UCLA better drop the baton
The scene is all too familiar to Jim Bush.
His highly-favored sprint relay team
enters a big meet as a sure thing — and
drops the baton. It’s happened four
straight times in the NCAA and they
practiced last year by dropping the stick in
the Pac-8 championships, too.
He’d hate to see it happen Saturday at
Hayward Field. In a meet where Oregon
figures to dominate the distances and
UCLA the field events, the sprints just
might make the difference.
And the sprint relay is the first sprint
race in the 12:30 meet.
The first event of the meet is the ham
mer throw — an event Oregon should
dominate since UCLA doesn't have anyone
entered. The first field event in the
stadium will start competition at 1:15 p.m.
and the first running event, the 3000 meter
steeplechase, begins at 2 p.m.
The weather may become a factor in the
meet before the afternoon ends. There’s a
chance of showers and that would make it
good track weather — for Ducks.
Tickets for the meet are still on sale at $3
for reserved seats, 12 for general ad
mission and $1 for student tickets. If the
skies are too threatening, you can sit at
home and watch the meet live on KEZI
TV, channel 9 in Eugene beginning at 2
p.m.
While the Oregon-UCLA dual will take
the central spotlight, the meet isn’t direct
competition between just the two schools.
It’s a quadrangular with those two teams
and Nebraska and Washington State.
Between the four teams, Saturday has a
good chance of producing some out
standing individual performances.
For Oregon the meet will mark the
return of two injured runners, with Knut
Kvalheim competing in the 880 yard run
and Randy James running the three-mile.
Another Oregon runner just returning to
form has the best chance of winning the
day’s first race, the steeplechase. Todd
Lathers, who looked strong last week after
an off-year of competition as a sophomore,
should pick up ten points in the meet
scored on a 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis.
Even with a poor Oregon showing in the
sprints — which is quite possible con
sidering UCLA has the likes of Benny
Brown (lifetime best 20.7) and Gordon
Peppars (20.8) in the 220, Dave Peppars
(9.5) and Ronnie Welch (9.4) in the 100 and
Brown (45.3) and Maxie Parks (46.3) in the
440 — the running events should remain
fairly close in score between Oregon and
the California school.
Albert Hearvey (9.4, 100; 20.7, 220) and
John Mays (9.2w, 100) hold the biggest
Oregon chances for points in the dashes.
But it’s the distances where Oregon
should really keep up with UCLA.
Besides Lathers, Oregon has Mike Long
(8:49.0 lifetime best) as a potential scorer
in the steeple. With two other entrants
having bests under nine minutes (UCLA’s
Gordon Innes, 8:55.8, and WSU’s Dean
Clark, 8:58.6), the race should be a good
one.
In the mile, Steve Prefontaine (3:56.7),
Scott Daggatt (4:05.1) and Mark Feig
(4:05.1) have a good chance of grabbing
the first two places (only the first two
finishers from each school count for points
in each race).
Steve Bence (1:48.6) should get some
stiff competition from WSU’s Dale Scott
(1:48.5) and Nebraska’s Jim Hawkins
(1:48.7) in the 880.
And WSU’s African runner, John Ngeno
(13:16.0 lifetime, 13:39.8 this year) should
give Oregon’s James (13:40.0), Bob
Grubbs (13:49.8) and Gary Barger
(13:56.2), Nebraska’s Bob Unger (13:36.2)
and his own Cougar teammates, Dan
Murphy (13:41.6) and Phil Barkwist
(13:29.8) a highly competitive distance
race.
Should the meet be close, there’s also a
possibility that Pre would come back to
double in the longer race; he’d like nothing
better than beating the Bruins.
But don’t hold your breath for the top
two schools to be that close.
UCLA’s world class performers in the
field events should make a clear difference
in the meet. People like Francois
Tracanelli (17-8% pole vaulter), 60-foot
shotputters Dave Schiller and Kent Pagel,
26-foot long jumpers James McAllister and
Finn Bendixen, 7-foot high jumper Rick
Fletcher and 53-foot triple jumpers Harry
Freeman and Milan Tiff stand to pick up a
lot of points for the Bruins.
Too many, as far as Oregon is con
cerned.
UCLA teins, 225-202
The for
I I
chart
What does Oregon have to do to beat UCLA? Hiat burning
question no doubt has plagued Bill Dellinger all week.
Concensus at the Emerald is this: Unlees the NCAA
champion Bruins fall flat on their faces in several areas, there’s
no chance. If UCLA dropped the baton in both relays the Ducks
would win by five points in our scoring.
UCLA picks up 18 paints in the pole vault, 16 more in the high
jump, and 18 in the triple jump. End of meet.
