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MONDAY, MARCH 4, 2013
SWIMMING AND DIVING
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
EMILY WITTLER/KANSAN
Junior Alison Moffit, swims at a Feb. 2, meet against Arkansas. Moffit finished seventh place in the 1650-yard freestyle at the Big 12 Swimming and Diving Championships on Friday.
Relay places second at Big 12 Championship
STELLA LIANG
sliang@kansan.com
The Kansas 400-yard relay team earned second place to lead the Jayhawks on the last day of the Big 12 Swimming and Diving Championship. The team, which consists of seniors Brooke Brull and Svetla Golovchun, junior Morgan Sharp and freshman Haley Molden, shaved more than six seconds off its time from the preliminaries to earn 34 points.
Kansas freshman Chelsie Miller was also named Big 12 Newcomer of the Year after the meet. In addition to Friday's second place finish in the 400-yard individual medley, she placed fourth in Saturday's 1650-yard freestyle and 200-yard butterfly events.
"Chelsi pulled off an amazing double, finishing fourth in the 1,650-yard freestyle and then 45 minutes later hopping up on the blocks and having a season-best time in and finishing fourth in the 200-yard butterfly," Kansas coach Clark Campbell said in a news release. "She really showed the conference how tough of an athlete she is."
This effort from the relay team, combined with the 10 other top-eight finishes from the team, helped Kansas climb from last place into fourth place. Texas won with 1051 points,
West Virginia finished in second with 576 points and TCU finished third with 574 points, while Kansas finished fourth with 540.5 points. Iowa State fell to last place with 486.5 points.
Texas once again took home most of the first place honors, winning five out of seven events. West Virginia senior Rachael Burnett won her third freestyle race in as many days, with this one coming in the 1650-yard freestyle event. West Virginia senior Mandie Nugent earned a first-place finish in the 200-yard butterfly. This event was an anomaly though, as the top-finish in the race for Texas was 13th.
Kansas had a strong performance in the 1650 yard freestyle with three swimmers placing in the top eight. Miller led the charge with a fourth place finish and a time of 16 minutes, 26.33 seconds. Junior Alison Moffit finished in seventh place with a time of 16 minutes, 38.83 seconds. Senior teammate Rebecca Swank finished in eighth place with a 16 minute, 53.15 second time.
The members of the 400-yard freestyle relay team produced strong individual performances as well. Brull took home seventh place in the 200-yard backstroke. In the 100-yard freestyle, Golovchun placed sixth, Molden placed in ninth and
Sharp finished in 11th place.
Other strong swimming performances for the Jayhawks came in the 200-yard breaststroke. Junior Alison Lusk placed sixth and freshman Bryce Hinde was seventh. In the 200-yard butterfly, Miller finished in fourth place and sophomore Deanna Marks finished behind her in fifth.
On the boards, senior Christy Cash earned a career-high 242.85 points in the platform event to earn a fourth place finish. Texas divers once again placed first, second and third.
The final day of competition meant eight collegiate careers are coming to an end. The season concluded with the team matching its fourth-place finish from last year, and regaining ground from an early disqualification on the first day.
"We were better than we ever have been and we finished on a very high note," Campbell said in a news release. "I am so proud of the team and how resilient they were at bouncing back from the first day disqualification. We definitely built momentum and finished on a really high note."
Edited by Morgan Said
KU HALL CENTER SCHOLAR AWARD 2013-2014
The Hall Center for the Humanities is looking for undergraduates with strong academic credentials who have demonstrated significant engagement within the university community. Hall Center Scholars interact with the well-known authors, scholars and public intellectuals who speak in our Humanities Lecture Series. The $500 award is sponsored by the Friends of the Hall Center. The deadline for applications is Monday, March 11, 2013.
Visit our website at www.hallcenter.ku.edu/grants/undergrad_support for application guidelines.
Questions may be directed to Associate Director Sally Utech at 864-7823 or sutech@ku.edu
Visit our website at
2012-2013 Hall Center Scholars
KU
HALL CENTER
FOR THE HUMANITIES
The University of Missouri
www.hallcenter.ku.edu
MEN'S GOLF
Kansas golfer has best play of season in Wyoming tourney
CHRIS HYBL chybl@kansan.com
Kansas men's golf coach Jamie Bermel only had a few things to be happy about after his team's 12th-place finish at the Wyoming Desert Intercollegiate last week, and sophomore transfer Stan Gautier — who recorded his best performance of the 2012-2013 season — was one of them.
"I'm real happy for Stan from last week; he played good." Bermel said. "Chris Gilbert played well, and we were just hit and miss with the last three."
"A big part of his performance is what he did in the room," Bermel said. "He is a little stronger than he was in the fall. He hits the ball eight to 10 yards farther. His consistency is a little better, and I think his frame of mind is much better."
Gautier led the Jayhawks with a top-16 finish and a two over score for the tournament. Gautier shot below his season average in each of the tournament's rounds, a result of offseason training.
Gautier didn't exceed Bermel's expectations last fall, but Gautier is on track to do so this spring.
Gautier and the Jayhawks get their second crack at the 2013 schedule today in Lafayette, La., at the Louisiana Classics Invitational. Bermel has changed the lineup again for this week, replacing last week's tournament participants, juniors Bryce Brown and Rley Haas, with senior Alex Gutesha and sophomore Dylan McClure. Gautier, senior Chris Gilbert and freshman Jackson Foth will round out the Kansas five.
The Jayhawks will be one of 14 tournament participants, four of which are ranked in the Golfweek Top 50.
