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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
THURSDAY, MAY 2, 2013
PAGE 5B
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Jayhawks to host Big 12 championship in Kansas City
STELLA LIANG
sliang@kansan.com
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The Big 12 rowing teams are heading to Kansas City, Kan., as the Jayhawks will host the Big 12 Championship on Saturday. This will be the first time five teams will compete as West Virginia joins Kansas, Kansas State, Oklahoma and Texas at the regatta.
"We are hoping all the teams do well. Rowing is a team sport," Coach Rob Catloth said. "Our goals are to place as high in the Big 12 as we can."
Catloth
The teams will compete in six events: fourth varsity eight, third varsity eight, second varsity four, first varsity four, second varsity eight and first varsity eight. All schools will race together in each race, unless a school doesn't have a boat for a particular race.
Team points are given out for
each race depending on which place the boat earned. Fourth varsity eight is worth the least amount of points while the first varsity eight race is worth the most. Final standings are based on how many points each school accumulates over the course of all six races.
"I think Oklahoma is coming in a heavy favorite," Catloth said. "They haven't lost to another Big 12 school this season."
In the seeded races (first and second varsity eight and first varsity four), Oklahoma is seeded first in each. Kansas is seeded fifth in the first varsity eight, third in the second varsity eight and fourth in the first varsity four.
In the past, Texas has dominated the Big 12 Championships. In the four-year history of the event, Texas has placed first in all of them. Last year, Texas narrowly edged Oklahoma for the title 105 points to 104.
For Kansas, look for the second varsity eight boat to continue to have success. The team is coming off a two-week period without competition. Two weeks ago at the Lake Natoma Invitational, Kansas competed against many teams ranked in the top 20. The team ended up winning two races and losing seven. The weekend before that, Kansas had a strong showing at the Knecht Cup with two boats, varsity four and second varsity four, winning gold in the Grand Finals.
The Big 12 Championship will be held on Wyandotte County Lake in Kansas City, Kan., Saturday, May 4. The first race will start at 9:40 a.m., and the awards ceremony will follow the competition at 11:50 a.m. The winner of the Big 12 Championship does not earn a bid to the NCAA Championship. Kansas also competes in Conference USA, which does have an automatic qualifying bid, and that conference tournament will be May 18.
Edited by Elise Reuter
CHRIS BRONSON/KANSAN
The Kansas' Varsity Four stretches their lead over Kansas State in their race Saturday morning at the 14th Annual Governor Cup. The Varsity Four would defeat Kansas State by more than nine seconds with a time of 7.38.4. Kansas State would defeat Kansas 16-14.
GET BACK ON
President falls off horse, wins race and $11 M
ASSOCIATED PRESS
MOSCOW — Seeing the president slam face-first into the ground after falling from a speeding horse would be a shock to any nation. In authoritarian Turkmenistan, many residents didn't even get the chance.
President Gurbanguli Berdymukhamedov apparently wasn't seriously injured Sunday when his horse stumbled and he pitched into the dirt track at the hippodrome on the outskirts of the capital, Ashgabat. But the fall was certainly a wound to the pride of the 55-year-old Central Asian leader, whose all-powerful personality cult portrays him as effortlessly competent.
Thousands of people were in the stands for the race that celebrated Turkmenistan's renowned desert
racehorse breed, the Akhal-Teke. But state television's video of the race cut off just before the fall and the extensive written reports on the event didn't mention the plunge.
All domestic broadcasting in Turkmenistan is state-run; newspapers are either state-run or under heavy government supervision. Media criticism of the president is non-existent and elaborate praise of him is ubiquitous in this nation of 5 million, wedged between the Caspian Sea and Iran, Afghanistan and Uzbekistan.
Turkmenistan's security agencies reportedly went into high gear to try to block video or images of the president's fall from slipping out to the rest of the world. The opposition-in-exile group Gundogar cited witnesses as saying police were carefully checking the computers, tablets, mobile phones and
cameras of departing passengers at Ashgabat's airport. The horse celebration had attracted an array of foreign horse enthusiasts.
Video obtained by The Associated Press shows a rider falling when his horse stumbles just after crossing the finish line in first place. State media reported that Berdymukhamedov won the race.
The horse also fell, but quickly got up, showing a slight limp. Berdymukhamedov, however, lay motionless. Within seconds, several dozen men in dark suits and one in traditional garb including a high white sheepskin hat rushed onto the track, and an ambulance soon arrived.
The man who shot the video spoke on condition of anonymity for fear that divulging his name could have negative repercussions on his livelihood. He said the president reappeared about half an hour later to accept the winner's prize — about $11 million.
State TV showed the president accepting the award, which he said would be used to improve Turkmenistan's horse breeding.
The choreographed winning of the race — the nearest challenger was obviously throttling back his mount in the home stretch — the media censorship and the reported tough security response at the airport all reflect Turkmenistan's two decades of stifling authoritarianism.
Since becoming independent in the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union, Turkmenistan has been an extreme example of a one-party state.
Berdymukhamedov, who became president after Saparmurat Niyazov's death in 2006, has put
aside some of Niyazov's more extreme measures, but he has not opened up Turkmenistan's politics or media. His own personality cult includes such feats as winning last year's maiden automobile race in Turkmenistan, even though he supposedly wasn't scheduled to take part and asked to join only at the last minute.
State media reports about the president's actions overflow with admiration and delight.
"The audience greeted President Gurbanguli Berdymukhamedov, who finished first — demonstrating great skills of horse riding, the will to win, firmness and courage — with a storm of applause," the state news agency TDH reported after Sunday's race.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Turkmenistan's President Gurbangul Berdymukhamedov smiles as he rides a horse in capital Ashgabat, Turkmenistan. Berdymukhamedov fell off his horse during a race over the weekend, an opposition group said Tuesday. Adding that security agents are now closely searching passengers at the capitalial airport to intercept any embarrassing photos or videos.
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