--sports
Flying Ducks put halt to Cal’s nine-year reign
m
Emerald photo
It ivas a happy weekend for Oregon gymnastics coach Bill Ballester,
who saw his Ducks take the Pac-8 title and was named conference
coach of the year.
Ducks face Bonnies next
Oregon, trying tor me imra
straight year to bring an NIT
trophy to Eugene, will play St.
Bonaventure in a quarter-final
game in New York’s Madison
Square Garden Tuesday night.
KUGN (590) will begin its live
broadcast at 5:45 p.m., with the
times of following games depend
ing on the success of the Ducks.
And right now, Alabama is
picked as the team to beat. With a
24-4 record and a victory over
Memphis State earlier in the
weeK, me orimson i lue iouks hkb
the NIT favorite.
“From what I’ve seen, the only
team that could touch Alabama in
the NIT finals might be Oregon,’’
said Memphis State Coach
Wayne Yates, whose team lost to
Alabama Tuesday.
The Bonnies of St. Bonaventure
are led by 6-7 Essie Hollis, who is
averaging 21 points a game, plus
6-6 forward Greg Sanders, with an
average of 20.4 points and 5.6 re
bounds per game.
X
NCAA playoffs continue
Top-ranked Michigan bar
reled past Holy Cross behind
flashy All-American Rickey
Green and Syracuse stunned
Southeast Conference champ
ion Tennessee in overtime
Sunday in the Mideast Reg
ionals of the NCAA college
basketball tournament.
The Wolverines broke away
from stubborn Holy Cross in
the final five minutes to record
a 92-81 victory behind Green’s
35 points, his career high. The
Orangemen, ranked 10th, rode
a 32-point outburst by guard
Larry Kelley to victory over the
seventh-rankedVdunteers.
Detroit and North Carolina
Charlotte also posted victories
in Sunday’s Mideast regionals.
The Titans, rated 17th, whip
ped Middle Tennessee 93-76
as Terry Tyler scored 29
points, and N C-Charlotte
beat Central Michigan yi-ob in
overtime to complete the
16-team lineup for Thursday’s
regional semifinals.
Here are the matchups for
Thursday’s games: EAST —
Kentucky vs VMI and Notre
Dame vs North Carolina at Col
lege Park, Md. WEST—UCLA
vs Idaho State and Utah vs
Nevada-Las Vegas at Provo,
Utah. MIDWEST — Marquette
vs Kansas State and Southern
Illinois vs Wake Forest at Ok
lahoma City. MIDEAST —
Michigan vs Detroit and Syra
cuse vs North Carolina
Charlotte at Lexington, Ky.
The regional finals will be
Saturday. The four survivors
advance to the national semis
Saturday, March 26 in Atlanta
and the finals will be Monday
night, March 28.
Freshmen effort key to victory;
Ballester named Pac-8 coach of year
By MIKE MARINO
Of the Emerald
BERKELEY—It was a case of
the heir dethroning the king, of the
rookies outpointing the seasoned
veterans, and finally, of Oregon
toppling California as the Ducks
ended the Bears’ nine-year
stranglehold on the title by win
ning the Pac-8 gymnastics
championships, 429.75 to Cal’s
427.50 over the weekend.
“It feels pretty good to win; it
was a great meet,” said Oregon
Coach Bill Ballester. “It came
down to how our all-around guys
did, and they came through for
us.”
Ballester spoke, of course, of
the fine Duck freshman trio of Miki
Moyal, Gene Christensen and
Breck Grigas, who finished sec
ond, sixth and fifth in the all
around competition. More impor
tant, however, was the fact that all
three contributed consistent
eights and nines out of a possible
ten and allowed no breaks that
could have handed Cal their tenth
straight title.
“Our seniors came here saying,
they had to break the tradition of
Cal winning the league for so
many years,” said Moyal. "But I
did not think that. I wanted Oregon
to start a tradition.”
Perhaps the most jubilant of the
Ducks was senior captain Scott
Phillips, who for the past three
years, had seen Cal run away with
the conference.
“The seniors and the guys that
have finished second before, we
really worked hard all year,” he
said happily. “And it’s finally worth
it.”
As it turned out, the meet was
won and lost on the pommel
horse. On Thursday, Cal fell apart
with a 29.90, and couldn’t fare
much better on Friday with a 33.7.
