Sports
University Daily Kansan / Friday, January 30, 1987
9
Men's team loses top track athletes
By DIANE FILIPOWSKI
Staff writer
Kansas' men's track team could be off balance in the month to come because three of its top athletes are out of competition. Injuries that have required surgery will keep them off the track and off the field indefinitely.
According to Coach Bob Timmons, Craig Branstrom, Half Moon Bay, Calif., junior, John Creighton, Clinton, Ohio, senior, and Scott Huffman, Quinter junior, will not be competing for the Jayhawks until they recover from injuries.
Ironically, all three are team cap tains.
Timmons said yesterday that during his 21 years of coaching at Kansas he had never seen anything like that before.
"Sure, I've seen plenty of injuries," Timmons said, "but these are our stars."
Bramstrom, a decathlon participant and last year's Big Eight Conference indoor champion in the high school marathon, has articulation problem in his knee Jan. 15.
Rick Attik, assistant track coach,
said Branstrom was practicing
again, but he did not know when
Branstrom would be able to compete.
Huffman, an All-America pole
vaulter who finished second at the
Big Eight Conference Indoor Championships and fourth at the National Collegiate Athletic Association Championships last year, had exploratory surgery on his right ankle Wednesday.
"Scott's surgery went well," Attig said yesterday. "He just had a bone chip灌Iping against the joint, so it could heal as we had originally anticipated."
Attig said he thought Huffman and Branstrom would be able to compete in the Big Eight Conference Indoor
Championships on Feb. 28 at Lincoln Neb.
But Creighton, the team's top quartermier and anchor for KU's miler at the Big Eight championships last year, might not be as fortunate.
"We have no idea what is wrong with John," Timmons said. "We think it is a cartilage problem, but we are really not sure."
Creighton had surgery yesterday.
Attig said the injuries Branstrom, Creighton and Huffman had — bone chips and cartilage injuries — were not common to track athletes.
"These are football injuries," Attig said. "In track you expect to have muscle pulls and strains."
The injuries could dampen the team's conference hopes coming into the season.
"This is the best group that we have had assembled in the last three years," Timmons said. "We are just going to have to live with it."
Earlier in the season Timmons had said the team wanted to bring the conference title, last held by KU four years ago, back to Kansas. KU has won the conference title 13 times in the last 20 years.
Still, Timmons said he wanted what was best for the injured athletes, even if it meant a loss to the team. But he doesn't want their absence to affect the remainder of the team's performances.
Kansas' first test without its capitals will be tomorrow at the University of Missouri Invitational in Columbia.
"We hate to compete with them because they are good athletes and get away."
Timmons said the meet was a valuable opportunity for the team to compete against other Big Eight schools, which included Kansas State, Oklahoma State, Iowa State and Missouri.
KU, Colorado to meet
Staff writer
5Bv DAVID ROYCF
After six games in the women's Big Eight Conference, only one game separates the first seven teams.
Three teams are tied for first place with 4-2 records, while Kansas and three other teams trail with 3-3 marks.
When the Jayhawks face the Colorado Lady Buffaloes tomorrow, they will face one of the teams it is tied with for second place.
"If we can beat Colorado, we will be in the thick of things," Jayhawk Coach Marian Washington said yesterday.
Colorado, coming off a 94-80 upset victory over the Oklahoma Sooners Tuesday at the CU Events Center in
Boulder, might be keyed by Bridget Turner, the team's third leading scorer averaging 11.3 points a game.
Turner was benched against Kansas State, and Colorado later lost. She wasn't absent against front-line players when her return helped to spark the upset.
"She runs a very good perimeter offense, and we have to pressure their guards more than we did before," she said. "Washington said, 'They're in sync.'"
In the Iowa State game, Kansas had to contend with a strong inside game. But Washington said she
Washington said Turner's presence against Kansas might be a key.
'Hawks to play defending champs
See WOMEN, p. 10, col.4
Kansas played the Louisville Cardinals twice last season and beat them both times, but Louisville ended the season as national champ.
By ROB KNAPP
Staff writer
That little twist of logic may give the Jayhawks some extra incentive when they meet Louisville tomorrow at Freedom Hall in Louisville, Ky.
Tipoff is scheduled for 2 p.m.
Cameras 4 and 27 will televise the
Kansas is 14-5 and 5-1 in the Big Eight Conference after thrashing Iowa State Tuesday night. The Jay-Z game and seven of their last eight.
Louisville's opponents have not been showing much respect for the defending national champs. The Cardinals lost their first three games of the season and six of their first 10 before improving their record to its present 10-9.
Louisville forward Herbert Crook leads his team in both scoring and rebounds, averaging 15.5 points and 6.2 rebounds. Kimbo averages 11.2 points a game.
But the big man for the Cardinals is sophomore center Pervis Ellison.
Ellison, who scored 25 points in last season's national championship game, is averaging 15.2 points a game and has blocked 43 shots.
The game matches up two of the most successful coaches in college basketball. Brown owns a 139-44 record in the college ranks, and his .760 winning percentage is the third best among active NCAA Division I coaches. Louisville coach Denny Crum is behind Brown in fourth place with a 390-132 lifetime record and a .747 winning percentage.
Kansas and Louisville both reached the NCAA Final Four in Dallas last season and almost met in the championship game. Louisville came to state in State 87-77 in one semifinal game, but Kansas lost to Duke 71-67 in the other.
