Ex-Gopher beats long odds with help of a tall partner.(SPORTS)(Patrick Reusse) - Star Tribune (Minneapolis, MN)

Byline: Patrick Reusse; Staff Writer

Heidi Olhausen and Kate Callahan were freshmen for the University of Minnesota volleyball team in the fall of 1992. They had been teammates at Lakeville High, and now they were roommates in an aging dorm room at the university.

'You should see the room,' Callahan said. 'There are pretzels all over the floor. Our clothes are in piles everywhere. People come in the room and they scream.'

Later in this conversation, Olhausen and Callahan were offering a strong endorsement for the good looks of Cameron Green, a volleyball player from Redondo Beach, Calif.

Callahan had lived in Redondo Beach until 1990 and went to a prom with Green. Olhausen had met him at the U.S. junior volleyball summer camp.

Asked whether this fond recollection of Green meant things were 'dull socially' at the university, the two first-semester collegians laughed, and Callahan said:

'We didn't put all those pretzels on the floor ourselves, you know.'

This week, Heidi was asked whether Callahan still was around. She offered an enthused 'yes' and said: 'Kate married a California guy, and they moved back here two years ago. She just had a baby. She's so much fun. It's great having her back.'

Heidi found her husband at Gopherville - Trevor Winter, the 7-foot basketball player from the bustling burg of Slayton, Minn. They were married in the summer of 1997, after Trevor's final, memorable basketball season with the Gophers.

The honeymoon took place in Spain, with Trevor playing for a team in Pamplona and Heidi playing briefly for a team in Bilbao.

There were other teams and basketball camps for Winter, including a turn with the Timberwolves in 1998-99. He spent time stashed on the injured list and played in one game.

Daughter Macy was born in the winter of 2001. Trevor had an invitation to Cleveland's training camp. In September, Heidi did some unexpected bleeding and went to an emergency room. There was not much alarm, and she was told to go in for a checkup.

Cancer. The cells were connected to the pregnancy - a form of cancer that's ultra-rare.

'The cancer had spread to a lung, where I had a 4-inch tumor, to my bladder, to an eye ... a lot of places,' Heidi said. 'They don't tell you that you're going to die. They say, `It's going to be difficult.' '

Trevor was due in Cleveland's NBA camp when Heidi was early in her chemotherapy treatments. 'He had to go,' she said. 'Someone needed to pay the bills. That was our livelihood.'

Heidi and Macy lived with her folks for a month. Trevor broke his wrist with the Cavaliers. He came home. His father-in-law helped hook up Trevor with a job as a pharmaceutical salesman for Pfizer.

Heidi's oncologist was Cheryl Bailey at Abbott-Northwestern. The brand of poison she ordered to attack the cancer took Heidi's hair.

'Eyebrows and all,' she said. 'Trevor would shave my head and say, `This looks so great.' He could get a laugh out of me with that. In this situation, there are days when one person is higher than the other. We had to take care of each other.

'Trevor and I both come from very religious families. We leaned on our faith. Instead of waking up every day, wondering, `Why me?' I was able to look at it as, `Why not me?' '

The poison administered at Abbott-Northwestern did more than take Heidi's hair. After six months, it killed the cancer.

'Cheryl Bailey is the best,' Heidi said. 'I would not have made it through without her knowledge, her advice, her encouragement.'

Heidi said that Winter, the world's tallest pharmaceutical salesman, greatly enjoys his non-basketball profession.

'Trevor played basketball because he was 7 feet tall and he was expected to,' she said. 'He enjoyed the experiences, the relationships, but the game ... Trevor was happy to quit.'

The Winters were told to wait for two years before Heidi tried to undertake another pregnancy. 'After that, we went by our faith; if it was supposed to happen, it would,' she said.

It happened. Heidi is now eight months pregnant. 'Big as a house,' she said.

As for the past connection between pregnancy and cancer, she said: 'Of course, it's in my thoughts, but it was such a rare occurrence ... and they tell us the odds of it happening again are as remote with this baby as they were when I was having Macy.'

Heidi was a standout hitter on the Gophers volleyball team that reached the NCAA's final 16 in 1993. When women's athletic director Chris Voelz fired coach Stephanie Schleuder a year later, Heidi pulled no punches in publicly criticizing Voelz.

Olhausen's career ended in 1995 - the lost season between the departure of the personable, competent Schleuder and the dynamic, high-priced Mike Hebert.

'I don't know Hebert at all, but it's pretty incredible what he has done with the program,' Heidi said. 'The game itself - I watch on television and I'm amazed, it has changed so much.

