KANSAS RELAYS CONTINUE The women's distance runners took the track and Josh Kirk won the decathlon with a 556-point lead.
FRIDAY, APRIL 20, 2007 WWW.KANSAN.COM
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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
SPORTS
KANSAS 10 13 26 33
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KU RELAYS
Four Jayhawks see gold
Anna Faltermieer/KANSAN
Senior Josh Kirk clears the bar during the pole vault event of the decathlon Thursday afternoon. Kirk finished first in the event with a new personal outdoor record of 15-03 feet. After two days of events he won the overall title of the decathlon with 7,152 total points.
BY TAYLOR BERN
At the second day of the Kansas Relays, four Jayhawks came out of Memorial Stadium with victories.
Senior Josh Kirk blew away the competition in the decathlon. He finished with 7,152 points, a 556-point margin of victory.
He won four of the 10 events and his pole-vault height of 15-03 feet was a new outdoor personal record. Kirk's point total will give him a chance to qualify for the NCAA regional meet.
Junior Egor Agafonov had no trouble taking the title in the hammer throw, finishing at 227-05, more than 20 feet better than second place.
The 2007 NCAA indoor weight throw champion avenged his second-place finish at last year's Kansas Relays, and enjoyed the support from the stands from fellow Russian and men's basketball player Sasha Kaun.
Sophomore Zlata Tarasova made it a Kansas sweep of the hammer throw with her toss of 203-02.
Four of Tarasova's six throws would have been good enough to win the event.
In the 3,000-meter steeplechase, sophomore Victor Chesang used a smart game plan and a late surge to take the gold.
"It's good to win here at home, especially since it has been a while since I have won," Chesang said. "It was a good atmosphere."
The Kansas Relays continue today at the stadium. The first Jayhawk athletes compete at 11:30 a.m. in the women's shot put. The event continues through Saturday.
Kansan sportswriter Taylor Bern can be contacted at tbern@ kansan.com.
— Edited by Trevan McGee
FOR MORE ON THE KANSAS RELAYS, SEE PAGE 8B
NCAA ATHLETICS
Texting recruits could be prohibited
Council votes to restrict text messaging, awaits approval from board of directors
BY MARK DENT
"How many pts did u, scor last nite?"
"U should com 2 visit my school
;) "
Text messages like these have become as much a staple in the recruiting world as scouting reports and the ABCD Camp. But coaches might have to say "TTFN" to their texting ways.
The NCAA Management Council voted to restrict coaches from sending text messages to recruits earlier this week. The Council meets with the board of directors April 26 to gain approval. If the rule passes, it will take effect in August.
Bonnie Henrickson belongs in the latter group. She frequently sends text messages to prospects.
Some Kansas coaches support the decision, while others aren't as excited.
"It's at an all-time high now," Henrickson said. "There isn't a day that goes by that I don't text."
Henrickson would be at a disadvantage if she didn't. Women's basketball was the first sport to use it as a recruiting tool. Right now texting is only disallowed on a prospect's game day. That lack of limitation gives coaches the chance to sell their school when they can't call or visit in
person, actions that are regulated by the NCAA.
Henrickson said she texted to build early relationships with recruits and to get them to call her (athletes can call coaches without violating NCAA rules). The first message she always sends is to ask if the prospect is comfortable with text messaging. She said she only texted to the athlete
"If it's costing them money, we're not going to do that," Henrickson said. "But some people might not be as conscientious of it as we are."
wanted to and had an unlimited text messaging plan.
She's right. Not all coaches are as responsible with texting as Henrickson. That's one reason the NCAA wants to do away with text messages. With no rules for texting, there's nothing to stop a coach from running up an athlete's phone bill.
"I've been through it with my own kids," Francis said. "They're going over the amount of messages they're allowed."
"The best players are getting 30 to 40 messages a day," Kansas soccer coach Mark Francis said. "It's too much on the kids."
Kansas baseball coach Ritch Price only sends text messages on two occasions: to confirm plans for an
"It's at an all-time high now. There isn't a day that goes by that I don't text."
BONNIE HENRICKSON Women's basketball-coach
Francis uses text messages every day like Henrickson, but he still wants to see them get banned.
official visit and to check a pitching prospect's throwing schedule. He's afraid of bombarding recruits with too many texts.
