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Cassi Vandever, a freshman from Arkansas City, was Cowley's top pitcher this spring. Entering the RegionVI tournament, Vandever compiled a 21-3 won-loss record with an earned-run average of 0.72. She struckout 91 batters in137 innings pitched.However, a freak knee injury hobbled her during the tournament. Hargrove said it hurt the Tigers moreoffensively than defensively."She pitched well enough to win both games we lost," Hargrove said. "She's our best baserunner, so it(the knee injury) hurt us more that way."And to make matters worse, Vandever was hit by a line drive just above her left knee in the Dodge Citygame. Still, she wouldn't come off the mound.The Tigers still won a share of the Jayhawk Conference's East Division crown, tying Johnson County forthat honor. Cowley finished 28-4 in the conference.Hargrove, who completed his1 3th season as head coach, loses just five sophomores off this team."We've got a good nucleus back and maybe the best freshman class ever coming in," Hargrove said. "Andwe've got the two All-America candidates in Cassi and Suzanne Kerr back."Kerr, from Derby, Kan., led Cowley in several categories, including runs (51), triples (12), home runs (9),runs batted in (55), and batting average (.504). Those numbers were at the end of the regular season. Shealso was named to the NJCAA Division I All-America team. Vandever made the third team.E NOTEHead Golf Coach Rex Soule knew after the 1996 fall semester that competition in the spring would beeven tougher. And he was right.The Tigers, in their first season of intercollegiate golf in more than 20 years, struggled through early April.They had days of solid practice rounds, but really couldn't get anything going in competition. That is untilthe District III championship in North Platte, Neb., April 28-29, 1997."We played our best golf of the year," Soule said of the 54-hole tournament. "We had set a goal of 960strokes for the tournament and we shot 943. That was 17 strokes below our goal. I was pleased with that.We did what we thought we needed to do, just two Nebraska schools snuck in on us and took our seventhplace away. We knew we wouldn't beat any other Kansas schools."The top seven teams qualify for the national tournament in Arizona. Cowley's 943 was a distant eighthbehind Dodge City's 903. Barton, Butler, and Kansas City finished first, second, and third. WesternNebraska was fourth, Johnson County fifth, and Northeast Nebraska sixth.Cowley's Chris Brown, a freshman, finished in 31st place at districts with a 73-80-77-230 total. Soule saidhad Brown put together three rounds like his first one, he would have been in the hunt for the individual title."I know Chris was disappointed in that 80," Soule said. "But really everybody played pretty well. It wasa good way to end the season."Chris Bruner put together consistent rounds of 77-78-78 for a 233 total, while Wally Waldmeier shot 81-77-78 for a 236 total.In the final Region VI individual standings, Brown finished fifth.Soule expects most of his team to return next year. Brown, however, will not. He's planning to transfer toKansas State University to get started on a degree in engineering."This first season was a learning experience for me and the players," Soule said. "We now know what toexpect when the fall rolls around. We know what ittakes to make nationals."Men'stennisteam FINISHES THIRD INTHE NATIONCowley's No. 1 singles player Richard Winter won a national championship, then he teamed with PabloMayorga at No. 1 doubles to win another title at the National Junior College Athletic Association DivisionI men's tennis championships in Corpus Christi, Texas in May 1997.The titles helped Cowley to a third-place national team finish with 26 points. Miami-Dade won the titlewith 38 points, followed by Collin County of Texas with 28 points.Cowley Head Coach Larry Grose was excited about his team's performance at nationals."I said going in that I thought we were a longshot to win it," said Grose, whose Tiger teams have finished