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Sports
• Thursday, March 29, 2012
SPRING FOOTBALL BRIEFS Defensive backs to battle for spot Senior cornerback Demontre Hurst has one cernerback position sealed up for the Sooners. However, with the graduation of Jamell Fleming, OU will look to fill a position Fleming had locked down seemingly all season. There are a couple of familiar faces in the race to fill that position in juniors Joe Powell and Gabe Lynn, the latter of whom saw time on the field last season. Incoming freshman Kass Everett, a highlytouted secondary player who has both Bob and Mike Stoops already singing his praise also is in the mix. Of course, when September rolls around, it is possible senior Aaron Colvin, a player Bob Stoops has said can play just about anywhere in the secondary, could fill the void at corner while another player fills in for him at safety.
Sooners looking to solidify RBs The Sooners had a slew of running backs make departures from the team last season. However, the team will have no shortage of players in the backfield this season. Oklahoma has a trip of juniors in returners Brennan Clay and Roy Finch and junior college transfer Damien Williams. In addition to those three contributors, the Sooners will get their returning rusher from last season, Dominique Whaley, back after he suffered a season-ending knee injury last season. Sto ops has said e ven though Whaley will sit out spring practices, he is recovering well and is expected to be able to play when the season rolls around.
Strait returns as assistant coach Mike Stoops will not be the only former Sooner returning to the OU football staff for the 2012 season. The university has announced former cornerback Derrick Strait, the 2003 Nagurski and Thorpe award winner, will return to OU as a defensive quality control assistant. Strait will help out defensive coordinator in a somewhat limited role. However, being one of the most decorated cornerbacks in the Bob Stoops era, his advice will undoubtedly be welcome. Daily staff reports
Column
ROWING
Men’s basketball fans lucky to have Kruger’s commitment
Honors, awards abound for OU
Sports Columnist
Kedric Kitchens
Assistant Sports Editor
Greg Fewell greg_f@ou.edu
M
en’s basketball coach Lon Kruger made several stops before reaching Norman to attempt to rebuild an ailing OU program. However, it all began in Kansas. The Silver Lake, Kan., native led Kansas State to back-to-back Big Eight championships while earning two conference Player of the Year honors. After graduating, Kruger didn’t stay away from his alma mater for long, returning in 1979 as an assistant coach. In1986, he became the head coach of the Wildcats. K-State made the NCAA tournament in each of Kruger’s four seasons and made it as far as the Elite 8. The list of ties Kruger has with Kansas State is long indeed. That’s why when Frank Martin left the university to become the head coach at South Carolina on Tuesday, Kruger’s name naturally came up in the discussion of who would take over the K-State job. Fo r tu nat e l y f o r O U fans, the Sooners will not be looking for their third coach in as many years. Kruger said in a press release Wednesday that he has no interest in taking the job and that he is “100 percent Oklahoma and excited about that.” The Kansas State job made a lot of sense f o r K r u g e r. How e ve r, Oklahoma, as down as the team has been in recent years, could make as much
astrud reed/the daily
OU basketball coach Lon Kruger yells instruction to his players during the Sooners’ March 3 game against the Texas A&M Aggies. Kruger has turned down the chance to return to his alma mater to stay at OU.
sense for a few reasons. For one, Kruger has constantly rebuilt programs throughout his career. Look no further than his last team, UNLV. The Runnin’ Rebels were in terrible shape when Kruger arrived. In a few seasons, though, Kruger had the team in the right direction. He has had similar turnarounds in other areas of the country, taking Florida to its first Final Four in school history and becoming the only Big 10 coach ever to sign three consecutive Illinois Mr. Basketball winners while at the University of Illinois. For another thing, Kruger’s current situation is perfect for how he likes to
have been returning home, going back to his alma mater and inheriting a program that has made the NCAA tournament in consecutive seasons. Kruger is ready for a new challenge, though. He’s ready to make his own tradition at a new program, and Oklahoma fans should feel lucky to have him. Greg Fewell is a journalism senior