'The players up front are so tall and athletic. I was tall at 5-11 a decade ago. Now, I would be a shrimp.'

Heidi paused. 'We're hoping Macy will hold up the volleyball end of things for us,' she said. 'She should have the height, with Trevor as her daddy.'

Then, Heidi Winter laughed ... laughed as though she was again a college kid exchanging quips with her pal Callahan.

the high five; Some websites devoted to tall bikes:.(SPORTS) - Star Tribune (Minneapolis, MN)

1 Rat Bikes

Chicago has its own gearheads.

www.rat-patrol.org

2 Zinn Cycles

Cyclists big and tall take notice. www.zinncycles.com

3 Wikipedia

Primer, good links.

en.wikipedia.org/ tall-bike

4 The Winking Circle

Eccentric all the way.

www.thewinking

circle.com

5 Technorati

Search tall bikes. Enough said.

www.technorati.com

WOLFF IS BIG-TIME PLAYER DIMINUTIVE WATERTOWN POINT GUARD STANDS TALL ON COURT.(Sports) - The Wisconsin State Journal (Madison, WI)

Hey. If you're looking for Jessie Wolff, you won't find her here.

Not here, either.

Keep going.

A little more.

Here she is.

To find Jessie Wolff you have to look down, way down. The senior point guard for the Watertown girls basketball team is just 5-foot-2. On the basketball court, however, she stands out like a 7-footer.

``It doesn't really matter how tall you are,'' Wolff said. ``The thing of it is, when you're playing you don't really know that you're that small. After I've been playing good all game long I'm kind of like, `How tall am I?' ''

Wolff has been told she is too small her entire basketball-playing life. Opposing players have overlooked her. Coaches have overlooked her. Big-time colleges have overlooked her.

She wears the chip on her shoulder like a badge of honor. It serves as a constant reminder of what everyone thinks of her and her undersized team -- Watertown doesn't have a player on its roster who is taller than 5-11. But most of all, it serves as motivation.

``Jessie's so small that when coaches see her size, it's just hard to believe that she can play,'' Goslings coach Steve Jacobson said.

So go ahead and be like everyone else. When the Goslings (17-7) take on third-ranked Kettle Moraine (22-1) in the quarterfinals of the WIAA state tournament at 6:35 tonight at the UW Field House, look past Wolff and her teammates.

She dares you.

``We've been so overlooked this whole season and we have a good team,'' Wolff said. ``No one was expecting Watertown to come to Madison. We kind of proved a lot to a lot of people.''

Thanks largely -- pun intended -- to Wolff. In the sectional final Saturday against heavily favored No. 4 Madison West, Wolff went head-to-head with University of Wisconsin recruit Candas Smith. When the dust settled, Wolff and the Goslings were on top, 62-58.

``That's the kind of game I live to play for,'' said Wolff, who lit up the Regents for 32 points. ``It was the opportunity of a lifetime. (Smith is) a great player. You know, I've always thought of myself as a decent player and I've just never gotten the exposure or the hype as some of the bigger, better-known players. It was a chance for me to prove that I can play with the best of them.''

On the court, Wolff is lightning quick and has no fear. She will rain jumpers from behind the three-point line or kill you with dribble penetration.

``I love going into the lane,'' she said with a wry smile.

But for a time this season, Wolff wasn't dribbling anywhere. During the Goslings' game against West Bend West in December, Wolff suffered a high ankle sprain. She spent two weeks in a hard cast and watched from the sidelines as Watertown went 2-2 without her.

In the long run, however, the injury made Wolff and Watertown better. Not only did Wolff learn that she doesn't have to do it all for the Goslings, she realized how good she has it.

``I kind of learned that every game you have to go out and play as if it might be your last game,'' Wolff said.

Wolff is a three-sport star for the Goslings. She was the Little Ten Conference player of the year in tennis, the likely choice for that honor in basketball and a three-time all-conference performer in soccer. Her athletic and academic talents -- Jacobson said she has a 4.0 grade-point average -- have attracted schools like Minnesota, Miami (Ohio) and UW-Milwaukee.

But Wolff has some unfinished business to take care of first.

WARRIORS STRONG INSIDE; WESTHILL COUNTS ON POINTS FROM TALL OLSZEWSKI.(Sports)(Column) - The Post-Standard (Syracuse, NY)

Byline: M.F. Piraino Staff writer

At 6-foot-2, senior Lisa Olszewski presents a big problem in the paint for Westhill opponents.

Although the Warriors have the Onondaga League scoring leader in Carly Cooper, Westhill coach Sue Ludwig believes Olszewski is at the center of Westhill's success.

