SPORTS
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Fridav. October 29.1993
9
Susan McSpadden / KANSAN
Women's team going strong
Senior cross country runner Ashley Ace stretches out in Memorial Stadium before a practice run through Lawrence.
Coach: Victory is realistic possibility for Jayhawks
1
By Kent Hohlfeld
Kansan soortswriter
This weekend's meet is what the Big Eight men's and women's cross country teams have worked for all season.
That depth will be tested this weekend. Freshman Bridget Mann will sit out this weekend's competition because of a case of mononucleosis.
"We have the depth and confidence to overcome that loss," Schwartz said.
The teams will converge tomorrow in Columbia, Mo., for the men's and women's Big Eight championships.
Seniors Ashley Ace and Julia Saul agreed that confidence would not be a problem for the team despite a poor performance in its
Schwartz said that he thought his team had a realistic chance to win its first women's conference championship.
Kansas coach Gary Schwartz said that the women's meet would be more competitive than it had been in recent years.
last meet at the Michigan Invitational Oct. 17.
CROSS COUNTRY
The women's team finished ninth out of 10 schools in the meet that featured conference rival Colorado, whose women finished third.
"That would put the icing on the cake," Ace said.
Ace said that this year's team had a legitimate chance of capturing the conference title. She said capturing the schools first women's Big Eight title would mean a lot to her, since it is her senior year.
The Cyclones have won the men's competition seven of the last 10 years. They had a string of five straight titles stopped by Colorado in last year's meet.
Cross country runners, freshman Eric Richard and senior Kevan Long, look at a copy of the Big Eight Championship course in Columbia, Mo., during the team's practice.
Colorado coach Jerry Quiller said that the men's side of the competition looked to be heavily dominated by Iowa State. Colorado's men's team won the Michigan meet.
While Iowa State looks to dominate the men's competition, the Kansas men's team will be looking to gain experience from this
"Last year they had a rash of injuries," Quiller said. "This year they're totally healthy."
meet.
The Jayhawks will be without seniors Michael Cox and David Johnston, two of the top runners in 1992. The two are being red-shirted to save a year of eligibility for next year.
The pressure of filling the gap left by those runners will fall on freshman Bryan Schultz and seniors John Hays and Bobby Palmer.
Hays said that the focus for this year's team was different from that of previous years.
"We're not looking for a title so our look is a little different." Hays said.
Hays said the fact that the meet was against Big Eight schools gave the runners more motivation for the meet.
Kansas needs victory against Iowa State
"We have to go out with a little pride," Hays said.
By Gerry Fey
Kansan sportswriter
It's payback time for the Kansas volleyball team at 7:30 p.m. tomorrow. Iowa State is coming to Lawrence, and the Jayhawks are looking for a much-needed victory.
Kansas ultimate goal is to play in the Big Eight tournament Nov. 26-27 in Omaha, Neb. But to do that, the team must finish in the confer-
VOLLEYBALL
race's top four. That makes this match against the Cyclones important.
The Big Eight standings place Kansas fourth behind Colorado, Oklahoma and Nebraska respectively, Kansas, No. 12 in the Midwest region, is 3-4 in the conference, but Iowa State is within striking distance at 2-4.
When Kansas plays teams for the second time this season, those matches will be important, Kansas coach Frankie Albitz said.
In the two schools' earlier match Oct. 30 in Ames, Iowa, the Cyclones defeated Kansas 3-0. Kansas has improved since the defeat, Albitz said.
Playing Iowa State at home will be an advantage for the Jayhawks, but Albitz said the key would be her team's approach to the match.
"They're listening to me," Albitz said of the Jayhawks. "When a team gets nervous, sometimes they don't do exactly what you say. It goes through one ear and out the other because they are emotionally affected. That happened against Iowa State."
"I think if we stay relaxed we will play well." Albizt said. "I think my team has tried too hard in the Big Eight, and the other teams are playing us tough. We need to be relaxed and play our game."
