WELDON READY TO WIN IndyCar Series driver Dan Weldon won at Kansas Speedway Sunday. As he prepares for the Indy 500,he believes many drivers have a shot at the victory.
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TUESDAY,MAY 1,2007 WWW.KANSAN.COM
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
SPORTS
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PAGE 1B
BASEBALL
University of Kansas ground crew members Brian Bender, Overland Park sophomore, and Caleb Santos-Silva, Wichita junior, work Monday evening to prepare Hollond Ballpark for the game against Bethany on Wednesday. The game against St. Mary Monday night was canceled because of problems with the lights at Hollond Ballpark.
Anna Faltermier/KANSAN
Light problems cancel game
BY ALISSA BAUER
Even without weather in the way, Kansas (22-26, 8-13) was forced to cancel Monday night's game against the University of St. Mary. The game, scheduled for 6:30 p.m., was called off because of technical difficulties.
New lights were installed at Hoglund Ballpark while the Jayhawks were on the road during the last two weeks. On Monday morning the lights weren't ready yet.
Anna Faltermeyer/KANSAN
"They were not sure if they would finish work in time to start the game," Associate Athletics Director Jim Marchiony said of the workers installing the lights.
An attempt was made to reschedule the game for earlier in the day, but St. Mary was unavailable at an earlier time. Instead, Kansas has added a game against Bethany College at 6 p.m. on Wednesday at Hoglund Ballpark.
While Kansas was away at Texas Tech and Oklahoma the last two weekends, workers had time to replace lights at the ballpark. The lights were still functional but it was possible for them to be better.
"T he l i g h t s were not as good as they should be, and we thought we should get the new ones up," Marchiony said. "We decided to take advantage of the two-week
"They were not sure if they would finish work in time to start the game."
JIM MARCHIONY Associate Athletics Director
window, realizing that there were still 10 to 11 home games left."
SEE BASEBALL ON PAGE 6B
WOMEN'S GOLF
Costner named to All Big 12 team
Senior women's golfer Amanda Costner has been busy in the past
Just nine days after taking the individual title at the Big 12 Championship. Costner was named to the All Big 12 team.
selected to the team by the Big 12 head coaches.
Costner was
Costner
She led Kansas with a 75.87 stroke average this season and was the first Jayhawk to win the individual Big 12 title. Costner is also the first Jayhawk to finish in the top 10 in the Big 12 Championship twice.
— Asher Fusco
FOOTBALL
Cornish expects CFL success
Ask a Canadian about sports and he or she will most likely bring up hockey. After all, it is the country's national pastime. But one native Canadian is more interested in pursuing a football career north of the border.
BY ASHER FUSCO
Cornish, who was not selected in last weekend's NFL Draft, has decided to continue his football career with the Calgary Stampeders of the Canadian Football League.
"It is definitely a dream come true to go home to Canada and play football," former University of Kansas running back Jon Cornish said in a press release yesterday.
Cornish was drafted in the second round of the CFL Draft by the Stampeders in 2006, but chose
rather than field free-agent offers from NFL organizations.
Cornish
to return to Kansas for his senior season. The Stampeders remained interested in Cornish, who agreed to sign a contract with the team
He plans on finishing his psychology degree at the University before committing
"I think playing on a wider and longer surface will allow me to utilize my speed better," Cornish said. "The one thing that hurt my chances in the NFL should be an advantage in the CFL."
Cornish may need to make some adjustments to his new league. In the CFL, the playing field is 10 yards longer and nearly 12 yards wider than the playing field in American football. Canadian football teams are allowed 12 players on the field
to training camp in Mav.
"I feel that I am a very knowledgeable football player, having learned many things from coach Mark Mangino and (former Kansas running backs coach) Earle Mosley," Cornish said.
Returning to his native country should help ease the pressure of playing professional football. He hails from New Westminster, British Columbia, just one province away from his new home in Calgary, Alberta.
Calgary begins its 20-game regular season on June 15. Regular season play continues through November and is followed by a sixteam playoff for the Grey Cup.
He said he is confident he will receive plenty of playing time with his new team and be able to adjust to the team's offensive scheme.
as opposed to the standard 11-man American system. In addition, Canadian teams are allotted only three downs to obtain a first down instead of four.
Edited by Joe Caponio
Kansan sportswriter Asher Fusco can be contacted at afusco@kansan.com
Cornish will get a chance to play close to home when the Stampeders finish the season by visiting the British Columbia Lions.
COMMENTARY
NCAA can't prohibit practice with men
BY MICHAEL PHILLIPS
KANSAN SPORTS COLUMNIST
MPHILIPS@KANSAN.COM
Title IX was a landmark piece of legislation that gave women the right
to compete in high-level collegiate athletics. Now it has turned into a buzzword that can be thrown at any problem, even non-existent ones.
Well, sign me up.
Another benefit is that players like Wallace can be coached to resemble a different opponent each week. If a forward at Baylor always dribbles to her right, one of the practice players can spend the week dribbling to the right.
"We didn't get anything." Wallace said. "They did our laundry. That was the biggest perk."
"Over the course of the year you can have them simulate other people's styles, because they're not working on their own," Henrickson said.
A majority of Division-I programs currently have a group of men that help out during women's basketball practices. They keep players fresh by reducing their workload, as well as imitating the size and strength of opponents.
The NCAA Committee on Women's Athletics has called for a ban on allowing men to practice with women's basketball teams.
"I think it's something that has been very beneficial," said Kansas coach Bonnie Henrickson. "I would be awfully disappointed if we lost the opportunity to work with these young men."
But the NCAA says that these opportunities should be going to women, not men. The Committee has pulled out the "Title IX" card, but it's so far away from the action that it can't realize the ban wouldn't help female players — it would hurt them.
Wallace spent a year and a half practicing with the Jayhawks. Kansas has a practice squad of twelve players, most of whom are former high school players. They took turns coming to the team's six weekly practices, running and sweating with the team for two hours. This "valuable opportunity" must have paid well, right?
Stunningly, Henrickson can't just grab an athletic 6-foot-4 woman off Wescoe Beach and bring her to practice. All the women who are physically capable of playing Division-1 basketball are already doing so. So she invites men like senior Steven Wallace to come imitate Big 12 competition.
The Jayhawks go up against players like Oklahoma's Courtney Paris. She's a towering 6-foot-4, and in 2006 became the first freshman to lead the nation in rebounding.
Wallace added that it opened his eyes to just how athletic the players were.
"You try to guard a player like Shaap Mosley, and she's quicker than any of the guys that play at the Rec Center," he said. "And she can shoot
SEE PHILLIPS ON PAGE 6B