6A
SPORTS
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ROWING
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2009
Ryan McGeeney/KANSAN FILE PHOTO
Kansas strives to stay ahead of the competition in the 2009 Big 12 Rowing Championship. The Jayhawks took 3rd place, behind only Kansas state and Texas.
Kansas looks to even score with state rivals
This time Kansas rowing is looking to avenge.
BY MAX ROTHMAN
mrothman@kansan.com
As the队 heads west to Manhattan for the Sunflower Showdown on Saturday at Tuttle Creek Lake, it has extra motivation to win this weekend's race against Kansas State.
The last time these two teams met, Kansas led 8-4 going into the final race day of the fight for the Kansas Cup. But Kansas State's first Varsity Eight boat prevailed in the end, as Kansas suffered a 12-8 defeat.
"I think the rivalry definitely carries over," senior Katie Beall said "There's a neck-and-neck attitude."
Coming off an impressive weekend in Oklahoma, Kansas sees breakdown proof and poised to again challenge its cross-state foe.
"We've picked up right where we left off from prior seasons, whereas before it seemed like we've had to start over," senior Brittany Belford said. "We've just got to keep striving for more."
Experience is essential to the success of this year's team. Comfort
on the water helped Kansas succeed right off the bat last weekend.
"We went out in eights right off and picked it up like we never dropped it off." Belford said of the weekend's races.
"You can't really judge performance yet, because not everyone is training the same," coach Rob Catloth said.
Fall is only a small portion of the rowing team's schedule. But this weekend, when the crimson and blue clash with the rivaled royal purple, it won't look like just another fall match-up.
However it's still so early in the season that the team's main goal has been getting solid races from the team as a whole and building from there.
"It could go either way," Beall said. "Everyone has to have their best race to beat them."
Edited by Abbey Strusz
Follow Max Rothman at twitter.com/ maxrothman
VOLLEYBALL
Adam Buhler/KANSAN
Allison Mayfield bumps a ball as teammates Melissa Manda and Melissa Grieb look on. Mayfield contributed ten kills and ten digs to Kansas' 3-1 win over Colorado Wednesday night at the Horeisi Family Athletics Center. Kansas will play Iowa State on Saturday at the Horeisi Center.
Kansas to play ranked Iowa State
BY ZACH GETZ
zgetz@kansan.com
zgetz@kansan.com
The Kansas volleyball team will face No. 14 Iowa State at 6:30 p.m. this Saturday at the Horeisi Family Athletics Center.
Kansas (9-6, 2-4) has been undefeated at home in Big 12 Conference play and is 4-1 overall at home this season. Iowa State's (13-3, 5-2) only losses have come against Top 25 opponents this season.
The team needs to keep working on endgame situations and work harder in practice in order to correct these problems, Bechard said.
Coach Ray Bechard said Kansas needs to stop sitting back waiting for something to happen and make something happen themselves.
"We got to put pressure on ourselves to compete in the gym when it's just us," Bechard said.
While Kansas lost to Nebraska, Kansas was competitive in the match. and
"Being that close, I think it shows we have the talent and the skill, and
confidence going into the Iowa State game.
"We need to focus on setting the game pace to our level."
sophomore outside bitter Allison Mayfield said that could create
KARINA GARLINGTON Junior outside hitter
"We need to focus on setting the game pace to our level," Garlington said. "We need to make Iowa State play how KU wants to play."
Kansas has also started out games slow, which Garlington said Kansas must fix in order to compete with Iowa State.
"We need to step up from point one and really make a statement," she said.
tempo, junior outside hitter Karina Garlington said.
— Edited by Jonathan Hermes
Follow Zach Getz at twitter.com/zgetz.
SWIMMING AND DIVING
Jayhawks' intrasquad meet to showcase squad rivalry
BY ANDREW TAYLOR
ataylor@kansan.com
At the beginning of the year, the team divided into two squads: crimson and blue. These squads have clashed in intense match-ups of ultimate frisbee, various diving events and other events throughout the year.
The Kansas swimming and diving team will continue its yearlong competition today at the intrasquad swim meet.
