THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
SPORTS
SOFTBALL|11A
Jayhawks rally for postseason bid
Kansas splits weekend series against Iowa State to keep NCAA Regional hopes alive
MONDAY, APRIL 25, 2011
PAGE 12A
WWW.KANSAN.COM
KANSAS RELAYS
Going the distance
BY GEOFFREY CALVERT gcalvert@kansan.com
Scott Russell only entered the men's javelin for fun. He wanted to see if he could have one final good performance before retiring. He was more
than good, breaking his own meet record with a throw of 268 feet, 11 inches. Instead of retiring, Russell now plans to train and attempt to make the 2012 London Olympics. He was perhaps more surprised by his throw than anyone else at the Kansas Relays.
"I shouldn't have thrown that far with how little I train," Russell, a 2002 KU graduate, said. "It didn't make sense to me."
Nevertheless, Russell delighted the crowd with his record-breaking throw and good-natured antics. He wore the pink and blue track jersey that he sported for three years while on the Kansas track team, before Nike made them switch to a traditional crimson and blue jersey his senior year.
It was a memorable meet for cur
rent Jayhawks as well. After failing to notch an overall victory during the first two days of the Relays, Kansas picked up 12 titles during the final two days.
sophiore Mason Time unsurprisingly picked up another victory in the shot put, throwing 65 feet, 1.25 inches.
He nabbed another victory in the discus, throwing 193 feet, one inch. Freshman Jessica Maroszek notched her second victory in the discus in her past two meets, winning by 12 feet, seven inches. Senior Jordan Scott added some flair to the pole vault, sporting a colored Jayhawk patent on the back of his head. He performed just as well as he looked, taking first.
Diamond Dixon was perhaps the most impressive Jayhawk. In her first Kansas Relays, the freshman led a trio of Kansans that included senior Kendra Bradley and
sophomore Taylor
Washington to a one-two three finish in the women's 400 meters. Two hours later, all three of those girls ran for the victorious Jayhawk squad in the 4x400-meter relay.
Dixon was named the Outstanding Female Athlete for her performance. The men's 4x400-meter relay team won their race as well, grabbing their own portion of the spotlight.
Sophomore Kyle Clemons, the defending champion in the 400-meter dash, helped Dixon sweep the event, crossing the finish line in 47.67 seconds. Juniors Donny Wasinger and Rebeka Stowe made sure they followed the trend. Both set personal best times on their way to winning the 1,500 meters.
The distance medley relay was the first event that the jayhawks swept. The
"After the girls won, we had to win ours or they'll have bragging rights on us for the week," senior Keron Toussaint, who ran the hawks' final leg, said.
men's team of freshmen Josh Munsch and Brendan Soucie, sophomore Derrick Perry, and junior Austin
Bussing gave the lajaways a two second victory on the men's side.
The women's team of freshman Kyra Kilwein, sophomore Denesha Morris, and Juniors Cori Christensen and Rebeka Stowe dominated their relay, winning by 21 seconds. The Jayhawks were in a tight race with Wichita State until Christensen took off.
"With 300 meters to go in her leg she (Cori) just took off and kind of broke the spirits of the Wichita State girls," Stowe said. "Wichita State is a pretty strong program and so we knew we were going to have to come out here and compete."
- Edited by Becca Harsch
Mike Gunnoe/KANSAN
Freshman Nick Giancana flies over the bar at the high jump event Saturday. Giancana finished in fifth with a personal best of 2.05 meters.
BASEBALL
Jayhawks escape sweep against No. 4 Texas
mvernon@kansan.com
MIKE VERNON
After being outpitched and outplayed Thursday and Friday, the Jayhawks came out Saturday with their own impressive performance. They beat No. 4 Texas 4-2.
The Jayhawks needed Saturday's victory to maintain .500 for the season. Now their record is 20-20 overall and 9-9 in conference play.
Senior infielder Brandon Macias connected for a one-run homerun to start the game off against Texas Saturday afternoon in Lawrence. Kansas improved to .500 in league and overall play with a 4-2 victory.
"The win keeps us in the top five of our league and allows us to make something special happen here in the last month of the season," coach Ritch Price said.
The Longhorns owned the mound in the first two games of the series, showing off a pitching staff considered as one of the best in the country. Texas beat the Jayhawks Thursday and 9-1 on Friday.
Top pitching prospect Taylor Jungmann took the mound for Texas in Thursday evening's series opener, and he did not disappoint. Jungmann kept the Jayhawk hitters off balance all game, striking out nine and only giving up one hit in eight innings on the mound.
