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.
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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.
-