sports
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KANSAN.COM/SPORTS | MONDAY, APRIL 24, 2017
After injury, Stigler set on proving he's not a 'fluke'
4B
TOP OF THE HILL
BEST SPORTS BAR BULLWINKLES
KANSAN.COM
$2^{nd}$ Place: Jefferson's $3^{rd}$ Place: The Wheel
Baxter Schanze/KANSAN
Bullwinkles is open from 7 p.m. to 2 a.m. Tuesday-Thursday, and 12 p.m. to 2 a.m. on the weekend.
Baxter Schanze/KANSAN
▶ WESLEY DOTSON
@WesDotsonUDK
Bullwinkles Bar co-owner Pete Sorrentino had a prompt reaction when he learned his bar was voted "best sports bar" in Top of the Hill.
"We're pumped about that, that's awesome," Sorrentino said.
Located at 1344 Tennessee St., Bullwinkles — or the "Bull," as it's affectionately called — is often described by one characteristic that makes the bar a popular option for University students who want to watch games: relaxed.
"The fact that it has an overall more relaxed atmosphere compared to the [Jayhawk Cafe], the Cave,
[and others] really creates a place for people to talk and watch games," said Mackenzie Klaus, a sophomore at the University.
Junior Braden Robinson also said he thinks Bullwinkles does an effective job at creating a relaxed atmosphere for sporting events.
"I feel like [Lawrence] doesn't have a quintessential sports bar on Mass Street, there's not really that culture here," Robinson said. "But, I could definitely see how the Bull can be up there [as best sports bar]. You drive by and you always see people having conversations and watching games with their jerseys on."
How does Bullwinkles create that relaxed sports atmosphere? Sorrentino
said it helps that he and his brother, co-owner Tommy Sorrentino, are former college athletes.
Pete played baseball at Washburn from 2012-14, and Tommy played soccer at Rochester from 2008-11.
"We like to incorporate the sports environment versus just being a bar," Pete said. "Sports are a good reason to get people to gather around and hang out. It's a big accomplishment for us that our customers think
After an injury ended his playing career, Pete, who was born in Kansas City, Missouri, found a home in Lawrence and began creating the sports atmosphere at the Bull after the brothers took over the bar's ownership in August 2013.
highly of our sports environment and; our culture environment at the bar."
Pete said creating an environment similar to Allen Fieldhouse has been a goal in trying to draw students to the Bull.
The Bull features two outdoor TVs and an outdoor roof that was added in the past year. Pete said the outside patio can sometimes imitate the packed environment of Allen Fieldhouse.
"It's impossible to recreate Allen Fieldhouse, but it's very small, and it's tight, but there's just a lot of emotion in there because you are so close to the next person [seated next to you]," Pete said. "It just makes it fun and gets everyone into it."
roof has helped in serving Kansas City Royals fans that frequently attend the bar.
He also said the outdoor
"I remember the Royals playoff games [in 2014 and 2015], there was a couple days where it was raining," Pete said. "It kind of hurts when it's raining and you have an open patio and everyone's running inside. It's been a big help for us during those rainy and seasonal days we get in Kansas, giving people the option to still stay in the bar and not having to run somewhere else to go watch it."
Klaus also said the occasional live music played by the University band at the Bull contributes to the sports atmosphere.
"Everyone sings along
and it just feels so special to be there," Klaus said. "Every night the band is there is a night I never want to forget as part of my college experience."
Pete and Tommy said they are always working on new bar ideas to continue to appeal to students.
"We're always trying to grow and improve," Pete said. "We've been working pretty hard over the past few years to create the product that we have today, and we just always to try to continue to push the envelope to see how much better we can make the experience. That's why we're really pumped that we won this, and that we were even nominated for best sports bar. It's pretty cool."
BEST DRINK SPECIAL MOOSEBOWL
Bullwinkles
$ 2^{n d} $ Place:Dollar Night,
The Jayhawk Cafe
$ 3^{r d} $ Place:Schooner Night,
Louise's
BEST NIGHTCLUB THE JAYHAWK CAFE
$2^{nd}$ Place: Cave $3^{rd}$ Place: Tonic
BEST BAR
BULLWINKLES
$2^{nd}$ Place: The Wheel $3^{rd}$ Place: Brother's
aided the effort, having 14 athletes finish in top-three positions, including seven first-place finishes. Their performances earned Kansas an additional 138 points to add onto the 93 earned by the field athletes.
"I can't believe how loud
In one of the final events of the evening, Morgan raced out to an early lead in the 5,000-meter race and never looked back. Morgan finished the race in 14:19:59.2.8 seconds ahead of teammate Dylan Hodgson. The pair won 16 points between them.
Behind an exuberant home-crowd, several Kansas athletes contributed the home-track advantage to their strong performances.
nior Jacob Morgan crosses the finish line to place first in the men's 5,000-meter run on April 6 at the Kansas City
est race of the relays. Coming in at a time of 3:53:57, Richards finished ahead of Joyce by .01 seconds.
"The cheering, I loved it. It was awesome," Richards said, looking toward the large crowd of Kansas fans.
Missy MInear/KANSAN
Jacob Morgan Senior
"I can't believe how loud people were getting on that backstretch, I was like 'dang, is that for me?"
The Kansas women's team also put on a good
dles event earlier in the day. Dabney finished the scored quadrangular race with a time of 14.48 seconds.
Dabney felt some pain in her groin area throughout the day, but didn't feel that performing twice in one day affected her performance.
"I really wanted to score some points for my team and finish out the weekend," Dabney said.
performance for the home crowd, finishing second in a hotly contested competition with 181.5 points. They trailed Minnesota by 14 points, which ended the night with 195.5 points.
Junior Christian Hicks was another athlete to compete twice for the Jayhawks, competing in both the college
Dabney, who placed seventh out of a field of seven in the women's 100-meter hurdles, also competed in the college open 100-meter hur-
Both the men's and women's team saw several athletes run multiple events throughout the day, one of whom was sophomore Gabbi Dabney.
Hicks beat his personal-record in the college open with a time of 14.28 seconds, but unfortunately for the Derby native, the wind was over two meters per second, the limit for an official personal-record. Hicks then followed that performance up in the scored invitational, finishing second behind California's Ashtyn Davis. Although the wind was under two meters per second, Hicks finished his race in 14.46 sec-
open and scored quadrangular men's 110-meter hurdles.
onds, .01 seconds behind his personal-record.
"I needed a lot of times under my belt so I can keep lowering it. This definitely really helped me," Hicks said, looking ahead toward the Outdoor Big 12 Championships.
Kansas will return to action next week with the Jayhawks staying in Lawrence for the Rock Chalk Classic on Saturday, April 29, with the hammer throw kicking the meet off at 11 a.m.
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