THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
MONDAY AUGUST 17, 2009
SPORTS
15B
VOLLEYBALL
Weston White/KANSAN
Junior setter Katie Martinick gets low to return a Nebraska serve last season, a game Kansas eventually lost 3-0.
Set on success, players aim higher
Team has aspirations for NCAA Tournament but faces tough lineup
BY ZACH GETZ
zgetz@kansan.com
There's little doubt advancing to the NCAA Volleyball Tournament
goal for most NCAA volleyball teams. For 12th-year Kansas volleyball coach Ray Beard, that means starting strong in the preseason to
get momentum
get momentum to carry into conference play.
"The conference we play in is a huge challenge, but also a huge assist because it elevates your play..."
"For the newcomers, here's how we approach things. Here's how we are a good teammate. We get into the preseason matches, we got a number of high RPI teams that we have to be competitive with and win, which will build some momentum into the conference."
Kansas will need some of that momentum because the Big 12 Conference is one of the toughest volleyball conferences. Last season four teams finished ranked in the top 20, including Nebraska and Texas, which both ranked in the top 5. Seven of 11 Big 12 schools ranked in the top 75 in the RPI. Last season Kansas had a record of 13-16.
"We are trying to put some behaviors in place," Bechard said.
RAY BECHARD Coach
"If you are in the
top man of the conference, the chances to continue to play when the regular season is over with are pretty good," said
Bechard. "The conference we play in is a huge challenge, but also a huge assist because it elevates your play and also requires you to be extremely good night in and night out."
Bechard said he felt things were going well so far in the preseason. He said there had been no major
setbacks and thought the team was making progress and has added physicality from last year.
"We have good returning players that have a lot of experience and five starters back," Bechard said.
to the Tournament," Paige Mazour, senior middle blocker said. "But all-in-all, we want to have a competitive season in our conference."
"Our main goal is really to get to the tournament."
Bechard said newcomers needed to make an impact as well as some of the more experienced players to expand their roles and be successful.
Mazour said that she tried to do as much for the team as she could.
PAIGE MAZOUR Senior middle blocker
"I like to do whatever I can for the freshmen and get on the court whenever I can," Mazour said. "I
"Our main goal is really to get
think everyone works really hard. We are very competitive for each other. We mesh well together. And we do work hard. We are a scrapy team."
Mazour and Bechard both agreed that the preseason was going well so far.
"We are excited about where we are at to this point. We have a long way to go, but its been productive up to this point," Bechard said.
CROSS COUNTRY
Edited by Alicia Banister
New assistant coach predicts'great distance team'
BY SAMANTHA ANDERSON sanderson@kansan.com
Incoming cross-country assistant coach Michael Whittlesey joins Kansas this summer from North Carolina and has big plans for the Kansas team. When Whittlesey decided to come to Kansas, former Jayhawk Olympians Jim Ryun, Ray Moulton and Kristi Kloster — the university of Kansas' first woman to win an NCAA track championship — weren't far from his mind.
"KU has a great heritage of track and field," Whittlesey said. "We can become a great distance team. I want to be a part of that."
Whittlesey is more than qualified to do so. In six of his years at North Carolina he helped train 65 NCAA All-Americans and in 10 of his 11 years with North Carolina the women's cross-country team advanced to the NCAA National Championships.
"We didn't lose any of our top runners on either team, so we have more leadership returning," coach Stanley Redwine said. "We hope that the experience and leadership means better results throughout the season."
Whittlesey said he tried to push his athletes to achieve not only the goals they thought were obtainable, but also the dreams they thought were out of their grasps. Whittlesey said the most difficult obstacle a runner had to overcome was his or her own mind. But with numerous experienced runners, this shouldn't be much of a problem.
These top runners are sophomore Donny Wasinger, senior Bret Imgurem and junior Nick Capairo
on the men's team and senior Lauren Bonds and juniors Amanda Miller and Kara Wirdisch for the women's team.
Bonds finished 16th last year in the NCAA Midwest regionalators. Wasinger and Imgrund finished 29th and 31st, respectively, in the men's race. However, the cross-country team consists of more than its top six runners.
"We have to have quality depth to be successful," Redwine said. "We have added athletes that can contribute as well as those returning from last year. Our seventh through 10th runners have to be good and push our fourth through sixth runners. Wehaveto approach it as one team, not as everyone depending on our top runners."
In addition to freshmen runners, that depth includes Windisch, Lindsay Schaefer and Rebecka Stowe who are returning for their second year running at Kansas and will have a whole year of participating and training at a collegiate level behind them.
On the men's side, sophormore Kaleb Humphreys, junior Dan Van Ordsel, and senior Isaiah Shirlen will all be returning after a strong team effort at regional.
