monday, february 2, 2004
the university daily kansar
sports
7B
Woodard, team dedicate victory to coach
University of Kansas athletics director Lew Perkins congratulated women's interim head coach Lynette Woodard after a 74-61 victory against Oklahoma State Saturday evening. It was Woodard's first game as interim head coach since Marian Washington took a medical leave of absence on Thursday.
Jonathan Kealing
jkealing@kansan.com
Kansan Sportwriter
When the clock at Allen Field house read 20:00, Saturday, Lynette Woodard once again strolled to the bench for the Jayhawks. However, for this first time, she took the walk as the head coach.
When Kansas' coach Marian Washington took a medical leave of absence, athletics director Lew Perkins made the decision to put Woodard in the position of interim head coach.
"It was kind of like playing," Woodard said. "I was always nervous before the game, but once the tip-off was over, it just kind of fell into place."
With Woodard at the helm, the team was able to snap a four-game losing streak, and notch its second conference victory of the season.
Woodard said the team was using Washington's absence as an inspiration. She also made sure no one forgets about Washington.
"We usually have this big loud cheer before the game, and I asked the team to hold that until coach gets back," Woodard said.
wasmington's sudden departure left many of the players surprised, but they seemed OK with Woodard at the helm.
"She's been around coach Washington a lot and she knows how to put winning teams together," junior forward Blain Waltz said.
woodard's seasons as a player at Kansas were among the most successful in the women's basketball team's history, with three Big Eight championships and a combined 77 percent winning percentage. Washington was at the helm for all of those seasons.
Woodard has tried to maintain consistency since taking over as interim head coach. The starting lineup against Oklahoma State was the same lineup Washington had used in recent games.
She also worked to stabalize a team that had lost its leader.
"Everybody was very hurt, shocked, depressed," freshman guard Lauren Ervin said. "Everybody felt it."
Woodard indicated that Washington, while away from the game, was still keeping up with her team.
"She sent word today for us to play our hearts out,"Woodard
said. "She wants us to take care of the team and ourselves."
A proud Woodard indicated that she would be calling Washington with the good news as soon as possible.
"After the game, we do our
prayers, and we made sure we had Coach Washington in them," junior guard Aquanita Burras said.
With nine games left, including four road games against ranked opponents the team faces several challenges. In addition to those
road games, they will also face No. 25 Nebraska and No.12 Kansas State at home.
The team responded to Woodard Saturday, and she had nothing but good things to say about them.
hats off to them," she said.
They were very focused, and
The Jayhawks are on the road this week at Texas Tech and Nebraska, and will return home to take on Kansas State on Feb. 11.
—Edited by Nikki Nugent
Record weekend for men's baseball
By Ryan Colaiani
rcolaiani@kansan.com
Kansan sportswriter
The Jayhawks swept Texas Southern in a two-game series this weekend, and the team registered its first no hitter since 1980 Sunday, winning 8-0.
Junior Scott Sharpe started the game and worked three innings, giving up only one walk. The winning pitcher was senior Ryan Knippschid as he worked three perfect innings and struck out six batters. Junior Jacob Jean, freshman Sean Land, and junior Clint Schambach pitched the final three innings to cap the combined no hitter.
David Hicks was the last Kansas pitcher to hurl a no hitter, on April 2, 1980, against Northwest Missouri State. Yesterday's performance was the first combined no hitter since April 5, 1960.
The game was scoreless until the fifth inning when Ritchie Price hit a sacrifice fly to score sophomore Jared Schweitzer. Junior Andy Scholl hit a one-run double to'put the Jayhawks up 2-0. Sophomore Matt Batt scored in the seventh on a single by Price, giving the Jayhawks a 3-0 lead. The team sealed the victory in the ninth as the team scored five runs. Price had two more RBIs in the ninth. He finished with four for the game.
In Saturday's contest, the Jayhawks were once again led by Price who went 2-5 with two RBIs and aided the team to a 9-1 victory. Price was 4-8 for the weekend.
The Jayhawks put the game out of reach in the fifth inning, scoring five runs on just three hits because of Texas Southern's three errors in the fifth.
Senior Chris Smart worked 3.2 innings in relief, walking just one and striking out five. Smart moved to 2-1 on the season.
The two wins move the Jayhawks to 7-2 on the season. The team travels back to Texas on Friday to face Lamar in the Al Ogletree Classic.
- Edited by Louise Stauffer
Track team runs into success at Jayhawk Invitational
By Michael Phillips
mphillips@kansan.com
Kansan sportswriter
The University of Kansas track team showed signs of improvement at the Jayhawk Invitational Saturday.
Freshmen Libby Harmon and Adrian Ludwig provided two of the Jayhawks' eight individual titles.
Running at home may have helped Ludwig, who won the 800 meter dash with a time of 1.55.09.
"The guy had fire in his eyes," said Kansas track coach Stanley Redwine. "Being at home really has its advantages."
has no competition Harmon. The only competition Harmon, a pole vaulter, could get was from the record books. After securing victory in the competition Harmon was able to land a jump of 12-06.25 — an Anschutz Pavilion record. Following close behind in second place was teammate Erin
Wessely, a junior who cleared from 11-08.50.
Junior Sondra Rauterkus won the high jump and Brooklyn Hann, also a junior, won the triple jump for Kansas.
Senior Leo Bookman won the 200 meter dash with a time of 21.10. Although Bookman has already qualified for the NCAA Indoor Championships, the performance was special because it came in front of about 2 dozen of his former football teammates.
Also winning events were junior Jeremy Mims in the 600 yard run, senior Stacy Keller in the 200 meter dash, and junior Megan Manthe in the 1000 meter run.
The women also won two relay events, taking the 4X400 meter relay with a time of 3:44.40 and the 4X800 yard relay with a time of 9:53.14.
The Jahaways have improved from previous years — something
coach Redwine meets with a cautious optimism.
"I think we have some people that can compete at the top," he said after the meet. "But to say that we can all of a sudden turn into conference champions may not be realistic."
Another by-product of improvement could be seen in the standing-room only crowd.
"We had really good support today," Redwine said. "We need more seats. More fans. That's the way it should be."
Ludwig said he knew what it took to continue improving.
took "it's still early in the season," he said, "and I'm just going to keep working on it day in and day out."
Team results were not kept at Saturday's meet. The Kansas track team is in action next at the Husker Invitational on Feb. 7.
Sophomore Chris Jones began a one-mile race on Saturday amidst a group of competitors. Jones finished third in the heat with a time of 4:17:40.
Edited by Joe Hartigan