Going
for a
spin
Oregon gymnasts
are flying high
By Terry Rhoads
A
Am s Oregon's women's gymnastics
team shifts into high gear for the 1981 season,
coach Henriette Heiny is feeling somewhat
fortunate.
Although injuries have already knocked
out top returning gymnast Dawn Haberland
and temporarily sidelined a host of others, the
team's goal of a berth in the nationals is far
from ruined.
Heiny and the Ducks have found a simple
answer — talented depth and lots of it.
"We've had some bad luck," says Heiny.
The Ducks
finished second
to Oregon State
University in
last year's
Region 9
championships.
"If we didn't have those nagging injuries,
who knows where we would be at right now,”
adds Oregon’s sixth-year coach.
"But it shows me something. Even
though we re having a lot of injuries. I’m still
expecting nice scores this season because of
our tremendous depth."
That tremendous depth will come to
Oregon, which was ranked 11th nationally last
year, in the form of six new faces, including
four freshmen.
Haberland, who alternated with junior
Women
Sara Gustafson as Oregon’s top all-arounder,
is lost because of a shoulder injury, probably
until the Region 9 championships in late
March. But the Ducks’ potential individual
national meet qualifiers and talented scorers
don’t end with her.
Heiny, who coached the Ducks to a 20-3
record last season with wins over
nationally-ranked Brigham Young University
(seventh), Arizona State Universtiy (ninth) and
Oklahoma State (14th), hopes the new talent
is enough to challenge OSU for the regional
team title and the automatic berth at nationals
that goes with it.
To prepare ter an attack on the Beavers
and hopefully for the nationals, Heiny has put
together a schedule that could decimate the
Ducks’ dual meet season record and possibly
give Heiny her first losing season since
becoming Oregon’s coach in 1976.
The Ducks have chosen to spend this
winter with five of the top 15 finishers from
last year's AIAW nationals and struggle for a
winning record when they can go next door to
their weaker Northwest neighbors and enter
regionals undefeated.
"You have to have top competition to
improve yourself," Heiny says. “That's why I
look to this type of competition. Also, I think it
is the only way we can get national exposure,
even at the risk of a losing record.”
A bigger factor in determining if Oregon
Continued on Page 6
By Doug Levy
I n a year where men’s basketball seems
headed for disaster, one can take comfort in
knowing 1981 will be another banner year for
the Oregon men’s gymnastics team.
Although the Ducks have suffered heavy
losses from graduation, they will have more
depth than last year’s team, which placed
third nationally.
Randy Beard, Gene Christensen and Miki
Moyal — three of Oregon’s superstar
gymnasts — are gone. But back are James
Yuhashi, a 1980 All-American in the floor
exercise, and Kelly Crumley, who figures to be
Oregon’s top gymnast this year.
Add to those two solid returnees Randy
Jepson, Alex Schwarz, Dino Manus, Dan
Johnson, Pat Mullen, Tim Darling and Bob
Leverance. Then throw in top-notch freshmen
Raul Tello and Johnny Moyal and transfer
surprise Brett Garland and you have a team
that is well-rounded, if not spectacular.
Yet for the first time in four years, Oregon
may not win the Pac-10. UCLA is favored to
break the Ducks’ conference stronghold, and
a tough Arizona State team could challenge
for second. So this could be somewhat of a
“down” year for Oregon.
"Our major objective this year is to finish
in the top 10 (in the nation) due to the
tremendous losses from graduation, whereas
last year our goal was to win it,” admits coach
Bill Ballester.
Since the team has had only one
counting meet, they are not included in the
rankings, but at least a couple of gymnasts
are taking a more optimistic view of the
season than Ballester.
"Some people are pessimistic, but I think
we’ll finish in the top four or five,” says
Darling.
"I think we'll be fifth or sixth,” adds
Leverance.
Depth should be the key in every event for
the Ducks.
Crumley, Moyal, Tello, Mannas and
Garland will be the all-around performers.
Crumley is a member of
the U.S. Gymnastics
Federation, the team our
Olympians are chosen from,
so it is no surprise when
Ballester says “our team will
be built around Kelly
Crumley." The veteran coach also says Tello
is “potentially the best gymnast we’ve ever
had,” and Moyal "is as good as his brother
Miki."
The floor exercise is set with Yuhashi,
and Ballester calls Johnson and Mullen
"outstanding high bar men.” On the rings,
Jepson was an NCAA finalist last year, while
Schwarz took second in the Pac-10. Crumley
and Tello make the vault a solid event.
Continued on Pago 6
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