Bruins should win 225-202, or close to that. Oregon wins 210
205 if UCLA can’t hold on to the batons.
QUADRANGULAR SCORE CHART
: Scoring 10 86 5 4 3 2 1 tor running and field events, 10-6-4 in relay events. (Season
! nests in parentheses .)
STEEPLECHASE—1. Lathers. Ore. (8 49.2). 2. Long, Ore. (9:01.0). 3. Innes.
! UCLA (8 55 8) 4 Clark. WSU (8:58.6). 5. Mejia. UCLA (8:55.8). 6. Fetig, Neb. (nt). 7.
I Leland. WSU (9:37.2). Ore —18, UCLA—10. WSU—7, Neb —3. .
440 RELAY—1. UCLA (Dotson Wilson, Benny Brown, Ronnie Welch, Gordon
J Peppars). (40.0) 2 Oregon. (40.7). 3 WSU, (41.4). 4. Neb , (nt). Ore —24, UCLA—20.
WSU—II. Neb —3.
MILE—1 Steve Prefontaine, Ore. (4:03.2). 2. Scott Daggatt, Ore. (4:05.1) or
Mark Feig. Ore (4-06.S). 3 Lynn Hall. Neb. (nt). 4. Ron Johnson, UCLA (4:07.4). 5.
Richard Gazal, WSU (4:11.1). 6. Anthony Veney, UCLA (4:09.0). 7. Dan Speck, Neb.
(nt) 8 Mark Hiefield, WSU (4:21.3) Ore —42, UCLA—28, WSU—16, Neb.—11.
I20HH—1 Charles Rich, UCLA (13.7). 2. Clim Jackson. UCLA (13.8w). 3. Fisher,
Neb or Anderson. Neb (nt). 4 Kip Ngeno. WSU (14.2). 5. John Woodman. Ore.
(14.3w). 6 Stan Whig ham, Ore (14.4w>. 7. Steve Smith, WSU (14.4w). 8. Gary
Gressett. Neb (nt).Ore — 49, UCLA—46. WSU—23, Neb —18.
440—1 Benny Brown. UCLA (46.3). 2. Leighton Priestley, Neb (nt). 3. Maxie
Parks. UCLA (46 3) 4 Vincent Buford. Ore. (47.7). 5. Dave Hegmeier, Ore. (47.5) or
Doug Chapman. Ore. (47.6). 6. Dave Herlad, WSU (49.6). 7. Eric Iverson. WSU (49.8).
8 Chuck Malito, Neb. (nt). Ore. 58. UCLA 62. WSU 28, Neb—27.
190—1. John Mays, Ore. (9.4w). 2. Ronnie Welch, UCLA (9.6). 3. Albert Heervey,
Ore (9 61.4 Dave Peppars. UCLA (9.6). 5. Karl Webb, Neb. (nt).6. Gary Minor, WSU
(9.7). 7. Bert Peters. WSU (10.1). 8. Jim Novak. Neb or Doug Gregory, Neb. (nt).
( Ore —74. UCLA—7S. WSU—33. Neb—32.
880—1 Steve Bence. Ore <1 49.6). 2. Jim Hawkins, Neb (nt). 3. Dale Scott, WSU
i (1 50 1) 4 Anthony Veney. UCLA (1:51.5). 5. Knot Kvalheim, Ore. (nt) or Mark Feig,
: Ore (1 52.7). 6 Ricco Sanchez. UCLA (1:53.2). 7. Chadwick or Wisemiller, Neb. (nt).
i 8. Vern Stoffel. WSU (1 54.5). Ore —88. UCLA—83, WSU—40, Neb.—42.
440 IH—1. Lynnsey Guerrero, UCLA (52.6). 2. Reggie Macklin. WSU (53.6). 3.
i; Paul Wilkinson. Ore. (53.7). 4. Wes Leonard. Neb (nt). 5. Gary Gressett, Neb (nt). 6.
j; Larry Minor, WSU (53.8). 7. Larry Mazzone. Ore. (54.2). Ore —96, UCLA—93, WSU—
;i 51. Neb —51.
220—1 Benny Brown, UCLA (20 9w). 2. Gordon Peppars. UCLA (21.2ut). 3. Albert
£ Hearvey. Ore. (21.3). 4 Bob Martin. Ore. (21.7). 5. Gary Minor, WSU (21.0w). 6. Jim
! Novak. Neb (nt). 7. Karl Webb. Neb (nt). 8. Bert Peters, WSU (22.5). Ore.—107,
£ UCLA—111, WSU—56, Neb —56.
