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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 28, 1978)
sports Looking to make a good Oregon mat team better By NICK DAWSON Asst. Sports Editor --J O^oh wrestling coach Ron Finley has a lot on his mind right now. i he Pac-8 wrestling championships are coming up this weekend in Corvallis. And as if that isn’t enough, the high school wrestling season is winding down, with only the class AA state championships remaining. That means recruiting. Finley is looking to add depth to his squad, currently ranked seven teenth in the nation. The thing that’s hurting us now,” said Finley, “is lack of depth. To be an adequate team, we need 35 wrestlers. I need to be three deep in every weight class.” Looking at Finley’s squad, you can see exactly what the coach means. Of the ten weight classes, Oregon has only the 134-pound class where Finley has a backup to the starter. And that’s assuming a totally healthy squad. At this stage of the game, Finley's team is not totally healthy, though it is in the best shape it’s been in for a long time. Oregon will have to forfeit in just one weight class in the Pac-8 championship, that being either 134 or 142. The regular 142-pounder, freshman Barry Boyles, is definitely out with the flu. In a three meet swing into Washington, Finley moved 134 pounder Steve Satrzenski up to 142 with Dave Lofts filling in for Starzenski. As it turned out, Lofts was injured in the second match and is out for the championships. However, returning to service for the Ducks will be Norm Knight, the 118-pounder who sat out the last third of the season with a shoulder injury. So you can see what injuries and illness can do to a team that is not deep enough to fight them. Which gets back to recruiting and another of Finley’s worries. pon Finley “ff we lose our funds for recruiting, we’re in real trouble,” said the eight-year Oregon coach. Lack of funds is nothing new to Finley, as his program has lost some degree of financial support from the athletic department over the past few years, as have other “minor” sports at the University. And losing funds worries Finley for the same reason it does the coaches of the other sports. “If they cut our aid, that means we re being downgraded,” Finley said, and the good kids won’t go to a school where the program is being downgraded." However, the loss of recruiting and scholarship money hasn’t proven to be that much of a problem for Finley, as evidenced by the group he recruited last year. “We had an excellent one (recruiting season) last year,” Finley said, "and hopefully we ll have another good one this year.” Considering the lack of depth on this year s squad, what would a bad recruiting year do to the Oregon wrestling program? “I don’t plan on having a bad recruiting year, so I don’t even know,” Finley said. The coach, a former national placer while wrestling at Oregon State, sees the Oregon program as being on the way up. “We’ve got a good, solid, young team,” he said. Finley added he thinks high school ers will look upon the Duck program as being one that will only get better, and they will want to be a part of it. ************ Two Oregon single season wrestling records have been broken this year. In a meet at Southern Oregon Feb. 9, Don Brown broke Greg Gibson’s pin mark of 14. Right now, Brown has 16 pins to his credit. Brown has established his record against odds stacked high against him, said Finley. Oregon doesn’t have a wrestler that can challenge Brown enough in practice to make him work hard. Besides that, Oregon has faced it’s toughest schedule since Finley’s been at Oregon, and Brown sees action against some good 190-pounders. The other record, for most wins, was established by Scott Bliss on the road trip last weekend. Bliss broke Kevin Kramer’s mark of 31 wins. Bliss and Brown are only sophomores, so Finley will have their many talents around for two more years. Women skiers win regional i ne uregon women s ski team finished first last weekend in the Northwest Collegiate Skiing Con ference championships, held at Bogus Basin, Idaho. The men’s team finished fifth in the competition. The women beat Central Oregon by 34 points, though they won no individual titles. “I knew they had the capability since they won the championship last year,” said alpine coach Randy Rogers. "They were keyed for it but they had some tough competition in COC (Central Oregon) and British Columbia.” By winning the Northwest championships, the women have a chance at a national champion ship berth, according to Rogers. Oregon must petition to get into the meet to be held in Santa Fe, N.M. Evelyn Duffy led the way for the Oregon