They will all have a chance to prove themselves in their first meet Sept. 5 for The Bob Timmons Classic at home at Rim Rock Farm, northwest of Lawrence, where they will compete against runners from other universities as well as some Kansas alumni.
— Edited by Michelle Sprehe
Weston White/KANSAN
Lauren Bonds begins to take off from the rest of the pack to a first-place finish at the Bob Timmons Classic last year. Bonds finished 16th at the NCAA Midwest Regionals last season and will be returning to help lead this year's squad.
HALL OF FAME
Former coaches and players honored
Associated Press
OKLAHOMA CITY — When Jon Kolb takes his thumb and presses it against his face, he can flatten his nose along his upper lip. Just as much as his four Super Bowl rings, it's a badge of honor.
BY JEFF LATZKE
2009 inductees, from left, Ted Owens, Jon Kolb and Bob Tway join Cal McLish, seated, for a photo at the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame induction ceremony at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum on Aug. 3 in Oklahoma City.
Years of helmet to helmet hits before the modern facemask was invented left Kolb with the ability to remold his face, just like his former teammates can. And for all the success he enjoyed during 13 years with the Pittsburgh Steelers, it was the chance to reconnect with old friends and teammates that meant as much as anything as he was inducted into the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame on Aug. 3.
Kolb joined former All-Star pitcher Cal McLish, former Kansas basketball coach Ted Owens and 1986 PGA Championship winner Bob Tway in the 2009 induction class. Longtime rodeo announcer Clem McSpadden and Tom Catlin, who won a national championship under Bud Wilkinson at Oklahoma, were inducted posthumously.
Before Kolb had the chance to block for Terry Bradshaw and Franco Harris during the Steelers' glory days in the 1970s, he played at Oklahoma State. Looking back through an old media guide, Kolb said he could tell which guys had played because of the marks left on their faces from other players' helmets.
"There's people that, if you take them out of the equation, I wouldn't be here. I'm not a rocket scientist, but I am smart enough, to
know that," Kolb said.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
"From the time you're a little gay and you first start playing sports to any level you play at, your coach is going to tell you it's a team game, especially football," Kob said. "It's always that way."
A number of those former teammates, including some from high school in Ponca City, showed up for Kolbs induction.
"It's a scab fraternity, I suppose, that never dies." Kolb said.
The 2009 class represented a wide-ranging swath of Oklahoma's sports past. Catlin was a center and linebacker for the Sooners' 1950 national champions before becoming an assistant coach in the NFL. Tway played golf at Oklahoma State before moving on to success on the PGA Tour. Owens took Kansas to two Final Fours. McSpadden, a former congressman, was a well-known announcer for rodeos across the country and on television for decades.
"When you see this kind of response from guys on your team, it's humbling You wonder, 'Why me?'
NFL
story than McLish, whose time in the big leagues was interrupted by his service in World War II. He made stops with a series of teams before finally being chosen as an All-Star 15 years into his career. His induction came a full 50 years after that selection.
Perhaps none had a more unique
Returned to backup, Thigpen adjusts to life
ASSOCIATED PRESS
RIVER FALLS, Wis. — It must be tempting for Tyler Thigpen to sit around and think about what might have been.
The first problem was the team itself. It was bad. A defense that set an NFL record by getting only 10 sacks, an anemic running game and assorted other problems led to a 2-14 record. Out went the coach. Out went the general manager.
Handed the chance of a lifetime last year when Kansas City's top two quarterbacks went down for the season, Thipper got to start 10 games. It was an unexpected opportunity for a third-teamer whol been drafted in the late rounds out of Coastal Carolina.
And now Thippen again finds himself near the bottom of the depth chart, battling Brodie Croyle for the right to be backup for Matt Cassel.
"For myself, I think each and every day I'm trying to go out there and make myself better as a quarterback." Thigpen said. "If I make myself better, that's going to
make this team better and that's the attitude I have each and every day going into practice."
Considering all the problems he and the Chiefs faced during the worst season in team history, Thippen's numbers were not terrible. He hit 232 of 426 passes for 2,649 yads, with 18 touchdowns and 12 interceptions. But the Chiefs cleaned out their front office and new general manager Scott Pioli traded for Cassel, who had stepped in for an injured Tom Brady and led the Patriots to 11 wins last year. Now armed with a huge new six-year contract, Cassel is clearly the quarterback of the future.
But that's what they were saying last year about Croyle, until he was cut down by injury.
And Thippen has shown himself capable of making plays. At 6-foot-1, 225 pounds, he's a powerful runner and the first quarterback in franchise history to score a touchdown three ways: as a passer, rusher and receiver.
When the first depth chart came out this year Thigpen was listed at third.
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