★ FEATURF With antibiotics and hormones being injected into our beef supply, and YouTube videos showing us how chicken nuggets are really made, making the decision to live a vegetarian or vegan lifestyle comes with plenty of positive reinforcement. Jill Wenderott, Alma freshman, made the choice to drop meat from her diet as a Lenten sacrifice last year. After 40 days of going without it, meat had lost its appeal to her. "I noticed how much the change affected me and I just felt better, healthier," Wenderott says. "So I decided to stick with it. It wasn't hard." Wenderott's decision was a personal choice. She's not dead set against eating meat, but chooses not to because of the health benefits she feels she gains. "I just don't feel like meat needs to be such a central part of every meal," she says. But finding meatless or non-animal-based dining options can be the tough. Fortunately, even in this agro-centric Midwestern state, vegetarians and vegans can find many accommodating options on KU's campus. KU Dining Services aims to be very sensitive to students with diet restricti soups and a salad bar daily, in addition to veggie or cheese pizza from Pizza Hut. John says KU Dining is constantly looking for new ideas and options for vegetarian and vegan eaters, and encourages feedback and ideas from students, vegetarian or not. "We're seeing more and more students today being drawn to organic, vegetarian, healthy diets," John says. "It's of utmost importance to us at says Carlee John, assistant manager of the Market at the Kansas Union. Each concept, or mini-restaurant, within the Market has at least one vegetarian option. Brellas Sandwich Crafters has the popular Mega-Vega Delight Wrap, Frescol Cuisine has a daily vegetarian special and Boulevard Grill now features a veggie burger from Local Burger, a Lawrence restaurant. The Market also offers organic Handmade donations: Local bakeries give their day-old bread to Ecumenical Christian Ministries each week for patrons to enjoy at Veggie Lunch. KU Dining to cater to students and their needs and desires." Students interested in exploring a vegetarian diet or looking for a little variance in meat-free campus dining have another option once a week. Ecumenical Christian Ministries, or ECM, hosts a free-will donation, vegetarian lunch every Thursday from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. The meal is served in the main hall of ECM, located at 12th and Oread, across from the Oread Hotel. Different volunteer groups each week prepare the meal fresh. The meal is open to people of all dietary habits, religions and appetites. "Our purpose is hospitality," ECM director Thad Holcombe says. Veggie Lunch has been a weekly tradition at ECM since 1999, when a small group of around Photo Illustration | Chris Bronson Warm welcome: The ECM encourages vegetarians, vegans and all those exploring different dietary options to enjoy the positive social environment. Contributed by Kylie McMains/The Daily O'Collegian Sophomore forward Carolyn Davis got into foul trouble early and played just 16 minutes. She scored nine points for the night. hawks with 20 points. the jayhawks held her in check in the second half, allowing her to score just two more points the rest of the night. In the second half the jayhawks evening up the rebound total, grabbing 19 compared to Oklahoma State's 20. "I thought the post players made some ad- I think we're very careful to win comes we get closer and closer as a team and more confidence in each other. That is what we need right now, we need to stay together and just have that confidence," Jackson said in an interview with 1320 KLWN. -Edited by Jacque Weber SOFTBALL Bond of Hull sisters strengthens play on the field BY HANNAH WISE hwise@kansan.com Sophomore twins Rosie and Maggie Hull have been playing together since they could throw a ball. "Softball is a game where it is hard to go out and play by yourself." Rosie said. "You needed another person to play catch or you always had your teammate there and your best friend there to help you." Their father was instrumental in the beginning of their softball career by taking them out to play catch together from an early age. Growing up, they learned to throw with both arms and hit on each side of the plate, even though they are both right handed off the field. Now Rosie throws with "We would just switch gloves all the time and it wasn't until high school when we decided to stick with one," Rosie said. The twins' shared experiences have helped them grow as athletes. During their junior year of high school, Maggie tore her ACL playing basketball. A month later, Rosie also tore her ACL her right and Maggie throws with her left. "I can't tell you, when it happened it was like it happened to my other half," Maggie said. "Literally, I felt like I knew exactly when she went down that it was ACL. I could just tell from the pain that she was in." FACTS ABOUT THE HULL TWINS MAGGIE ROSIE playing basketball at almost the same spot on the court as Maggie had. They did rehab together. They were on crutches together. It bonded them more than ever before. As twins, Rosie and Maggie have learned over the years to stop trying to fight their differences and embrace their similarities. "We have really been through it all together and we know how hard the other has worked our entire lives and so we can just share in this joy together," Maggie said. Their differences stand out most on the softball field.. Rosie is a slapper and leads off the batting line up for the Jayhawks. Maggie is a power hitter and sits in the sixth spot. "When you're out there on the field and you're in uniform and sometimes there are batting helmets and all this stuff," Rosie said. "It is cool to be out on the softball field and to see our differences about the game be brought out when we are at the plate." season for the Jayhawks. Rosie managed 55 hits and 21 runs with a .350 batting average. Maggie had 38 hits, 13 runs and a.253 batting average. They had a strong freshman. The offseason gave them the opportunity to be stronger and faster. After just ten games, they are on track to surpass their previous season stats. Rosie has 12 hits and 12 runs with one home run. Maggie has 12 hits and 11 runs with two home runs. They are two major offensive threats for the Jayhawks and can only become stronger over their junior and senior seasons. Their number one goal going into recruitment was to play softball for the same school. Being able to both play for Kansas was a dream for the Hulls. Edited by Corey Thibodeaux "Maggie really is my number one fan," Rosie said. "She is the one who gets it, the one who is always pulling for me, always so happy when I get hits and when I do my best. It's the same for me I am just as happy when she gets up and does the job as when I do it myself." And when Maggie found out that Rosie was going to get the hit-away signal for the first time in her college career, she was so excited. That hit-away signal resulted in Rosie's homer. knows. Maybe smaller schools like BYU and San Diego State can make a run? They've hung around the top 10 all season, beating up on powerhouses like Air Force and Wyoming. Teams with talent are underachieving, small schools are confusing people with their stellar records yet JV-like schedule, and the top eight or so teams have separation anxiety with the rest of the pack. The top four teams all went down last week, the first time that's happened since 2003. Look up at East Lansing, Michigan, home of Michigan State and future Hall of Fame coach Tom Izzo. The guy could be in a coma and make the Final Four, accomplishing the feat six of the last 12 years. Izzo's squad has been mediocre to bad all season, sitting on the bubble since Christmas it seems. Want to bet against this probable 11-seed? When you drop down the rankings a bit, you see teams like North Carolina and Kentucky, a pair of teams with more McDonald's high school All-Americans than the McDonald's All-American game this year. They've underachieved somewhat, but who wants to bet against those teams early in the tournament? The talent could surprise anyone for one game. So when the experts on ESPN tell you who's primed for an early upset, or which dark horse will make a deep run, don't listen. They don't know this year, and neither do we. If you must donate your $5 and fill out a bracket, don't waste your time doing research this year. Do what every bracket champion does: Pick the coolest mascot and hope for the coolest mascot and hope for the best. / Edited by Brittany Nelson 1