THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2008
SPORTS
3B
TRACK AND FIELD
Joe Goering/KANSAN
Junior sprinter Nickelson Anderson set the season record for the 200-meter dash Feb.16 in Arkansas. The Jamaca native was unaware she set the record until someone notified her hours later.
Kansas athlete sets pace with best time of the year
Sprinter runs record time in final regular season meet
BY DANNY NORDSTROM
dnordstrom@kansan.com
dnordstrom@kansan.com
Junior sprinter Nickesha Anderson is arguably the fastest woman in the world right now.
Feb. 16, at the Tyson Invitational
in Fayetteville, Ark., the Hanover, Jamaica native posted this year's fastest time run by any woman in the world for the 200-meter dash. It took her a mere 22.94 seconds to cross the finish line.
"I have to go and repeat it again because one time doesn't actually do it for me."
Anderson commented on her achievement. "My feeling is basically the same," she said. "I have to go and repeat it again because one time doesn't actually do it for me. I haven't realized that I actually ran 22.94 (seconds) because it hasn't miss me yet."
"I had no idea that I ran 22.94," she said. "Eric called me that night and he said, 'Did you know you ran the world's fastest time,' and I was like, 'No!'"
Anderson was completely unaware that she had run the best time in the world for the year until later that night when she received a phone call from media relations worker Eric Dolan while sleeping.
NICKESHA ANDERSON Junior sprinter
Running the year's fastest time in the 200 is not what Anderson is most excited about. She said that up until last Saturday's race, she had not run to her full potential.
"It wasn't about me running 22.94, it was about executing the race properly," she said. "22.94 was just a bonus for me."
Anderson revealed one of the pre-race rituals that she performed before every meet. She said that whenever she saw a safety pin lying on the ground, she picked it up and placed
it in her athletic bag. "They say that pins bring you good luck," she said with a laugh. There must have been lots of pins on the ground that day.
Anderson's domination in track stems all the way back to her childhood in a small parish of lamaica
known as
Han over
located on the
Northwestern
tip of the island.
Anderson grew up with her mother and four young siblings. Her fondest memories from her childhood in Jamaica are those related to track
and field. Anderson said what the sport was like in Jamaica.
"Track put Jamaica on the map," she said. "There are a lot of sprinters in Jamaica. A lot. It's harder there to do track because everybody is a sprinter."
Anderson credited her mother
and grandmother for getting her involved in track and field. She said that they were both great athletes, but that she had let the sport take her the furthest.
Anderson first became involved in track during high
He immediately began to recruit Anderson to come to Kansas. Anderson said that she gave the idea of transferring serious consideration, but was still undecided.
was during her 100-meter dash victory that Kansas head coach, Stanley Redwine first noticed Anderson.
A year later, Redwine again offered her a position on the team and she accepted. "KU is a school that education-wise and sport-wise has a facility that I can really do well in," she said.
Anderson's debut at Kansas this year has been outstanding. She has broken the school record in both the 60-meter dash and 200-meter dash, not to mention several other facility records. On Monday she was named Big 12 Female Athlete of the Week.
school and let it take her to places like the National Junior World Championships. She immigrated to the United States from Jamaica in 2004 when she entered college at Missouri-Baptist University in St. Louis.
During her freshman year, Anderson competed in the Kansas Relays and was quite successful. It
Anderson credited her success this season to her teammates and coaches. "My team has been supporting me 100 percent," she said. "We cheer for each other. It's that cheer that gives us the driving force for us to go."
After last weekend's split meet performance at the ISU Classic in
"We cheer for each other. It's that cheer that gives us the driving force for us to go."
NICKESHA ANDERSON Junior sprinter
Ames, Iowa and the Tyson Invitational, the Jayhawks can look forward to a weekend off from competition. The following weekend, however, will bring the Big 12 Indoor Championships in Lincoln, Neb.
"It's just like I've said before to my teammates," she said. "The race is not always for the swift, but is for those who endure it to the end."
talked about how the team needs to continue to push hard toward the conclusion of the indoor season.
Anderson
—Edited by Samuel Lamb
Athlete wins service award Diver focuses on community service outside the pool
BY TAYLOR MICHEL NYE
Sophomore diver Meghan Proehl was honored earlier this month when she was named to the Big 12 Winter Good Works Team.
Proehl is involved in community work through the Student Athlete
Advisory Committee.
Along with her teammates, Proehl has done work with Habitat for Humanity to build, paint and clean homes.
She was also involved in Big
Proehl
tnye@kansan.com
VOLUNTEER WORK
Brothers Big Sisters of America with the Hawks, Cops and Kids event helping kids to make safe choices.
She has also participated in Fun and Fitness with the Jayhawks, which encourages elementary school children to live healthy.
"I was very surprised when I received the award," Proehl said. "I don't think anything I've done is above and beyond."
As a freshman, Proehl had the second-best score on the one-meter board in 2006-2007 season. In the Pool Proehl is always looking to improve her performances and has pursued many personal best scores this season.
Proehl said that she considered being a Jayhawk diver a bonus and that she was thankful to have coaches supportive of academic achievement. Proehl hopes to continue improving after her accomplishments last year in this year's championship.
Proehl didn't come to the University just for diving. She intends to major in journalism and said the School of Journalism was one of the big factors in her coming to the University. School is always the most important thing for Proehl.
"I'm proud of all of Meghan's efforts, both in and out of the pool," Kansas diving coach Eric Elliott said. "I'm proud of how well she's doing in all parts of life. She's a great representative for the team and for the University."
She hopes to make finals in at least one event in conference championships and finish in the top 10 at the Zone Diving Championships. Ultimately, she hopes to help her team.
Proehl and her teammates also adopted children for the holiday season through Haskell University.
"I love diving, which is why I do it, but my accomplishments in the pool don't mean nearly as much as my ones in the classroom and the community," Proehl said. "I am first and foremost a student; then I am an athlete."
"I just want to score as many points as possible because we are going to be extremely competitive this year," Proehl said. "I'm really excited to see what we can all accomplish."
In the future, Proehl hopes to improve her diving, continue to pursue a journalism degree and continue to do volunteer work with her team.
"I realize that athletes have the opportunity to do so much good and make a positive impact on the community," Proehl said.
NASCAR
—Edited by Nick Mangiaracina
Son helps realize father's dreams
BY MIKE HARRIS
AP AUTO RACING WRITER
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Greg Newman could hardly wait for his son to get tall enough to sit behind the wheel of a go-kart and learn about competition.
"I said in Victory Lane that I heard tears dropping over the radio," Ryan Newman said this week. "He's emotional. He had a couple of health issues at times and he put himself on the edge.
The father's dream of being a race car driver had ended early, but the birth of his son gave him another chance.
Ryan Newman did his father proud Sunday, claiming one of the greatest achievements in NASCAR with a victory in the Daytona 500. And he did it with the voice of his father, who is his spotter, in his ears through the entire race.
Ryan Newman, right, celebrates with his father Greg, left, after winning the Daytona 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Fla., on Sunday. Ryan made his father proud but Greg, as Ryan's spotter, was a constant help by talking to Ryan the entire race.
"To have him here and be part of this is a dream come true for
close. I could tell (from his voice)
when we got into turn three (on
the last lap) that it was going to be
a good run, and he turned out to
be right."
me. It was kind of reassurance for me. He's watched me for 26 years driving a car and he knows when I've got one in the bag and when I don't, and he knows when it's
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