'When Lisa struggles, it's more of a struggle for us,' Ludwig said. 'We go basically as she goes.'

Olszewski has been up to the challenge this season as the Warriors come into 2007 with a 5-0 Liberty Conference record (7-2 overall) before playing Bishop Ludden on Wednesday. She is averaging 14.2 points per game compared to 12.2 last year.

As Ludwig pointed out, Olszewski's impact is evident this season. The Warriors are 6-0 when Olszewski scores in double figures and 1-2 when she does not. Westhill's losses were to Class AA schools Oswego and Fayetteville-Manlius.

With the graduation of Section III scoring queen Carlee Cassidy, Ludwig put in a few more offensive options this year with Olszewski as a large target down low.

'Last year, we stood around and watched Carlee too much,' Ludwig said. 'We're trying to spread the ball around more. Everyone on this team is capable of scoring.'

New Hartford junior closes in on 1,000

Nicole Karam, New Hartford's leading scorer, needs just seven points Friday at Clinton to reach 1,000 for her career.

The 5-9 junior guard, who is averaging 17 ppg, enters the Tri-Valley League game with 993 points. Karam will become the fifth female in school history to score 1,000 career points.

'She is probably one of our best players ever and we've had some good ones in the last eight years,' New Hartford coach Mike Callan said. 'She has such quickness and strength plus a willingness to work hard. She's a very dedicated athlete.'

Karam is one of four starters averaging double figures this season for the revitalized Spartans (7-3), who endured their first losing season in six years last winter at 7-14.

Two Liberty teams cope with injuries

Solvay's Carrie Smith, the team's leading scorer and rebounder, has missed three and a half games this season with a right-shoulder injury. The 6-1 center is treating the injury with physical therapy, Solvay coach Shawn Mitchell said.

'I don't like to talk about injuries because everyone has them,' Mitchell said. 'But we are a different team without Smith on the floor.'

Mitchell added that Smith's value goes beyond her play in the paint.

'Unlike some 6-foot-1 players, she can shoot a 17-foot jump shot,' he said. 'She has a knack for the game defensively and she doesn't get into foul trouble.'

There's no question having Smith in the lineup makes a huge difference. The Bearcats are 6-1 when she plays and 1-3 without her.

Some good news for the Bearcats (3-3, 7-4): Chelsey Chavez-Egan is healthy after a foot injury last month. The Bearcats travel Friday to league-leading Westhill.

Cazenovia is also playing without its leading scorer, Kiley Evans. The 5-9 Evans has been sidelined with a stress fracture in her right foot since Dec. 9. She provided 14.6 points per game for the Lakers (3-3, 5-5).

'It's always a blow when you lose your leading scorer,' Cazenovia coach Paul Harney said. 'But the good thing is that it forces our other kids to step up.'

Evans, a three-sport athlete at Cazenovia, said the foot started bothering her after cross country season. She has missed the last five games to allow her foot to heal. Evans hopes to be back in the lineup this month. The Lakers host Marcellus on Friday.

Phoenix's Tupper returns to the court

At Phoenix, junior Julia Tupper is back in action after missing the first four games of the season because of a broken left leg. Tupper, a key inside player for the Firebirds (2-4, 4-5), injured her leg in soccer.

Tupper scored 14 points in her season debut Dec. 13 against East Syracuse-Minoa. She is averaging 10.4 ppg.

'She is such an important player for us,' Phoenix coach Steve Storie said. 'She is our best rebounder and one of our best scorers.'

Besides Tupper, senior forward Lindsay Harris also came off the injured list Dec. 13. Harris was out after injuring her knee during cross country.

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File photo/Jim Commentucci, 2006

ACC MEASURES UP AS NO. 1 CONFERENCE DUNCAN, DEAN MAY BE GONE, BUT LEAGUE STILL STANDS TALL.(Sports) - Rocky Mountain News (Denver, CO)

Byline: David Droschak Associated Press

RALEIGH, N.C. -- No Dean. No Duncan. No problem for the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Most conferences would be worried about losing one of the game's greatest coaches and one of its best players. Not the ACC, which is fighting back the only way it knows how - with talent.

``The conference and the game are always bigger than any one individual, however in Dean's case, that one individual has given an incredible amount to the game,'' Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said of Dean Smith, who retired last month after 36 seasons and an NCAA-record 879 wins at North Carolina.

About 90 miles down Tobacco Road, Wake Forest is dealing with the loss of Tim Duncan, the consensus college player of the year and No. 1 NBA draft pick who scored 2,117 points, grabbed 1,570 rebounds and blocked 481 shots in his college career.

