2B
SPORTS
THE UNIVERSITY'S DAILY MARAN
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2006
Athletics Calendar
TODAY
Soccer vs. Alabama, 5 p.m., UAB Nike Classic, Birmingham, Ala.
Cross Country, Kansas State Wildcat Invitational, 6:45 p.m., Manhattan
Player to watch: Paul Hefferon, Overland Park junior, won his first career race last weekend at the Bob Timmons Invitation at Rim Rock Farm for
a time of 25:38.95. Racing against some of the same opponents at today's Wildcat invitational, look for a strong finish from Heffernon.
volleyball vs. Arkansas, 1 p.m.
Jayhawk Classic, HoreiJSI Family
Athletics Center
SATURDAY
Football vs. Louisiana Monroe,
6 p.m., Memorial Stadium
Men's Golf, Rich Harvest Farm Intercollegiate, TBA, Rich Harvest Farms Golf Course, Sugar Grove, III.
SUNDAY
Soccer vs. Duke, noon, UAB Nike Classic, Birmingham, Ala.
Men's Golf, Rich Harvest Farms Intercolegiate, TBA, Rich Harvest Farms Golf Course, Sugar Grove, III.
Denver receiver optimistic Broncos' Rod Smith cares about team more than his upcoming record
》NFL
BY PAT GRAHAM ASSOCIATED PRESS
DENVER — Denver Broncos wide receiver Rod Smith quickly doused any discussion about the fact he's three catches away from 800 for his career.
"I'm not worried about it," Smith said Thursday. "I'll worry about it when my career is over.
"I like wins. I want the stat for
I like wins the most wins as a receiver, that's what I want. That's more important to me than anything."
With three more catches, though, Smith can become the 15th play-
In Smith's opinion, the Broncos receiving corps this season is going to be electric.
"We're only as good as the weakest link and our weakest link is pretty good," Smith said. "We're all the same, we're all one. We're going to go out there and we're going to ride together no matter what."
roll, but light up.
With 10,877 career receiving yards, Smith is 16th on the all-time yardage list. Jerry Rice heads the category with 22,895 yards. He's also 15th all-time in catches, again trailing Rice (1,549).
As for the Broncos' major offer in NFL history to reach the 800-catch milestone and the first undrafted player to do so.
Smith is already the undisputed receptions leader among undrafted players. The former Division II Missouri Southern University star has 797 catches, which is 217 ahead of Wayne Chrebet (1995-2005).
Enough with Smith's personal stats, though. He'd rather talk about his teammates. Ask Smith about them and his eyes won't
"We're all the same, we're all one. We're going to go out there and we're going to ride together no matter what."
ROD SMITH Denver Broncos wide receiver
season acquisi-
lation, Javon
W al k e r,
Smith can't
wait to see him
in a game
situation.
"He's a humble guy but at the same time he has a swagger that you
like," Smith said. "Like I told him (Thursday), when you score a touchdown, the first person you're probably going to see is me. I celebrate because I get to get off the field when you score."
Although the Broncos made it to the AFC Championship game last season, Smith thinks this team can scale even greater heights.
"Somehow we have a better football team than we had last year and we had a pretty good team last year," Smith said. "A lot of guys are hungry."
"You see guys around here smiling a lot. (These) guys are ready to get back on the field and go at it again."
》 WOMEN'S GOLF
Top five scorers chosen for roster
BY JOSH LANDAU
The women's golf team will travel to Colorado Springs on Saturday for its first tournament of the season.
The five-member roster was set in four qualifying rounds. The top five scores were put on the traveling team roster. This type of system helps prepare golfers for the upcoming tournament.
"Qualifying is like a mini-tournament in itself," said coach Erin O'Neil. "It's a way to get ready for actual tournaments."
The course, which is at Ptarmigan Country Club, is a good season opener, said Annie Giangrosso, junior.
The team roster includes returning players Amanda Costner, senior, and Giangrosso, along with three freshmen: Emily Powers, Camilla Svennson and Meghan Gockel. Jill Womble will also travel with the team as an individual competitor.
The team will keep this roster through September until it faces another qualifier in October for the Marilynn Smith Sunflower Invitational, its only home tournament of the season.
"I think it's a great squad," Giangrosso said. "We all are coming off great summers, and I think we could finish in the top three or
The young team has started with high expectations.
four."
The tournament host Colorado State has brought teams from all around the country, including Cal Berkeley, Baylor, San Jose State and Fresno State.
"I've been taking care of things like my clothes and homework early so I can spend the weekend just focusing on golf" Svensson said.
Focus is one of the areas that the team has worked to improve.