Swimming and diving coaches Clark Campbell, Eric Elliot and Jen Fox won't participate in the competition and will serve solely as spectators and officials. The athletes will switch roles with their coaches and assign themselves to their own events.
This task gives the swimmers and divers a chance to examine the strengths of the other squad members and decide which of their squad members best matches up against them.
strengths," said Carrah Haley, senior team captain and crimson squad member. "I could look at the blue team and know who they're going to put in any one event."
"You know each other's
Placing themselves into their own events allows the members of the swimming and diving team an intriguing glimpse of what their coaches do on a daily basis.
"It's neat to see how Clark looks at a meet," said Joy Bunting, junior team captain and blue squad member. "Now it's our turn to look at it and say, 'Okay, who should we put in here?'
"It's going to be a really competitive meet, but it'll be fun," Haley said.
As the score stands now, the crimson squad leads the blue squad by a total of 12 points to eight points. With four points up for grabs during the intrasquad meet, the stage is set for an intense struggle as the blue squad attempts to even the score with its crimson counterpart.
The altered set-up of the meet
"This meet we get to see more of our 100-yard speed and longer events," Campbell said. "We get to see who our best swimmers are in those events."
also gives Campbell and his staff a unique opportunity to decide which events to place swimmers in for upcoming meets. Campbell said he and his staff would use the meet to help determine the team's relay members for the Big 12 relays held on Oct. 16 in Columbia, Mo.
On top of relay placement, this intrasquad meet will also allow the coaches to see how their swimmers stack up in longer events. The alumni meet held on Sept. 18 didn't allow them this opportunity because it primarily consisted of shorter events.
Edited by Samantha Foster
Follow Andrew Taylor at twitter.com/ andrew taylor11
Romo under fire for performance
NFL
Associated Press
BY SCHUYLER DIXON
Dallas Cowbys quarterback Tony Romo (9) says talking with NFL quarterbacks helps him keep his drive despite criticism. The Cowboys will play in Kansas City Sunday.
IRVING, Texas — Tony Romo learned from Troy Aikman that it's not always "lollipops and chocolates and fun times" for the quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
These days, Romo's chats with former quarterbacks amount to therapy while he endures talk that he's gone from an undisciplined turnover machine to a conservative handoff fiend who misses receivers when he does throw. Or talk that he didn't know it was fourth down before the final end zone incompletion in Sunday's 17-10 loss at Denver.
Or three-time Super Bowl winner Tom Brady second-guessing his frequent passes in the direction of Pro Bowl Denver cornerback Champe Bailey last weekend
On Thursday, Romo said those chats help since the quarterbacks tell him their time was no bed of roses, either.
“There’s a lot of hard work and effort and a lot of people beating you down,” Romo said Thursday, surrounded by cameras and recorders at his locker. “You have
to have a stronger belief in yourself than the disbelief of others."
Heading to winless Kansas City on Sunday, the Cowboys are 2-1 when critics figured they would have to be 3-1 or 4-0 to have a chance to end a 13-year stretch without a playoff victory, the longest in franchise history.
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Dallas won its opener at Tampa Bay thanks to several long passes from Romo, but a 21-7 victory against Carolina featured just one offensive touchdown and a lot more success running the ball than throwing it. Suddenly everyone wanted to know whether the Cowboys were transforming Romo into the leader of a grind-it out offense.
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Romo was at the focal point of both losses, his three interceptions leading to three touchdowns for New York in the Giants' 33-31 win and his fumble jump-starting the Broncos when they trailed 10-0 in the second quarter.
Now everyone wants to know where Romo is mentally after another pedestrian passing day in Denver that included several bad throws to open receivers.
"Last week doesn't indicate what kind of football team this is," Romo said. "It don't make us waver in our belief of what we can accomplish this season. We feel very strongly going forward. Now we've got to go out and do it."
"Tony's fine," Cowboys coach Wade Phillips said. "He's going to do well because he works so hard at what he does. He's a talented guy that cares. I think he'll do better and better."