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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 7, 1973)
I | Borzov awaits ambush, I Pre’s still undecided America’s hottest indoor distance com S: modity right now is Steve Prefontaine. But if & Pre shatters a world record Friday night in the :£ Los Angeles Times Indoor Games, that probably :* won’t be enough to overshadow the 60-yard dash. The man that can beat Russia’s Valeriy Borzov will become instant legend. And they’ve set up an ambush at the Forum for the Soviet, who’s making his first American indoor ap pearance._ ByPAULBUKER _Of The Emerald_ x Remember those disastrous days in Munich •g when the Red .White, and Blue staggered and fell g in lanes one and eight? The Olympics caught Uncle Sam’s track team with its pants down. But U.S. faces were I reddest when Borzov blasted everybody in the 100 and 200 meters. A white non-American can do a lot of things — but he can’t be the world’s fastest human. Or so went the theory. If they pack the Forum for Borzov’s race with Herb Washington, Mel Pender, and Willie Deckard, the only man yelling for the Russian will be his coach. Prefontaine, meanwhile, has a chance to better the indoor two-mile record of 8:24.6 he set at Portland. As of Tuesday, however, Oregon Associate track coach Bill Dellinger doesn’t know if Pre will enter the mile or two-mile, g “We just aren’t sure yet,’’ said Dellinger. “We’ll decide later in the week.” Either way, Pre’s in for a race. >•: Should he choose the mile, he’s up against » Marty Liquori and the man who may be the g hottest currently at the distance. Jim Johnson. Liquori won the mile at Toronto in 4:06.2 while Johnson has easily taken consecutive races at Portland and Seattle, the latest at 4:01.7. The two-mile field contains veterans Tracy Smith, Jim Crawford, and Canada’s Grant McLaren. Then there’s Italy’s Gianni Del Buono, whose present condition is a question mark but his fifth-place world ranking in the 5,000 meters is just ahead of Pre. Del Buono ran a 13:22.4 5,000 meters in September. While 50 and 60-yard world record holder Herb Washington (5.0 in the 50 equalled last week at Toronto) and Pender figure to give Borzov a battle in the 60, Oregon’s A1 Hearvey will compete in the 50-yard-dash. Hearvey, a runner-up to teammate John Mays in the Oregon Indoor, is up against UTEP’s Harold Williams primarily, and off his race in Portland he should be favored. The Ducks are entering a mile relay team that didn’t run the boards well in losing at Portland. That and the field of the USC Striders, Cal International, and UHC is much more for midable. Doug Chapman, Craig Blackman, and Vince Buford are three definite members of the team that will compete in Los Angeles. The fourth is undecided between Hearvey, Paul Wilkinson, Dave Hagmeier, or Jim Holloway. Why is everyone gunning for Borzov in the 60? Listen to UCLA coach Jim Bush talk about the Russian: “It looks like the Russians pushed a button and he comes running out of a machine, his movements are so perfect...it looks like he’s been designed by a computer.” American technology produced Washington and Pender. On home ground, the world’s fastest human better be an American. Photo by Bruce Landrey 8 A NO THER A MERIC A N RECORD | Steve Prefontaine ran to an American indoor two-mile record 8:24.6 in Portland at the Oregon Indoor. VOLKSWAGEN Z®JSsJg MERCEDES & PORSCHE IDATSUN A TOYOTA FACTORY TRAINED EXPERTS GUENTER SCHOENER 2045 FRANKLIN BLVDfl Bus. Ph. 342-2912 Eugene, Oregon 974u3l LOOK — we are now an authorized dealer for the full line of KELTY PACKS and accessories if Pack frames and bags ★ Frame extensions and rain covers it Ponchos and rain chaps it Day packs and sleeping bag carriers Come in and see us for all your needs in cross country skiing, downhill skiing, backpacking, and mountain climbing. BERGS SKI & SPORT SHOP 11k t M mi Ilk mV Unman I Face Northern Iowa Thursday Wrestlers at Drake tonight Coach Ron Finley is looking for his first winning season in three years as head coach of the Oregon wrestling team as the Ducks open a four-match trip in the midwest tonight at Drake University. He has picked some very tough competition to overcome. The match against Drake tonight may be the easiest. Ater that the road could be tough. Thursday the Ducks will battle the University of Northern Iowa, the second-ranked college division squad in the country. Oregon has already lost to the top college division team in Cal Poly, ten days ago. Following will be a Friday night bout with Iowa State, the top-ranked NCAA team, and then Nebraska at Omaha on Saturday. Nebraska is the top-ranked NAIA team in the country. The Ducks, now 9-5 in the season, need two victories to wrap up a winning season. Last year, the wrestling squad dropped its final three matches and finished 7-8. This time the Ducks will have to scramble to avert similar fate. Returning home from the four-match trip, Oregon will finish out the season with matches against Portland State and Oregon State, clubs which have already tapped the Ducks previously this season. Leading the team into the important trip will be junior Mike Oilar who returns to the Duck lineup after missing two straight matches with a knee injury. Oilar will wrestle at . 26 pounds wehre he is undefeated this season. He owns a 10-0-2 dual match record. Wes Hines, 10-4 at 190 pounds, will be trying for his eighth straight victory. Another Duck on a hot streak is Duane Stutzman, winner of six in a row. Looking to start a winning streak is Dave Luke, who owns Oregon’s all-time career pinning record, yet who hasn’t earned a Pacific-6 title. He’ll get one last chance Feb. 22-24. In home opener Sept. 15 Ducks to meet Arizona St. Despite a very lucrative offer to move the Oregon-Arizona State football game to Tempe, Arizona, Norv Ritchey, Oregon director of athletics, announced Tuesday the game will remain in the State of Oregon and the Ducks will open the 1973 season against the nationally ranked Sun Devils at Autzen Stadium in Eugene on September IS. The decision to keep the Arizona State game in the State of Oregon gives the Ducks an out standing home schedule for the 1973 season, perhaps the finest in Oregon history. In addition to meeting Arizona State at Autzen Stadium, Oregon will also host Utah (Sept. 29), California (October 13), Washington (October 27), UCLA (November 10) and traditional rival Oregon State (Nov. 24). “One of the major factors in Arizona State’s willingness to play Eugene was our feeling that we could draw a full house for the game,’’ Ritchie said. - “The Eugene-Springfield community has made us an offer we virtually can not refuse,” Ritchey indicated. “The Chambers of Com merce of Eugene and Springfield have banded together to form a ‘fill the stadium’ committee for the Arizona State game and we can not turn our back to this kind of enthusiasm.” Oregon football! coach Dick Enright was also eiated to have the game played at Autzen Stadium. “If we can fill the stadium it has to help us,” the Webfoot coach insists. “Arizona State will be ranked in the top 10 to open the season and with our crowd behind us and our stadium I feel we will have an excellent chance of winning.” The Oregon-Arizona State game was originally scheduled to be played in Portland’s Civic Stadium. Arizona State is scheduled to play Oregon State at Portland later in the season. -