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14 FEATURE
Ryan Waggoner/KANSAN
PAST THE FINISH LINE
Runner moves on after career-ending injury
By Abbey Otte
abbyotte@ku.edu
Like thousands of times before, Laura Nightengale moved her legs in perfect rhythm during track practice. But unlike all the other times, when her right leg came forward and hit the ground, she felt it recoil, giving way underneath her. The junior from El Dorado knew something was wrong. After years of running track and experiencing cramps and aches, she knew this time the pain was different; the sharp sting with each step was much more severe.
Two years ago Nightengale joined the team as a runner on scholarship. She imagined the career she'd have as a Jayhawk. She worked with her coaches on a plan to improve and set goals for her running career. Her freshman year and the fall of her sophomore year had been continually hampered by leg injuries and Nightengale was only able to compete in a few races during those seasons. After redshirting for indoor track during the winter because of stress fractures, Nightengale was practicing on the indoor track in Anschutz in February of 2010 and preparing for her first full season when she hurt her leg for the final time.
She limped toward the trainers who examined her leg, told her there was nothing they could do and advised her to finish her run.
Knowing that was impossible, Nightengale told her coach that she couldn't complete the work out. Unable to move her leg, Nightengale sat there knowing it wasn't a cramp but trying to convince herself it wasn't anything worse.
"I was in serious pain all of a sudden," Nightengale says. "There's a difference between hurting and being hurt."
All runners experience cramps, all have aches that make it difficult to run the last lap, but few feel the sharp snap that signifies the end of a season or the end of a career. Nightengale says she could immediately tell the difference. The following weeks were some of the hardest of her life, she says. She
forced herself to attend class, trying not to cry as she limped from building to building.
After she had an MRI Nightengale learned a muscle in her right calf tore away from the bone and she'd sustained a fracture where it was supposed to be attached.
Despite the bad news, Nightengale continued meeting with her coach to discuss her future with the team and her future as a runner. They devised a new training regime, focusing on finding a plan to fit her specific needs and to accommodate her individual limits.
THE WAVE SEPTEMBER 24, 2010
Four weeks after hearing this news, in March of 2010, Nightengale was told she was medically disqualified from the track
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
SWIMMING & DRIVING
Adam Bubler/KANSAN
Soohomore Monica Johannessen moved from Norway to swim at the University. Last season she finished first against Nebraska in the 100 meter freestyle with a time of 49.93 seconds
Norwegian returns for second year
BY KORY CARPENTER kcarpenter@kansan.com
kcarpenter@kansan.com
Monica Johannessen had to adapt to college life a little differently than her teammates. When the sophomore swimmer decided to make the University of Kansas her new home, her first trip to Lawrence was a long journey. The Haugesund, Norway native left her family and friends behind for a chance to study abroad and continue her swimming career.
Johannessen committed to the Jayhawks without so much as a recruiting visit to Lawrence. She says the coaches, along with the beautiful campus, made her decision easier.
"I just talked to the coaches and they made me really confident.
and I just went for it," she said.
During her freshman campaign Johannessen placed in numerous events while earning a spot on the senior Norwegian National team. That gave her opportunities to travel home to see family, including her twin sister who also swims.
Her favorite event is the 100 meter freestyle, where she boasts a career best time of 49.93 seconds and a first-place finish against Nebraska last season. After failing to qualify for the NCAA championships as a freshman, Johannessen said she hopes her sophomore campaign is different. She had a qualifying time last year, but the time was set in Norway, not in America.
"The time obviously didn't
Being away from home presents challenges to Johannessen, who has been thrown out of her comfort zone while being in the United States. She said her qualifying time from back home was attributed to familiarity with her long time teammates and twin sister.
transfer over to KU, but I feel like I can make that time in Lawrence this year," she said. "My biggest goal this season is to qualify for the NCAA championships."
"I had confidence back home," Johannessen said. "I was able to swim with my sister as well, which really helped me out. It was also my first year of college so I was still getting used to everything."
ALUMNI MEET
Day: Friday
Date: Sept. 24
Location: Lawrence
Time: 4 p.m.
Another year in Lawrence should help Johannessen gain
confidence, who last season was a First Team Academic All-American and was also named to the Big 12 Commissioner's Honor Roll both semesters while studying psychology.
After graduating from the University, Johannessen plans on returning home to Norway to continue her career with the National Team.
Edited by David Cawthon
Big 12 realignment leaves mixed feelings
COMMENTARY
Also, Turner Gill won't draw the same sluyte sack that helped Mark Mangino to an Orange Bowl. If he goes BCS bowling, it'll be with wins over the big guns of the South — Texas and Oklahoma are on the schedule every year from here out.
With only 10 schools, the league will go to a double round robin schedule — eighteen conference games, with each team playing all the others twice.
So no, I'm not happy they're leaving. But, man, I am geeked for basketball next year. I almost wish I could be around one more year to cover it for The Kansan.
The revenue that both schools bring in — especially now that Bo Pelini has the Cornhuskers competing for BCS berths again — will also be missed by whoever is named athletics director, starting June 30 next year, per Tuesday's announcement.
Texas twice. Baylor twice.
Maybe Bill Self can get his record in Stillwater to .500 if he gets a crack at his alma mater every year
College basketball fans have loved the Big East over the last few years even though late finishes have been cutting into the beginning of Kansas games on ESPN. Every week in the Big East it seems like there's at least one
Nebraska fans are always listed among the most hospitable in the country and, for my money, Boulder is the best town in the Big 12. (If you haven't been, picture Lawrence with a mountainous backdrop.)
I'm not going to say I'm happy to see Nebraska and Colorado leave the Big 12. That'd be crazy.
It looks like the Big 12 (they really need to get a new conference name, by the way), will be in that upper echelon come the 2011-2012 season. This conference has always been in the discussion of which is the best in the country for basketball. Drop the bottom two teams in the league, and it just may not be a discussion even.
BY TIM DWYER
There will obviously be bottom feeders — I'm skeptical that new coach Fred Hoiberg can turn around Iowa State and Jeff Capel won't keep getting top-tier talent to Oklahoma if he keeps losing — but there will be seven, eight or nine teams every year that are in serious contention for NCAA Tournament bids.
Last year, for example, accord ing to the RPI, there were eight Big 12 teams that ranked above the worst at-large team.
top-10 matchup and no games off.
If they play each other twice, that's 14 games that are eminently losable for one of those teams. There won't be another undefeated team in the Big 12 because there will be just too much competition.
And that will make the games all the sweeter.
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Edited by Abby Davenport
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