Articles

It’s easy to draw comparisons between Annika Sorenstam and Maria Ohlsson.

Although Ohlsson is taller than Sorenstam, she resembles the LPGA phenom in many ways. Both hail from Sweden and are exceptionally competitive.

Lauren Schwartzman is relaxing into perfection.

As Missouri intensifies its efforts for precisely pointed toes, stuck landings and smiling showmanship, Schwartzman has found herself easing out of superstitions.

Missouri first baseman Cody Ehlers has proved he responds well to pressure.

On Sunday, with Missouri facing a sweep for the fourth straight year in a Big 12 Conference opening series, Ehlers, a senior, hit home runs in his first two at-bats, driving in the first three runs of a 12-0 win against Kansas State.

There are never any members of the Missouri Spirit Squad at University Field, but Joanne Loethen is always there to compensate.

“Everybody calls me the cheerleader because I’m always doing cheers and yelling as loud as I can,” Loethen said.

The Hickman boys’ tennis team started its season by winning at district opponent Rolla 9-0 on Thursday.

Hickman’s Nate Bohon, Kyle King and Sean Schofield won their singles matches in straight sets. Bohon teamed up with Erich Chen for one of the Kewpies’ three doubles wins. Omeed Latifi, Zach Coble and Greg Anderson added wins for the Kewpies.

Jon-Eric Meyer wasn’t happy with the way he acted on the court, but he was happy with his win.

Ben Loeb, the Rock Bridge tennis coach, found no reason to be upset with his team’s 7-2 victory against Helias at Bethel Park on Thursday. The Bruins improved to 2-0.

The difference in personalities between Missouri tennis player Hana Kraftova and her opponent March 7 could not have been more apparent.

Oklahoma’s Irina Lykina, whose wild gestures and screams of self-motivation made her noticeable throughout Green Tennis Center, was on one side of the court.

Janae Strickland wants to put the indoor season behind her.

Strickland, a Missouri shot putter, will compete in the Missouri Relays at 10 a.m. today and 9:30 a.m. Saturday at Audrey J. Walton Stadium.

Jack Kirkman jumps back into a Bobcat and starts filling the side of the MKT trail with boulders, adjusting the rocks and piling them to recreate the base of the trail washed out from last weekend’s storm.

“From two to three feet of the side of the trail have been washed away completely,” said Kirkman, the city’s forestry groundskeeper. Some areas had been washed away, others were covered in dirt and debris. Kirkman said the last repair work on the trail would likely be finished over the weekend.

In tandem, 40 children, third-graders through seniors, brought their knees up high and kept beats on drums at the Blind Boone Center on Thursday night.

The Mid-Missouri Highsteppers were preparing to compete in the “Making the Planet Rock” drill team competition in Kansas City on Saturday. There will be 11 teams from across the country. Tyrone Raybon, assistant director of the Highsteppers, is confident the team will do well in the competition.

Students gathered Thursday night at MU’s Gaines-Oldham Black Culture Center to discuss diversity and the social climate at MU. The goal was to start an informative dialogue among different student groups.

“A lot of times we hear the administrators, but we don’t actually hear the students themselves speak,” said Travis Gregory of Collegiate 100, which sponsored the event.

If Rosemary Ihetu returns to classes at MU, she could get a formal disciplinary hearing before MU’s Student Conduct Committee, which could expel her from school, said Christian Basi, an MU spokesman.

Ihetu was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of assaulting an associate dean in front of the MU’s Sinclair School of Nursing. She was released from Boone County Jail Wednesday evening after posting $20,000 bond, according to the Boone County Sheriff’s Department.

State Auditor Claire McCaskill kicked up her campaign for governor a notch this week by announcing her endorsement by one of Missouri’s largest unions.

The endorsement came from the Laborers’ International Union of North America; of which Columbia’s locals 955 and 1274 are members.

A notable absence was evident at Thursday’s mayoral forum, the last before Tuesday’s election. Mayoral hopefuls John G. Clark and Darwin Hindman discussed several issues, while Arch Brooks, the third candidate, did not attend.

Brooks could not be reached for comment on his absence.

Of the approximately 6 million Americans diagnosed with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, three live in Geoff Lanham’s Columbia home.

Lanham’s son, Jordan, 15, was diagnosed with ADHD seven years ago, after his school suggested that Jordan be evaluated. As a second-grader, Jordan was having a hard time staying on task with an increase in self-regulated activities and desk work.

In today’s sports world, fan appreciation is not exactly a top priority for professional athletes receiving multi-million dollar salaries.

But, on Saturday at Hickman High School, a group of athletes who never forget about their fans will be appearing. Athletes from 16 central Missouri counties will be competing in the Special Olympics Central Area Spring Games. For some Special Olympic athletes, acknowledging the fans takes priority over finishing the race. David Hood recalls his son Matt’s first track and field race.

For much of the Thursday night meeting of the Columbia Cable Television Task Force, there seemed to be a general feeling among the members that the issue of public access programming in Columbia was near completion.

Then task force member Marty Riback spoke up.

Four college students sit and chat Thursday afternoon among a few pairs of old shoes at the edge of a nearly empty, white semi-truck trailer containing about 50 trash bags filled with used clothing. The girls examine a painted tarp folded in one of the two cardboard boxes next to the trailer, trying to decide if it can be recycled.

In an effort to encourage consumers to recycle old clothing and request products made from used textiles, the Association of Textile and Apparel Management, a student organization at MU, is hosting a clothing drive today through Sunday. The goal is to collect enough textiles to fill the truck to its 18,000-pound capacity.

Sweat pours from the wrinkled brow of Ric Mayer. A painter’s mask covers his mouth and graying beard, but the saturated mask does little to hide his perspiration. He works hunched over the corner of a table, his left arm stabilizing a piece of cork while his right arm moves back and forth shaping his masterpiece.

Mayer isn’t sculpting a Roman god. He’s replicating a duck.