6B / **SPORTS** / MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2010 / THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN / KANSAN.COM
MEN'S GOLF
Adam Buhler/KANSAN
Senior Nate Barbee competes at an event at Avamat Golf Club last season. Barbee placed 39th in last weekend's Turning Stone-Tier Intercourse!
Jayhawks hope to improve rankings
epadway@kansan.com
BY ETHAN PADWAY
The men's golf team will be playing in the Fairway Club Invitational in Nebraska City, Neb., on Monday and Tuesday. The team will be trying to improve on its six-place finish last weekend in the Turning Stone-Tiег Intercollegiate.
"I expect to win," coach Kit Grove said. "We should have a great chance to go in there and compete."
Senior Nate Barbee will be counted on to lead the team after his tie for 39th place in the Turning Stone-Tiger Intercollegiate last week. Joining him will be the same four who competed with Barbee last week; sophomores Chris Gilbert and Dan Waite, junior Doug Quinones, and freshman David Catt, who finished 15th, 57th, 28th, and 39th, respectively.
The Jayhawks are hoping to take advantage of a more open course, but one that can turn dangerous if the wind picks up.
"It's really based on wind conditions," Grove said. "There is a pretty good premium on driving the ball out here."
When the wind dies down it offers players a chance to score low.
"Turning Stone was really tight with trees and hazards," Barbee said. "This course is a little more open where you can make more birdies."
In addition to the five members playing in the team competition, the Jayhawks will be entering two players, freshman Bryce Brown and senior Jeff Bell, as individual competitors.
"Our big thing is having patience out there," Grove said.
The Jayhawks are looking to turn things around and win their first tournament of the year.
"We need to put five rounds together to rebound from last week and keep it under par," Barbee said.
Edited by Anna Nordling
CROSS COUNTRY
Adam Rubler/KANSAN FILE PHOTO
Freshman Luis Jose Munoz, Jr. leads teammates sophomore Josh Baden, left, and freshman Josh Munsch, right, at the annual Bob Timmons Classic at Rim Rock Farm earlier this month.
Jayhawks rule running challenge
Both teams led the pack in competition
BY LAUREN NEWMAN
inewman@kansan.com
Both the men's and women's cross country teams have something to celebrate after their meet at the Missouri Cross Country Challenge on Saturday. The Kansas team competed against Missouri, UMKC, and Stephens College at the A.L. Gustin Golf Course in Columbia, Mo., where the men's team claimed first place and the women's team took second place.
The men's team started their 8K race strong and finished first among the teams with a score of 19. The layhawks were able to claim all but one of the top five spots in the men's race. Their lead runner,
junior Donny Wassinger, claimed first with a time of 25 minutes 17.5 seconds. Right behind him was senior Nick Caparario, who finished second overall with a time of 25:49. Juniors Zach Zarda
and Austin Bussing came in at fourth and fifth place proving that the men's team was motivated to beat out their border rivals.
for our upcoming competition."
Wassinger was also pleased with the overall teamwork and effort the men's team has shown this season thus far.
"We are happy with how everything went, but we are not resting here," Wassinger said. "We are continuing to prepare for the final goal of Nationals and keeping that in our minds as
"We are happy with how everything went,but we are not resting here."
Coach
DONNY WASSINGER junior
Stanley Redwine was very impressed and enthusiastic about the men's performance at the meet.
"The men ran very well," Redwine said. "There was a great team effort and we are going to continue to get better to prepare
we compete throughout the year."
The women's team was only six points behind Missouri, but was still able to claim an overall second place win with a score of 31. Sophomore Allie Marquis made her debut for the season at the meet, placing second overall with
a personal best time of 18:01.90 on the 5K course. Right behind Marquis was sophomore Tessa Turcotte, who placed third with a time of 18:22.69, and sophomore Kyra Kilwein, who placed sixth, timing in at 18:34.59. Other strong runners for the women's team were junior Cori Christensen and sophomore Natalie Becker.
Assistant Coach Michael Whittlesey was elated with the women's performance at the Missouri Cross Country Challenge.
I was really pleased with the women," Whittlesey said, "We are going to be much better in a few weeks when we get everybody together. It was really tight race, but we did well."
NFL
— Edited by Roshni Oommen
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Mendenhall carries Steelers to overtime win
Rashard Mendenhall ran 50 yards for a touchdown 2:35 into overtime and the Steelers overcame a shaky start by replacement quarterback Dennis Dixon and a missed field goal attempt late in regulation to beat the Atlanta Falcons 15-9 on Sunday.
PITTSBURGH — The Steelers are back to running the ball and playing exceptional defense. For one week, who needed Ben Roethlisberger?
With the Steelers leaning heavily on their retooled running game
and defense without suspended star Roeththisberger, Mendenhall carried 22 times for 120 yards and the game's only touchdown. Hines Ward made six catches for 108 yards in his club-record 26th career 100-yard game.
Pittsburgh (1-0) appeared ready to win it with 39 seconds left in the fourth quarter, but Jeff Reed, who has nine career game-winning kicks, was wide right on a 40-yard attempt. Reed had hit earlier from 52, 36 and 34 yards.
Atlanta (0-1) was limited to three Matt Bryant field goals as the Steelers held former All-Pro
running back Michael Turner to 42 vards on 19 carries.
The Steelers took a 9-6 lead on Reed's 34-yard near the midpoint of the fourth quarter, following catches of 25 and 24 yards on successive plays by Ward. The Falcons tied it with 3:24 remaining on Bryant's third field goal, a 23-yard, after deciding against going for it on four and a long 1 at the Pittsburgh 5.
It was the third overtime game in as many Falcons-Steelers meetings. They played a 34-all tie in 2002 at Heinz Field, and Atlanta won 41-38 at home in 2006.
Pittsburgh won its eighth consecutive season opener, the longest ongoing streak in the league. The Steelers also have won their past eight openers at home.
Predictably, the Steelers came out with a conservative game plan with Dixon making his second career start. Roethlisberger served the first game of his four-game suspension for violating the NFL's personal conduct policy and because he is barred from all team activities, did not attend.
Two Steelers starters went down with injuries. Neither returned, and their status wasn't known.