Inside Sports
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Sports
Wednesday September 15, 1999
Section:
The Kansas men's golf team continued its success and won its first tournament of the fall season yesterday.
Tragic Loss
Kansas City boxer Randie Carver died yesterday after undergoing brain surgery.
SEE PAGE 3B
B
SEE PAGE 2B
Lett Suspended
Page 1
Dallas Cowboys defensive lineman Leon Lett was suspended for eight games by the NFL for violating the league's drug policy.
SEE PAGE 4B
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Standout won't put Big Red back on
By Michael T. Rigg sports@kansan.com Kansan swriter
Nebraska running back DeAngelo Evans quit the Cornhusner football team yesterday, but it doesn't seem as though Nebraska's loss will be Kansas' gain.
The junior grew increasingly frustrated with his lack of playing time and reoccurring injuries, according to Cornhusker coach Frank Solich.
"It's certainly difficult for this football team," Solich said. "You never want to have a player, for whatever reason, not be able to finish out the season or finish his career at his school."
Evans had a standout football career at Collegiate High School in Wichita and broke many of fellow Wichita native Barry Sanders' records, but it appears that he will not be returning to his home state. Evans will remain at Nebraska and continue to attend classes, according to
Solich
Kansas coach Terry Allen said the likelihood of Evans becoming a Jayhawk was slim.
"I don't think it will happen," Allen said between laughs. "No one here has talked to him."
When Allen was asked if he wanted a player on his team who allegedly quit because of lack of
playing time, he was noncommittal. "It'd depends on the circumstances," Allen said. smiling again.
playing time, he was noncommittal.
If Evans were to transfer, he would have to sit a year because of NCAA rules. However, Evans may petition the NCAA for a medical redshirt season because of his injury problems during the past three years. If awarded, he would be given an extra year of eligibility.
Injuries have limited Evans to playing in only five contests in three years. Against California last Saturday, Evans finished with only five yards rushing in six carries.
Evans and Solich met after the game against the Golden Bears, and Solich said Evans' mind seemed to be made up about leaving the team.
deAngelo and his family were unable to be reached for comment.
"In general it really came down to the role he was playing." Solich said.
Kansas wide receiver Harrison Hill, who attended Collegiate High with Evans, was shocked by yesterday's news.
Hill has remained friends with Evans and said he would try to call him to get the inside story on why Evans left. Hill said he didn't believe that Evans was quitting because of his lack of playing time.
"I was surprised," Hill said. "I hadn't heard anything about it all day, then someone told me at practice, and I was shocked."
"There had to be something more than that," Hill said. "He's one of the hardest working, determined guys I've ever seen in my life. It's not like him just to quit."
In other Nebraska football news, Solich named Eric Crouch the starting quarterback yesterday. Bobby Newcombe, who had been starting for the Cornhuskers, will move to wingback.
Solich said the turbulent times in Lincoln were a low point in his coaching career.
"It's probably been the toughest couple of weeks, maybe months of coaching for me," said Solich, who also saw backup quarterback Jay Runty transfer to Nebraska-Omaha earlier this season.
Despite the turmoil, Nebraska has outscored its opponents 87-7 this year and is tied with Florida for the No. 4 position in the Associated Press top 25 poll.
-Edited by Jamie Knodel
The Associated Press contributed to this story
By Doug Pacey
sports@kansan.com
Kansas sportswriter
But Kansas cross country runner Jay Kocks has managed to upset an entire college.
Not too many transfer students have left their previous school in the lurch.
Kocks, who transferred to Kansas this fall from Missouri Southern State College, has been accused of plagiarizing a piece of literature that he wrote and was published in the Winged Lion, Missouri Southern's annual student-produced creative arts magazine.
Joy Dworkin, associate professor of English and literary adviser for the Winged Lion said that the creative arts magazine would not be entered in any competitions this year because of the plagiarized entry.
Kansas cross coach coach Gary Schwartz said that he had no knowledge of this before yesterday. But Schwartz said he would have asked Kocks about it before he let him join the team as a walk-on this summer.
"I would've talked to him about it," Schwartz said. "But I don't know how what he did there affects his status on this team."
"Ishmael," a winner of the Turner Tomorrow Fellowship award, was released this summer as the movie Instinct.
The work he's accused of plagiaring is Daniel Quinn's novel, "Ishmael." Kocks titled his excerpt of "Ishmael," chapter one. "My Surmise."
When Kocks was questioned by reporters from Missouri Southern's student newspaper
The Chart, he told them that he had never heard of the book and denied any evident similarities between "ishmael" and "My Surmise."
"When I wrote ("My Surmise") in high school, it was to mimic something that we'd read and change it from the major portion of what it was into something smaller." Kocks said in the article.
"My Surmise" is comprised entirely of passages from chapter one in "Ishmael." When he turned these passages in to the Winged Lion under his name, it became plagiarism.
"I regret it now and I shouldn't have turned it in, but I did." Kocks said. "It was bad, bad judgment on my part and there's not much I can say to really apologize for anything."
The executive editor of Missouri Southern's student newspaper, Jeff Wells, said that many students were unset.
"The mood around here is pretty much shock and dismay," Wells said. "A lot of people aren't too happy about it because (Winged Lion) is an award-winning publication."
("Repercussions) are something that we're just discussing at this point in time," he said. "It's something that the president of the university will have to decide."
Erik Bitterbaum, vice president for academic affairs at Missouri Southern, said that since Kocks was no longer a student at his university, he was unsure of what could happen to him.
—Edited by Brad Hallier
Shockers to invade Horejsi
Jayhawks attempt to end losing streak
By Shawn Hutchinson sports@kansan.com Kansan sportswriter
The Kansas volleyball team will take the first step to recovery at 7 tonight against the Wichita State Shockers at the Horejsi Family Athletics Center.
