PAGE 3B
The NFL is gearing up for week two and some high profile players will not be in the line-up.
SEE PAGE 4B
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Readying for the plague of frogs
Senior running back Eric Vann pushes for extra yards during August 28' s game against Alabama - Birmingham. The Jayhawks take on TCU at 1 p. tomorrow in Memorial Stadium. Photo by Geoff Kraig / KANSAN
Allen's Jayhawks to battle TCU's new defensive strategy
By Kelly Cannon
kcannon@kansan.com
Kansan sportswriter
The Horned Frogs of Texas Christian will invade Memorial Stadium tomorrow, and the Kansas football team will be ready.
TCU is 16-7-2 in the series against Kansas, but the Jayhawks won the matchup in Fort Worth, Texas, last year 52-17.
"It is important for us to realize that it's a very different TCU team that comes in now," Allen said. "Their quarterback has a year of experience, they've changed their offensive philosophy and have gone to a spread-type of offense."
"TCU is an interesting football game for us," Kansas football coach Terry Allen said. "It's a great barometer. It is a team that last year this Kansas team went down and handled very, very well."
No matter how well the Jayhawks handled the Horned Frogs last year, Allen said that TCU will have both new offensive and defensive philosohies.
Allen said the biggest change the Jayhawks would see was
The TCU-Kansas series was revived in 1982, but after tomorrow's game the two teams will not meet in this century again. Kansas is 2-1 against TCU in the 1990s.
"They've hired a new defensive coordinator — Phil Bennett from Texas A&M," Allen said. "They will present a completely different defensive package than they're accustomed to playing down there and completely different defense package than we're used to seeing."
"They have an exceptional punter," Allen said of TCU sophomore Royce Huffman. "He was athlete of the year at TCU. Their place-kicker is a preseason All-American. We felt after Thursday night's game we lacked in the special teams, so that jumps out at you."
TCU's new defense.
"They're probably one of the most excitable teams," Harris said. "The stayed excited the whole game, even though the
The Horned Frogs' special weapon is their special teams, Allen said.
Football tomorrow
About 11:30 a.m. The Kansas football team will walk down Campanile hill
1 p.m. Kickoff vs. the Texas Christian Horned Frogs
score didn't indicate how hard they played. Come Saturday I know they'll be more than excited. They have a whole lot to prove and they're going to come in here with a chip on their shoulder. Personally, I know they're gunning for me. I'm ready and I know they are."
Harris said he played football with a few TCU players as a child.
"Believe it or not, but I only know one or two," Harris said. "I'm going to be watching No. 99, their defensive end. We played pee-wee football together and went to the same middle school, so it's going to be fun."
The Jayhawks will walk down Campanile hill about 90 minutes before the game. Kick off for the annual KU Band Day game is set for 1 p.m.
Volleyball hopes to spike win column this weekend
sports@kansan.com
Kansan sportswriter
By Matt Gardner
The Jayhawks will compete against Northwestern, Virginia Tech and No.2-ranked Florida.
The Kansas volleyball team will try to improve its 1-2 record tonight at the Northwestern Invitational in Evanston, Ill.
"We're excited to play Florida and Nina Foster," sophomore middle blocker Amanda Reves said about the middle blocker on the team that had a 37-2 record last season. "It's fun to play against really talented opponents."
Coach Karen Schonewise said Kansas stacked up well against its competition.
"I think that Northwestern is very comfortable for us to play," she said. "Florida will be interesting to play a top five team this early and will give us a good indication of where we stand this early in the season and where we'll be compared to
the conference teams."
Schonewise will use the Florida match to see how her team will compete with ranked Big 12 Conference rivals Nebraska. Texas and Texas A&M.
Nebraska is ranked No. 5 — even after a loss to Florida during the weekend — and Texas, Texas A&M and Colorado also represent the Big 12 in the top 25.