"He didn't have too many good finishes last fall," Bermel said. "It was OK, but nothing like he finished in Palm Desert. So I'm thinking he'll build on that and give himself more confidence. It just seems like he has a lot more confidence in his game, and I think it'll carry over into the tournament as well."
"I like playing against as many
"We are actually playing a little Saturday and a practice round on Sunday, and I think that'll help us get used to the grass that we don't typically put on very often," Bermel said. "The more you play it, the more you get to know the nuances and the breaks."
different teams as we can," Bermel said. "It helps you see how you stack up against all the teams and not just a certain area of teams in the country."
Kansas arrived in Lafayette on Saturday to begin preparation for Monday and Tuesday's 54-hole event at Oakbourne Country Club. The course's bermuda grass is an uncommon playing surface for the Jayhawks, but Bermel thinks the early arrival will help.
The Jayhawks will begin with 36 holes on Monday.
— Edited by Allison Hammond
SOFTBALL
Kansas earns 4-1 record in weekend Wolfpack Challenge
CHRIS SCAEDER
cschaeed@kansan.com
JOE DAUGHERTY
jdaugherty@kansan.com
The Jayhawks hit a stride on the first three games of the tournament. The Jayhawks had everything working for them as they notched a 17-0 victory against North Carolina A&T a 12-0 victory against Stony Brook and a 20-0 victory against Lafayette. The offense was explosive and the pitching was solid throughout the first three games of the tournament.
After three dominating performances to start the weekend, the Kansas softball team split their final two games to finish the weekend 4-1 in the Wolfpack Challenge.
"I thought we were phenomenal today. Both pitchers did extremely well and controlled the game..."
The Jayhawks kept the dominant pitching and hot bats going against Stony Brook in their second game on Friday. For the second time the Kansas pitching staff came just one single shy of throwing a no hitter. Sophomore Alicia Pille tossed her 10th career shutout while the offense was still potent, leading to a 12-0 victory.
"I thought we were phenomenal today," said coach Megan Smith. "Both pitchers did extremely well and controlled the game from the
MEGAN SMITH Kansas coach
The hot bats carried over to
Maggie Hull's second grand slam of the season and freshman Kelsey Kessler's career high 11 strikeouts was the story against North Carolina A&T. The 17 runs were the most by a Kansas team since a 2011 17-7 win over Bethune-Cookman. All but one of the Jayhawks' starters recorded a hit in the game. Junior Ashley Newman and freshman Alex Hugo both recorded three hit games, while Hugo blasted her fifth home run of the season. Kessler was dominant in the circle with 11 strikeouts while only allowing one hit en route to her first career shutout.
beginning to the end, and our offense put on a display today. It was fun to watch."
Pille tossed a season high 10 strikeouts while allowing no walks and carried a no-hitter into the fifth inning. The Jayhawks possess the capability to have huge innings, and that's exactly what they had in an eight-run second inning. Alex Hugo belted her second homerun of the day and sixth of the season, and senior Maggie Hull went 3-for-4 and collected two RBIs. That brings Hull's career total to 124 RBIs, which is 11 shy of the current record.
sried over to the first game on Saturday. Senior right fielder Rosie Hull crushed two home runs and grabbed four RBIs en route to a school record of 20 runs for the Jayhawks. Alex Hugo went
3-for-3 while hitting her third homerun in as many games to give her a team-leading seven home runs on the season. Sophomore catcher Maddie Stein got into the power hitting swing by knocking her first home run of the season, giving KU five home runs for the game. The pitching was still solid as the Jayhawks received a combined shutout from Alex Jones and Morgan Druhan. Jones pitched the first two innings and Druhan came in and completed the shutout.
The Jayhawks played North Carolina State on Saturday evening, the teams' third meeting of the season. Four home runs by the Wolfpack gave NC State the advantage and a 5-2 victory over Kansas.
"The first three games we played extremely well in every aspect and we came up against NC State on Saturday night, a really good team with a really good pitcher and we battled them," Smith said. "Even though it was a 5-2 game, it was close, and we also left 14 runners on base."
Although five Kansas players
had two hits in the game, the 14 runners left on base hurt the Jayhawks in their attempt to come back from a 5-0 deficit through four innings.
Kansas scored a run in the fifth and seventh innings, but were unable to match the home runs by NC State.
Junior second baseman Ashley Newman and senior Mariah Montgomery drove in the only runs for Kansas and Pille gave four hits over three innings, with three of them being home runs.
After losing a tough game to NC State, the Jayhawks rebounded on Sunday morning and defeated Stony Brook 7-1 in the team's second meeting of the weekend.
Pille was sensational on the hill for Kansas, striking out a seasonhigh 12 batters and giving up only one earned run over a complete game. The only earned run given up by Pille came in the top of the fourth when she gave up a solo homerun to Shayla Giosia of Stonv Brook.
Maggie Hull and Stein led the way offensively with two RBIs apiece and Pille's performance prevented Stony Brook from gaining any offensive momentum.
Smith said that the Wolfpack Challenge was a success for her team.
"Obviously we are disappointed because we weren't able to defeat NC State, but it was a successful weekend because we dominated all the other opponents and we were extremely competitive in the NC State game." Smith said. "I saw a lot of improvement from the team this weekend and I hope to see that as the season continues."
Kansas travels to Boca Raton, Fla., next weekend for the Florida Atlantic Tournament where they will play against Eastern Michigan, Michigan State, Ball State, Louisiana-Monroe and Florida Atlantic.
— Edited by Julie Etzler