Kansan sports writer Josh Landau can be contacted at jlandau@kansan.com.
— Edited by Shanxi Upsdell
NFL
Mindv Ricketts/KANSAM
Courtney Wilson, St. Louis junior and president of the women's lacrosse team, makes a catch during lacrosse practice Wednesday evening at Shenk Sports Complex, 23rd and Iowa streets. Wilson started playing lacrosse after missing rush weaker for she to shop around for another extracurricular activity. Lacrosse was the closest sport to field hockey, which she used to play, that the University offered.
Players find friends in lacrosse Women pass up sorority life for athletic camaraderie
Courtney Wilson had every intention of joining the Greek community when she arrived to the University of Kansas.
Though she's wearing the same designer sunglasses and skirts as some of her Greek friends, Wilson, St. Louis junior, has chosen to strut hers on the lacrosse field in addition to the campus hills.
For some women, the lacrosse club has provided a social alternative to the greek community.
Through the lacrosse team, Wilson, the team president, found the friendships she originally intended to get by joining a sorority. She said she enjoyed not having the responsibilities of weekly chapter meetings, and the other commitments that come with being a part of a chapter. With lacrosse, she has practice and travel commitments, but she enjoys getting outside during the week after time indoors for classes.
sion that I could still have joined."
"Joining a house is something I'm glad I didn't do now," she said. "I've found other things, like lacrosse, that have worked out great."
By the time the open recruitment process had begun, she had decided to pursue lacrosse for her extracurricular activity.
Wilson planned to join formal fall recruitment when she arrived at the University. She hadn't been sent the recruitment paperwork before arriving at school like she had requested, and was told a few days into the process that she was too late to join.
But Lindsey Leonard, Pittsburgh sophomore and member of the women's lacrosse team, joined a chapter last year. After dropping the fall formal rush in the second round because she didn't like her available choices, Leonard joined Alpha Delta Pi, 1600 Oxford Road, during open recruitment.
"I knew several older girls involved with the process," she said. "And I was never under the impres-
"I came to KU wanting to join a house and wasn't planning on playing sports," Leonard said.
But it's on the playing field that Leonard found her home at the University, rather than with her sisters at Alpha Delta Pi. By the end of the school year, Leonard had quit the chapter and was pursuing lacrosse.
"Once I joined the house, I wanted that automatic friendship thing." Leonard said. "But I realized these weren't the girls. With lacrosse, I have a relationship much closer than in the house."
Jason Krone, associate director of recreation services, said the team fit nicely into the club sports program by providing a connection to members on campus in both an athletic and social manner.
"They're kind of a tight-knit group" he said. "They are still competitive and have the social aspect as well."
Wilson and Leonard aren't the only members of the team who found lasting social relationships
with teammates.
Celie Wall, Greensboro, N.C., sophomore; went through the first few days of this year's fall formal recruitment process before walking away.
"Recruitment just seemed unnecessarily long," Wall said. "That's the real reason I walked away."
The time commitment of an active member of the greek community can be rather consuming, depending on a woman's involvement within her house.
Laura Bauer, program director of fraternity and sorority life, said active members were expected to invest two to five hours a week into their chapters, in addition to keeping study-hour logs on a weekly basis. Both Wilson and Wall would have also been expected to attend new-member education meetings weekly if they had joined.
The women's lacrosse club practices three days a week in the fall and save several weekends for travel and games. Practices average five to six hours per week.
With the fall season underway, all three women are excited to see how the year shapes up with many new freshmen faces and personalities joining the team.
Wilson — sunglasses and all
— can't wait.
Kansan staff writer Matt Elder can be contacted at melder@ kansan.com.
Edited by Dianne Smith
COLUMBUS, Ohio — It's one thing to compete for the Heisman Trophy with someone a couple of time zones away. It's quite another when that other person is in the same locker room.
USC's Reggie Bush and Matt Leinart know what that's all about. Leinart won the Heisman two years ago, Bush last season.
Ohio Staters compete for Heisman
Now, Troy Smith and Ted Ginn Jr. take their turn. And Bush has some advice for the two Ohio State stars, who could put their candidacies into overdrive with big games when the No.1 Buckeyes play at No.2 Texas on
"Matt and I weren't competing against each other," said Bush, now with the New Orleans Saints. "There was no animosity or anything like that. We were just two guys trying to win a championship."
Smith and Ginn — good friends and high school teammates in Cleveland — say all the Heisman talk is secondary to team goals and victories.
FOOTBALL
"it's cool," said Ginn, a lightning-quick junior wide receiver and kick returner.
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