2B THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
SPORTS
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2006
TODAY
+ Softball vs. Fresno Stars, Palm
Springs Classic, Noon, Palm
Sarahs Calif.
+ Breunbelt vs. Belmont, Music City Challenge, 2 p.m., Nashville, Tenn.
+ SeltzerValve, Cal State Fullerton,
Palm Springs Classic, 5 p.m.
Palm Sardinas, Calif.
Swimming and Diving Big 12 Championships, All day, Columbia, Mo.
Track and Field at Big 12 Indoor Championships, All day, Lincoln, Neb.
SATURDAY
Basketball vs. Upacomb University, Music City Challenge,
2 n.m. Nashville Tenn.
- Softball v. vs. UCLA, Palm Springs Classic, 3 p.m., Palm Springs Calif.*
Softball vs. UC Santa Barbara,
Palm Springs Classic, 10:30
p.m. Palm Springs, Calif.
Men's Basketball at Texas, 8 p.m., Austin, Texas
Dugan Field, Lipscomb/ Photos courtesy of University Athletics Department
Track and Field Big 12 Indoor Championships, All day, Lincoln, Neb.
Player to Watch: Brandon
Rush. The freshman guard will be responsible for guarding Texas' P.J. Tucker. Rush'sslash ability
Rusl
could also be key in beating the Longhorns' zone defense.
- Swimming and Diving at Big 12 Championships, All day, Columbia, Mo.
Greer Stadium, Belmont/Photos courtesy of University Athletics Department
Tennis at Arkansas, I p.m.,
Favettville, Ark.
SUNDAY
- Women's Basketball vs.
Missouri, 11 a.m., Allen Field-
house.
- ♦ Softball vs. Pacific, Palm Springs Classic, 1 p.m., Palm Springs, Calif.
- Baseball vs. Vanderbilt, Music City Challenge, Noon, Nashville, Tenn.
SOFTBALL
Kansas ready to play in California tournament
The Kansas softball team will participate in the Palm Springs Classic in Palm Springs, Calif., this weekend.
Hawkins Field, Vanderbilt/ Photos courtesy of University Athletics Department
The Jayhawks will play five games against California schools in three days. Opponents will include Cal State Fullerton, Fresno State, Pacific, UCLA and UC Santa Barbara.
Kansas will play a doubleheader today against Fresno State and Cal State Fullerton.
Senior pitcher/designated player Serena Settlemier and senior shortstop Destiny Frankenstein have led the Jayhawks with five and six home runs, respectively. That is good for tops in the Big 12 Conference.
BASEBALL
-Kansan staff reports
BASKETBALL
KJHK to cover game on road for 1st time
For the first time ever, the student-run radio station,
KJHK-FM 90.7 will broadcast an away basketball game. The station will air the Kansas-Texas men's basketball game on Saturday in Austin, Texas.
Jimmy Chavez, KJHK sports director and Kansan columnist, along with Tim Hall, assistant KJHK sports director and Kansan columnist, will call the game.
Tip-off is at 8 p.m.
TALK TO US
tell us your news. Contact Eric Sor-
entino or Erick Schmidt at 864-4858
sports@kansan.com
Kansas wraps up 14 straight road games with three different teams in three different stadiums in Nashville. Tenn.
Keep on truckin'
BY ALISSA BAUER
abauer@kansan.com
KANSAN STAFF WRITER
Growing more accustomed to travel, Kansas (7-4) headed to Nashville, Tenn., to face Belmont tonight, then over to face the Lipscomb Bisons Saturday, before wrapping up the weekend on Vanderbilt's turf.
The games are part of the Music City Challenge.
The tournament will provide the Jayhawks with the opportunity to see three different venues, all in Nashville.
"That's one of the great things about going down there," Kansas coach Ritch Price said. "It only takes an hour to fly there and Belmont's home field is a triple-A park."
Today vs. Belmont — 2 p.m.
The Belmont Bruins (2-1) call Greer Stadium home. The AAA Nashville Sounds, of the Pittsburgh Pirates organization, do the same. The stadium is known for the 116-foot-tall guitar shaped scoreboard.
