SPORTS UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 20,1994
SECTION B
Three shots cost Kansas first place
Hairline fracture sidelines Preston
Texas Christian junior outside linebacker Lenoy Jones (left) and senior middle linebacker Mike Moulton sandwich Kansas senior quarterback Asheiki Preston. That hit forced Preston out of the game, and he will now be out of the linup indefinitely. BELOW: Lynn Bott, director of sports medicine, attends to Preston after Preston suffered game-ending injuries to his ribs.
Paul Kotz / KANSAN
By Jenni Carlson Kansan sportswriter
The beginning was not exactly a Rocky Mountain high, but the Kansas men's golf team climbed three spots to finish second in the Falcon/Cross Creek Invitational last weekend.
After two rounds of competition in the Colorado Springs, Colo., tournament, Kansas was tied for fifth place with Missouri and 13 strokes out of the lead. In the final round of play Sunday, however, the team's score of 293 put them in second place, only three strokes behind the tournament champion Minnesota.
"The team and myself gave away a lot of shots that would have won the tournament," junior Dan Rooney said.
Kansas men's golf coach Ross Randall said that on the final day the team kept up their intensity throughout the entire round. In the two previous rounds, the team lost several shots for par over the final four holes.
"We finished better the last day," Randall said. "We had a good round the last round."
Randall said Stearns and Rooney had career performances.
"With all the new players, I didn't really know what to expect," Randall said. "It's nice to see some of them step up."
All the Kansas golfers that competed in the tournament were there for the first time, Randall said.
Kansas' biggest hurdle in the invitational was the landscape. Set at the base of the Rocky Mountains, the Eisenhower Golf Course presented different putting conditions than the golfers had been used to, Randall said.
"We had a lot of missed putts," he said. "There are so many optical illusions that can fool you."
Rooney agreed that the greens posed problems for putting.
"We only got to putt the greens once before we played, but people adjusted as the tournament went on," he said.
New quarterback to start his first game for Hawks
By Matt Irwin
By Matt Irwin Kansan sportswriter
Williams will replace senior quarterback Asheiki Preston. Preston is out indefinitely because of a hairline fracture to one rib and a partially collapsed lung.
Paul Kotz / KANSAM
When the Jayhawks march into Memorial Stadium to take on Alabama-Birmingham Saturday, they will be led by junior quarterback Mark Williams.
The Kansas football team is making a quarterback change.
"He was wearing a flak jacket," Kansas coach Glen Mason said. "One linebacker put a good clean hit on him but, because he was sandwiched, it resulted in a hairline fracture."
Preston was injured during the Jayhawks' 31-21 loss to Texas Christian when he was sandwiched by two Texas Christian defenders when he tried to scramble.
Mason said that Preston could return as soon as the Oct.6 Kansas State game or as late as the Oct. 22 Oklahoma game. The decision ultimately would be up to the medical staff, he said.
Mason said two factors would determine when Preston would return: the safety of Preston playing and the ability of Preston to play with pain.
Williams, who transferred from Diablo Valley Community College in Concord, Calif., has not played a down of football for Kansas, despite being listed as the No. 2 quarterback on the depth chart.
Williams was an All-league performer both junior college seasons, completing 309 of 419 passes for 4,194 yards and 32 touchdowns while operating in a run-and-shoot offense.
"Like I talked about all year long, we were going to try to redshirt Mark Williams," Mason said. "But I said if anything happened to Asheki Preston on a definite or indefinite basis, we would play him."
Big Eight teams challenge top ranks
By Matt Irwin
By Matt Irwin Kansan sportswriter
Led by Nebraska and Colorado's thrashings of Top 25 teams, the Big Eight Conference was 5-3 this week.
Nebraska coach Tom Osborne said he was happy with his team's defeat of 18th-ranked UCLA.
"I thought our defense played with a lot of intensity," Osborne said in the Big Eight coaches' briefing yesterday.
"The defense was going against the strongest part of their team, their offense."
Colorado destroyed a Big Ten Conference opponent, 16th-ranked Wisconsin, 55-17 at home. Next Saturday, the Buffalooes will face fourth-ranked Michigan in Ann Arbor, Mich.
Colorado coach Bill McCartney, who had been an assistant coach at Michigan, said he had always wanted to take one of his team's back to where he started his college coaching career in 1974.
"They don't have a weakness at any defensive position," McCartney said of the Michigan defense. "They all run like corners."
Big Eight offensive player of the week Kordell Stewart led the Buffaloes. With 301 total vards (249 vards
passing, 52 yards rushing), the senior quarterback moved into position to break Darian Hagan's school record for career total yards. With 156 yards this week, Stewart will pass Hagen.
Oklahoma coach Gary Gibbs said he was pleased with the team's new grass field but not with how his team was playing.
"The speed and quickness did hold up for both teams," Gibbs said of the teams' performance on the grass.
He said he was concerned about costly Sooner mistakes.
"We gave up too many big plays and we've got to secure the ball better," he said.
Volleyball team takes on Shockers
Kansan sportswriter
By Chesley Dohl
Kansas will go into the Wichita State volleyball match tonight cold turkey.
Instead of practicing yesterday, Kansas coach Karen Schonewise said the Jayhawks reviewed videotapes of the Jayhawks' match against Wichita State at the Colorado State Tournament Sept. 2 and Sept. 3.
