track, golf
Tough slate ahead for women spikers
By JUUt HOWARD
Of the Emerald
From the time when women
track and field participants weren’t
even allowed to compete on the
track at Hayward Field — just six
years ago — to this year’s
scheduling of four “key” coed
meets, the women’s track pro
gram at the University continues
to grow in strength.
This year is no exception, with
coach Tom Heinonen and his
team hoping to match or better
last year’s second place regional
finish that advanced 12 women
athletes to national competition.
In preparation for the task
ahead of them, the Oregon team
will begin the season with the two
toughest meets in the 1978
schedule. An April 1 coed meet
with the University of Washington
at Seattle starts things off and a
special April 8 coed attraction
slates the women against the
1977 regional champions, Seattle
Pacific, while the men complete
against UCLA.
Heinonen expects these first
two competitions will be highly
competitive while the other two
coed meets, against Washington
State University and Oregon State
University, will help make the
Ducks look very good.
“These coed meets give us ex
posure that would otherwise be
difficult to get,” Heinonen said.
“About 5,000 people attend these
meets. We should be able to offer
them some pretty interesting
competition.”
Oregon's women track and field
participants have already under
gone three warm-up competitions
with two more to come before the
season-opener against the Fal
cons on April 1. The Oregon
coach is pleased with the perfor
mances of those athletes cur
rently out and says there is strong
basis for optimism, although many
unknown factors still remain.
As stand-outs in pre-season ac
tivity, Heinonen named the follow
ing: sophomore returnee Kathy
Picknell, who threw a lifetime best
discus throw of 146-0 during a re
bolters strong this season
uy M/Kfc oAbn
Of the Emerald
When the best college teams in
the nation come to Eugene in
June for the NCAA golf cham
pionships, they probably will be
somewhat skeptical of the friendly
smile on Oregon coach Jim
Ferguson s face.
That smile should be on
Ferguson s face throughout this
Spring, as he has one of his
strongest teams ever to work with.
Already loaded with six returning
lettermen, including 1976 All
American Jeff Sanders, Ferguson
will welcome four top-notch
freshmen to Eugene. That is the
basis for Oregon to be rated
number five nationally in a pre
season poll of college coaches.
Before June comes around,
Ferguson’s team should be well
seasoned. They will face some of
the nation’s best golfers in such
prestigious tournaments as the
Western Intercollegiate Tourna
ment, to be held later this month in
Santa Cruz, Calif., and the All
American Intercollegiate Tour
nament in Houston, Texas, that
will take place in early April.
After redshirting last year be
cause or a oacK injury, banaers,
the third place finisher in the 1976
NCAA tournament, returns to
pace the Ducks. The AII-Pac-8
golfer is once again in good
shape, and according to his
coach, should be considered "one
of the top ten collegians in the na
tion.”
Senior Scott Tuttle and former
Oregon Amateur Champion Brent
Murray will team with returnees
Jon Hesselwood and Scott
Krieger to give the Ducks strength
throughout the lineup.
To bolster what appears to be
an already solid team, Ferguson
adds his "strongest freshman
class ever.”
All-State golfers Dave DeLong,
Dave Wallace, Walter Porterville,
and Mike Marcum should all see
action in the coming months.
Along with these newcomers,
Glen Luikart has transferred from
Houston to Oregon.
No one in the Northwest should
be able to stay with Oregon. The
Ducks see Stanford and USC as
being the main roadblocks to a
conference crown. The Pac-8
championships are scheduled for
Los Angeles in early May.
inis past tall, the golfers won
two off-season tournaments in the
Northwest and Sanders showed
his recovery was complete by tak
ing the top honors at the tourna
ment sponsored by the University
of Washington. However, since
that time the Ducks had a poor
performance in Hawaii.
June is still in the distance, but if
Jim Ferguson’s golfers can post
some solid showings across the
country, when teams arrive for the
national championships, that
friendly smile on Ferguson’s face
just might be caused by the high
hopes of a strong challenger get
ting a chance to take on the best in
its own backyard.
cent intersquad meet in January,
another sophomore and returning
team member, Ellen Schmidt, ran
the 880 yard dash in 2:14.5 and
the 1,000 meter run in 2:56 (In
door times) and freshman Heath
er Tolford has already broken
school records in the two-mile run
(10:39), and the 10,000 meter run
(35.10).
For the first time in four years
the team won’t have Mary Officer,
a proven performer in Heinonen’s
words. But he feels there will be
several new people who will be
able to take up the slack.
“We're especially excited to
have freshman Debbie Adams
competing for us this season,”
explained Heinonen. “Right now
she’s Oregon’s leading rebounder
in women’s basketball, she’ll be
able to jump (19-5 in the long
jump). But she’s also the best
women sprinter in the Northwest,
holding the fastest high school
times of 10.7 in the 100 yard dash,
and 24.3 in the 220 yard dash.”
Heinonen also looks for promis
ing performances from Melanie
Batiste in the sprint competitions
(11.01 100 yds and 25.18 220
yds), Kerry Clawson in the high
jump (5-8), and Joan Walton in the
long-jump with a lifetime best of
17-8. Jacki Wagoner should
strengthen the javelin competition
(135-8), along with Patty Kearney
(132-5) and Lisa Vance.
In addition to Schmidt, Picknell,
and Dawna Rose, hurdles,
Georgene Rose (57.9, 400) Mag
gie Bonn (42-51/2, shot), Mary
Stevenson (156-8, discus), and
Sandy Trowbridge (2:14 800,4:34
1500), made it to nationals last
season in their individual events
and should prove competitive
again this year.
Even though Seattle Pacific
holds the regional title, it will be
Oregon and Washington battling it
out for the regional championship
this year. Seattle Pacific is being
forced to sacrifice this competition
due to financial difficulties.
Everyone else in the region, in
cluding Oregon, will settheirgoals
at achieving a mark that will qual
ify them for either regional or na
tional competition.
Two special meets have been
included in the regular schedule
this year that may offer additional
opportunities for regional or na
tional qualification.
The annual Oregon Twilight
meet, which includes only a few
very good athletes competing in a
few select events, will be held May
6, and the first annual Oregon
Open will be introduced May 5,
providing the same type of com
petition between colleges and
dubs exists that the state cham
pionships had provided before
they were disbanded.
The Oregon women now must
wait for the starting gun to get
them on their way to what might be
a very good season.
“I think we’ll have a shot at the
regional title," Heinonen con
cluded.
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