For the Bruins, junior outfielder Ben Petsch leads the way at the plate. In his first three games, Petsch is hitting .417 with three doubles and five runs scored.
On the mound, junior right-hander Charles Lee (1-0) is a likely candidate for tonight's start. In his seven innings of work, Lee sat down eight on strikes.
Saturday vs. Lipscomb — 2 p.m
"We actually beat them our first year we went to the Nashville tournament, my first year," Price said. "We beat them at their place, and I think we hit like four or five homeruns."
Dugan Field will play host to game number two for Kansas. The Lipscomb Bisons have started the season 1-2.
At the plate, Lipscomb's senior shortstop Tadd Brewer got it done against Chicago State, hitting 5-9, crossing the plate twice and driving in three. He leads the team with a .500 batting average.
The Jayhawks may see Bison freshman right-hander Josh Smith (1-0) on Saturday. Smith threw seven innings and allowed just two runs in his first outing.
Kansas will finish the weekend against Vanderbilt, a team Kansas faced in a neutral location in Los Angeles last weekend. Kansas beat
Sundav vs. Vanderbilt
Vanderbilt 5-2. This Sunday the pair will match-up at Vanderbilt's Hawkins Field.
It took a long time for the Kansas offense to score against Vanderbilt. The Jayhawks unleashed three runs in the top of the 11th inning to seal a 5-2 victory in their first extra-inning game of the season.
"I felt really confident in our hitters," senior right-handed pitcher Kodiak Quick said. "We had just faced two extremely good guys, but I knew we would come out Sunday and score some runs."
Price said his young pitchers were still getting acclimated to taking the mound against well-known baseball programs Kansas has faced this season, like Southern Cal., then No. 19 Stanford and then No. 9 San Diego.
Quick (1-1) threw against Vanderbilt last Sunday, receiving a no-decision in his 5 and 2/3 inning start. He'll likely take the mound again this Sunday.
"Thank goodness Kodiak Quick and Don Czyz stopped the bleeding on Sunday." Price said of last weekend's Public Storage Classic. "Our freshmen aren't quite ready to pitch at this level yet."
Czyz, senior closer, threw 5 and 1/3 innings against Vanderbilt in relief of Quick. He threw into extra innings and earned the victory.
Kansas, however, is ready to hit. Senior shortstop Ritchie Price extended his hit streak to 10 games against Vanderbilt.
Senior first baseman Jared Schweitzer also fared well against the nationally ranked pitching. Schweitzer hit .300 for the weekend.
Price said both pitchers Vanderbilt threw at them last weekend topped at 90-91 mph. He expects his hitters to be ready for that type of power.
"We saw really good arms," Price said. "But obviously to play in our conference we have to be able to hit 90-91 to be successful."
Edited by John Jordan
INTERNATIONAL SPORTS
Vancouver ready to take on Olympics
BY DAVID CRARY
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
TURIN, Italy — A sprawling, multicultural seaport. Vancouver will be a Winter Olympics host dramatically unlike any before it — an even bigger metropolis than Turin, in a more spectacular setting.
Overlooked by mountains rising abruptly from the shore, with a majestic park jutting into the harbor, it guarantees an eye-catching backdrop for the ice sports and ceremonies of the 2010 Games. Two hours away — maybe three, to be on the safe side — the skiing and sliding events will take place in and around Whistler, rated consistently as one of the top ski resorts of North America.
Yes, it rains in Vancouver in February — every other day, on average. But the prospect of gray skies and an array of logistical and financial challenges, have
not dented the confidence of organizers that the 2010 Games will be a hit.
To approach his self-stated goal of perfection, Furlong and his fast-growing team have plenty of work on their hands. A short list includes rising costs in a heated local economy, a highway controversy and the future of Vancouver's toughest neighborhood.
"In a few days, the giant spotlight will move from Torino to Vancouver, and it will be our turn to show the world what we can do." 2010 organizing chief John Furlong said Thursday. "It's pressure, but it's good pressure."