The match will be the first for the Jayhawks since they finished in third place last weekend at the Hampton Inn Jayhawk Classic. Kansas, 5-2, won the first match by sweeping Chicago State, then let two big leads slip away in losses to both Texas Christian University and Auburn.
Kansas coach Ray Bechard said that there was still a lingering disappointment after the losses, but said the team must now focus its energy on Wichita State. The Shockers come to Lawrence with a 1-6 record.
"Their record doesn't indicate a lot of success, but every match they've been in has gone to at least four or five games," Bechard said. "They play a very demanding schedule and they're a veteran team. I think it will be a very tough match."
Wichita State opened the season with six straight losses before beating Arkansas-Little Rock on Saturday, 3-1. The Shockers are led by Jan Meloy, who has 118 kills on the season to go with a team-leading 79 digs.
The Jayhawks lead the all-time series against the Shockers, 35-12. Kansas also has a two-match win streak against Wichita State, including a 3-1 victory last season in Wichita.
See TEAM on page 3B
Molly Lamere, sophomore setter, sets the ball for Amanda Reves, senior middle blocker, in a game against Auburn. The Jayhawks will face Wichita State tonight. Photo by Roger Numer/KANSAN
Women's soccer team will be facing top-ranked teams
Kansas defender Bridyet Goyen dribbles the ball clear of her teams goal during practice yesterday. The Jayhawks travel to #17 Georgia on Friday. Photo by Roger Nomer/KANSAN
By Chris Wristen
A difficult road lies ahead for the Kansas women's soccer team.
Five games into the season the team has a 2-3 record and looks ahead to a schedule that could send chills through some of the nation's elite. After falling to 19th-ranked Missouri last week, the Jayhawks next foe will be the 17th-ranked Georgia Bulldogs. Then comes Southwest Missouri State, a team that at 7-1 is off to its best start in school history.
by Chris Wristen
sports@kansan.com
Kansan sportswriter
Although both opponents will be difficult, Coach Mark Francis said he saw it as a definite benefit for his team.
"When we play a difficult team like Missouri, we can get a sense of where our shortcomings are, so we're better off playing tough teams now because that's the only way to prepare us for our conference opponents," Francis said.
Francis knows what he's talking about. In addition to Missouri, four more conference opponents are ranked in the top 25. Nebraska has neared the top of
the chart at No. 3 and Texas A&M is ranked 8th. Baylor jumped 10 spots to 14th this week, and Iowa State climbed into the charts at No.24.
Francis said his team was doing the right things in practice to put themselves in position to win games, but that their mental preparation had been lacking.
"We're not really doing anything different," Francis said. "We're just trying to get group focus because at the beginning of each half we've come out in the first 5-10 minutes of the game and (given up goals). We need to make sure when the game starts we're, 100 percent ready to go."
Junior Colleen Colvin agreed.
"He (Francis) does the best that he can to prepare us for the games, but we have to step it up and prepare ourselves," she said.
Francis said his team had been working to correct mistakes defensively and in the midfield, as well as to create more opportunities for the forwards to score.
"We've really been working on off-the-ball movement to support each other quicker," Colvin said. "We've been reacting more instead of anticipating
See 'HAWKS on page 3B
Women in sports: they're more than sitting pretty on sidelines
Not only did Reves have her sister Brooke, who plays basketball for Kansas, cheering her on, but most of the women's basketball team, members of the women's soccer, tennis and rowing teams also were there.
Amanda Reves and the rest of the Kansas volleyball team lost their tournament at home last weekend against Auburn. Sad as it was for the team — especially since the matches were so close — perhaps the team felt some comfort from their friends in the stands.
They yelled at the officials' calls, encouraged the team with "that's OK," and defended their fellow women athletes.
To my surprise, the women athletes
The women who participate in these sports are members of individual teams, but they're also part of a bigger community—a women's community.
I thought it was neat to see them rooting for one another, little did I know that the scene I witnessed was part of a larger women's camaraderie within Kansas athletics.
To my surprise, the have been going to one another's games, matches and tournaments for years.
Some of them live together, including one house where Brooke and Amanda live with two other volleyball players, a tennis player and an ex-swimmer. And, because they all need to stay in shape during the summer, most of them have learned
Safan
Hale
staff writer
sports@kansan.com
to workout with one another.
Although women's sports have been accepted more widely, take for example the World Cup win and the WNBA, men continue to dominate the sports scene. Sometimes reporters — including Kansan columnists — fail to remember that women work just as hard to succeed in the athletic world. I know I couldn't do it.
The support the Kansas women athletes give one another needs to be recognized and deserves to be commended.
"I definitely feel more of a pull to support women's sports," Amanda said. "It's my commitment and my responsibility."
Besides, she said they were all friends.
It's interesting to me that she views going to soccer games and tennis matches as her responsibility.
I know men go to men's games, women go to men's games and even some men go to women's games, but do they view it as a responsibility? I doubt it.
Jennifer Jackson, who also plays basketball for the women's team, went to a soccer game earlier this season and last weekend's volleyball tournament. She held a homemade sign and cheered on a player, she stood and yelled at game point, but-most of all, she was a supportive face.
"It means a talk to look up into the stands and see a familiar face," she said. "We all know it's like to play in front of empty stands."
I asked Brooke and Amanda if they thought they had helped bring the volleyball and basketball teams closer together. While they said they might have played a small part, the support system at Kansas was part of a growing trend.
In fact, Amanda said, many of the younger athletes were more aggressive in attending other sporting events.
What the Kansas women athletes have done may just be a small step in the link to equality, but at least they're doing their part.
Hale is a Wichita senior in journalism.