Inside sports
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Thursday September 23,1999
Sports
Section:
The Kansas soccer team is hoping for a bigger crowd at its tournament this weekend.
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Head to head
SEE PAGE 3B
Page 1
Cardinals home-run king Mark McGwire and the Cubs' Sammy Sosa played the final game of a three-game series yesterday.
SEE PAGE 4B
In a pinch
Els Callens, who got into the Seat Open when Serena Williams pulled out, won her first match yesterday.
SEE PAGE 2B
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Star player shines off the field, too
sports@kansan.com
Kansan sportswriter
Tim Bowers is smart enough to realize that football can only take him so far.
Sure, he's strong — he bench presses 325 pounds and he's fast — he runs a 4.7 second 40-yard dash — but it's his other talents that make him more than just a football player.
A junior co-captain from Columbus, Ohio, Bowers is a starting outside linebacker for the Jayhawks. He's had a solid season so far. He is second on the team in quarterback sacks and is tied for the team lead in tackles for losses, but his big play ability has set him apart.
He became the first Jayhawk in four years to record a safety, and his blocked punt last week led directly to a Kansas touchdown against Colorado.
But all of that is nothing compared to what he does with his free time.
A pre-medicine biology major, Bowers excels in the classroom. He's a two-time Big 12
Conference academic All-Conference, a GTE district All-America, a five-time Jayhawk scholar and was nominated for the Arthur Asher Jr. Sports Scholar Award.
He plans to go to medical school when he graduates but is thinking about taking some time off to recount.
"I've been thinking about picking up a minor before then," Bowers said. "But I probably take six or eight months off before I spend the next five years in med school."
His academic record would make Bowers stand out from the crowd, but he also has devoted his last two summers to spending time with teenagers — along with his off-season training regimen for football. Lifting weights and running during the day kept him busy when he wasn't working for the Upward Bound program of Lawrence.
As an Upward Bound counselor, Bowers worked with low-income and first generation
See PLAYER on page 2B
kansas defensive back Tim Bowers returns a Colorado turnover. Bowers, a junior, excels on the field and in the classroom, having earned Big-12 academic All-Conference twice and a GTE district All-America distinctions among other honors. KANSAN file photo
Kansas outside hitter Danielle Geronymo slams the ball to the court below an attempted block from Texas middle blocker Erin Aldrich. The Jayhawks lost their Big 12 opener 3-1 last night to Texas.
Photo by Matt J.
Daugherty/
KANSAN
'Hawks fall to Texas despite high intensity
By Shawn Hutchinson
Kansan sportswriter
The Kansas volleyball team tried everything in its power to derail the No.8 Texas Longhorns last night in the Big 12 Conference opener at the Horejsi Family Athletics Center. In the end, though, the Longhorns were just too much.
The Longhorns, 7-2, battled the Jayhawks for an hour and 53 minutes before leaving town with a 3-1 victory—but it didn't come easy.
The Jayhawks, 9-3, won the first game in dramatic fashion, 16-14. Kansas jumped out to a 6-1 lead to start the game, but Texas came back and tied the game at 14 before Kansas scored the next two points to take the game.
That game marked the first Kansas win against the Longhorns since Oct. 25, 1996. But that was only one battle.
"I think game one was the most intense game that we have played," Reves said. "I felt the most togetherness on our team than I've ever felt before."
Senior outside hitter Mary Beth Albrecht led the Jayhawk with six kills in the first game, while junior outside hitter Danielle Geronymo chipped in with five kills. Senior middle blocker Amanda Reves added four.
"We battled Texas for as long as we could." Coach Ray Bechard said. "But we still have some issues of execution to work out. The turnaround from game one to game two was all about Texas picking up their game."
The Jayhawks had their opportunities in game two, fighting back from a 11-4 deficit and cutting it to 11-9. The Longhorns responded with four straight points, including two kills from Erin Aldrich, senior middle blocker and All-America candidate tak
The togetherness didn't last for very long, as Texas came back and beat the Jayhawks, 15-9, 15-3 and 15-8.
Sophomore setter
Molly La Mere
ing control of the game.
Texas sophomore outside hitter Kathy Tilson led the Longhorns in the match with 19 kills and no errors, while Aldrich chipped in 15 kills.
"We played Aldrich about as good as anyone has," Bechard said. "But we weren't expecting Tilson to have the type of night she had — she really was a key factor in their win."
The Longhorns had a decisive height advantage in the match, with a front line that consists of the 6-2 Aldrich, the 6 foot Tilson, 6-1 junior outside hitter Meggan Kohnen and 6 foot senior outside hitter Sandra Reboucas.
"They're a very athletic team," said Molly LaMere, Kansas sophomore setter. "They're all around the court. We just needed to work a little bit better on our blocking."
LaMere also said the Jayhawks knew that Aldrich would cause some problems.
"We kind of prepared for that a little bit in practice yesterday," LaMere said. "We knew we needed to watch her."
Revels led the Jayhawks with 17 kills in the match, while Geronymy and junior outside hitter Amy Myatt combined for 12 assists. LaMere led the team with 50 assists.
"We competed really hard," Lawrence said.
"I think this match was really good for us."
"I think this match was really good for us." The Jayhawks will travel to Columbia, Mo., to take on the Missouri Tigers at 2 p.m. Saturday at the Hearnes Center.
- Edited by Keith Burner
Three top recruits have Jayhawks on their lists
By Matt Tait
sports@kansan.com
Jared Reiner, a 6-11, 240-pound center from Tripp, S.D., has told Greg Shemitz of Big East Briefs that he has narrowed his schools down to a final five.
