UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Thursday. January 23, 1997
5B
Chris Hamilton/KANSAN
Amber Moundav. Vallev Center senior. practices hurdles at Anschutz Sports Pavilion.
Runner has future in medical field
By Matt Woodruff Kansan sportswriter
Senior Amber Mounday, a member of the Kansas track and field team, is proof that hard work and dedication pay off.
Just ask her coach, Gary Schwartz.
"Amber made this team as a walk on and has worked very hard to get to where she's at," Schwartz said.
Mounday is now a big part of the team's pentathlon team and is looking forward to a successful year in the Bie 12's inaugural season.
"I'm looking forward to the Big 12 Championships just because it will be a different experience." Mounday said. "It's really exciting because I feel like this is going to be a breakthrough year. I'm really enthusiastic about track this year, and I think it's probably shown in the way I've competed so far."
Mounday finished third overall in the Kansas Invitational on Jan. 11, and had another good performance last Saturday in a meet at the Missouri Invitational, where she placed second in the high jump and fourth in the long jump and 55-meter hurdles.
Mounday said that her desire to consistently improve had been one of the keys to her success.
"She's performed well and had two very strong meets," Schwartz said.
"I'm a really self-driven, self-motivated person," she said. "I've found a lot of enjoyment in giving my best and seeing day-to-day improvement."
"This is probably the healthiest I've ever been," she said.
Mounday said another one of the key reasons she was off to a good start this season was she did not have any nagging injuries like the ones that had plagued her in the past.
During high school, she was a two-time state champion in the high jump and broke three school records.
Mounday's track career almost came to an end in her first meet at Kansas in 1994.
"I ended up having my first major injury in my first meet of the indoor season," she said. "I herniated a disk in my back, and it took quite awhile to recover from that."
Mounday had to be medically red-shirted and was unable to compete or practice for the remainder of the season.
"My first year was pretty rough," Mounday said. "It was very frustrating, but I knew that, in the long run,
it would reap long-term rewards."
She said the injury, coupled with a degenerative disk disease, had bothered her ever since the injury. But, as a major in pre-medicine, Mounday may someday be able to help her own cause.
"Who knows, maybe someday I can design some kind of synthetic disk," she said.
Mounday is pursuing both a medical degree as well as a doctorate in chemical engineering. She hopes to go to medical school and then begin a career in medical research.
"I did a summer internship at the University of Cincinnati Medical School, and the main project was gene therapy for cystic fibrosis," she said. "It was really exciting to be a part of a lab on the forefront of that kind of research."
Besides being a key cog in the success of a Division I track team and tackling a difficult task scholastically, Mounday is also the 1996 national "Guts to Glory" champion.
"Guts to Glory" was a national obstacle-course event, sponsored by Champion, the athletic clothing company, that began with regional contests and ended with a national contest last summer in Atlanta.
"The main prize was a trip to the Olympics and a 1996 Nissan Pathfinder," she said. "That was a lot of fun to be a part of."
Retirement gloves Mattingly
NEW YORK — Don Mattingly has been absent from baseball for a year, and today he officially said goodbye to baseball and the New York Yankees.
"I guess I wasn't willing to pay the price to be successful," Mattingly said. "At that point, I knew it was time to steen away."
The greatest Yankees player never to reach the World Series, Mattingly announced his retirement during a press conference at Yankee Stadium.
Mattingly, 35, sat out last season while New York won the championship. He began his career in 1982, the year after Los Angeles beat the Yankees in the World Series.
Mattingly said he intended to play in 1997 until after Thanksgiving, when he stopped working out.
The Yankees said they would retire Martini's uniform. No, 23.
*One of the sadnesses of winning it
all last year was that Donnie wasn't with us," said manager Joe Torre. "He spent his whole life hoping to get into the World Series and never got there."
a six-time All-Star and a nine-time Gold Glove first baseman, Mattingly hit .307 in his career with 222 home runs and 1,099 RBI. He was the AL MVP in 1985, and in 1991 he was named captain of the Yankees. He earned the nickname "Donnie Baseball" as a fan favorite in New York.
He left open the possibility that he would return to the Yankees in a year. The Yankees, meanwhile, left his locker empty at the stadium.
But a back injury led to his decline in 1990, limiting him to 58 home runs in his final six seasons and less than 90 RBI or year.
From 1984-89, Mattingly averaged 27 homers and 114 RBI and hit more than .300 each season.
were said to be interested in him as a backup, but Mattingly wanted to play full time.
Instead, Mattingly will retire as one of the few modern players to spend an entire career with one team.
San Francisco and Kansas City
There is a chance that Mattingly may become one of the team's special instructors in spring training.
The Yankees asked Mattingly last winter whether he intended to return, and he did not tell them yes. The Yankees then traded for Seattle first baseman Tino Martinez and added former Detroit first baseman Cecil Fielder in the middle of last year.
Mattingly hit. 288 with just seven homers and 49 RBI in 1995, but finished strong in his first appearance in the playoffs, batting .417 with one homer, four doubles and six RBI in the Yankees' five-game loss to Seattle.
Dollar Anything!!! On Thursday and Saturday Nights a drink costs one buck at the Ranch!
(Reactions to this great deal may vary.)
Country Western Bar
2515 West 6th
"We're country and a whole lot more!"
Considering the fact that Jesus had his doubts. Why can't you?
The Glass Onion
624 W. 12th
9:15 p.m. until 10:30 p.m.
Friday, January 24
If you think you believe in God, but still have doubts and questions, come and talk about them at...
This Friday we'll talk about "Who is Jesus?" (jesus and Thomas aren't the only doubles around!)
(Sponsored by: Baptist Student Union, Canterbury House (Episcopal). Ecumenical Christian Ministries (Presbyterian, United Church of Christ, Church of the Brethren), Lutheran Campus Ministry (ELCA), United Methodist Campus Ministry)
Tuesday, January 23
7PM
Walnut Rm Kras Union
The Center for Community Outreach Programs
Campus Volunteer Program College Bound Program Community Drop-in Center Community Internship Program Concerned, Aware & Active Students Jubilee Cafe
Students On Board Students Tutoring for Literacy Peer Mentoring Program Youth Volunteer Corps Youth Student Council
For More Information, Call 864-3710
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