Oregon daily emerald., April 13, 1981, Page 11, Image 10

sports
‘Impossible Team’ snaps Duck streak
Bruin win decides dual crown iifai
By JODY MURRAY
Of the Emerald
For a team that competes in
only one dual meet this year, the
UCLA women’s track squad
made itself a team to remember
in one-on-one competition Sa
turday against the Ducks.
The Bruins used their mer
curial sprint squad to set or
equal four all-time dual records
and zip past Oregon, 70-57, in a
meet that will likely decide the
national dual meet champ.
UCLA set records in both
relays (44.79/3:40.35), while
Oralee Fowler put a new one in
the books in the 400 (53.15) and
Jeanette Bolden tied the 100
mark (11.1).
Oregon set its own record of
sorts as the loss snapped the
team’s dual meet winning streak
at 14. Oregon’s last loss was a
68-59 decision to Seattle Pacific
in 1978. Saturday’s loss was
only the second Oregon set
back in 21 dual meets.
But the Ducks, who beat the
Bruins 66-61 last year, gave the
so-called “Impossibe Team” its
share of scares during the cold,
rainy afternoon. The Oregon
challenge reached its peak in
the 100-meter hurdles when
Lexie Miller and Kris Costello
finished one-two in a wind-aid
ed 14.04.
Miller and UCLA's Missy Je
rald, who has a 14.02 best, were
even at the halfway point. But
Miller pulled slowly away as
Costello came roaring into the
picture with two hurdles to go.
The Hayward Field crowd,
4,300 strong, gave its
thunderous approval while the
two embraced at the finish line.
"Hot damn!," yelled Oregon
coach Tom Heinonen as he
strode across the infield.
"My form felt funny over the
seventh, eighth, and ninth hur
dles,” Costello said. "But all of a
sudden I got really aggressive.
I’m so glad we did that!”
But the Oregon euphoria em
bodied in Costello’s remarks
was swept away minutes later in
the 400 where UCLA’s Fowler
and Deann Gutowski took first
and second, followed by
Oregon’s Grace Bakari. Hein
onen had said before the meet
that a win by Bakari in the 400
was essential to Oregon’s upset
plans.
"The most important race
was their one-two finish in the
400,” Heinonen said. "We were
asking a lot of Grace to beat
three 53-second quarter-milers,
but she did beat one (Arlise
Emerson, who finished fourth)."
The Ducks had several nota
ble performance, though none
were enough to stop the sprint
happy Bruins. Miller added the
long jump (19-4VS-) and 400 hur
dles (1:02.27) to her 100 hurdles
win, Leann Warren doubled in
the 800 (2:06.73)-and 1,500
(4:26.39) and Lisa O'Dea set a
personal-best 9:30.8 to lead
teammate Eryn Forbes (9:31.1)
and win an exciting 3,000.
The duo outkicked UCLA’s
Linda Goen (3:31.8) on the final
turn in a race during which all
three led. Forbes, who ran a
9:26 against Washington but
“was tired all week,” just want
ed to make sure Goen didn't slip
in for third.
“This isn’t the week to go out
and beat your teammate; it’s the
week to put two people in front
of UCLA,” Forbes said
“Goen runs my kind of race,”
said O’Dea, who did her share of
sprinting last year as a hurdler.
“I was pleased. It was a lot of
fun, too.”
But in the end it was the
Bruins who celebrated, while
the Ducks could look forward to
next year’s rematch in Los
Angeles.
“We obviously had some real
comethroughs,” Heinonen said,
“but we didn't have enough.”
Photo by Steve Dykes
Lisa O'Dea (right) and Eryn Forbes congratulate each other on their
one-two finish in the 3,000, but it wasn't enough to stave off the
Bruin onslaught.
Care who’s in your
student government.
Vote in the
ASUO ELECTIONS
for those who
represent your views.
ASUO Elections
Wednesday and Thursday,
April 15th and 16thf 1981
Watch for your Voter's Guide Statement April 15th.
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