Section:
B
---
Sports
Trivia question
The University Daily Kansan
Is a natural surface court made of sand, sod, clay, or gravel? See page 2B.
Inside: Where are they now? Catch up with former Kansas pitcher Jamie Splittorff.
SEE PAGE 3B
Inside: Kansas basketball signe Wayne Simien will not play in tonight's McDonald's All-America game.
SEE PAGE 2B
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 28, 2001 For comments, contact Shawn Hutchinson or Shawn Linenberger at 864-4858 or sports@kansan.com
Supporters fighting uphill battle
KANSAN.COM/SPORTS
Swim team alumni have until June 30 to raise funds
By Brandon Stinnett
sports@kansan.com
Kansas sportwriter
Mike Calwell and a group of 10 Kansas swimming alumni aren't turning back in their efforts to save the men's swimming and diving team.
Calwell, a co-captain for Kansas in 1963, said the alumni decided yesterday in a group teleconference they would press forward with fund raising desiite looming difficulties.
On Sunday, Kansas athletics director Bob Frederick set a June 30 deadline for the group to raise $740,000 to keep the program running for the next two years.
In a letter sent to the group, Frederick offered a proposal that would lead to the swimming and diving team's reinstatement.
In addition to the first $740,000, the group would have to raise $1.36 million to fund the program from 2003-06. After that, it would require $10 million for an endowment fund to keep the team financed indefinitely. The endowment would have to be in place by June 30, 2006.
Calwell said the group was saddened by the Athletics Department's failure to respond.
failure to offer any financial support.
"The request has singled out swimming and diving to do something that no other sports are asked to do." Calwell said.
The June 30 deadline doesn't leave the group much time to raise the money. Calwell
said the group was not deterred, but it was angry.
"We're pretty much upset with the lack of a show of faith," Calwell said.
He said the quickly looming deadline and the large amount of money needed for the endowment lead him to think the University was trying to scare the alumni into giving up their fight.
Frederick said that wasn't so. He said the $750,000 was needed to avoid a deficit next year.
"We can't start the new fiscal year with a deficit budget," Frederick said. "That would be the last possible date that we could have the money."
Calwell said the group was looking into taking further action against the Athletics Department and the University for the actions surrounding the swimming and div
ing team's elimination. The group might ask the Kansas Board of Regents and the Kansas legislature to examine the decision.
Calwell said both Frederick's and Chancellor Robert Heinemen's leadership abilities should be questioned after what the group considered a baskety decision.
"Being autocratic has its hazards," Calwell said. "Dictators never last too long."
Frederick said the Athletics Department had been open and cooperative throughout the ordeal.
"We've been up front and honest and shared all of our cost figures with anyone who wants them," Frederick said. "We can't do it any other way."
Frederick said the department would be glad to offer funding to the swimming and diving team if money was made available in the future, but for now it was not an option.
'Hawk walk-ons savor tourney spotlight
"We've got to be able to fund the programs that we have, and it's difficult," he said.
Edited by Megan Phelps
By Chris Wristen
Kansas walk-ons, from left, Brett Ballard, Lewis Harrison, Chris Zerbe, scholarship player Jeff Carey and walk-on Todd Kappelmann wait to enter the closing minutes of the Jayhawks' first-round NCAA tournament game against Cal State-Northridge. Though they played few minutes, the players have been an important part of the team as "The Red Team," which practiced against the first-time players. Photo by Matt Daugherty/KANSAN
sports@kansan.com
Kansan sportswriter
Todd Kappelmann will never forget the final moments of Kansas' NCAA Tournament first round victory against Cal-State Northridge.
The clock in Dayton Arena read 1:19 remaining, and the scoreboard showed the Jayhawks ahead 94-73, well on their way to a 99-75 victory. Kappelmann, a junior walk-on from Augusta, was kneeling in front of the scorer's table, about to enter his first NCAA Tournament game. Alongside him were fellow junior walk-on Lewis Harrison, Brett Ballard and Chris Zerbe, as well as junior forward Jeff Carey, a group that makes up the Red Team — the squad that gets the Kansas starters ready to play on game days.
For just a moment Kappelmann got knots in his stomach before settling down and helping the Jayhawks shut down the Matadors for the final minute.
"I was in so much awe from actually playing at Kansas to begin with that this was no different than any other game," Kappelmann said after the game. "I've been a fan all my life and watched ever since they made the Final Four in 1991, but it's really something to actually get to come out here and be part of it."