"I think it's overrated," Price said. "There's a point where you can turn kids off by repeatedly doing
Freedom could actually be a problem if the new rule passes. Coaches would still have too much of it when it comes to texting. University compliance departments have no way of regulating text messages that coaches send.
it. I respect the kids' freedom.'
"We are very concerned from a compliance standpoint with how in the world we are going to monitor this," said Theresa Becker, associate athletics director for compliance. "They basically would be asking us to document something that would be impossible."
KU's Compliance Department can monitor phone calls. A computer system organizes each call by coach, prospect and date. But it can't track text messages.
Coaches would be the only ones who could report their text messaging. Because there's no way to verify their word, coaches could easily cheat.
If the rule does get passed next week, recruiting will change. Coaches would only be able to contact recruits in dead periods by calling them once a week and sending e-mails or faxes. That doesn't mean coaches won't be able to keep in close contact with recruits without text messaging.
"It boils down to people's integrity and honesty," Becker said. "You hope they do the right things."
"It's just an additional form of communication," Henrickson said. "It has its purpose, but it's not the only way."
Kansan sportswriter Mark Dent can be contacted at mdent@kansan.com.
— Edited by Will McCullough
BASEBALL
Rivals unite to honor VT
be for glory, but this three-game set could determine who takes last place in the Big 12 Conference, as Texas Tech and Kansas hold the ninth and 10th spots, respectively.
Neither team heads into tonight's series opener on a high note, although Texas Tech may be on a steeper decline. This weekend, the Red Raiders were outscored 21-5 en route to being swept by No. 6 Texas.
BY ALISSA BAUER
Both Texas Tech (22-16, 5-9) and Kansas (19-23, 5-10) will wear special Virginia Tech batting practice jerseys to honor the victims of Monday's tragedy. On Thursday, Texas Tech proposed providing the jerseys for each team to wear, and Kansas accepted.
Yet to have been swept by a Big 12 opponent this season, Kansas lost both its games against No. 10 Wichita State. It marked the first time the Shockers swept the
With the tribute on display, the mood will be somber, but the atmosphere at Dan Law Field in Lubbock, Texas, will likely be intense. The series battle may not
When the Jayhawks and the Red Raiders take the field tonight, baseball might make them enemies, but their uniforms will reflect their unity.
SEE BASEBALL ON PAGE 6B
KANSAN FILE PHOTO
Kansas plays Texas Tech at 6:30 tonight in Lubbock, Texas. The teams plan to wear Virginia Tech practice jerseys to honor the victims of the traedy.
SOFTBALL
Texas Tech next against weak offensive squad
You have to go back to the fifth inning of an April 8 game against Texas to find the last time the Jayhawks put a crooked number on the scoreboard runs column. The team will try to break out of its offensive slump when they travel to Lubbock, Texas, for a two-game series with Texas Tech.
BY RUSTIN DODD
The Jayhawks struggling offense has caused the team to drop five consecutive games, including a two-game sweep at the hands of rival Missouri on Wednesday.
For 30 consecutive innings the Kansas softball team's bats have gone scoreless.
On deck for the layhawks is a Texas Tech team that stopped an eight-game slide with a win against Iowa State last weekend. Kansas, 27-18-1, and 3-8 in the Big 12, has beaten Texas Tech (18-21, 1-7) seven straight times.
On the offensive side, Kansas's leading hitter, sophomore Stevie
Crisosto, saw her average fall to .317 after a 0-6 series against Missouri. Freshman Amanda Jobe and senior Nicole Washburn have been providing the hot bats as of late. Both Jobe and Washburn have hits safely in four of their last six games.
Despite the offensive woes, the Kansas pitching staff had a strong showing against Missouri, surrendering only four runs in 13 innings pitched. Senior Kassie Humphreys (13-10) delighted in the second Missouri game, sprinkling four hits and a run in seven innings.
Coach Tracy Burge will call on Humphreys to help Kansas break out its five-game funk.
The game will start at 2 p.m. Saturday, while the Sunday contest will begin at noon.
Kansan sportswriter Rustin Dodd can be contacted at rddd@ kansan.com.
Edited by Will McCullough