THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN SPORTS
SOFTBALL | 7A Caught in a whirlwind The 1-7 Cyclones are the next to face the 1-13 Jayhawks in Ames, Iowa, today and tomorrow.
FRIDAY, APRIL 22, 2011
WWW.KANSAN.COM
LEAP OF FAITH
Jessica Janasz/KANSAN
Eric Babb, KU graduate, jumps in an attempt for a new record at the long jump competition at Eighth and Massachusetts streets Thursday evening. This was part of the first Relay event in the United States to be held in a downtown area.
PAGE 8A
Jessica Janasz/KANSAN
Nick Gordon jumps and wins the long jump competition at Eighth and Massachusetts streets Thursday evening. The long jump competition, along with the shot put competition, was part of the first relay event in the United States to be held in a downtown area.
Jumping for attention
Champion long jumpers Eric Babb and Nicholas Gordon drew passersbys to the sand pit
nrothman@kansan.com
BY MAX ROTHMAN mrothman@kansan.com
Eric Babb of Garden City and Nicholas Gordon of Kingston, Jamaica, run and jump as differently as they look.
But their greatest leaps in the downtown long jump for the Kansas Relays measured the same: 25 feet, 2.5 inches.
Gordon was the winner because his second best jump of 25 feet trumped Babb's of 24 feet, 4.5 inches.
"I didn't know that I won until they announced that I won,"
said Gordon, the University of Nebraska senior and 2009 NCAA indoor champion.
Gordon and Babb both acknowledged the differences of running and jumping in a downtown setting. They said the runway was a bit shorter than what they were used to. Gordon said that he had to shorten his stride by two steps.
"It takes away from your speed a little bit," he said. "The most important factor in long jump is speed."
This encouraged the athletes to just jump and forget about the starting point. So Babb, the University alumnus and former walk-on long jumper for Kansas track and field, compensated for the short runway by taking off several feet ahead of the line for every jump.
Long jumpers were allowed to leap from any point they desired.
Track and field fans and casual passersby huddled around the fenced pit on Eighth Street between Massachusetts Street and Vermont Street. Some onlookers peered from the windows of upper
"I got a little scared," Babb said.
"I almost landed out of the pit."
level apartments. Most gasped and clapped as jumps soared, legs flailed in the air and sand sprayed from the pit onto the street.
"It was a big motivator to have all these friends here," Babb said.
Gordon said that he had the most fun before the event even began, when he was warming up and fans started filling the streets. He also noted that despite the victory, he still had several faults in his technique that his coach pointed out. On one jump, Gordon "over-rotated" and fell forward into the sand. On another jump, he landed a bit too early.
"If I could fix it in one day, I wouldn't need to practice," Gordon said.
Gordon also said that he enjoyed bringing visibility to a sport that often goes unseen.
Alain Bailey of Kingston, Jamaica, the 2010 fourth ranked long jumper in the world, and Walter Davis, two-time Olympian in the triple jump, were both listed as participants in the event, but did not jump.
— Edited by Sarah Gregory
KU athlete places third overall in heptathlon
WOMEN'S TRACK
Sophomore Rebecca Neville finishes third with a time of 2:26.06 during the women's 800-meter run on Thursday morning's final event in the heptathlon. Neville fell to from first to third overall at the conclusion of the heptathlon.
Howard Ting/KANSAN
gcalvert@kansan.com
Rebecca Neville started the second day of the women's heptathlon with the lead and her strongest event, the long jump, still remaining. But after fouling her first two attempts, the long jump became her weakest event of the meet
"My last jump I just had to get a mark because if I would have fouled another one I wouldn't have had any points." Neville said. "My last jump, I was way behind the board and my run was completely off!"
BY GEOFFREY CALVERT
Neville jumped 16 feet, 7.75 inches on her third and final attempt in the long jump, leaving her in seventh place for the event. Neville said she hadn't jumped a distance that short since sixth grade.
Neville did manage to have one good event that day, placing third in the 800-meter run. After falling to the back of the pack entering the second and final lap of the 800, she managed a renewed push in the final 200 meters, momentarily challenging for first and safely wrapping up third place in the event.
After finishing long jump, Neville still had the javelin throw and the 800-meter run to compete in, but her confidence was shaken. She placed ninth in
"I'm a great kicker," Neville said. "I didn't want to fall back that much. I knew they were going to make a push but I knew I could make a harder push."
the javelin, ending her chances of taking the heptathlon title, which Nebraska's Rachel Butler won.
Butler used a strong second day to move up from third place to win the heptathlon. She said she hoped to lead after the first day, but struggled in the opening events.
"I was hoping for a lot better score." Butler said. "I had really grand expectations coming into
SEE TRACK ON PAGE 6A
COMMENTARY
1
Healthy competition a mainstay in Relays
BY NICO ROESLER
nroesler@kansan.com
www.twitter.com/#1/nicoroesler
B eat me in a race. We'll run to th
Try to jump higher than me.
Beat me in a race.
We'll run to the third tree one hundred meters away. If you win, the effort will be worth it and I'll leave wanting a rematch. It's only natural. The same goes if the race ends the other way.
Kansas Relays has been known to bring out the best in competitors, and last year was no exception. When Olympic gold medalist Veronica Campbell-Brown came to Lawrence for the Kansas Relays last year, she knew what her competition was: the clock.
Try to jump higher than me.
Try to throw this 12 pound ball farther than me.
Isn't this what competition is about? Isn't this what life, in many ways, is about? It's about competition and the desire to see yourself and your skills matched up against the peers you respect.
Try to win.
In running, everything is under your control. Your feet hitting the ground in the rhythm that is completely your own. The effort you push behind every backward swing of your arm, it's all determined by you. The will to win is all you.
"The meet record was on my mind as I warmed up because it has been here for a long time," Campbell-Brown said after the 200-meter dash last year. "And I felt like things were going great and I should go for it."
This is what drives the runners of the world, the athletes of the world, the business men of the world, the writers of the world, and the competitive soul in everyone. And that is why it is so much fun to watch track and field athletes.
This week, Lawrence gets to witness some of the best athletes in the world run, throw and compete. If I challenged some of the Olympians, such as Veronica Campbell-Brown, the world's best 200-meter runner in the world, to a 200 I would lose by 12 seconds, which is an eternity in track. But there would be nobody else to blame but myself and her insane ability that completely outshines the world.
That is why watching these incredible athletes while you have the chance is such a great opportunity. For every 100-meter dash, one person wins, seven people lose. Yet those seven people that couldn't pull it off move on, they yarn for their chance at a rematch at the next race. They yearn to compete, and track is the most brutally clear sport in the world to physically see the spirit of competition in each individual athlete.
Making the turn on a 200-meter dash, legs pounding, arms pushing, athletes show their skills with no veil. There are no pads. There are no bright lights. It's just them, the track, and their competitors.
But winning cannot always be everything. If it was, the world would be full of insensitive pricks who don't give a care about anyone else.
She got it, beating the Kansas Relays record by .27 seconds with a time of 22.32 seconds.
Now, Campbell-Brown is back. The chance to push herself to beat her record will be an inspirational scene, and there shouldn't be anyone wanting to miss it because, in our hearts, we all want to race
Edited by Marla Daniels