"We are pretty aware of our strengths and weaknesses, but it will kind of highlight just what those are," Schonewise said. "We just need to be able to go in and handle the adjustments in our game faster."
In a Big 12 preseason coaches' poll, Kansas was ranked ninth. Nebraska was picked to repeat as league champion. Texas is picked second, followed by Texas A&M, Colorado, Oklahoma, Kansas State, Texas Tech, Baylor, Kansas, Iowa State and Missouri. Oklahoma State does not have a volleyball team.
After dance auditions, interviews new Crimson Girls leap onto squad
my monica Hodes sports@kansan.com Special to the Kansan
About 40 women competed for six varsity spots and seven junior varsity spots on the Crimson Girls dance team. New members were selected yesterday.
Crimson Girl hopefuls attended a clinic Tuesday at Allen Field House. They learned the Kansas fight song, "I'm a Jayhawk," and a short dance routine.
Wednesday night at tryouts, the women had to complete a series of leaps, turns and kicks and performed the routines learned in the clinic. Those who made the first cut had an interview and learned an addition to the dance routine yesterday.
amount of talent turn out," said Angela Arnold, Crimson Girls coach.
"We had an extraordinary
Crimson Girls See a list of this year's Crimson girls. See page 2B
New varsity member Shannon Novak, Shawnee freshman, agreed.
The tryouts were judged by former Crimson Girls and local and regional dance experts. Each woman's performance was ranked on a scoring system.
"There were tons of girls who were absolutely amazing," she said.
A friendly game of keep away
Novak was thrilled to have been chosen.
"When I saw the list, I just started shaking," she said. "It's a big rush."
Jackia Dowell, Germantown, Md., junior, tries to steal the ball away from Lindsey Leaffer, Norman, Olda,, freshman, during a four-on-four game of keep-away. Photo by E.B. Howell/KANSAN
Track teams ready to begin run toward season goals
Cross country squads start year in Carbondale
By Brian Custar
sports@kansan.com
Kansas sportwriter
The team's first contest starts at 9 a.m. tomorrow at Southern Illinois.
"This is the best team condition we've had for several years," he said cross country coach Gary Schwartz.
After three weeks of practices and individual summer workouts, both the men's and women's cross country teams say they have built up enough speed and stamina to compete in their first meet.
Early practices have started as high mileage runs, making the transition into a more anaerobic workout schedule. Schwartz said that the team has been running up stairs and hills this week to prepare for the meet.
Competing against the Jaya hawks will be Mississippi State, Lyndonwood of the NAIA and host Southern Illinois. Sophomore Andy Tate from Lake Elmo, Minn., and junior Lewis Theobald from Nepean, Ontario, look to lead the Kansas runners in the eight-kilometer.
"We're not taking our full team," Theobald said. "The meet Saturday is just like an early test to see where we are condition-wise."
Senior co-captain Jerry Pullins said that the early season meets were approached differently than the championship meets in November.
"Everyone has long-term goals for the season," he said. "This meet is just kind of a warmup for the end of the season."
Theobald said that cross country and track differed from team sports because runners would be at their peak for only two or three weeks during a season.
"Everyone has to stay healthy and committed, and we want to run well at the district meet to qualify for the NCAA championships," he said.
The women's team will follow projected five-kilometer leaders Lynn LoPresti and Emily Miles.
The women participating tomorrow are an even mix of experience and inexperience three Jayhawks have com- tately and three
- three Jayhawks have competed collegiately and three have not.
Co-captain Miles said that her experience had been useful in answering questions about what the meet would be like, who would be there and what was expected of them.
"We've had a tough three weeks of practice with high mileage," Miles said. "We'll use this meet to know how we feel about our conditioning after these workouts."
The men's and women's cross country teams will return home to play host at the Rim Rock Invitational at 10 a.m. on Sept. 13 in Lawrence.
The team is excited about competing — it is more fun than training," Coach Schwartz said. "The competition is why they have trained all summer."