SPORTS
WWW.KANSAN.COM
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 8, 2005
PAGE 13
TRACK AND FIELD
Kansan file photo
Sheldon Battle, junior thrower, swings the hammer around on his third throw for a round at the Kansas Relays outside Memorial Stadium. Battle qualified for three events at the NCAA Championships which begin today.
NCAA hopefuls
Twelve athletes make the grade for championships
BY ASHLEY MICHAELS
amichaels@kansan.com
KANSAN STAFF WRITER
Twelve members of the University of Kansas track and field team compete this week at the NCAA Championships in Sacramento, Calif. The tournament begins Wednesday and continues through Saturday.
Of the 12 athletes in Sacramento this week, seven are from the women's team and five are from the men's team. The teams competed in the 2005 Midwest Regional Track and Field Tournament, May 26-28 in Norman, Okla. Athletes who placed in the top five in their events automatically qualified for the NCAA Championships. In the Regional Tournament, the men's team finished third and the women's team placed sixth overall.
"Regionalis went really well," senior middle distance runner Jeremy Mims said. "We had a lot of fun and there were a lot of people who had big performances."
Mims placed second in the 800-meter and junior thrower Sheldon Battle, won the shot put and discus and placed fourth in the hammer throw. Freshman horizontal jumper/sprinter Crystal Manning placed third in the
NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP COMPETITORS
♦ Sheldon Battle, junior (shot put, discus and hammer throw)
Gavin Ball, sophomore (discus)
Benson Chesang, junior (5,000 meter run)
Jeremy Mims, senior (800 meter)
- Jen Widerstrom, senior (hammer throw)
Julius Jiles, freshman (110 meter hurdles)
Amy Linnen, senior (pole vault)
♦ Ekaterina Sultanova, freshman (pole vault)
Brooklyn Hann, senior (triple jump)
♦ Crystal Manning, freshman (triple jump)
triple jump. Senior horizontal jumper/spinter Brooklyn Hann placed second in the triple jump.
Mims will compete in the 800-meter, making this his second appearance at the NCAA Championships in the same city. He qualified his sophomore year, and said he wasn't pleased with his performance.
"My first time at the NCAA's, I was just happy to be there, I wasn't really concerned with how I performed," Mims
said. "I got beat by everyone. This time I'm in the same situation except now I know exactly what it takes to win."
For Mims, it is simply going into the tournament with a different mind set, the mind set that this time he is going with a purpose.
"I won't be satisfied with just making it,
I want to compete and win." Mims said.
While Mims prepares for sweet revenge, some of his teammates, like senior thrower Jen Widerstrom, are going to the NCAA Championships for the first time.
"I am a little anxious but I am ready to get going." Widerstrom said. "I still need to train a little more before I go, but I'll be ready."
Last year Widerstrom didn't make it past Regionals. This year is her opportunity to prove that she belongs at the NCAA Championships.
Changes for the better are occurring in the track and field program at the University, but head coach Stanley Redwine doesn't take credit for the team's recent success. Last season the men's track and field team placed twelfth in the Big 12. This year it ended up in fourth place.
"The athletes want it more," Redwine said. "The coaches emphasize doing well every time they go out there, but the credit goes to the athletes for pushing themselves harder and wanting it more."
— Edited by Erin M. Droste
VIEW FROM PRESS ROW
KELLIS ROBINETT
krobinett@kansan.com
Athletics Department takes a stab
Lew Perkins is going to need an awfully big steak to remove the black eye that now looms large on the face of the University of Kansas Athletics Department.
Local authorities still haven't finished their investigation of the infamous Moon Bar fight, but it doesn't really matter what the police report says.
Sure, J.R. Giddens may avoid criminal charges for his role in the brawl, and stay on the basketball team, but not even the best public relations spin will make him look like an innocent bystander.
Nor will it cover up the fact that Giddens' poor decision making means that players on three of the University's major sports teams were involved in a criminal altercation of some kind over the past year.
But not even the best public relations spin will make Giddens look like an innocent bystander.
First, the Jayhawk baseball team made the news when pitcher Scott Sharpe faced battery charges after a fight in early March.
The football team followed suit when former running back John Randle was arrested for using the Granada as a toilet and punching a man in the face. That, of course, was his fourth arrest in an 18-month span.
Then the men's basketball team threw its hat in the crime ring when Giddens, along with C.J. Giles and Bryant Nash, took part in a melee outside the Moon Bar, which left Giddens with a severed artery in his calf.
The first two incidents did little to hurt the University's image. The Sharpe story disappeared in a few days, and Randle was labeled as the bad apple in an otherwise good bunch.
But Giddens being stabbed,coupled with slow summer sports news and the national exposure that comes with the Kansas basketball team,has created one ugly mess.
Even if it turns out that Giddens was the victim in the melee, this story won't be going away soon.
SEE KELLIS ON PAGE 16