The Ducks, on the other hand, av
erted disaster by turning to the
specialists. Curt Rodgers and
Tom Truedson, who came
through with a 9.7 and a 9.45 re
spectively, for a Thursday team
total of 34.50 on Friday everybody
did well, including the all-around
men, and a strong 35.60 gave the
Ducks a lock on the trophy.
Although everyone wearing yel
low and green was happy, Cal
coach Hal Frey was a little upset
— and perhaps a little bitter.
“They deserved to win because
they outpointed us,” said Frey.
“But having three freshmen for
your all-around men and having
them come through — Ballester
was more than lucky.
“If they didn’t have those
specialists, they probably
wouldn’t have won, either," he
added. “We could have recruited
them if we wanted to, but we like to
do it a different way. But I’m not
bitter, for after winning nine in a
row, it wouldn’t be right if I was
really upset.”
While Friday decided the team
and all-around championships,
Saturday saw the individual finals
and awards Cal’s Tom Beach,
was named Pac-8 gymnast of the
year, and Ballester was picked as
coach of the year. Oregon’s most
impressive show was a clean
sweep of the still rings, where
Scott McEldowney repeated as
conference champ with junior
Jerry Bush finishing second and
Moyal taking third.
While the finish on the rings was
no surprise, Christensen’s third
place on the parallel bars was,
considering he contemplated
scratching in the finals.
"I couldn’t believe he wanted to
scratch,” said Christensen's
father, who came from Illinois to
Sportfolio— "n
Hamilton to compete at NCAA’s
Oregon swimmer Steve Hamilton will be competing in the
NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships in Cleveland,
Ohio March 24-25. Hamilton, who has qualified to swim in the
200 individual medley and the 100 and 200 backstroke events,
finished 13th in the 100 backstroke at last year’s Champion
ships.
Halberg places second, fourth
Duck gymnast Wendy Halberg placed second in the un
even bars with a 9.25, then finished in fourth place on the
balance beam (8.9) at the NCWSA regional gymnastics
championships Saturday at the University of Montana.
Oregon’s Jan Model tied for fourth place in the vault with 8.65.
Lloyd finishes ninth in diving
PROVO, Utah — Oregon diver John Lloyd finished with
384.25 points to place ninth among 12 competitors in the
NCAA zone qualifying meet here Saturday. Lloyd was also
ninth in Friday’s one-meter competition.
Betas win IM basketball
Beta Theta Pi Fraternity won both the “A” and "B” divi
sions of intramural basketball last week. The A squad de
feated the Callyplyglotorists 43-32, while the B team beat
AROTC 46-35.
Ducks place high at meet
CORVALLIS — Ray Burton threw the discuss 187-5 for a
personal best, while Mary Stevenson had a discus mark of
135-91/4 in women’s competition in the Beaver Preview track
meet here Saturday.
Rose Ann Klingerman won the women’s 400 meters in
1:00.33 for another Duck highlight.
see their first Pac-8 meet. “So I
got him in the corner and said, I
don’t care what you think, you’re
only a tenth of third place, so
you’re not scratching.
“And now look, he’s going to
nationals.”
Don Lester, last year’s second
place finisher in floor exercise, sol
idly captured first place, while to
no one’s surprise Rodgers and
Truedson finished 1-2 on the
horse. Both should be favored
highly at Tempe, Ariz., site of this
year’s NCAA championships
March 31-April 3.
“We re a definite contender for
the NCAA title,” said Ballester.
“We’ve beaten just about every
top team in the country, and we
have three weeks to get ready.
“And with those unpredictable
freshmen, don’t count them out.”
Friday optionals
FLOOR EXERCISE — 1. (tie) Don Lester, UO,
and Warren Long, Cal, 1&65. 3. Tom Beach, Cal,
18.45. 4. Steve Dobrus, USC, 18.30. 5. Stu
Domeier, UW, 18.15. 6. Steve Malis, USC, 18.00.
7. Miki Moyal, UO, 17.85. 8. Steve Walchler, Sta,
17.75.
POMMEL HORSE — 1. Curt Rodgers, UO,
19.35. 2. Chris Takimoto, Sta, 18.95. 3. Tom
Truedson, UO, 18.90. 4. John Masen, UW, 18.60.