``Tim Duncan is gone. We had made peace with that back in the spring,'' Wake Forest coach Dave Odom said. ``At that time we said to our team there is no one person in this country at the collegiate level or the high school level that can come in and replace Tim Duncan. Given that fact, we said the only thing left for us is to try to replace him as a team.

``We are going to ask for 10 percent more from everybody else. If we can do that then that is the best chance for us to replace a player of his magnitude.''

Duncan's loss is only the beginning of Odom's worries, considering senior forwards Ricky Peral and Sean Allen also departed. The program with the most ACC wins (42) over the past three seasons is now behind Duke, North Carolina, Clemson, Maryland and North Carolina State in preseason predictions.

Those clubs share one big advantage - experience.

Each has four starters returning except N.C. State, which returns three and a renewed excitement under second-year coach Herb Sendek. Florida State also returns four starters for first-year coach Steve Robinson.

A league that lost Jerry Stackhouse, Rasheed Wallace, Joe Smith, Stephon Marbury and Jeff McInnis early to the NBA in the past three seasons has suddenly been restocked with talent. The ACC is now looking for its 10th Final Four appearance in the past 11 seasons.

``I don't think there is a team in our league that somebody outside of the league would say, `Boy, I would really like to play them, that's a sure win,''' Maryland coach Gary Williams said. ``That's a pretty good indication of the strength of the league. If you are not ready to play you are going to lose a league game this year. It's as simple as that.''

Duke and North Carolina are considered 1a and 1b this season with Clemson not far behind.

The Blue Devils, who took a whopping 714 three-point attempts last season, return shooting ace Trajan Langdon, point guard Steve Wojciechowski and forwards Roshown McLeod and Chris Carrawell. Ricky Price is also expected back Dec. 21 from academic suspension.

Krzyzewski, entering his 18th season with 473 wins, also landed a four-man recruiting class considered the best in the country.

But major changes are beginning in Durham.

``Our menu on offense was pretty one-dimensional - the three-point shot and drive and kick and get fouled,'' Krzyzewski said. ``I would hope we could attack people in a few more different ways this year. Defensively, we want to quicken the tempo.''

At North Carolina, 30-year assistant Bill Guthridge takes over for Smith and will try to return the Tar Heels to the Final Four, where the team went cold from the field and lost to eventual national champion Arizona.

Most around the league believe the new-look Tar Heels will be just like the old Tar Heels - a major force in the ACC.

``I'll notice, but it was never Dean Smith. He never made it Dean Smith,'' Virginia coach Jeff Jones said. ``It was North Carolina. It will be obvious to everyone in the building that he's not there, but his imprint on the Carolina style and everything that North Carolina does will be there and I would assume it would always be there.

``North Carolina is still going to have a very good coach on its bench and still have a very good team.''

Preseason ACC player of the year Antawn Jamison leads a talented and diverse group that includes Vince Carter, Shammond Williams, Ademola Okulaja and point guard Ed Cota, last year's ACC rookie of the year. But depth, unlike at Duke, could be a major problem for the Tar Heels, who went to 23 straight NCAA tournaments under Smith.

``The only significant change I've made is that our staff meetings start at 8:30 in the morning instead of 10:30,'' Guthridge said. ``I'm a morning person, Dean was the night person.''

Little boxers stand tall.(Sports) - Albany Times Union (Albany, NY)

Byline: WILLIAM KATES Associated Press

CANASTOTA - It was the little guys who made it big Thursday in the International Boxing Hall of Fame class of 2005.

Headlining this year's group of 15 inductees were two-time featherweight champion Bobby 'Schoolboy' Chacon; two-time junior welterweight champion Duilio Loi of Italy; Ireland's popular featherweight champion Barry McGuigan; and junior middleweight champion 'Terrible' Terry Norris.

Non-boxers to be enshrined included matchmaker Don Fraser and writer Bert Sugar, said Boxing Hall of Fame Executive Director Edward Brophy.

This year's induction ceremony will be held June 12.

The four boxers - all who fought in classes below 154 pounds - were chosen by a panel of boxing writers and historians as representatives of the modern era, which runs from 1943 on. Five other fighters were selected from the Old-Timer and Pioneer categories, while six people were chosen in the Non-Participant and Observer classes, including Fraser and Sugar.

McGuigan, a small-town Irishman, became a national hero in the early 1980s by winning both the British and European featherweight titles as a young professional.