Kansan sportswrien.
As the end of the early signing period for high school seniors nears, Kansas awaits the decision of one recruit and continues its push for two others.
The schools on his list are Connecticut, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas and Utah. While Reiner has not indicated a favorite, he will travel to Storrs, Conn., for their version of Late Night later this month and will have an in-home visit with the Huskies today.
Conneticut was a late addition to the list of schools recruiting Reiner, but Dan Sabers, Reiner's coach, said he thought Iowa and Kansas were the top two on
Reiner's list.
They are equal on totally different outlooks," Sabers said. "They are both selling the strong points of their programs."
Travon Bryant, a 6-8, 225-pound power forward from Long Beach, Calif., has indicated his favorites list. According to Greg Swaim's report in Fast Break Recruiting, Bryant's top two candidates are Missouri and Kansas, with Kansas holding a slight edge. Bryant also has conducted in-home
Reiner recently announced that he expected to make a decision during the early signing period, citing his desire to get it out of the way and to be able to focus on his senior season at Tripp-Delmont High School.
visits with Cincinnati, Oregon State and South Florida. He told Mike Sullivan of Insiders Report that visits from Cincinnati and Kansas were very good.
"I learned a lot about both schools," Bryant told Sullivan. "Both lasted about two hours, and we spoke about academics for about an hour."
Bryant has said in the past that he planned to stay all four years at college but is not expected to decide on a school until the spring signup period. He will, however, make an official visit to Kansas during the weekend of Oct. 15 to attend Kansas' annual Late Night with Roy Williams — which traditionally has been a big advantage in the recruiting process.
The final prospect that Kansas is pursuing for the class of 2000 is also one of the most highly touted prospects nationwide. DeShawn Stevenson, a 65, 210-pound shooting guard from Fresno, Calif., recently has
out Sullivan that he had a great in-home visit with Kansas.
Stevenson's official visit to Kansas also will come the weekend of Oct. 15. Stevenson, who has had academic trouble, recently told Pac-West Hoops that he would qualify academically by spring. Like Bryant, Stevenson also has Missouri on his list, but the rest of the schools on his list consist of more traditional college basketball powerhouses such as UCLA, Kentucky and Connecticut.
in-home visits end Sunday, and the early signing period runs from Nov. 10 to 17. After that recruits must wait until spring to sign.
Bryant has not said which schools he may choose, but he recently has dismissed rumors that he will jump straight to the NBA.
-Edited by Chris Hutchison
Rantala finds her acclimation easier with time
Pull out a world map and play connect-the dots with Hilla Rantala's travels. There's a giant check mark.
From her native Finland, Rantala checked out South Alabama for her first two college years. As a junior, she is now Kansas. Her story is filled with language barriers, culture shock and, of course, television.
Rantala should be Kansas' soccer star this year, leading the team back to respectability. She was a two-time leading goal scorer in her conference and tied for player of the year honors. In two years, she scored 27 goals. To put that in perspective, the Kansas program has notched only 50 during the same span.
Coach Mark Francis is thankful that Rantala is healthy now. She will make a difference. Scoring is like breathing; instinctive. The only difference is not everyone can do it. Hilla can resuscitate the Intruder offence.
the Jayhawk's offense.
Rantala has sat out since Aug. 27 with a sore ankle that progressively has been an even bigger pain. She's iced enough to make even the northernmost Finn shiver. For the past couple weeks she could jog lightly, but her right foot could barely strike a ball without her teeth grinding.
"It's horrible," Rantala said last week, before she was
Jason
Franchuk
sports columnist
sports@kansan.com
announced fit to play. "I just want to be able to play."
"Well, I knew some of the television shows," she said, "but we get them when they're a few years old."
But a degenerative joint probably will rank as Randalia's easiest modification. When she decided to leave Finland three years ago, she knew she wanted to try America, but she wasn't sure which part. A girl she knew went to Notre Dame on a soccer scholarship, and that's all she knew of this country.
Rantala had taken English during school - a foreign language is required learning for all Finnish pupils - but what she knew gave her little help when she arrived to start college soccer in Alabama, a place she picked like a spring break destination: it was warm.
"Learning a foreign language just in the classroom is so different," Rantala said. "It did very little for me because people speak very different in conversations than they do in textbooks."
The Jenny Jones Show has been important to Rantala. It gave her something to talk about with friends and something to imitate when she stared into her mirror and tried to act like an American. Television allowed her to understand slang.
Rantala needed to fit in. She wasn't particularly homesick, she said, but she missed being able to say what she wanted without sounding like an idiot. Hilla needed a friend. Hilla needed a companion to share her favorite Finnish candy. Hilla found Jenny Jones.
Now, it's easy to confuse Rantala for a native. She likes to shop at American Eagle and Gap. She has the blonde-haired blueeyed look that could pass for a Minnesota or Californian. She has two tattoos - one of the Norwegian berry she is named after on her ankle, and a bright orange sunshine on her right shoulder. And she's definitely your typical American college student.
"I'd love to go out and do more stuff, but I never have any money."
Rantala says she is adjusted. She loves her teammates and especially her coach, whom she followed from South Alabama. There's even a fellow Finn freshman, Mervi Kuittinen, who can gossip with her at soccer practice about American quirks.
Only one problem left. Rantala hates cold winters.
"It's the one thing I'm not looking forward to. That's what I liked about Alabama. It was always nice and warm there. That's why I liked being away from home."
When the winds and snow begin swirling during Kansas' frigid winter, the link will be made between here and home. Hilla's path will have come full circle.
Franchuk is a Boulder, Colo., junior in journalism.
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