Earlier this month, in what Furlong pledged would be the last such request, organizers asked federal and provincial authorities for an extra $96 million to cover surging construction costs, raising their projected budget to $580 million. Contractors worry about a local shortage of skilled labor and have dispatched recruiters as far as Europe.
Crucial to the 2010 plan is an upgrading of the scenic but sometimes slow and dangerous Sea to Sky Highway that links Vancouver with Whistler over a twisting, mountainous route. Organizers say work is ahead of schedule and will be done by 2009, but many residents and politicians in affluent West Vancouver are furious that the project now calls for an overland four-lane highway, not a tunnel, through a scenic section of bayside bluffs.
Close to Vancouver's vibrant, trendy center city is a starkly different neighborhood called Downtown Eastside, long a skid-row destination for drifters and drug addicts who frequent dilapidated rooming houses. Organizers have pledged to help upgrade the area without causing displacement, but a residents' association predicts rents will soar as landlords and hotel owners try to cash in on the Olympics.
Another possible but seemingly remote threat would be a renewed push by separatists in French-speaking Quebec to secede from Canada. The separatists narrowly lost a secession referendum in 1995, and their new leader has vowed to try again if his Parti Quebecois wins provincial elections due by early 2008.
But an actual breakaway remains a long shot. Even a recent proposal by one separatist leader for Quebec to form its own hockey team didn't catch on.
Coming off a record-high medal haul in Turin, Canada is also launching a program called "Own The Podium" that is drawing government and private funds to develop a team that can win the most medals in 2010.
SWIMMING/DIVING Senior Gnatzig sets new school record
After the first day of relays, the swimming and diving team was in third place at the Big 12 Conference Championships. Kansas was tied with Missouri, and trailed Texas and Texas A&M.
FRJ
"It was a real good kickoff to the championships," Kansas coach Clark Campbell said. The Jayhawks took third in the 200-yard medley relay and fifth in the 800 free relay. Campbell said the 800 free relay was a really great race, but the Jayhawks were just out-touched at the end.
In the preliminary race for the 500 free, senior Gina Gnatzig set a new school record with a time of 4:48.77.This time was also an NCAA "B" standard time.
Betty Kaspar
Kansas will continue to compete in the championships through Saturday.
MEN'S GOLF
Low-ranked team readies for tournament
The Kansas men's golf team will participate in the All-American Intercollegiate in Houston next Monday and Tuesday.
After finishing last in a field of 21 earlier this month at the University of Hawaii at Hilo Intercollegiate, Kansas coach Ross Randall planned to hold four rounds of qualifying in order to retool the starting lineup.
But cold weather has kept the Jayhawks off of the course for the better part of the past two weeks.
“It's still early in the year, and we're going through some times when we can't play or practice as much as we want, and when we do, we're all bundled up in clothing," Randall said.
The team finished qualifying rounds late Wednesday afternoon, leaving little time for rest before it departs for the tournament in Houston.
"The scores are really bunched right now, so today one bad hole or one good hole is going to make a difference," Randall said.
The University of Houston will play host to the tournament next week. The Cougars are ranked 67th nationally by GolfWeek magazine. The Jayhawks will hope to climb from their spot at 123rd nationally.
Junior Gary Woodland led the qualifying for starting positions, and sat ahead of six players separated by two shots or fewer.
Asher Fusco
The Kansas track and field team will travel to Lincoln, Neb., today and Saturday for the 10th annual Big 12 Indoor Championship meet.
TRACK AND FIELD Two-day Big 12 Indoor Championships begin
The two-day event will be scored to determine the best team in the Big 12 Conference.
Nebraska is looking for its third straight Big 12 title, but will have tough competition this year.The competition will feature five Olympians,16 NCAA champions,58 NCAA All-Americans,and 25 defending champions in 38 events.
The throwing tandem of senior Sheldon Battle and sophomore Egor Agafonov will lead the way for the Jayhawks.
The Kansas men's team is ranked No.12 by trackwire.com. Senior spinner Tiffany Cherry and senior multi-event competitor Charisse Bacchus will lead the women's team.
Evan Kafarakis