Any leftover energy from a weekend tournament at Virginia Tech will have to get them by, Schonewise said.
"It's not so much that they're physically tired," she said. "The girls are coming off a big weekend, a road trip and lots of tests to prepare for. They're as much mentally fatigued as anything."
While watching videotape yesterday, the team discussed strategy that could stop Wichita State's strong middle blocker and outside hitters.
"We'll concentrate on blocking and serving," Schonehwa said. "Those will be the two big factors in the match."
Wichita State coach Phil Shoemaker said
that despite the Shockers' victory over Kansas in three games at the Colorado State Tournament, Wichita State would not overlook Kansas.
"Obviously Kansas is a young team, but they have athletic ability, a good tradition, they're well coached and they take pride in what they're out to accomplish." Shoemaker said. "They're just as capable as any other team in the conference."
When a program puts four freshman out on the court and they still compete, that definitely says something, Shoemaker said, referring to the Jawhawk's starting lineup.
"Experience works major wonders, and I'm sure they wish they could put the season in fast forward right now," he said. "It's a major transition from the high school to the college level. Time is all the Jayhawks really need."
good player, Shoemaker said.
The only thing Kansas lacked at this point in the season was experience, he said.
Wichita State returns fifth-year middle blocker Nona Saldana, an effective force at the net. Even though Saldana plays a major role for the Shockers, she is not the only
"We're a good team," he said. "We don't rely on any superstar player at any one position. As a group we far exceed the sum of our parts."
Wichita State freshman outside hitter Julia Schnurstein is another player the Jayhawks will have to shut down. Schonewise said.
While the Shockers are fine tuning their lineup, Schonewise is still trying to find six starters who work effectively together.
Tonight, Kansas will go with yet another lineup.
Freshman middle blockers Kendra Kahler and Maggie Morhfeld will defend the middle of the court, while junior outside hitter Tracie Walt and freshman setter Tiffany Sennett will play on the right side.
"We need to get the best lineup out on the court right now," Schonewise said. "We'll see who has the best chemistry and go from there."
Sophomore outside hitter Katie Walsh and freshman middle blocker Leslie Purkeypile will start out on the left side for the Jayhawks.
Jav Thornton / KANSAN
Kansas junior outside hitter Jenny Larson bumps the ball across the net during a practice at Robinson Center. The Jayhawks play on the road against Wichita State tonight at 8.
BRIEFS
Herzog not interested in manager's position
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Kansas City Royals officials are denying a report that former Royals and St. Louis Cardinals manager Whitey Herzog would be offered the vacant job here.
General manager Herk Robinson and vice president George Brett acknowledge they have talked with Herzog about the job, but each say Herzog told them he is not interested.
"I asked him if he was general manager, who he would pick as manager, and he didn't say himself," Brett said.
The Royals fired manager Hal McRae the day after acting commissioner Bud Selig canceled the season due to the players strike.
Compiled from The Associated Press.
Retired tennis player found dead at age 40
Police find no signs of drugs; cause of death not yet known
SOUTHAMPTON, N.Y. — He didn't have Connors' back or Borg's forehand, but Vitas Geraldius had a heart, that kept him running through the longest matches. It got him as high as 0.3 in protennis 15 years ago, and it made his death at 40 past weekend all the more mysterious.
The Associated Press
"It's just baffling," said his agent, Chuck Bennett. "When you're 40 you gain a few inches around the middle, but Vitas was in great shape. He played golf every day."
Gerulatis' body was found Sunday in the guest cottage of an oceanfront estate in this affluent Long Island town. He was lying on the bed, fully clothed. Police said there were no signs of drugs or crime.
The medical examiner said that an autonsv vesterdav
afternoon did not indicate a cause of death and that further toxicological tests were being done.
Gerulaitis acknowledged using cocaine during the late 1970s and '80s and said that drugs and late nights undercut a career that was based on quickness and endurance. He was treated for substance abuse and was implicated, though never charged, in a cocaine-dealing conspiracy in 1983.
Former tennis star Fred Stolle, Geralitus' fellow broadcaster and former coach, said Geralitus had admitted using drugs, but that he'd been off them "at least the last couple of years."
Stole le Gerulatitis "had gone through rehab ... and gotten taken care of" at an institution founded by John Lucas, now coach of the Philadelphia 76ers.
Asked whether he would be surprised if Gerulatitis' death was drug-related, Lucas, a recovering addict, told ABC Radio Sports: "Nothing in this world surprises me today. You know where I've been and where I go and where I've come from. Nothing surprises me."
Despite a sore back, a long trip and little sleep, Gerulata was in good spirits, she said. "He looked good. He didn't look like he wasn't feeling well or that something was wrong."
Betty Chaffee Whitaker, a former tennis star married to ABC sportscaster Jack Whitaker, saw Gerulaitis the day before his body was found. He'd flown in from the West Coast late Friday night and arrived at the Racquet Club of East Hampton early the next morning for a charity tennis clinic.
When the clinic ended, she said, "He gave me a hug and said, 'I'll see you at 7,' when a dinner at the club was scheduled.
But Gerulatitis did not show up at the dinner, and the following afternoon a servant went to the guest cottage to make the bed found his body.
Gerulatius' host was developer Martin Raynes, a friend since both men were fixtures on the Manhattan party circuit in the 70s. Gerulatius was a frequent guest at the shingle-and-stone cottage, police said.
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