Ready... Set... Go!
The Kansas Relays begin
The 71st annual Columbia Healthcare Kansas Relays begin at 9:00 a.m. today in Memorial Stadium and will last through Saturday.
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 17, 1996
SECTION B
Don't miss the Relays
I don't know what you're doing this weekend, but I heard there's a giant party at 11th and Mississippi streets inside a big blue horseshoe.
Gina Thornburg / KANSAN
The party has a track and field theme.
From today until Saturday, the Kansas track and field team will be competing in the Columbia Healthcare Kansas Relays.
Kansas senior Kristi Kloster spends much of her free time volunteering work. "I volunteer so I feel like I'm doing something worthwhile, instead of just running," she said.
So instead of staying home and playing NBA Live '96 on your Sega Genesis or watching game shows like Name That Tune or Press Your Luck, come out to Memorial Stadium.
SPORTS REPORTER
The temperature should be warm, so when you come to
The relays will last four days, so don't forget your tank top, sun glasses, keys, visor, sandals and binoculars.
watch the decathlon and heptathlon on Wednesday and Thursday, don't forget to bring suntan lotion.
Lending a helping hand
Since the relays include more than 160 different events, you will not need your Gameboy, reading materials, banana clips or anything that says Kansas State on it.
Other track and field events will take place tomorrow through Saturday.
The Jim Bauch decathlon begins at 9 a.m. today, and the heptathlon begins at 9:30 a.m. and will finish tomorrow.
Top stars competing for the Jayhawks will be All-American distance runners Kristi Kloster, Melissa Swartz, school record holders, Dawn Steele-Slavens, Pierre Lisk, Brian Martin and Michael Evers.
Other colleges competing will be Kansas State, Missouri and Michigan.
The high school competition will be on Friday and Saturday.
If you can be at the relays for only one day, 2:15 p.m. Saturday would be a good time to arrive.
Former Jayhawks and Olympians Jim Ryun, Wes Santee, Billy Mills, Bill Alley, Cliff Wiley, Kent Floerke and Mark Lutz will be honored during a break in the competition.
Former Jayhawks Pat Manson and Scott Huffman, Olympic hopefuls in the pole vault, will be competing. A women's pole vault competition will take place at noon on Saturday.
The cover charge to this party is $5, and you will receive a Columbia Healthcare Kansas Relays button. The button is good for all four days. You can come and go as you please, no questions asked.
If you don't have $5 to spend on the relays, then it might a good time to finally sell your Wilson Phillips and Wham! compact discs.
I encourage everyone, especially students who grew up with School House Rock, break dancing and Rubik's Cube to support the Kansas track and field team and attend the relays.
If you've never been to the Kansas Relays, come to Memorial Stadium and witness a first-class track meet.
Some of you already have relays tickets that were part of the student athletic package with football and basketball tickets.
Since this is my first column—and also probably my last based on my nostalgic references — if you talk to my grandparents, please don't mention to them that I'm trying to grow a goatee.
Adam Herachman is a Minnetonka,
Minn., sophomore in Journalism.
Peace.
Track isn't the only passion for Kansas senior Kristi Kloster
By Adam Herschman
Kansan sportswriter
After one ring, Kristi Kloster, the 1996 NCAA indoor 800-meter national champion, leapt off a couch, jogged across a wood floor and answered the phone.
Kloster picked up the telephone and said, "Hello, Headquarters." She sat down in the wooden rocking chair at Headquarters Counseling Center, 1419 Massachusetts St., and crossed her legs, listening intently to the gray handset.
Not far from the telephone, on top of the desk, sat a clock that read 6:54 p.m. as the late Thursday afternoon sun provided the only light to the room.
kistener is a two-time Academic All-American, three-time track All-American and a five-time Big Eight champion. However, one of her greatest achievements has yet to win her a title — her volunteer work.
"I volunteer so I feel like I'm doing something worthwhile, instead of just running," Kloster said.
Kloster, a senior middle distance runner from Lenexa, volunteers twice a week at Headouarters.
Kloster spends eight hours each week listening and providing support. Yet before she could begin, she went through 120 hours of training last September.
training last September.
"Kristi is a very caring person," Kansas senior runner Melissa Swartz said. "She's always wanting to help others out and do things for others. I think a lot of the younger kids and other athletes look up to that, and she's a very good role model in that aspect."
Kansas assistant track and field coach Steve Guymon agreed. He said his two sons Corey, 3, and Michael, 6, really look up to Kloster.
"My little three-year-old — I'm not kidding — he says prayers for us at night at dinner, and they admire her so much that they include her," Gumon said. "She has a big impact on a lot of kids, even that young."
Besides her work at Headquarters, Kloster volunteered at HeadStart, a preschool program for lower-income families, from 1992 to 1994. Kloster was also a Big Sister for two years as part of the Big Brothers and Big Sisters program.
Kloster coached middle and long distance runners for the Lawrence Track Club.
"It's something I want to pass on to my kids," Moister said. "Everybody can give back something. There's always someone worse off than you."
When she couldn't compete last year in track because of the injuries to her calves,
Marcia Epstein, director of Headquarters, said that the other volunteers had no idea she was a skilled athlete.
"She does great work at Headquarters."
"She's not just a runner; she's a person first," Epstein said. "Some people, their identity is that, 'I'm an athlete.' Kristi is not like that.
After trying to adopt a child for two years, Gary and Janet Kloster adopted Kristi when she was three days old. A year and a half later, they were able to have kids
Kloster has four siblings: Gary, Annie, Jake, and Sarah.
