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Sports
University Daily Kansan
Tuesday, April 22,1986
Although the Kansas Relays drew only about 8,000 spectators this year, the list collegiate teams. Also participating in the weekend's events were four 1984 of participants was impressive. This year's field contested contestants from 49 Olympians.
Relays draw good field, small crowd
By Matt Tidwell
Sports writes
On the Memorial Stadium track, the 61st running of the Kansas Relays was one of the most successful ever.
The weather was great, 1984 Olympics
were breaking meet records,
and visiting coaches and team
leaders were living about the
fantastic competition.
taste compensation. But in the stands, a big problem remained.
Only 8,000 people populated the vast 55,000-seat stadium during the four-day event. And that was not an accident. A team of scientists estimated an 12,000 fans showed up.
After this weekend, who can blame Relays organizers for wondering what it will take to get people to their event?
Relays Manager Al Fereheshetian said, "We need to get more people there, there is no question about that.
Kansas Relays
We need to build awareness and get more premeet publicity."
Those who stayed home missed seeing 12 Kansas Relays records fall and outstanding individual performances by world-class Olympians Doug Lytte, Al Joyner and Danny Harris.
The athletes themselves had nothing but good things to say about the caliber of competition at the meet.
Al Jovener, 184 gold medalist, said, "There have been some great performances this year at the Kansas Relays. I was watching Kenny Harrison, and he's going to be something to see someday."
Harrison is the Relays top male performer who won the triple and long jump.
Doug Lytle, Olympic pole vaulter who set a Relays record of 18-9 and barely missed a new U.S. record, said, "I always come to the Relays because I enjoy the crowd. It's a real close-knit atmosphere. They have a good insight as to the talents from around that have been other that have conflicted, but I always end up coming to the Relays."
Fereshetai said most of the athletes, fans and coaches that he talked to were happy and enthusiastic about the weekend.
"The fields were excellent, and the schedule was such that we always had a big event coming up." Fereshetian said.
Even though everyone rated this Relays a success, the Kansas track program still is saddled with the same sagging attendance problem.
cent crowd was in 1983 when a team of Russian athletes competed amid a lot of media hype. Attendance that year was 22,000.
"You come to back to the competition thing," Fereshetian said. "We have to get great teams and better teams to make this meet more exciting.
The last time the Relays had a de-
"You have to have a good product to sell. I think the people that were there were really happy with with it. I think the word will start to spread."
Fresheren, in his first year as meet manager, said he and Bob Timmons, meet director, would try to help them get ready and bad experiences of this Relays.
"I'm glad it's over," Fereshetan said. "I'm glad I've got one under my belt. I think next year we'll be more tired and run an even better meet."
Pittsburgh claims contract broken
Pirates sue Parker for his cocaine use
The Associated Press
PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Pirates, charging that Dave Parker's improper, illegal and heavy use of cocaine seriously affected his performance, filed a civil suit yesterday to halt $5.3 million in deferred payments owed to the Cincinnati Reds' outfitier.
The suit, the first of its kind against a major league baseball player according to new Pirates President Malcolm "Mac" Prine, says Parker concealed his drug use before signing a record five-year contract in 1979.
Parker testified in federal court last year that he used cocaine on a
regular basis from 1979 until 1882, but stopped after it began affecting his play.
The Pirates are basing their case on a clause in the 15-page contract in which Parker certified he had "no physical or mental defects known to him . . . which would prevent or impair performance of his services."
The lawsuit says that "the deterioration of Parker's skills as a player and his failure to stay in good physical condition during the term of the contract were directly related to the use by his use of cocaine."
code.
After signing the contract, the suit says that Parker "stole fewer bases.
his fielding ability significantly deteriorated, and he generally failed to perform up to the level achieved by him prior to 1979."
The deferred payments call for Parker to receive of $944,445 in January 1988 and regular monthly payments of nearly $20,000 for the suit was filed with the suit in Allegheny County Common Pleas Court.
The lawsuit does not mention any attempt to recover the estimated $2,125,000 already paid Parker under the contract. Parker said he was $300,000 and he also was to receive a $625,000 signed bonus.
Total value of the deal, estimated by reporters at $5 million at the time, was about $7.5 million.
Parker said he would have no comment until the suit was reviewed by him and his attorney, Thomas Reich.
Parker signed the contract after winning the National League Most Valuable Player Award in 1978, his sixth season with the Pirates. He hit a league-high, 334 with 30 homers and 117 RBH in 1978.
By 1982, when he was hampered with thumb and leg injuries, he had slumped to a 270 average with six hoppers and 29 RBI. He hit 258 with nine hoppers and 48 RBI during the strike-shortened 1981 season.
