Minneapolis ? Kansas University’s swimming and diving team is tied for first after the first day of the Minnesota Invitational. The Jayhawks set a school record in the 400-yard medley relay — consisting of Whitney Sondall, Hannah Bakke, Becca Zarazan and Amy Gruber — with a time of 3:45.68. The invitational concludes today.
Kansas has already received a verbal commitment from one high school basketball player in the Class of 2001.
He’s Wayne Simien, a 6-8 forward from Leavenworth High.
The Jayhawks are reportedly leading for another junior 6-0 point guard Aaron Miles of Portland, Ore.
Miles, regarded as one of the top five point guards in the country next year, wore a Kansas sweatshirt over the weekend at the Spiece AAU Tournament in Indianapolis.
In an interview, Miles told Pac West Hoops KU was his current leader over USC, Stanford, Arizona, Oregon State and Oregon.
He’s recently added Notre Dame to his list. The Irish are led by former KU coach Matt Doherty.
Meanwhile, Chuck Hayes, a 6-6 junior power forward from Modesto Christian High in Modesto, Calif., told Kentucky Wildcats.net he has a new list of KU, Kentucky, Arizona, UCLA, USC and UTEP.
Of KU, Hayes said: “One of my good friends, Andrew Gooden (of Richmond, Calif.), goes to Kansas. We spent some time together last summer and had fun. Roy Williams always seems to keep his composure and seems to have a tough, hard-nosed love for his players.”
Test score in question: The DeShawn Stevenson saga seemingly may not end until August if and when the 6-5 Fresno, Calif., basketball guard shows for class on campus.
Stevenson, of course, is the blue-chipper who signed with Kansas last November, declared for the NBA Draft eight days ago, then changed his mind Sunday and said he was headed to KU after recording a qualifying score on the SAT.
There appears to be a possible problem with his test score, however.
Though Stevenson has been told he’s passed the test, he’s had such a dramatic jump (400 to 500 points) in score the test is being reviewed by the Educational Testing Service, a Princeton based firm that designs and administers the SAT.
Should the ETS deem the test score invalid, Stevenson would likely have to take a re-test. The problem is the deadline for sending a letter to the NBA declaring for the upcoming draft is Sunday. He may not have the test score sorted out by then.
The ETS says Stevenson’s increase in score of 500 points on the SAT does not automatically mean he’ll have to re-take the test. There could be a good reason he improved so much: He took the SAT just once before, his sophomore year in high school.
“It’s enough for us to take an initial look,” the ETS representative said. “To move to the next stage (re-test) we’d have to communicate with someone to have reason to believe the score is invalid.”
Meanwhile, the Fresno Bee ran a quote from Washington High AD Jeff Cardoza that Stevenson still could turn pro. Cardoza said he asked Stevenson Monday what to tell reporters who asked about his situation. Stevenson has asked not to be contacted by the press any more.
“I asked him, ‘Is there anything I need to know so I know what to tell people? He said, ‘Right now leave it as if I’m going to the NBA. I scored a 1,100 on the SAT but the NCAA hasn’t released it.'”
Stevenson’s mother said Monday night it was full-speed ahead and her son was KU bound next year.
Tunstall had test woes: One Jayhawk has had a test score reviewed in the past. The late Sean Tunstall was ruled ineligible by the NCAA back in 1989.
The ruling followed an NCAA investigation into Tunstall’s ACT scores during and after his senior year at St. Louis Vashon High. Reportedly, Tunstall took the ACT twice and made such dramatic improvement the second time he was asked to take it a third time. The results of the third test forced KU to rule Tunstall ineligible.