women, placing second in the giant slalom and third in the slalom. Aven Switzer of Oregon was third in the cross country race to lead a strong Duck showing. Oregon placed three other women in the top ten in the giant slalom besides Duffy. Cheryl Hukari, Val Sloan and Kristy Mathes finished seventh, eighth and tenth respectively. Sandy Kobrock was 24th for Oregon. In the slalom, Val Sloan was fifth, Christie Danielson nineteenth and Kristy Mathes 30th. Besides Switzer's finish in the cross country, Oregon placed four others in the top eighteen. Gina Green was seventh, Sandy Kob rock ninth, Elaine Powers Net squad has good showing The University Club Sports badminton team had an impres sive showing last weekend in the Oregon Senior Closed Annual Badminton Tournament. The tourney, in its twelfth year, was hosted by Lane Community Col lege. In the women's singles, Casey Janz of Oregon was defeated in Flight A by 11-4, 6-11, 11-5. In Flight B, Mary Harada of Oregon lost 6-11, 11-6, 11-6. In Flight D, Seini Chang of Oregon won in straight games, 11-7, 11-5. In womens doubles, the Oregon team of Janz-Chris Olson lost in Flight A, 15-2, 15-12. In men’s competition, James Brenner won Flight D singles by default. Men’s doubles competi tion saw Bob Kinney and David Harkness of Oregon getting sec ond in Flight B, losing 6-15,15-10, 15-3. The next competition for the team will not be until the Oregon Open Singles and Doubles Tour nament on April 1. PSYCHIC Advises on business, love & personal direction Jamil P O Box 10154 Eugene, Oregon 97401 Phone anytime: 3422210 4842441 V J Beat the Winter Doldrums... BETTER DAYS Is Ahead I We're slashing prices on winter stock to Y make room for spring! Up to 50% of! our f already ridiculous prices, so don't wait! Sale starts Feb. 27th and ends when there’s room tor spring! liK lTER DAYS WOMEN'S FACTORY STORE, AND MORE! LOCATED IN THE M |ACO«S PLAZA (Mh 4 OLIVE UNIT C, ___ eleventh and Cheryl Hukari eigh teenth. The men’s fifth place showing was below what Rogers expected, but he still is not disappointed be cause the Ducks had beaten every other team at least once in competition this year. Part of the problem, said Ro gers, was old equipment. “If it has been skiing errors I would have been disappointed, but when it’s equipment errors there’s nothing you can do. The men did register some fine individual performances. Paul White finished second in the slalom, while Charlie Gould was second in the giant slalom. Charlie White also had an impressive seventh place finish in the giant slalom. Dick Durray had a tenth place cross country finish for the best Duck performance in that event. Jog-a-thon to be at track Saturday The second annual Duck Jog-A-Thon will be held this Saturday at Hayward field. After raising approximately $100,000 with the initial Jog-A Thon last year, the Athletic De partment of the University hopes to net $250,000 this year. Top prize for this year’s event will be a free trip to the 1980 Olympics Games. Also listed in the group of 12 prizes are a 20-day tour of Tel Aviv, Haifa and Jerusalem and an eight day trip for two to Hawaii and many smaller prizes such as warmup suits or jogging shoes. Prizes are awarded on the basis of how much money in pledges an individual can raise. Last year, baseball coach Mel Krause was able to raise $10,000. Of that amount, half went to the baseball program. Money raised by individuals goes to the athletic department and to a sport designated by the runner, if the runner so desires. The money pledged will be col lected by the Athletic Department. Jim Ryan, former world record holder in the mile, will be on hand all day at the track. Each entrant runs during a one-hour time slot, with the pledges to be given in considera tion of how many laps are run or walked. Pledge sheets may be picked up in the Athletic Department. For more information, contact Mel Krause at the athletic office. ,-sportfolio-. Soccer meetings to be held A men’s and women's soccer organizational meeting will be held Wednesday, March 1 at the City Hall council chambers, 777 Pearl St. Women meet at 7:00 p.m. and the men meet at 8:00 p.m. Team captains should attend. For more information, contact Dave Lipp at 687-5360. Volleyball squad drops match The Club Sports’ volleyball team traveled to Washington State last weekend, but dropped three straight games to the Cougars. The junior varsity won their match. V__J Graduates Order Your Caps & Gowns Now Graduate Degree Candidates must rent their academic regalia by March 2. Personalized Announcements are now available. Place your orders at the Pen Counter. 13th & Kincaid 686-4331 Open: Mon-Fn 8:15-5:30 Sat 10:00-2:00 UO BOOKSTORE
