8A
SPORTS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAS
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2006
WOMEN'S GOLF
Vanessa Pearson/KANSAN
Annie Giangrosso, Overland Park junior, swings during the first day of the Marifynn Smith Sunflower Invitational Monday at Alvamar Country Club. Sixteen teams attended the two-day tournament. Giangrosso is tied for sixth after two rounds with a score of 154. The team will begin the final round at 8:30 a.m. today at the country club.
Players look to win at Sunflower Invitational
The University of Kansas women's golf team is currently in first out of 16 teams at the Marilynn Smith Sunflower Invitational at Alvamar Country Club.
The Jayhawks shot a 610 in the first two rounds, 14 strokes ahead of Arkansas-Little Rock.
Despite swirling winds that plagued golfers throughout the second round, Amanda Costner, Claremore, Okla., senior, currently holds the lead with a three over at 147 after two rounds.
"When I gauged the wind
before I shot, it would change during my shot. There is nothing I can do about that," Costner said.
Emily Powers, Quincy, ill., freshman, is currently in fifth place with a two-round score of 153 followed by Annie Giangrosso, Overland Park junior, with a score of 154.
Going into the final round, coach Erin O'Nell, said she was confident in her team.
"I am very happy with where we are right now," O'Neil said. "We handled the day very well."
The team won the tournament in 2004, the last time it hosted the invitational.
— Josh Landau
BOOT CAMP (CONTINUED FROM 10A)
Self added on to the running as he yelled, "Get up. Get up. It's all between your ears."
"I think I've been as hard on them this year as I have any time as far as what they're doing out there," Self said. "There's been other years where I've been verbally more like a drill sergeant. But these guys have responded pretty well and they're in pretty good shape."
Self said this year marked the 12th or 13th straight season he had run a boot camp for his team. Self attends every workout, often returning to Lawrence for the morning before heading back on the road to
recruit. Monday, he was recovering from a Rolling Stones concert he attended Sunday night in Wichita and after the workout, he headed back to the recruiting trail, with three stops to make before today's workout.
Veterans like Case are there to pick up their younger teammates physically and mentally when they fall.
Every year the workout is similar and it's usually the freshmen who struggle the most.
"Pat them on the ass and do as much as you can to keep their mindset right," Case said.
Boot camp is supposed to prepare the players for the start of practice on Oct. 13 and the long season ahead by shedding extra pounds they gained during the summer. Robinson said he had already lost 6.5 pounds since the start of boot camp.
"It only lasts for two weeks," Self said. "That's the great thing. When they get finished, they'll feel good about themselves. They'll be in the best shape they've been in in awhile and they'll be tougher because they know they can get through just about anything."
While boot camp tends to get
easier year to year according to Case and junior center CJ Giles, Robinson said the opposite was true when he made the early daily trek to the Fieldhouse this season.
"This year is kind of harder," Robinson said. "I know what to expect and there's no more adrenaline rushes as much as it used to be. I'm pretty much running on straight mental strength."
Kansan staff writer C.J. Moore can be contacted at cjmoore@ kansan.com.
Edited by Alv Barland
NASCAR
Reed Hoffmann/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Ryan Newman, center, spins out and is nearly hit by Jeff Burton, left, in the Cingular car and Kevin Harvick, right, in the Reese's car in the Banquet 400 NASCAR race in Kansas City, Kan., Sunday.
Need Hoffmann/ASSEMBLED PRES:
Racer shows love of college basketball
Jeff Burton talks about favorite teams with other drivers in the pits
BY DREW DAVISON
Besides a love for racing, NASCAR driver Jeff Burton loves college basketball. His views, however, may not sit well with Kansas fans.
"As long as everyone understands that the capital of college basketball is firmly based in North Carolina," Burton said with a grin on his face. "I know it offends many people in Kansas and Kentucky, but facts are facts, and nowhere in the country is college basketball bigger than North Carolina."
Burton means just the state of North Carolina, with NC State, Wake
Forest, Duke and North Carolina as college basketball's land of the surge.
"It is hard to separate that region there," Burton said. "It's hard to say there is any state that has more powerhouse basketball than that."
Kansas may have Jayhawk basketball as a powerhouse team, but its neighbor to the west in Manhattan has not had as much success at the national level.
Burton said he had yet to see a game in Allen Fieldhouse, but said he loved the excitement college basketball provided.
"When you go to an NBA game,
the athletes are just a few years older, but there is nowhere near the enthusiasm,nowhere near the excitement," he said. "College basketball is such a great environment."
While Burton is not a Roy Williams-led Tar Heel fan, he is an avid Duke Blue Devil basketball fan. In fact, he is frequently seen wearing a "Cameron Crazie" T-shirt.
"You can sleep well at night knowing I'm not a Carolina fan," he said. "My father raised me better than that."
Even though Burton is a Duke fan, his teammate, Kansas native Clint Bowyer, was raised in Jayhawk country.
"Oh yeah, definitely. I'm a jayhawk." Bowyer said.
Outside of talking trash about college basketball, Burton, the points leader for NASCAR's Chase for the Nextel Cup, said Bowyer had added a lot to the Richard Childress Racing Team in his rookie season.
"Clint's done a hell of a good job"
Burton said.
Seven races remain in the Chase, but with the college basketball season a little more than a month away, the teammates will soon be talking basketball in the pits.
Kansan sportswriter Drew Davison can be contacted at ddavison@kansan.com.
Edited by Nicole Kelley