monday, january 26, 2004
the university daily kansan 2
sports
3B
BASEBALL
Baseball ranks 8th in preseason competition
The 2004 Big 12 preseason Coaches Poll ranked the Kansas baseball team eightth in the Big 12 Conference. Topping the poll is Texas, followed by Baylor and Nebraska.
"I think this poll is a statement about how strong the Big 12 Conference is from top to bottom," coach Ritch Price said.
The baseball team has reason to be optimistic for the 2004 season. Returning three preseason All-Americans and coming off its best season in almost a decade, the team has a chance to earn a spot in the NCAA tournament.
Kansas garnered national attention last season with wins against baseball powerhouses such as Baylor, Texas and LSU.
"Our goal is to finish among the first five and make the NCAA tournament" Price said. "Anything can happen in the Big 12."
A finish among the top of the conference and an appearance in the NCAA tournament would be the first for Kansas since 1994. Ranked below Kansas in the 2004 Big 12 preseason Coaches Poll are Missouri and Kansas State. The Tigers were tabbed ninth followed by the Wildcats at 10th.
- Shane Kucera
Swimming and diving teams falls to 8-3 record
SWIMMING
The University of Kansas swimming and diving team lost to the 24th ranked Minnesota Golden Gophers 215-85 Saturday in Minneapolis.
The loss dropped Kansas to 8-3 overall. It is 2-2 in the Big 12.
The Jayhawks' day did feature a few highlights, however.
Shelby Noonan, Edmond, Okla., freshman, scored 283.28 in the three-meter diving competition and qualified for the Zone D Diving Championships in Houston, March 12 to 14. Her qualifying score will allow her to compete in the one-meter,
Faculty discuss ballooning athletic budgets
By Joe Bant
jbant@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
Athletics, department budgets are high and getting higher, Big 12 Conference faculty say, and something needs to be done about it.
To discuss the issue, seven of the 12 conference schools sent representatives to an unofficial Big 12 faculty meeting held Jan. 14th in Kansas City, Mo. Two faculty members from the University of Kansas, professors Don Green and John Ferraro, were among those present. Both Ferraro and Green are members of the KUAC board that oversees interaction between the University and the Athletic department.
nearing and speech department at KU Medical Center.
"When we see the escalating prices, college athletics is almost on par with professional sports," said Ferraro, chairman of the
He said the faculty was advocating a return to a more proper perspective, lesser commercialization, more restraint in spending and a more equal distribution of the wealth.
Green, KU professor of engineering, echoed these sentiments.
"Athletics is an important part," Green said. "But spending is too large."
Faculty from the University of Missouri convened the meeting. MU's faculty council has already approved its own athletics reform initiative, which it circulated at the meeting for the other schools to consider.
giate Athletics. Christensen said the resolution had received the approval of Missouri's chancellor and its athletics director.
Gordon Christensen, MU professor and chairman of its faculty council, said similar resolutions had already been passed by the Big 10 and PAC 10 conferences and the Coalition on Intercolle-
Positive change will happen, he said, through the cooperation of athletics and academics.
"We're all in this together," Gordon said.
Green and Ferraro were not sure if KU would adopt the resolution, which includes such recommendations as limiting sports seasons to one semester when possible, and reducing commercialization in collegiate sports in general, but they said they accepted the spirit behind it. They said the faculty senate would discuss the issue to arrive at a definitive conclusion.
Gordon said he was optimistic at the possibility for future reform, but said it had to be a movement embraced broadly.
"No one school can really adopt reform in isolation of its
competing schools," Gordon said.
Gordon said ultimately it would be mutual benefit that pushed the athletics departments into the cooperation needed to enact change. He said the desire to reduce the cost of business and to better its public image would aim athletics in the direction of reform.
"We've started down the path," Gordon said. "There's too much at stake."
"The unfortunate aspect is that dollars are needed for a strong athletics program," Ferraro said. "I'm really at a loss as to what we can do." He said he believed the current system was such an entrenched part of collegiate culture, it would be hard for something to jar it.
Green and Ferraro did not share all of Christensen's optimism.
Lew Perkins, KU athletics
director, said he sympathized with the faculty's cause, but said he thought there was a misconception about where the athletic department's money comes from.
department of money comes from external sources," Perkins said.
Green said he realized that much of the funding given to the athletics department comes from outside sources, so it wasn't really being diverted from academics. But, he said it was still important to address the psychological consequences that come from the perception that athletics are being emphasized instead of academics.
Consequently, he said, even if that money were to be reduced, it would not necessarily be redirected into academics, a belief he said he thought many faculty members had.
Edited by Nikki Nugent
three-meter and platform competitions at the meet.
Kansas also claimed the two fastest times in the 100-yard freestyle by Gina Gnatzig, Whitewater, Wis., sophomore, and Kristen Johnson, Wichita senior co-captain.
The Jayhawks' next meet will be against Arkansas in the final dual meet of the season Feb. 7 at Robinson Natatorium.
—Kansan staff reports
TRACK
Track and field sweep events at Triangular
The University of Kansas track and field team swept the men's and women's 4x400 meter relays events and won individual titles in 10 other events at the 15th annual Kansas-Kansas State-Missouri Triangular Friday in Columbia, Mo.
The men's 4x400 meter relay team of Aaron Thompson, sophomore; Adrian Carey, sophomore; Jeremy Mims, junior; and
Leo Bookman, senior, finished with a time of 3:15.66. Bookman claimed his third title of the year by matching his second-best time of 6.81 in the 60 meter dash. Mims won the 600 yard run, Thompson the 60 meter hurdles, and Carey the 200 meter dash. Sophomore Chris Jones won the 3000 meter run and freshmen pole vaulter Anthony Weber rounded out the Kansas men's title winners.
The women's 4x400 meter relay team of Janiece Gatson, freshman, Stacy Keller, senior, Kim Clark, junior, and Duchess Williams, senior, won with a time of 3:50.67.
Individually, freshman Octavia Garrett won the 200 meter and 60 meter dash. Clark won the 600 yard run and sophomore Clarisee Bacchus won the long jump.
The Jayhawks will be back in action Friday and Saturday as they host the Jayhawk Invitational at Anschutz Sports Pavilion.
— Kansan staff reports
Frozen Phog
Phog Allen's statue, covered in ice from Saturday night's storm, stood glistening next to Allen Fieldhouse yesterday. The Jayhawks defeated Colorado yesterday with a score of 78-57.
Eric Braeny/Kansa
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