5. Vic Herefeld, UCLA, 17.50. 6. Mike Petrovich,
WSU, 17.45.7. Dale Seymour, USC, 17.10.8. John
Cummings, WSU, 16.80.
STILL RINGS — 1. Scott McEldowney, UO,
19.10. 2. Jerry Bush, UO, 18.60.3. Miki Moyal, UO,
18.40.4 Mike Dubose, Cal, 18.35.5. Gary Ino, Cal,
18.25. 6. Steve Sosman, UW, 18.05. 7. Breck
Grigas, O, 17.90. 8. Tom Beach, Cal, 17.80.
VAULTWG — 1 Steve Weimar, UW, 19.15. 2.
Warren Long, Cal, 18.70. 3. Rod Minaker, UW,
18.60. 4. (tie), Breck Grigas, UO, and Ben Corr,
Cal, 18.50. 6. Miki Moyal, UO, 18.45. 7. Tom
Beach, Cal, 18.40. 8. Dave Corbett, UCLA, 18.30.
HORIZONTAL BAR — 1. Tom Beach, Cal,
19.15. 2. John Hart, UCLA, 18.70. 3. Melvin
Cooley, UW, 18.60. 4. Warren Long, Cal, 18.40.5.
Ervin Ftuzics, UCLA, 18.25.6. (tie), Miki Moyal, UO,
and Ron Bell, Cal, 17.75. 8. (tie), Kevin Bylin, UW,
and Mike Dubose, Cal, 17 70.
ALL-AROUNO — 1. Tom Beach, Cal, 108.10.2.
Miki Moyal, UO, 107.10. 3. Warren Long, Cal,
106.20. 4. Mike Dubos, Cal, 106.05. 5. Brick
Grigas, UO, 103.55. 6. Gene Christensen, UO,
101.05.
TEAM — 1. Oregon. 429.75. 2. California,
427.50. 3. Washington, 399.45. 4. UCLA, 392.30.
5. USC, 383.10. 6. Washington State, 358.35. 7.
Stanford, 316.15
Saturday individual
FLOOR EXERCISE — 1. Don Lester, UO,
18.775. 2. Warren Long, Cal, 18.625. 3. Tom
Beach, UC, 18.325.4. Steve Dobrus, USC. 18.150.
5. Stu Domeier, UW, 18.025.6. Steve Maylis, USC,
17.650.
POMMEL HORSE — 1. Curt Rodgers, UO,
19.325. 2. Tom Truedson, UO. 18.900. 3. Chris
Takimoto, SU, 18.875. 4. John Maseng, UW,
18.000.5. Dele Seymour USC, 17.750.6. Vic Hart
feld, UCLA, 17 550.
RINGS — 1. Scott McEldowney, UO, 19.000 2.
Jerry Bush, UO, 18.600.3. Miki Moyal, UO, 18.500.
4. (Tie) Gary Ino, Cal. and Steve Sosman, UW,
18.475. 6. Mike Dubos, UC, 18.375.
VAULTING — 1. Steve Weimar, UW, 19.050.2.
Warren Long, UC, 18.875.3. BenCorr, UC, 18600.
4. Brack Grigas, UO, 18.575. 5. Rod Minaker, UW.
PARALLEL BARS—1. Warren Long, UC,
18.650.2. Tom Beach. UC, 18.450.3. Gene Chris
tensen, UO, 17.650. 4, Miki Moyal, UO,
17.550.5. Ted Bostick, SU, 17.375.6. Mike Dubos,
Cal, 17.175.
HORIZONTAL BAR —1. Tom Beach, UC,
19.225. 2. John Hart, UCLA, 19100. 3. Melvin
Cooley, UW, 18.900. 4. Ervin Ruzics, UCLA,
18 828 5, Warren Long, UC, 18.650. 6. Kevin
Bylin, UW, 18.150.
Cougars win title
DETROIT (AP) — Washington
State, led by Kenyan runner
Henry Rono, beat defending
champion Texas-EI Paso by a
half-point Saturday to capture the
13th National Collegiate Athletic
Assn, indoor track and field
championship.
Rono set a meet record in the
two-mile run and took a third in the
mile, while teammate Joshua
Kimeto, also a Kenyan, took third
in the two-mile and Brian Worden
tied for fourth in the pole vault.
The Cougars totaled 251/2
points to 25 for Texas-EI Paso,
which was trying for its fourth con
secutive NCAA title.