The University of Oklahoma Joe C. and Carole Kerr McClendon Honors College Invites the Public to UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH DAY Saturday, March 31, 2012 OCCE Forum Building, 1704 Asp Avenue SESSION I, 8:30 a.m.-10:00 a.m. Civic Engagement, Room A-1 Presenters: KatieBeth Gardner, Kelsey Kehlbeck, Hannah Kellogg Humanities I, Room A-2 Presenters: Jared Curran, Gerard Keiser, Patrick Winterrowd Health Issues I, Room A-3 Presenters: Jasmine Casey, Jay Kumar, Alim Ramji Economics, Technology, Room A-4 Presenters: Jerod Coker, Jennifer Quitoriano Engineering, Room A-5 Presenters: Alana Denning, Nhung Duong, Napat Kiatsakdawong, Zixin Wang, Henry Ware Education, Psychology, Sociology, Room A-6 Presenters: Trenton Haltom, Ewelina Ignaczak, Rachel Renbarger History I, Room B-1 Presenters: Cameron Dabiri, Joseph Foote, Ryan Geary, Meghan Riley Environments, Room B-2 Presenters: Madeline Dillner, Krystal Gayler, Stephen Pittman, Robert Rhoades, Juliet Sutton Computers, Room B-3 Presenters: Bryan Hoke, Joshua Maddux and James Shipe, Jeremy Rand, Khue Tran, Kevin Windham International Issues I, Room B-4 Presenters: Hallie Arias, Abby Coppedge, Amanda Niedzwiecki, Thomas Simpkins, Lena Tenney
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build his teams — from the ground up. At OU, Kruger has the ability to recruit hard-working players who are willing to buy in to his philosophy. The Sooners already made steady improvement in Kruger’s first season. Now that he has a chance to get out and recruit, the team’s future appears to be even brighter. It’s true the K-State job would have made a lot of since for Kruger. He would
The Sooners’ varsity eight earned Conference USA’s Boat of the Week honor, released by the conference March 20. This is the first Boat of the Week award OU’s squad has ever won. The crew consists of juniors coxswain Carly Schueler, Rebecca Staff and Meghan Farrell, seniors Ivy Brown, Brooke Sheppard, Nikki Furmanek and Nicole Bladow, sophomore Kristin Clift and freshman Kellie O’Reilly. The varsity eight boat is undefeated in its first two regattas of the season, including a seven-second upset victory over No. 19 Texas in March. The rowers competed in C-USA against Texas, Kansas, Kansas State, Tenness e e, Alabama, Central Florida, Tulsa and SMU. The awards kept coming for OU as 40 rowers were named to the C-USA Academic Honor Roll. The Sooners’ 40 selections ranks third in the conference behind 47 from UCF and 46 from KSU. For athletes to be eligible for the Commissioner’s Honor Roll, they must maintain a cumulative GPA of a 3.0 or better. “We take great pride in our performance in the classroom and these young women are doing a great job of balancing their studies with a quite rigorous athletic schedule,” OU coach Leeanne Crain said in a press release Tuesday.
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St. Thomas More University Parish Holy Week Mass Times April 5th Holy Thursday: 7:00pm
April 6th Good Friday Veneration of the Cross: 7:00pm April 7th Easter Vigil Mass 5:00pm April 8th Easter Sunday 8:30am, 11:00am, 5:00pm
100 E. Stinson
SESSION II, 10:15 a.m.-12:00 p.m. Biomedical Engineering, Biochemistry, Room A-1 Presenters: Alexander Aria, Kevin Buettner, Nicholas Kirch and Brandon Smith, Jui-wen (Ryan) Liu, Abigail Overacre, Thomas Whittaker Humanities II, Room A-2 Presenters: Marcus Autry, Nicole Catterlin, Alison Frech, Brandon Harney, Jake Morgan, Mary Stanfield Health Issues II, Room A-3 Presenters: Morgan Fortner, Aamina Shakir, John Sosanya, Brian West Zoology, Room A-4 Presenters: Jordan Chapman, Nathan Clark, Maureen Lewis, Danielle Martin, Kristy Nguyen, Ross Sheline U. S. Politics, Room A-5 Presenters: Savannah Collins, Zach Deaton, Clayton Dodds, Jon Reynolds, Katherine Sasser Linguistics, Room A-6 Presenters: Ashley Davenport, William Fernandez, Pengpeng Jiang, Evan Pederson, Madison Sandefer, Tiegan Willoughby History II, Room B-1 Presenters: Grant Ashley, Kayla Pittman, Erin Smith Biochemistry, Physics, Room B-2 Presenters: Zachary Eldredge and Michael Reynolds, Madeline Murrell, Lauren Price, Mubeen Shakir, Nathan Thomas International Issues II, Room B-3 Presenters: Stuart Downey, Kristina King, Kiersten Strachan Fine Arts, Conference Room A Presenters: Elyse Emerich, Matthew Kaney, Austin Lintner, Dillon Votaw, Meredith Tyler, Nicole Arnone, Joel Behne, Alicia Clark, Carl Culley, Kate Dinsmore, Jamie Goldman, Shannon Hucker, Andrew Koslow, Emily Luhrs, Connor McCollum, Sophie Menas, Zachary Splittstoesser, Chelsea Stavis