Being in control of a match allows the team to make effective substitutions, Albizt said. She said if the Jayhawks continued on its two-game winning streak, they might be able to qualify for the conference tournament.
"We have the potential to, but we have to stay together," she said. "Right now we're using everyone, and they're all playing well."
Mid-States Collegiate Championships today and tomorrow in Kansas City, Mo.
Regional tournament
Play begins at 8 a.m. tomorrow at Robinson playing fields.
Semi-final match plays begin at 9 a.m. Sunday at Robinson playing
Final match play begins at 2:30 p.m. Sunday at Robinson playing fields
Club team - Wichita State at 1 p.m. tomorrow at Shenk Complex, 23rd and Iowa streets.
College state – Kansas State at 1 and 2:30 p.m. tomorrow in
William Alix / KANSAN
Problems plague Cowboys, Jayhawks
Camera Man
Kansas center Greg Ostertag tests his talents as a cameraman during Media Day. The 1993-94 men's basketball team was officially introduced to the media yesterday at Allen Field House.
Teams hope to solve problems on offense
Kansas has its problems scoring points in the first quarter. Oklahoma State has its problems scoring points in the fourth quarter.
Kansan sportswriter
These weaknesses could be a determining factor in the outcome of tomorrow's contest between the Jayhawks and Cowboys at Lewis Field in Stillwater, Okla.
By Matt Dovle
Kansas has been outscored 68-9 in the first quarter this season, which often has forced the Jayhawks to play catch up.
"it's not something we try to do, obviously," senior linebacker Larry Thiel said of the Jayhawks slow first
FOOTBALL
Take away the first quarter and Kansas has outscored its opponents 158-123. Kansas coach Glen Mason said he had noticed the Jayhawks' lack of success in the first quarter.
quarter starts. "It's something that we need to correct these last four games. There needs to be a sense of urgency to get the job done early."
"You take that first quarter out, and we look a heck of a lot better," Mason said. "We're not doing anything different, but we sure are getting off to a slow start."
Mason said the entire team had not started the games well. But he said that he would still like to be in the game after the first quarter.
"I guess if you get beat, you get beat," Mason said. "But I'd rather get
Arizona State, Nebraska and Iowa State all have used the fourth quarter to their advantage to defeat the Cowboys.
beat at the finish than beat at the start."
Oklahoma State has been outscored 51-0 in the fourth quarter. Jones said a reason for the lack of success in the fourth quarter has been the team's use of freshmen on offense.
Oklahoma State coach Pat Jones knows the feeling of getting beat at the finish of the game. Three of the four Cowboy losses this season have come in the fourth quarter.
"That probably has been a big contributing factor to that," Jones said.
Oklahoma State has started six freshmen on offense this season and will start three against Kansas.
"We've been forced to play some of them, but others we have played by design."
"This is the best group of freshmen we've had since '87," Jones said.
One of the freshmen that played by design was quarterback Tone Jones. But Jones will not play for the rest of the season because of a separated shoulder suffered two weeks ago at Missouri.
Sophomore Gary Porter will replace Jones as quarterback, but Coach Jones has his concerns about Porter.
"Gary is an eratic guy. Apparently we are just going to have to live with it and hope it doesn't ultimately affect things," Jones said.
The interception was a big play in the game, and Gary must improve fundamentally. Jones said.
Porter was intercepted by Iowa State's Cedric Linwood last week, setting up the Cyclones' winning touchdown.
Junior varsity tryouts set to begin tomorrow Players still dream graduate, also assists Kane Roy Williams with demic support on-co for place on varsity
By Mark Button
Kansan sportswriter
Childhood dreams. Everyone has them, and some even come true.
Kansas senior guard Blake Weichbrodt, who played 2/2 years on the junior varsity team before moving up to the varsity last December, had a dream, but it didn't involve the Crimson and Blue - it was more like the Crimson and White.
"I was a big Waymond Tisdale fan," said Weichbrodt, who grew up in Norman, Oka. "I always dreamed of playing in a big game, not necessarily the Final Four, but it was always as a Sooner, not a Javahawk."