3-MILE—1. John Ngeno. WSU (13:39.8). 2. Dan Murphy. WSU (13:41.6). 3. Bob
f Grubbs. Ore (13:49.8). 4. Bob Unger. Neb (nt). 5. Gary Barger, Ore. (13:56.2) or
r Randy James. Ore. (nt). 6. Jim Salcido, UCLA (13:52.6). 7. Mike Fertig, Neb. (nt). 8.
j: Kushner, UCLA (14:23.8). Ore —117. UCLA—115, WSU—74, Neb —63.
£ MILE RELAY—1. UCLA (Jerome Walters, Jr , Ron Gaddis, Maxie Parks, Benny
J Brown). (3 10.5). 2 Ore. (3:16.0). 3 WSU (3:15.4). 4. Neb. (nt). Ore.—123, UCLA—125,
£ WSU—78. Neb —63.
HAMMER—1. Tony Tenisci, WSU (189 1). 2. Mac Wilkins, Ore. (18411). 3. Mike
? Bolliger, Ore (177 10) 4 Jack Nevin, WSU <174 11). 5. Steve Cook, Neb. (nm). 6. Bob
! Keesling. Neb (nm) Ore —137, UCLA—125, WSU—93, Neb —70.
SHOT PUT—1 Kent Pagel. UCLA (61 5*.). 2. Mac Wilkins, Ore. (59 10‘/s). 3. Dave
; Schiller. UCLA (80 10'-»). 4. Don Philpot, Ore (55-5). 5. Dean Moore.WSU <54-8Vj). 6.
< Bob Keesling. Neb. (nm). 7. Steve Cook. Neb (nm). 8. Bill Hodgson, WSU (50-8Va).
( Ore —150. UCLA— Ml, WSU—98. Neb —75
JAVELIN—1. Dan Labbee, WSU (212 3). 2. Bill Hodgson, WSU (187-11). 3. Jeff
1 Carter, Ore (221 4'j). 4 Obie Wilbur. Ore. (182 3). 5. Wayne Ritchie, Neb. (nm).
i Ore —161, UCLA—141. WSU—116. Neb —79.
LONG JUMP—1. James McAllister, UCLA (25-8'/*). 2. Finn Bendixen, UCLA (25
X !' 7) 3 Ron Childs. Neb. (nm). 4. John Delamere. WSU (25-9'/jw). 5 Ross Blackman,
j Ore (24 734w). 6 Hopeton Gordon. Neb (nm) 7 Gary Minor, WSU (23 7l4w). 8(
I James Holloway. Ore. (22 10' ?w) Ore.—166. UCLA—159, WSU—123, Neb.—88.
POLE VAULT—1. Francois Tracanelli, UCLA (17-5). 2. Ron Mooers, UCLA (16
7' j). 3 Craig Brigham, Ore <16 4). 4 Rich Baggett. WSU (15-0). 5. Judd Eddy, Ore
(15 0). 6 John Coski. WSU 1146). 7 Kent Loe»fler, Neb (nm). Ore —176, UCLA—177,
{ WSU 131. Neb - -90.
HIGH JUMP—I Rick Fletcher, UCLA (7-0). 2. Bob Niehl, WSU (7-0). 3. Rory
X Kotmek. uCLA (6 10). 4 Craig Brigham, Ore. (6-8). 5. Dan Brooks, Neb (nm). 6.
Steve Eymann, Neb (nm). 7. Ed Bilusak, Ore. (6-4). Ore.—183, UCLA 193, WSU
139. Neb 97
DISCUS—I Mac Wilkins, Ore (202 3). 2. Roger Freberg, UCLA (194 10) 3 Dale
Gordon. UCLA (193 7) 4 Mike McCourtie. WSU (177 2). 5. Jed Miller, WSU <172 2). 6.
Dick Heard. Ore. (165 8' 7). 7. Bob Keesling. Neb (nm>.8. Steve Cook or Steve Jepsen,
Neb. (nm) Ore —196. UCLA—207, WSU—148. Neb —100
£ TRIPLE JUMP—1 Harry Freeman, UCLA (S3 1). 2 Milan Tiff, UCLA (52 3). 3.
£ Hopeton Gordon. Neb (nm). 4 John Delamere, WSU (48 4*i). 5 Ed Bilusak, Ore. (49
f SJ4) 6 Gary Minor, WSU (47 7J4). 7 Marc Hadenfield, Ore. (48 4 ) 8. RonChilds. Neb.
f (nm). Ore 202. UCLA—225. WSU—156, Neb—107
Photo by Phil Waldsteir
Ross Blackman's airborne in long jump