McGuigan was known for his stamina, determination and durable chin. In June 1985, he dropped aging Panamanian legend Eusebio Pedroza in the seventh round and won a grueling 15-round decision to claim the WBA featherweight title.

McGuigan was successful in two title defenses before he was dethroned in 1986 by unheralded Steve Cruz in a toe-to-toe 15-round fight in 125-degree heat in Las Vegas, a match that ended with a delirious, dehydrated McGuigan being rushed to the hospital.

It was two years before McGuigan boxed again. After four unremarkable comeback victories, McGuigan quit boxing in 1989, finishing with a 32-3 career record that included 28 knockouts.

Loi, too, was one of his country's most popular fighters as he compiled a 115-3-8 record during a 15-year career that saw him reign twice as world junior welterweight champion between 1960-62.

Regarded as a fine all-around boxer with a tremendous left hand, Loi also was European lightweight champion for four years. He won the world title with a hard-fought decision over Carlos Ortiz before 65,000 fans in Milan.

Chacon held WBC crowns as a featherweight from 1974-75 and as a super featherweight from 1982-1983. The California-born Chacon attempted to win a third world title in 1984, but was stopped by WBA lightweight champion Ray 'Boom Boom' Mancini.

With an explosive punching style, 'Schoolboy' Chacon knocked out 23 of his first 25 professional opponents. He finished with 59-7-1 career mark, with 47 KOs.

Texan Terry Norris was a star schoolboy baseball player who turned from the diamond to the ring and amassed an amazing 291-4 amateur record before turning professional in 1986.

Norris won the WBC junior middleweight belt in 1989 with a sensational one-round knockout of John Mugabi then put together a string of 10 successful title defens es, including a victory over Sugar Ray Leonard. He was upset by Simon Brown in his 11th title defense but won the crown back in a rematch.

In 1995, Norris unified the WBC and IBF belts with a 12-round decision over Paul Vaden. With a tremendous left hook, Norris compiled a career record of 47-9, with 31 KOs.

Fraser and Sugar were honored for their contributions outside the ring.

Fraser, 77, has been a fixture of the West Coast fight scene for more than five decades, promoting fights for a number of Hall of Famers, now including Chacon. Fraser's many bouts included the 1973 Muhammad Ali-Ken Norton rematch.

Sugar, 67, has written more than 80 books and hundreds of articles on boxing over more than 30 years.

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IN THE TINY CBA, PATS STAND TALL.(Sports) - Albany Times Union (Albany, NY)

ALBANY -- If you've been down to the Washington Avenue Armory lately, you'd think the only two teams in the Continental Basketball Association are the Albany Patroons and the East Kentucky Miners.

The Miners and the Patroons played each other three times in the past four nights at the Armory. Before that, they played each other twice in Kentucky and, at the end of this week, the Patroons will be back in the Bluegrass State for two more games with the Miners.

And, if the Miners and the Patroons were the only two teams in the CBA, the Patroons would win the league title.

The Patroons beat East Kentucky 98-90 Saturday night at the Armory, the fourth time in five tries Albany has beaten the Miners.

'This was a big challenge for us tonight,' said Patroons coach Derrick Rowland. 'The schedule we have had lately is unheard of.'

He's right. Saturday's game was the Patroons seventh in the past 11 days. And it's not going to get any easier.

Starting Monday, the Patroons are scheduled to play six games in seven days. On Monday and Tuesday the Pats play here against former coach Micheal Ray Richardson and the Lawton Fort Sill Cavalry. Then it's back to East Kentucky for two games Thursday and Friday and then to Cleveland to play a pair against the ABA Rockers.

'I've got to talk to somebody about that,' Rowland said.

But it's doubtful he'll be able to get the Cleveland games off the schedule because the Rockers are scheduled to come to Albany later this month.

'Like I've said before, this is the CBA and you press on,' Rowland said. 'I never had anything like this when I was playing. I just take my hat off to these guys. We didn't have much gas tonight, but we gutted it out.'

The Patroons got double-doubles from Harvey Thomas (30 points, 11 rebounds) and Gabe Freeman (19-11) in winning for the fifth straight game. Albany took five of seven standings points and improved to 12-6 in the CBA. East Kentucky is 7-7.

Rowland said his team has been so whipped recently that he hasn't been able to have full practices. He didn't have a shootaround on Saturday and won't practice today. His main goal right now is to conserve as much energy as possible.

The Miners trailed by just three points on several occasions in the fourth quarter but the Patroons, fatigue or not, made a play.

Tim Wilkin can be reached at 454-5415 or by e-mail at twilkin@timesunion.com

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Patroons 98