He also put himself on the stat sheet when he logged an assist two nights later in Kansas' 87-58 dismantling of Syracuse, forever freezing himself into Kansas basketball history.
The other walk-ons also wrote their own chapters of Kansas basketball at the tournament.
Harrison, a Kansas City native, sank his first career three-pointer in the waning seconds against Syracuse and had a rebound against Northridge. Zerbe, from Andover, scored four points and grabbed a rebound in the games. Both did so with dozens of family and friends watching on TV.
"I remember in high school I used to try to convince the teachers to turn on the games while we were sitting in class," Harrison
said, remembering his days at Piper High School in Kansas City, Kan. "Maybe someone was getting to watch me play."
Certainly the Zerbes were watching.
Certainly the Zerbes were watching.
"I talked to a couple of my cousins, and they had 25 people at their house to watch the game," Zerbe said after the Northridge game. "They said 'You should have heard it,' because it was so loud over there. They record every game."
Those tapes will be watched for years to come, and although the Zerbes will most likely replay Chris's highlights again and again, one of the most frequent faces on the game tape will always be Ballard.
Ballard, a Hutchinson native, logged career highs with 18 minutes, eight points and five assists against Northridge. He
played 14 minutes and had three points against Syracuse, and added eight more minutes against Illinois in the season finale. Clearly, Ballard broke away from the Red Team label by season's end because injuries forced him into a full-time spot in the Kansas rotation. Zerbe said that hurt the Red Team in practice, but the team was proud of Ballard's improvement.
"The Red team, we were disappointed to lose him, but he does a good job for the blue team," Zerbe said. "He played real well and did all of the little things that Coach likes."
Ballard credited his strong performance in Dayton to his increased mid-season playing time. He said his NCAA Tournament experience was fun, and he wasn't nervous about it.
"We getting to play so much down the stretch, I've been getting kind of used to it," Ballard said. "I just tried not to think that this was the NCAA Tournament and I tried to just go out there and play."
But some goals were left unmet, and Zerbe said the Red Team and the rest of the 'Hawks had unfinished business to take care of next season.
"We did win our first tournament of the year and we were really close to winning the Big 12 Conference championship, but we didn't get that and we fell short," Zerbe said. "Satisfied? No, not really, but we've all got to work harder in the offseason so we can accomplish that next year."
Edited by Joshua Richards
Jayhawk pitchers shut down Kangaroos in doubleheader
By Brent Briggeman
Kansan sportswriter
sports@kansan.com
Junior third baseman Megan Urquhart is thrown out as UMKC first baseman Lindsey Ramsay stretches for the throw in the first game of Kansas' doubleheader yesterday afternoon against the Kangaroos. The Jayhawks won the first game 2-0 and completed the sweep with a 7-2 victory in the nightcap. Photo by Katie Moore/KANSAN
Fortunately for Kansas (15-15), two pitchers, sophomore Kirsten Milhoan and junior Kelly Campbell, countered weak offensive performances to shut down the Kangaroos 2-0 and 7-2.
The Kansas softball team wasn't thrilling yesterday, but it did just enough to sweep a doubleheader against the University of Missouri-Kansas City at Javhawk Field.
"I didn't think we came to the ballpark ready to play," Kansas coach Tracy Bunge said. "We kind of walked on the field expecting to win, so I was disappointed by that."
"I came out with a pretty determined mindset to come out hard, throw hard and throw the whole game," said Milhoan, a sophomore transfer from El Paso Community College. "I think I've thrown this well before against some really high ranked teams but I didn't get the same outcome. I just wanted to throw well and throw a complete game."
Milhoan was particularly effective, holding the 'Roos (7-20) to three hits with no walks and a career-high seven strikeouts in the opener.
Campbell surrendered two runs on four hits in the second game. She also set a career high with five strikeouts.
"Both pitchers did a good job today," Bunge said. "Kirsten really seemed in command of her pitches. This was the kind of team she felt like she could go after and not be so fine, and she did that well. I thought she did some real good things and I hope this will be a confidence builder for her going down the road."
Offensively, the Jayhawks struggled to sustain a rally. In the first game Kansas
hitters went a combined 0-for-6.
"I don't think clutch hitting has been a real problem, I just think it's been inconsistent," Bunge said. "There've been some games when we've been dynamic hitters with two outs and others when we've been extremely poor."
"I just kind of shake my head at this team," Bunge said. "It seems that it takes them getting behind before they really turn it on. It's nice that they can do that, but on the other hand you hate to wait to get behind and make mistakes before you get it going because you can't always just turn it on."