Crum and Brown both have coaching ties to UCLA. Crum spent five years as an assistant to Coach John Wooden during UCLA's seven straight national championships. Brown was the head coach at the school for two years, and his 1979-80 squad lost to Crumb's Cardinals 59-54 in the National Collegiate Athletic Association tournament final.
The series record between the schools stands at.44
KU vs. Louisville
Tipoff: 2:00 p.m. tomorrow
Freedom Hall
TV: Channels 4 and 27
Radio: KLZR-FM, KJHK-FM, KLWN-AM
Kansas (14-5)
Probable Starters
**Kansas (14-5)**
F Danny Manning (6-11), 21.1 pln.
F Chris Pipr (6-8), 7.2 pln.
C Mark Pellock (6-9), 3.1 pln.
G Kevin Pritchard (6-3), 10.2 pln.
G Cedric Hunter (6-0), 12.2 pln.
Probable Starters
Louisville (10-9)
F Herbert Crock (6-7), 15.5 pp.
F Kenny Payne (6-8), 5.1 pp.
C Pervis Ellison (6-9), 15.2 pp.
G Kevin Walls (6-1), 4.1 pp.
G Tony Kimbong (6-7), 11.2 pp.
Danny Manning, KU forward, aims for two points over Iowa State center Sam Hill. The Jayhawks, coming off of a 72-48 win over the Cyclones Tuesday, will face Louisville tomorrow in Freedom Hall.
Free throws help OU beat Iowa State 82-76
United Press International
NORMAN, Okla. — Tim McCalister scored a game-high 28 points last night, including the game's final points on a pair of free throws, pushing ninth-ranked Oklahoma past Iowa State 82-76 in Big Eight Conference action.
Jey Grazier kept Iowa队 in the contest by scoring 29 points, including 24 in the second half. He scored the Cyclones final 11 points and 17 of their last 21.
It was not until David Johnson hit two free throws for the Sooners with 36 seconds left for a 80-73 lead that the outcome seemed assured. The win boosted Oklahoma to 15-3 overall and 5-1 in the conference. Iowa State fell to 10-8 and 2-4.
Harvey Grant scored 15 points for
Oklahoma. Ricky Grace finished with 14 points and Johnson added 11, all in the second half.
Tom Schafer lead Iowa State's scoring with 22 points, eight of the Cyclones first 12 points of the second half.
State Iowa tied the score at 49-49 but OU regained the lead on a three-point shot by Grace and never trailed again.
Grayer trimmed the margin to 63-61 with a pair of free throws with 9:29 remaining and McCallister answered with 8:46, giving the Sponkers a 68-61 edge.
Grayer kept Iowa State close and hit a three-point shot to make it 80-76 before McCallister closed out the scoring with his free throws.
Iowa State dual meet last lap for 10 Jayhawk senior swimmers
By DAVID BOYCE
Staff writer
For some of the KU swimmers, the meet against Iowa State at 2 p.m. tomorrow in Robinson Natatorium will mean more than the ordinary dual meet.
It will be the last time 10 senior swimmers and one senior diver will be in competition for the Javahaws at Robinson.
"I'm sad because this will be the last meet I will swim here." Liz Duncan, Opelika, Ala., said. "But I am also happy because some of my best times and memories have been here, and hopefully this last meet will be my best."
Her fondest memory, like the four other women seniors, is from her freshman year when the women's team held and won the Big Eight Conference Championships.
Duncan, a walk-on her freshman year, has worked her way up to co-captain in her senior season.
"I had my best times for that year in the Big Eight Conference," Duncan said.
The women's team has not won the conference since then.
a shot at winning the title this year."
"It was an incredible feeling." Daryce Gregory, Edwardsville, Ill., said. "One of the reasons I came back was because I thought we had
Gregor said she thought it would take an ideal meet in which everybody would have to swim well for the women to win again. But she said she thought the team could do it.
Gregor quit the swim team during her junior year, but came back this season.
She said she missed the excitement and the competition.
Yet, it was the competition that caused her to hang up her swim
"The pressure was so great that I quit," Gregor said. "But I came
back to prove something to myself."
While the women's team will have five swimmers — Becky Heil, Little Rock, Ark, Marcie Herrold, Columbus, Neb, Taryn Gaulien, Overland Park, Duncan, and Gregor — appearing in their last meet, the men's team will have six who will perform for their last time at Robinson.
Chris McCool, a second time co-captain from Huntsville, Ala., said he had not thought of this being his last competitive meet at Robinson.
"I have been concentration on the meet against Iowa State," he said.
Other seniors on the men's team are Scott Chamberlain, Newton, Robin Krug, Wichita Aaron and Kevin Hines. Also joining are Karl Stump, Phoenix, Artiz.
Last year both the men's and women's teams defeated Iowa State. The men won 64-49; the women, 82-57.
"On paper we seem to be a mirror of each other." Coach Gary Kempf said of the upcoming meet. "Their times are a little faster than ours, but I think its going to be a really good meet."
If the meet is anything like last week's against Missouri, the seniors will be performing for the
last time in front of a near capacity crowd.
"The fans have been great," the "Crescent" said. "Swimming is not our footballator's sport, but fans have supported us as much as can be expected."
The swimmers also stressed how important it was for them personally to compete in the National Equestrian Association championships.
"My goal is to make it to the NCAA, and I think the relay team I compete on has a good chance." Duncan said.
Diane Dultmeier/KANRAN
KU swim team seniors: (from left in front row) Karl Stumpf, Scott Chamberlain, Aaron Lemieux, Kevin Walker. (Back row) Marcie Herrold, Liz Duncan, Chris McCool, Taryn Gaulien, Becky Heil.