Aussie beats record in Boston Marathon
United Press International
BOSTON — Rob de Castella, a muscular Australian perfectly built to conquer the dreaded hills of the Boston Marathon, captured the 90-year-old race yesterday in a race with two hours of 2, hours, 51 minutes.
De Castella, 29, pocketed the first prize money ever offered in the prestigious race. He also won a Mercedes Benz and a $2,500 bonus for breaking the course standard of 331, set by Alberto Salazar in 1982.
De Castella, a 5-foot-11,
143-pound with broad shoulders
who doesn't resemble the classic,
little marathoner, led for all but two miles of the 26-mile, 385-yard race.
He shook off brief challenges at the 4-mile and 7-mile marks before pulling away by the 10-mile point.
Favorite Ingrid Kristiansen of Norway won the women's division, struggling home in 2:45:55 to win her first Boston Marathon. The 36-year-old, who set the world record for women of 2:21:06 in the 1985 London Marathon, also earned $30,000 and a Mercedes.
Art Boulie of Canada was second in 2:11.15; Orlando Pizzato of Italy was third at 2:11.43, and four-time Boston winner Bill Rogers, 38, of Dover, Mass., was fourth in 2:13.36. Willem van Artois was Arturo Barrios of Mexico.
Carla Beurskens of the Netherlands finished second in the women's division at 2:27:35, and Lizata Grosso of Canada was at 2:12:16.
Andre Vigere of Quebec won the wheelchair division in a world record of 1:43:25, besting the 1:45:34 mark set last year in Boston by George Murray of Tampa. Fla., who was second. Viger also won the division in
1986. De Castella said, "I was trying to run as fast as I could, but keep relaxed. Conditions were so good, I wasn't too concerned about the pace. I was hoping to do a course record, but I wasn't hoping to do a world record.
Boston Marathon
The world record of 2:07:12 was set in last year's Rotterdam Marathon by Carlos Lopes of Portugal.
Barrins challenged at the start of the Hills of Newton, but could not keep up with de Castella, who stretched his lead to 350 yards at the top of the hill, "then cruised to the overcast sky as light rain spilled from the overcast sky.
Kenyan Joseph Kipsang, a former distance running coach at Iowa State stayed on de Castella's heels until about the halfway point, then dropped back. Kipsang sanged badly, and de Castella had the course to himself.
"It's the type of course that really knocks you around a lot," de Castella said. "My legs were aching quite a bit that last mile or so."
De Castella intended to run a conservative race, but decided the leaders in the early running were setting too slow a pace.
"I felt comfortable, so I said, What the hell, you might as well put the pressure on." he said at the postrace news conference "After a race I was all alone, and I tried to concentrate on not over-running myself."
Kristiansen started aggressively. After five miles, she was 11 seconds ahead of Olympic champion Joan Benoit's pace, and at the 9.3 mile mark was 41 seconds ahead of her own world record pace. But as she closed in on the 15-mile point, the Norwegian began to falter.
"I don't feel my body was with me," Kristiansen said. "I feel I was in good shape this morning and ready to go." He said it was a little scared of the course.
Mattingly's 3 doubles lead Yankees past KC
United Press International
Ed Whitson, starting only on the road because of negative fan reaction at home, improved to 1-1. Bret Saberhagen, 1-1, took the loss.
KANSAS City. Mo. — Don Mattingly hit three run-scoring doubles last night, driving home five runs and a triple in the victory over the Kansas City Royals.
Mattingly erased a 2-0 Kansas City lead with a double down the right-field line with one out in the third inning. Rickey Henderson, who had singled, and Ken Griffey, who had doubled, scored easily.
Mattingly knocked home Griffeir again in the fifth inning with a double down the left-field line, then scored on a Dave Winfield single to put the Yankees up 5-2 and knock out Satherhagen.
Kansas City took a 2-0 lead in the first. Willie Wilson singled through
the box and George Brett followed with a fly to right-center. Center fielder Henderson just missed the ball, then kicked it into right field as Brett raced to third with a triple on a defensive record on a Frank White sacrifice飞
The Tankees added an insurance run in the sixth off reliever Steve Farril. Wille Randolph opened with a single, stole second and advanced to third on Jim Sundberg's browing error, and scored on a Griffey single
Mattingly got his third double in the eighth. Randolph opened with a walk off Danny Jackson. After Bobby Meacham sacrificed, Jackson intentionally walked Henderson. One out later, Mattingly followed with a pop double down the left-field line to push Randolph and Henderson home.
Hal McRae delivered a two-run double for Kansas City in the eighth.
KU student wins title in judo tournament
By Dawn O'Malley
Sports writer
What began as a dream many years ago for Donna Stevens has become a reality.
Stevens, St. Louis senior who represented Kansas at the national collegiate judo tournament, clinched the title in the 158-145 weight class at West Point, N.Y., recently.
She defeated four opponents to win the title. Each match lasted four minutes.