Assistant coach Steve Robinson, who is entering his second season as coach of the junior varsity, said Weichbrotwid was moved up because of the reduction in scholarships from 15 scholarships in 1990-91 to 13. The varsity needed another player for practice and depth, and Weichbrotwid had the skills and experience that was needed.
For the rest of the Kansas students that have dreams similar to Weichbrodt's, the first step in realizing them takes place this weekend.
Men's junior varsity basketball tryouts begin tomorrow. Registration begins at 9 a.m. and drills start at 10 a.m. and continue until noon. Tryouts are open to any Kansas student with proof of medical insurance and his own workout gear.
Robinson said he enjoyed working with players on the team and considered it one of the best parts of his job.
Robinson, a Radford University
graduate, also assists Kansas coach Roy Williams with recruiting and academic support for players, as well as on-court coaching. He said that having the chance to run the junior varsity team was an excellent opportunity.
While Weichbrot went from a junior varsity player to a member of the varsity, and ultimately to the 1993 Final Four, there is no guarantee that something like that will happen again. Nevertheless, Robinson said the prestige of playing was still there.
"I had asked, or volunteered, to do this last year," Robinson said. "I thought it would give me a good experience and a chance to run my own practices and do everything that is involved with running a program."
Brandon Sanders, a senior from Los Angeles who has played on the junior varsity for three years, said his dream for a varsity spot was still alive.
"The kids who have played really enjoy it," he said. "Even thought it's on the JV level, that jersey still says 'Kansas' on it, and they're representing the University of Kansas when they're out there playing whomever."
"I've known that I wanted to play basketball for Kansas since 1986," said Sanders, who came to Jayhawk summer basketball camps throughout his high school years. "The thing is, you never know what's going to happen. You have to be prepared because you never know when they'll call."
Sanders said if he never got his call, his time at Kansas would still have been well spent. He said the members of the team had become a family and he wouldn't trade that for anything:
More than 60 students tried out for the junior varsity last year, and Robinson said he hoped that number would increase this year.
By Mark Button
Kansan sportswriter
Freshman-junior competition to spice up men's basketball
Don't expect to be hulled to sleep at the Kansas men's basketball games this year.
Not that anyone ever has been, but this year's team boasts two young, exciting ball-handers that love to run, dish and pester opponents.
And Coach Roy Williams is prepared to utilize them.
Calvin Rayford
But first, the controversy.
Junior Calvin Rayford, 5-foot-6 and 155 pounds, played in the shadow of last year's senior captain Adonis Jordan and was put into games to increase tempo and to nag the opposing point guard while Jordan got a drink of water. Now, Jordan is gone and Rayford is the man. Or is he?
Enter freshman Jacque Vaughn, 6-foot-1 and 180 pounds, who Williams called "one of the best leaders I've ever recruited." Vaughn was a McDonald's, Street & Smith, and Parade High School All-American last year. He had a 3.97 grade point average in high school, making straight A's throughout high school except one B-plus in 10th-grade English.
So who is going to play, Rayford or Vaughn?
"Both of them are going to play a lot of basketball for us," Williams said yesterday at the Kansas men's basketball media day. "I think it will be a great competition that I'm looking forward to watching."
Williams said that the two guards will be defensively pressing the opponent's point guard the entire length of the court and wouldn't be surprised to see the other team's point guard "dragging his
Jacque Vaughn
tongue" at the end of a game.
Rayford, for one, is more than excited with this philosophy.
"It suits my game great," said Rayford with a smile.
And as for the pressure of having Vaughn on his heels?
"There's no pressure," Rayford said.
"We're good friends and it's like it was when Adonis was here and I came in."
However, Rayford, who is not known for his shooting touch, said he spent considerable amounts of time this summer at his home in Milwaukee working on his shot.
"Iran two miles and shot 1,000 jump shots each day," he said.
Under a rule set up by Williams to help first-year student athletes adjust to college life, Vaughn is unable to comment on the season until after the first game.