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KANSAN.COM
SPORTS
11
Emotions raw for women's basketball seniors
► SEAN COLLINS @seanzie.3
@seanzie_3
Senior guard Timeke O'Neal steals the ball from Kansas State in Allen Fieldhouse Saturday. She had four for the evening, leading the team. *Caitlynn Salazar/KANSAN*
coach Schneider avoided this day last year. After accepting the head-coaching job at Kansas, Schneider took on a group of women that had just lost all their senior leaders and had no seniors to replace them.
Saturday, Schneider stood on the court of Allen Fieldhouse, blue and red roses cluttering the floor, and six senior Jayhawks standing at mid-court to be recognized for the last time at home. The Jayhawks had just lost 61-54 to the Wildcats in the Sunflower Showdown.
Senior forward Caelynn Manning-Allen had a career-high 21 points and senior guard Timeka O'Neal hit two threepointers.
"I couldn't be more proud of our seniors for their effort," Schneider said. "These two [Manning-Allen and O'Neal] cbviously over the last couple years especially in the midst of a coaching
change."
The post-game press conference was an emotional moment for O'Neal. She sat down with Schneider and Manning-Allen to take questions. When asked what senior day meant to them,
O'Neal was overcome with emotion. She stuck her face in her hands with teary eyes. Manning-Allen recognized O'Neal wasn't going to be able to answer the question and took it on herself.
we work so hard, and we always fall just a little short," Manning-Allen said. "I felt like coming into this game one thing that we have been emphasizing especially the last couple of games is just playing for each other and playing for
"Personally I felt like
The six seniors, O'Neal, Manning-Allen, center Lisa Blair, forward Jada Brown and forward Sydney Umeri, all stood alongside their parents at center court after the game.
the seniors that we have here, the six of us."
Schneider expressed how important the seniors were to this team and to him after the game. After not experiencing a senior day last season, Schneider said this year was certainly different.
"You have to think about in athletics today, the journey that these kids take from the time they start playing ball, the investment they make to become a good enough player to earn a scholarship and all the support they have to get with their family and sometimes extended family, club basketball and travel," Schneider said. "It's a pleasure for me to be a part of these moments with them."
The Jayhawks have one remaining game in the regular season, at West Virginia on Monday. Tip-off is at 6 p.m.
Schneider was able to get a win in the first round of the tournament in 2016 against TCU. Tournament play starts March 3.
Two individual victories provide silver lining in men's track second place finish at Big 12 Indoor Track Championship
▶ MATT HOFFMANN
@MattHoffmannUDK
The Kansas men's track and field team had their best finish at an indoor conference meet since 1983 on Saturday when they finished second at the Big 12 Championship in Ames, Iowa.
Two individual wins, from senior middle-distance runner Strymar Livingston and junior thrower Nicolai Ceban, highlighted the day. Kansas had picked up another two wins after the first day of the meet, but was unable to maintain its lead through Saturday.
Kansas finished with 110.5 points, 13 points behind Texas, the meet winners.
"We did come up short," said coach Stanley Redwine in a KU Athletics news release. "It just means that there are some areas [in which] we need to get better."
Redwine was pleased, however, to see Livingston win the 800-meter run.
"I was really excited for Strymar, for obvious reasons, since I coach him," Redwine said in the release. "But at the same time, he went out there and gave his all. That's all that we ask all our athletes to do and he
did a really good job."
Livingston raced twice around the Lied Center track in 1:48.40, his second-fastest time as a Jayhawk. His victory was also the first win for Kansas in the 800-meters at the indoor championship since the Big 12 began.
Livingston's fellow gold medal-winner, Ceban, took first in the shot put. His first toss of the day would've been good enough for the victory but he topped that mark with his third throw, heaving the shot 18.97 meters. No other competitor came within three feet of that mark.
"For Nicolai to win the shot as he did, Coach Andy (Kokhanovsky, throws coach) does a phenomenal job with those guys," Redwine said in the release.
The Kansas women's team finished in fifth. One of the best performances on the women's side came from senior distance runner Hannah Richardson, who broke her own school record in the 3,000 meters. She finished second with a time of 9:16.02.
The women's 4x400-meter relay team also found their way to the podium, finishing third with a time of 3:37.06.
"We've got to get healthy, and we've got to have more depth," Redwine said in the release. "We want to be in the top three [of the league standings]."
Both teams may find motivation in Kansas hosting the outdoor Big 12 Championship in May.
"I would hope that it does, but each meet brings a different thing," Redwine said in the release. "It just seems like last year, we were second and everyone was really excited. This year, we're second and there's a bitter taste."
Whatever feeling the team has, Redwine knows the outdoor championship won't be easy.
The Jayhawks will discover which individual athletes qualified for the 2017 NCAA Indoor Championships on Tuesday. That meet is scheduled for March 10-11 in College Station, Texas.
"It's not going to be an easy meet outdoors either," Redwine said in the release. "We have other teams thinking they can beat us."
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