The Jayhawks played the Longhorns close the first five innings of the game; taking a one-run deficit into the sixth inning. Sophomore Thomas Taylor wore down after pitching a strong first five — giving up six runs in the sixth. Kansas continued to get rocked after Taylor's day was done, losing 9-0 to Texas.
"If you can't take the fastball away, you're going completely dominated with the breaking ball, and that's what he did." Price said. "He completely dominated us for eight innings."
The Longhorns sent senior Cole Green to the mound on Friday, and the Longhorns kept
on where they left off. Green baffled the Kansas hitters, pitching seven shutout innings against the jayhawks.
"All of their pitchers are tough," senior shortstop Brandon Macias said. "They throw a lot of stuff away and they don't leave too many pitches over the plate."
With Kansas needing a victory Saturday to save their weekend, Price knew the Jayhawks would need a big-time performance from sophomore Tanner Poppe.
"With the way Texas has pitched in the first two games of the series, we knew we were going to need a big-time pitching performance Saturday afternoon," Price said.
Poppe held it down for the Jayhawks Saturday, giving up seven hits for two runs in nearly five innings on the mound.
The 6-foot-
5 Kansas
native had
no trouble on
the mound;
he left two
Texas runners stranded on the bases in the third,
fourth and fifth innings.
"Once you have the lead, you have to stop the momentum from getting back into the other dugout . . ."
The Kansas bullpen followed Poppe's impressive performance
of zeroes; give our hitters some confidence."
"They have a really good staff," Poppe said. "I knew I had to go out there the first couple of innings and put up a couple
RITCH PRICE Coach
with an even better one of their own. Seniors Scott Heitshusen and Wally Marciel kept Texas from getting a hit for a couple of innings. Junior closer Colton
Murray came in for the last two innings, and shut the Longhorns down; keeping all but one Texas batter off the base paths, and
getting the save.
"They were outstanding." Price said. "Once you have the lead, you have to stop the momentum from getting back into the other dugout and our bullpen did that."
The Jayhawks are coming away from a weekend that was full of good pitching, knowing now that they can beat the best, if they can pitch with the best.
— Edited by Sean Tokarz
COMMENTARY
Players pass up college for chance in NBA
BY MAX ROTHMAN
mrothman@kansan.com
Don't believe a word they say. Collge
College basketball players with NBA futures are asked the same old question, in varying forms, year after year: Should you stay or should you go? (The Clash melody is usually omitted.)
Out of respect and ethics (some journalists have those), the question is often first asked as the season nears its finish. Emotions awry, athletes often pledge allegiance to their school
"I'm coming back another year," Texas freshman forward Tristan Thompson said repeatedly in their locker room at the BOK Center in Tulsa, Okla., according to ESPN.com.
"I've already signed up for summer classes" Thompson said.
"I'm coming back next year," he said to the Austin American Statesman newspaper. "I think we will have a great team."
And then we heard similar words from sophomore swingman Jordan Hamilton.
Thompson and Hamilton said this on March 19, the day before their Longhorns fell to the Arizona Wildcats 70-69 in the round of 32 of the NCAA tournament.
But with a draft class short on talent, Thompson will almost certainly leave for the league. He'll sign a contract with seven to eight figures on it and likely start his career riding some bench far away from Austin, Texas.
Then this Saturday, Hamilton, Thompson and freshman Cory Joseph all declared for the NBA draft, shocking no one in the process.
process. Unlike Hamilton, both Thompson and Joseph have not yet signed with an agent giving them the option, until May 8, to withdraw their names from the draft. Joseph may very well and should probably do so.
This is what it's taught us:
1) Don't ever take the words of young folk as the law, especially from those who are one declaration away from millions of dollars.
2) The Big 12 crown, originally thought to be Texas' for the taking, is open to several suitors now.
Yes, Jayhawk fans; even without the Morris twins, we could sit atop the conference once more. Next year's team will feature several new faces and will likely depend on a few freshmen in crunch-time. But we're not alone.
Baylor has oodles of skills, but it will also rely on unproven commodities: sophomore Perry Jones and freshmen Quincy Miller and Deuce Bello.
Kansas State will be without its commander in chief, the soon-to-graduate Jacob Pullen. So let's pin the Wildcats as rebuilders until further notice.
And after Saturday's news, Texas stumbled from the once unquestionable pinnacle the hard way. Now Longhorns fans know to take some words with a brick故
---- Edited by Erin Wilbert
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