THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 2, 2008
SPORTS
3B
CARSON (CONTINUED FROM 1B)
came to it, a sparkle emerged from his eye as he recognized the familiar name. Before he could get too lost in the moment, he started to joke about the cheerleaders and how the University of Southern California preferred their cheerleaders to look like during his time there.
Before he left the building, Carson had one last treat. He would be stepping onto the James Naismith court where the Jayhawks now play. As he slid through one of the open doors entering the court, he clapped his hands in disbelief. The only light was a tiny gleam of sunlight from the small windows above the rafters.
The small lighting gave the court a mystical feeling different than when the fans were packed in like sardines and a sea of blue cascaded from every section.
Carson walked to the middle of the court by himself as his family stood back and watched his reaction. Just like when he stared up at Allen's statue in front of the fieldhouse in awe, the words for his feelings couldn't escape his lips.
KANSAN FILE PHOTO
His eyes started to get misty as his gaze wandered around the roof. It seemed as if he were searching for any remnants of the coach who he had only known for a short time, but who had impacted him so much. The only thing he could muster was, "I could cry."
Although he was only here for one semester before attending USC for the remaining years of college, he is still a Jayhawk basketball fan. He might be a USC football fan, but his heart will always belong to the Jayhawks.
Kansas impressive in outdoor opener
"Lawrence, Kansas, made a good impression on basketball for a dinky town," Carson said.
》TRACK & FIELD
Eight Jayhawks take titles, three regionally qualify in season-starting Missouri Relays
Julius Jiles, senior sprinter and hurdler, keeps pace with other runners during the men's 100-meter dash on April 21, 2007. Jiles won the 110-meter and 400-meter hurdles in the first outdoor track meet of the semester last weekend.
Edited by Russell Davies
BY DANNY NORDSTROM
dnordstrom@kansan.com
Freshman Iain Trimble came into his first college meet with high expectations. The javelin thrower won his first meet and broke the meet record at the Missouri Relays last weekend. One throw also gave him the fourth best javelin throw in school history.
Trimble is just getting started.
"I'm not satisfied" he said. "I have some pretty lofty goals this season."
The rest of the University of Kansas Track & Field team has some big goals as well. Last weekend at a frigid and windy Missouri Relays, eight Jayhawks took home titles and three regionally qualified to start off the outdoor season.
"As a coaching staff, our goal is to make each individual reach their potential," head coach Stanley
Redwine said, "I think we've been doing that."
Senior spinner Julius jiles had impressive showings in both the 400-meter and 110-meter hurdles. He won both events, regionally qualifying in the 110-meter hurdles with a time of 14.03 seconds.
"It felt pretty good to still regional qualify even though the conditions were bad," he said.
Jiles commented on the positive start to the outdoor season.
"After all that, it says that our team really should do something this outdoor season," he said. "It's been said one too many times that in indoor we didn't do what we were supposed to do, but I think now everybody is focused on what we need to do."
Redwine agrees with Jiles and feels that the outdoor season gives the Jayhawks a fresh start after a somewhat disappointing finish for the men in the indoor season.
"I think they are two different seasons and we have to approach them totally differently," he said.
Redwine elaborated on this, saying that the outdoor season brings new events with it and allows more people to contribute to the team. One such event is the javelin. Trimble's impressive victory in the event is exactly what the Jayhawks are looking for this outdoor season.
Trimble's 68.04-meter meet throw shattered the previous record by about five feet. He commented on his feelings going into his first college meet.
"Coming into this meet I knew nobody, so I was like, 'Oh, my God,' does that kid throw farther than me?" he said. "During my first throw I thought my heart was going to jump out of my chest."
In addition to Trimble and Jiles' domination, junior Zlata Tarasova regionally qualified for the women's hammer toss with her throw of 54.44 meters. She placed fourth in the event.
Also claiming victories for the Jayhawks were junior long jumper Eric Fattig, sophomore pole-vaulter Kirk Cooper, junior shot putter Emily Reimer, sophomore spinner Lauren Bonds and junior sprinters Victoria Howard and Sha'Ray Butler.
Today, the Jayhawks travel to Austin, Texas, for the Texas Relays. Jiles is excited about the moment last weekend's meet will give the team.
"It gave us a lot of momentum," he said. "To see everybody's times throughout the past two weeks and then for our team to go out in those bad conditions and still compete on the level that we did, it really brings a lot to our team."
Edited by Russell Davies
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