"She's been a good example to follow," Janet Kloster said. "Whenever she makes up her mind to do something, she usually does it. She's earned everything."
while attending Bishop Miege High School in Lenexa, Kloster won 11 state championships — nine in track and two in cross country.
Even at a young age, Kloster could run
"She used to have a walker; she'd fly across the room," Gary Kloster said. "We had to chase her. She'd seem like she had more energy than a lot of kids."
After a successful high school track career and good grades, Kloster received offers from over 50 schools including Stanford and Michigan, but decided to stay close to home.
"My visit is what convinced me," Kloster said. "The way (Coach Guymon) recruits is incredible. His recruiting style was really laid back and very honest, and not pressuring which was a very nice change for me compared to some of the other schools."
Two weeks ago, Kloster mentioned to her family that she wanted to get a job at a bagel shop to earn some money. That prompted her parents to sit Kloster down and tell her that she was doing enough in her last semester of undergraduate work.
"I don't see how she could fit it in her schedule," Janet Kloster said. "She has herself going in so many different directions, I don't know how she keeps herself organized. I don't really think she knows how to relax."
Kloster works so hard in school, track and volunteer work that it causes her to spread herself too thin at times.
"Sometimes she's always helping others out so much, that she doesn't give time for herself to enjoy," Swartz said. "I think she's the type of person that always seems to have something to do."
Guymon said that Kloster gives so much to everyone else that she sometimes forgets to take care of herself.
"I give her a day off where she's not running, so what does she do, she goes to some
See KLOSTER, Page 4.
Kansas junior Isaac Byrd attempts a bunt in last night's 10-inning, 3-2 Javhawk victory last night.
Gina Thornburg / KANSAN
'Hawks get a'huge'victory
By Dan Geiston
Kansan sportswriter
Tenth-inning heroics put Nebraska on ice
Kansas baseball coach Bobby Randall had a premonition last night.
"He came up there with a look that he was going to win the game for us," Randall said.
"He" was Kansas designated hitter Josh Dinnick, and win the game Dinnick did
as his RBI single in the 10th inning lifted the Jayhawks to a 3-2 victory against Nebraska last night at Hoghund-Maupin Stadium.
Eight Conferences.
Kansas third baseman Nick Frank led off the tenth by reaching on an error by Husker second baseman Larry Hartzell. Center fielder Isaac Byrd tried to bunt pinch-runner Eric Vann over, but Husker pitcher Pat Driscoll (2-2) threw the ball away, putting runners at second and third.
Second baseman Josh Kliner then was
The victory snapped an eight-game losing skid for Kansas (17-20 overall, 7-12 Big Eight Conference).
intentionally walked.
internationally wanted.
The stage was set for Dimmick.
"On the first (pitch), I tried to hit a fly ball," Dimmick said. "The second one I just tried to hit it."
The hit made a winner of pitcher Casey Barrett (2-2), who pitched 2 2/3 innings of shutout relief, including getting out of two bases-loaded jams in the eighth and ninth innings.
"This is a huge win for the team. Huge," Barrett said. "We really needed this after the way we've been playing. Now we've
See BASEBALL, Page 2.
Pam Dishman / KANSAN
Softball team's errors help Missouri win
Missouri outfieldier Karen Persinger hit a home run yesterday.
By Jenni Carlson
Kansan sportswriter
The Missouri softball team scored in just two innings yesterday in a doubleheader against Kansas.
The Tigers scored three runs in the sixth inning of the first game and another three in the third inning of the second.
But those two innings were enough to defeat the Jayhawks, 3-2 and 3-2.
"They would capitalize on our mistakes," said Kansas sophomore catcher Kristina Johnson, who went 4 for 6. "We just couldn't seem to string enough hits together."
win the pair of losses, Kansas fell to 26-18 and 7-7 in the Big 12 Conference. It was ranked seventh in the
last regional poll, which helps determine the teams invited to postseason play. And with these losses to lower-ranked Missouri, Kansas is facing a desperate situation.
"If we keep having days like this, there's no other way we can get into the region other than winning the Big 12 tournament," said Kansas softball coach Gayle Luedke of the automatic regional berth. "I'm as frustrated as they are. We're still trying to find two good games back to back."
The Jayhawks looked to be on the road to first one good game yesterday. They manufactured two runs early in the game.
Johnson scored on an RBI single from senior Katie Morgan in the second inning as the ball sailed just
over Missouri junior shortstop Mary Babh's head.
Then, Missouri had its first three-running.
kansas scored again in the third inning. Sophomore Sara Holland whacked a double into center field and scored when sophomore Sarah McCann looped a single into right center.
Karwas got a run back in the fifth inning and looked ready to strike again in the sixth. With one out, Holland on third and sophomore
The Jayhawks had to fight back after Missouri jumped out to the early lead in the second game. The Tigers scored three times in the third inning as they hit Kansas freshman pitcher Sarah Workman hard for four hits.
Michelle Hubler on first, the Jayhawks attempted a double steal. Hubler got caught in a rundown but was called safe. But Holland did not break for home during the rundown.
The Tigers attempted to get Holland at third and overthrew. Trying to capitalize on the miscue, Holland headed home and was tagged for the inning's second out.
However, Hubler thought she was out and had made her way back toward the dugout before being told to go. She was tagged before she could make it back to first safely.
"It was my fault when they overwreth at third," Luedke said. "When we get late in the game with runners on first and third and one out, though, we can't make those mistakes."
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