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.
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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
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