The bats came alive for Kansas in the second game, but only after the 'Roos built a 2-0 lead.
Junior left fielder Christi Musser provided much of the offense for the Jayhawks in the second game. Her double sparked a fourth inning rally and she added a two-run home run in the fifth, the first of her career.
Kansas, now riding a four-game winning streak, will jump right back into action today when Arkansas travels to Lawrence for a doubleheader beginning at 1 p.m.
Edited by Brandy Straw
BOX SCORE
Game One
Gene One
UMKC           000 000 0 — 0 3 1
Kansas          000 200 x — 2 5
WP-Milhoan, K. 6-6, LP-Miller, S. 6-8, B2-Barnard, A,
Hulse, A. (4), Campbell, Ka (7). HR-Wright, C (3);
Campbell, Ka (4)
Game Two
Sports Columnist
UMKC 000 200 0 — 2 4 2
Kansas 000 430 0 — 7 7 0
WP-Campbell, Ke. 1-2, LP-Dolan, J. 1-12, B2-Barnard,
A, Falk, B, Rice, A, Musser, C (6), Campbell, Ka (8),
3B-Smith, S. (1). HR-Musser, C. (1), SB-Musser, S.
(13), Ladd, L. (7)
Sarah Warren
sports@kansan.com
Loss of seniors is devastating to outdoor track season success
After placing eighth in the nation during the indoor season, the men's track and field team won't be worth its pink shorts this outdoor season.
I'm the biggest supporter of the track team outside of the athletes' immediate families and Jim Ryun, but I've come to the conclusion the team will be missing its firepower this spring.
The reason for the team's sudden lack of spark is simple — the Jayhawks will be without seniors Charlie Gruber, Andy Morris, Scott Russell and Jabari Wamble. Kansas coach Stanley Redwine announced last week all four would redshirt this outdoor season.
Without these four, the only consistently good athlete on the men's team is junior thrower Ryan Speers, who finished in sixth place in the shot put at the 2001 NCAA Indoors.
These four seniors are the core of the men's team. Without them, the team that went from a 47th place finish in the 2009 NCAA Indoor Championships to an eight-place finish at this year's championships earlier this month will flounder in the ranking doldrums of every scored meet it competes in this season.
Russell, an All-American, is the most obvious loss to the program, as he is the defending Canadian National Champion in the javelin. His presence was dearly missed by the team when he redshirted the 2000 indoor season. I say "dearly" because the team placed 47th without him. This year, he placed third in the 35-pound weight throw at the NCAA Indoors with a heave of 76-feet-7-inches. He's also the defending Big 12 champ in the javelin and a four-time All-American. How about that for a bio?
And although Russell seems the most obvious choice for track and field supporters to cry about, Morris, Gruber and Wamble are worth shedding a tear, too.
Morris is the lone male multi-event athlete on the track team, which means that without him the Jayhawks won't have a single competitor in the decathlon or the defending Big 12 champ in the pentathlon. Morris is only the second Kansas athlete to hold that title. And, because the pentathlon isn't held at every meet during the season, Morris also competes in the events that make up the decathlon when there is none. So losing him is like losing a point-earning sprinter, a hurdler, a jumper and a pole vaulter from the team instead of one athlete. Ouch.
Wamble is a former team captain who performs well in the 200 and 400 meters. He's an awesome leader, a good student and a well-respected athlete. He's the school record holder in the indoor 200 meters with a time of 21.65. He was also a member, along with Gruber, of the Kansas Distance Medley Relay team that placed first at the indoor Big 12 Championships this year.
And then there's Gruber. Even though he's not as high-profile as Russell, he's right up there in terms of accolades. He's an All-American, a two-time winner of the Big 12 outdoor 1,500 meter run, and he qualified for the 2000 Olympic trials. He broke the four-minute barrier in the mile when he placed second at this year’s indoor NCAAs.
In each event, the men's team will have to go without a top performer in the throwing, sprinting, multi-event and distance running events. Again, ouch.
Without these guys, poor Ryan Speers will have to carry the weight of the men's team on his broad shoulders. Good thing Speers can squat something like 600 pounds — he'll need those strong legs to perform under the dead weight of the rest of the team.
But these guys are taking a redshirt for a good reason: they want to be the best they can be in their final collegiate seasons. Taking this outdoor season off means they'll have time to train an extra season for next year's competition and, consequently, be that much better in 2002.
I look forward to that.
Warren is an Overland Park sophomore in Journalism and Spanish.
---