At the World Collegeleg Championships, Stevens said, she would meet athletes from Brazil, Japan, Spain and Belgium.
Stevens said she was hopeful that this was just the beginning of a long prosperous career. She will travel to Brazil for the World Collegeiate Championships in December.
"A long dream is the "88 Olympics." Stevens said. "It will be the first time women will compete on exhibition level."
But Stevens might not have become involved in juju if her parents hadn't brought her to the local junior college when she was eight years old.
At present, judo is not a recognized sport for women in the Summer Olympics.
Stevens has endured 13 years of intensive training to reach the top. Her involvement in judo has taken money, time and dedication, but her commitment has paid off with nearly 30 wins over the years.
"My sister took ballet," Stevens said. "Ballet would have been a castrope for me."
"I've tested and reevaluated
and it is worth the time, money, energy and discipline," she said.
Twice a week, Stevens commutes to Kansas City to practice at the Welcome Mat Judo Club under the direction of Becky and Steve Scott.
Like karate, athletes work to reach a belt color, with white being the easiest belt color to attain and black the most difficult. There are three different degrees of black belts. Stevens is a first degree black belt.
Judo is an ancient form of self defense that originated in Japan. Because there is no punching or kicking, Judo is a way to use an opponent's energy against himself. To be successful, an athlete must be able to maintain balance and leverage.
"It is harder to move up in judo because of the age ranks." Stevens said. "Judo is not as catchy as karate or kicking, so it moves to learn coordination and skill."
After winning her national title, Stevens said people told her that, although Kansas didn't get a major title in college, it got the national title in judo.
"It makes you feel good about yourself," she said. "I search you to discipline yourself."
Judo has not only increased Stevens's athletic prowess but has produced better study habits as well.
"I got what I wanted to," Stevens said. "I'll keep going on as long as I keep winning."
Pitchers have the advantage in softball
By Jim Suhr
Kansas head softball coach Bob Stancill said yesterday that although the no-hitter that Jayhawk pitcher Sheri Mach threw on Saturday was a big accomplishment, it was not enough for a sport he called "pitcher-dominated."
Sports writer
"It's a great accomplishment." Stanclift said. "But it's not uncommon for good pitchers at our level to have one or even two a season."
Softball no-hitters, Stancill said, are more common than those in baseball because softball pitchers have two advantages over hitters. Those advantages came from differences between baseballs and the style of the pitches and the distance from the mound to home plate.
Stancliff said most baseball pitchers used breaking pitches that moved on the same horizontal plane as the bat. Those pitches were more likely to be hit than those thrown by softball pitchers, whose underhand pitchers restricted them to throw breaking balls that move up and down.
However, Stanclift said a greater advantage was that the throwing distance from the mound to the plate was 17 feet less than that in baseball. Such a factor decreases the time that a batter has to react to a pitch.
Stancliff said the dominance of pitchers in softball could be seen when comparing their statistics with those of baseball pitchers. He said comparison results point to run averages and strikeout-to-walk ratios supported this.
Baseball pitchers, he said, normally are considered effective if their ERA was 3.00 or below. Effective pitchers in softball, he said, normally had an ERA at or below 1.00. Mach, 22.5, has an ERA of 0.57 in 159 inn
Softball
ings, while teammate Tracy Bury, 16, has an 0.64 ERA over 132 innings. Those ERAs do not include the two shutouts that both Mach and Bury each scored four game conference series at Lincoln, Neb. over the weekend.
Kansas also has one relief pitcher, Reeie Pennyole, who enters the game when either Mach or Bunge get into trouble. Powell has pitched in five games this season because of the injury of the two Jayhawk starters.
Stancliff also said baseball pitchers normally threw two strikeouts for every walk they allowed, while softball pitchers normally threw three to four strikeouts for every walk.
As a result of the dominance by softball pitchers, Stancliff said, bunting, errors and walks played a much part in an offense a ability to score.
Stanfield said that although softball was a team sport, the confrontation between the pitcher and batter was a one-on-one battle. Pitchers in that conflict, he said, always tried to dominate the batter.
Bunge agreed. She said she intentionally tried to embarrass hitters, either by striking them out or by preventing them from making good
The dominance of Mach and Bunge this season has been a great factor in Kansas' success, Stanncliff said. The Jayhawks are ranked sixth nationally, with a 38-12 total record. They lead the Big Eight with a 9-4 mark. They also have a string of eight straight shutouts heading into this afternoon's game against Wichita State at Wichita.
Terry Burkart/KANSAN
Kansas softball pitcher Reene Powell practices her pitching form at Jayhawk Field while pitching coach Gary Hines watches. The Jayhawks will be in action today at Wichita State. Because Kansas pitches Shern Mach and Tracy Bunge have been so effective this season, Powell hasn't much action.
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