UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Thursday, March 7, 1996
3B
Rowing:Practice buoys new rowers
ously on the east coast.
"People back home ask me where you row in Kansas," Strom said. "They don't understand how there can be a program here."
Masoni said the aspect of rowing that had attracted her the most had been the fact that rowing was the ultimate team sport.
"It is totally, 100 percent a team sport," Masoni said. "Everything we do, we do for each other."
One thing that has helped the freshmen grow together as a team is that they have been learning the sport together.
"It can get frustrating sometimes," freshman Stacie Frain said. "It helps that we're all going through the same thing."
Kansas rowing coach Rob Catloth said training inexperienced rowers was just the nature of the sport.
"That's the way it is at most universities," Catloth said. "You get athletes who have experience in other sports but have never rowed before."
The team hasn't been able to hit the water so far this spring because of the cold weather. The rowers continue to work indoors on ergometers, rowing machines
The freshmen feel their times will continue to improve through the spring now that they have learned the basics of the sport.
that record their times.
Through all the challenges, the freshmen agree that they can always turn to Catloth and the older varsity rowers for help.
"Now that we know how to row, we can spend more time getting into shape for the spring season," Erickson said.
"They're so wonderful," Frain said. "They're always there to give us positive feedback."
Virginia Tech policy comes under fire
Student says university mishandled rape case against football players
The Associated Press
ROANOKE — Virginia Tech asked a federal judge yesterday to dismiss a sex discrimination lawsuit filed against the university by a former student who said she was raped by two football players in the athletes' dormitory.
Christy Brzonkala maintained in the civil lawsuit that Virginia Tech officials violated her rights during internal judicial proceedings.
Brzonkala alleged that Virginia Tech gave preferential treatment to the players during the two campus hearings in which one player was cleared and the other was suspended and then allowed to return to school.
Brzonkala wants U.S. District Judge Jackson Kiser to force the university to change the way it handles sexual assault cases involving students.
Allegations of sexual assault at Virginia Tech and at most other colleges are routinely handled by school disciplinary panels and not reported to police.
Brzonkala named three football players in the lawsuit. She amended the suit Fridav
to expand the allegations and include All-American defensive end Cornell Brown as a defendant. Brown witnessed the sexual assault by his two teammates and failed to intervene, the lawsuit claimed.
She charged that Tony Morrison and James Crawford sexually assaulted her in their dorm suite in September 1994. The
case is the first to be filed under the Violence Against Women Act of 1994.
Kay Heidbreder, an assistant state attorney general, said Brzonkala would not benefit from the sexual assault policy she seeks to change because she is no longer a student at Virginia Tech.
"The injunctive relief she seeks does nothing to alleviate the harm
Morrison's lawyer, David Paxton, argued that the Violence Against Women Act is unconstitutional. Even if the judge found it constitutional, Congress did not intend for a "run-of-the-mill criminal allegation" to be covered, Paxton said.
Brzonkala's attorney, Eileen Wagner,
"The injunctive relief she seeks does nothing to alleviate the harm she suffered"
...she suffered.
said they have evidence that Morrison and the university discriminated against women as a class. She also said Brzonkala may return to Tech.
she alleges she suffered." she said.
Kay Holdtbroder
Assistant state attorney general
Virginia Tech's motion to dismiss the case said Brzonkala's allegations of sexual discrimination by the players do not subject the school to liability. The school also maintains that there are inconsistencies in the testimony she gave at the internal hearings and the statements made in the lawsuit.
Brzonkala's attorney, Eileen Wagner, said that last week she obtained audio tapes of the university's judicial hearings that back up Brzonkala's recollection that Brown admitted being in the room.
Morrison said at the
hearing that he had consensual sex with Brzonkala, who lived on another floor of the dormitory where the three players shared a suite. Crawford denied having sex with her.
The lawsuit seeks $10 million from Morrison and unspecified damages from the other players and the university.
Magic reviews career choices
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The Associated Press
LOS ANGELES — Magic Johnson and Michael Jordan finishing their NBA careers together? Johnson reunited in Miami with his former coach Pat Riley? Johnson back home in Michigan, playing for the Pistons?
Says he'd play with Jordan but not as a member of the Olympic basketball team
Almost all things are possible, Johnson indicated in a far-ranging telephone conference call yesterday.
The Los Angeles Lakers star, making a comeback after 4 1/2 years of retirement, was enthusiastic when asked if he'd like to team with Jordan. Both will be free agents after this season.
"It would be a blast to do that," Johnson said. "Making it our last contract, going into the sunset after that."
"Our agents talk more than we do during the season," Johnson said. He also said that he and Jordan had talked about someday being teammates when they played pickup games in the summer during Johnson's retirement.
Asked about reports he might like to play for Riley's Miami Heat, Johnson said: "I want to stay in L.A. and I want to be here. If that doesn't happen for some reason, I'll talk to Pat, or to Detroit, and we'll go on from there."
Johnson, who played with Jordan on the U.S. Olympic "Dream Team" in 1992, said Sunday he didn't want to play in the Olympics this summer in Atlanta.
There are still two openings on the U.S. basketball team, and Johnson recommended Seattle's Shawn Kemp for one of them.
"I think Shawn Kemp really deserves to be on it." Johnson said. "I think he's improved every season. I think he's matured. We already know he's a great basketball player. Now he's become a leader."
Johnson said Sacramento's Mitch Richmond, Seattle's Gary Payton and Dallas' Jason Kidd also should receive strong consideration.
Johnson, who left the NBA after contracting HIV, said his return to the league had been better than expected.
Your guide to news, sports & entertainment.
"Being out 4 1/2 years, I've probably surpassed what I thought," he said. "I look forward to being back next season with a whole summer of playing basketball and training camp as well."
The Lakers are 8-3 in the 11 games Johnson has played since returning Jan. 30. He has averaged 14 points, 5.7 rebounds and 6.7 assists.
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