Roth returns to Twilight Meet to ‘run for fun’
Last year, Debbie Roth won the
women’s Twilight 1500 meter run
in a personal best 4:25.3 against
high school distance prodigy Eryn
Forbes.
This year Roth returns, running
for Oregon this time, to defend
her title against competition from
teammates Ellen Schmidt and
Kim Spir and South Eugene run
ner Kate Conant.
But at one time, Roth, herself
was a running prodigy.
Born in Eugene, Roth began
running as a seventh grader.
“A friend of mine and I decided
to run cross-country," said the
5-11 Roth. "We did workouts and
ran in the meets with the boys
and really had a lot of fun.”
That year she was given the
opportunity to run in the 12-13
age bracket in a state cross coun
try meet but, “we got there late
and so I ran in the women’s divi
sion." She placed fourth over the
11/2 mile course.
That was when she really got
started, however. At that meet
she met Clayton Steinke, a
former Oregon steeplechaser
turned-marathoner who became
her coach.
When she was 12, Debbie ran
a 5:08 mile, comparable to what
many high school and college
women run nowadays. At 13, she
ran 4:59.4, the first 13-year-old in
the United States to run a sub
five minute mile.
“Somebody told me those were
American age-group records,”
she recalled, "but I'm sure
they’ve been broken by now.”
She went on to place fourth in
the AAU women’s 1500 in 1969.
Roth made the U.S. interna
tional cross country team at age
16. “I placed 11th overall in that
meet,” she said. “The following
year I ran in the indoor meet with
Russia in Richmond, Virginia.
"But I was running against
people like Debbie Heald, Tam
ara Pagelova and Ludmillia
Bragina (1972 1500 Olympic gold
medalist) and, of course, I
finished last,” Roth added.
During her high school years at
Churchill in Eugene, Roth racked
up two state victories in the 880
and ran the mile as a sophomore
in a state record clocking that
was broken only last year by Eryn
Forbes’ 4:56.2.
Blazers will meet Lakers
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Kareem Abdul-Jabbar scored 36 points
and hauled down 26 rebounds Wednesday night to pace the Los
Angeles Lakers to a 97-84 triumph over the Golden State Warriors and
a 4-3 victory in the National Basketball Association quarterfinal playoffs.
Los Angeles will now meet the Portland Trail Blazers in a best-of
seven series beginning Friday night on the Lakers’ court.
The Lakers, with the most victories during the regular season, will
have the home court advantage in the series with the Blazers.
That advantage proved crucial in the Lakers-Warriors series, with
neither winning on the road.
Tip toe tennis
Photo by Parry QaakiH
Joanna Fong was on her toes in women's varsity tennis action
Wednesday at the covered courts, taking this shot from Oregon
State 's Jill Peterson. Fong won her match, 7-6,6-4, while Oregon
took an 8-1 decision from OSU to up its season record to 8-3.
Oregon's women take on Partland State today, starting at 3.30
I P-m.__
Her sophomore year at Lane
Community College Debbie won
the Northwestern College
Women's Southern Area
(NCWSA) 3000 meter run.
"I went on to run it in the AIAW
(collegiate national) meet, but I
finished way in back,” she
laughed.
Last year, coming off a summer
in which she competed in the
1500 in the Olympic Trials in
Eugene, Roth placed 33rd in the
AIAW cross country meet, the
highest Oregon finisher.
While last year was a competi
tive season, 1977 is more of a
run-for-fun one.
I wanted to do well in the Port
land Indoor this year so I didn’t do
all the background work I should
have to prepare for this track
season,” she said.
“Mainly what I’m doing is just
enjoying running this spring.
There isn’t any pressure on me
because I’m not quite at the level
I was last year. And,” she added
with a smile, “workouts are al
most fun simply because of the
people I train with.”
Her goal this year is to qualify
for the AIAW 1500 in the Twilight
Saturday, and to make the finals
if she can.
“There’s no sense in my trying
for the AAU’s now," she said. “I’m
just not in shaDe.”
"But I’m learning a lot from
Peter (Thompson, sprint coach
who works with her) even though
I’ve run for so long. I’ve found out
it’s the little things I didn't know
about, like form and starts.”
A psychology major, Roth may
graduate from Oregon by next
fall, “even though by the end of
spring term I’ll have enough cre
dits to graduate."
Even after graduation, though,
she wants to continue to run if
she can find a job that would give
her time to train.
“It would mean a lot to me if I
could train like I wanted to,” she
said. “A lot of my self-concept is
in whether or not I’m running and
how well I’m doing."
Meanwhile, she says, she sim
ply wants to have fun.
Meanwhile, the rest of the
women's squad will be split tnis
weekend. Part of the team will run
in the NCWSA Southern Area
meet at Mt. Hood Community Col
lege Friday and Saturday while
the others will compete in the an
nual Twilight meet which begins
at 5:30 p.m. Saturday.
Coach Tom Heinonen is trying
to de-emphasize the Southern
Area meet this-year, even though
Oregon took the championship
last season.
“Last year we invested too
much in trying to win the South
ern area title and it showed up in
the performances at regionals
and nationals on the next two
weekends," said Heinonen.
"We ll avoid that this year and let
people go for quality perfor
mances this weekend without
having to worry about scoring a
lot of points."
Five soccer players
picked to All-Stars
Five University students have
been selected to the Oregon
Soccer Association All-Star team
as players for Nike.
Named to the team were full
back Mike Dieni, forward Chris
Hopper, forward John Elkins,
goalie Ken Manning, and midfiel
der Mike Davis.
Mike will play for the state
championship Sunday in
Portland's Delta Park.
Photo by Terry Geraths
Running just for the fun of it this year, Debbie Roth will try to qualify for
the women's collegiate nationals in this Saturday's Twilight Meet at
Hayward Field._ ____
Sonics give Russel! the ax
SEATTLE (AP) — Bill Russell, coach and general manager of the
Seattle SuperSonics for the past four seasons, will not return to the
National Basketball Association team for the fifth and final year of his
contract, a team spokesman said today.
Sam Schulman, the Sonics' president and principal owner,
reached a settlement with Russell this morning on the final year of
Russell's $250,000 annual contract with the team, spokesman Rick
Welts said.
Welts said Schulman and Russell would make statements on the
settlement later. A news conference to announce a new head coach,
assistant coach and director of player personnel was tentatively
scheduled for next week, Welts said.
Ducks rained out again
Oregon's hapless baseball
team, already plagued with a los
ing season, has apparently made
an enemy: the weather man.
For the second day in a row,
the Ducks’ scheduled contest
with Lewis and Clark was rained
out Wednesday. No plans had
been made to make up the game.
Oregon, 12-23 on the year and
2-10 in Pac-8 play, will trek to
Pullman, Wash, this weekend for
a three-game series with confer
ence leader Washington State.
While the men were getting
rained out for the second con
secutive day, the women’s soft
ball team announced that its
game with Oregon State,
scheduled to begin this afternoon
at 4 p.m. at Amazon Park, has
been postponed.
The contest was rescheduled
for next Thursday.
Ridge run set
The Torture Ridge Run, billed
as the “toughest race west of the
Rockies" has been scheduled for
Sunday, May 15, at Hendricks
Park.
The six-mile run, which will
cover a course of Nils, trails and
other obstacles, will get under
way at 1 p.m.
Entry fee is $1 for the run and
all finishers will receive a tee-shirt
and light refreshments, courtesy
of sponsor Phi Epsilon Kappa.