TUESDAY
November 26,1996
-—~ ™ ******»
Matt, Marie Davis lead Ducks at NCAA meet
■ CROSS COUNTRY:
Karl Keska finishes a
disappointing 34th place for
the second year in a row
By Ryan Halvorsen
Sports Reporter
Oregon’s Matt Davis came up
big again to lead the men’s team at
the NCAA Cross Country Champi
onships, and Marie Davis, the only
qualifier from the women's team,
accomplished her goal to become
an All-American.
Matt Davis led the men Monday
to a third-place finish under the
81-degree sun inTucson. His time
of 30 minutes, 43 seconds over the
10,000-meter course placed him
fifth, improving on his 15th-place
finish from a year ago. The Ducks
also improved on its seventh
place from 1995.
“It felt really good,” Davis said.
“I was really tired at the end, but
still got [past] four guys in the last
mile. 1 just tried to be relaxed and
strong and push through it.”
Oregon standout Karl Keska
equaled his disappointing 34th
place performance from last year
and was the third Oregon runner
to cross the finish line.
Oliver Wirz finished second for
the Ducks and 18th overall, earn
ing himself an All-American hon
or. Daniel Das Neves finished 51st
and Greg James finished 61st to
round out Oregon’s scorers.
Marie Davis finished in 18th
place, improving her 59th-place
finish from a year ago. Davis’ time
of 18:06 on the 5,000-meter course
was just eight seconds out of the
top 10, but she was lucky to even
make it to the finish line after sur
viving some early adversity.
“I had a great start, but then I got
pushed a little and almost went
down at the first turn near 800 me
ters, but I hung in there and stayed
up,” Davis said. “I was a little
shaken up, but then realized I had
to get going.”
Arkansas’ Godfrey Siamusiye
came away as the men’s winner in
29:49, while Stanford grabbed the
national title and Arkansas fin
ished second. Arizona sophomore
Amy Skieresz was the women's
individual winner in a time of
17:04, but Stanford grabbed the
team title, and Villanova finished
second.
Ducks open season tonight against SDSU
■ BASKETBALL: Oregon has been
working on weaknesses in practice
By Andrea De Young
Assistant Sports Editor
Forget China. Forget Lithuania. The
real season begins tonight.
The Oregon men’s basketball team
takes on San Diego State to begin its reg
ular season. The Ducks are coming off of
two exhibition wins, but picked up the
victories in two different ways.
Men’s
Basketball
■ OPPONENT:
San Diego State
■ TIP-OFF:
7 o'clock
■ WHEN: Tonight
■ WHERE:
McArthur Court
Against China,
Oregon came out
running and
looked to be in
midseason form
as they won
114-89. Although
head coach Jerry
Green called the
defense “lack
adaisical in the
second half”,
the Ducks had
enough of a lead
at halftime to eas
ily put away their
opponent.
.... '■ A tew nights
later, Oregon struggled to beat the
Lithuanians. It took last minute clutch
free-throw shooting to pull out the 81-79
victory.
The Ducks have now had a week of
practice since closing out the exhibition
season. Now they face the Aztecs for the
first time since 1982. In that game San
Diego State won 49-47.
Last season, the Aztecs finished sixth
in the West Coast Conference with a
record of 15-14 overall and 8-10 in the
conference, but there are many new faces
to the team this season. Only two players
return as eight new players and two red
shirters join the squad.
San Diego State is led by guard Chad
Turn to BASKETBALL, Page 8A
MARK Me TYRE/E merald
Jamar Curry (23) and Henry Madden, along with the rest of the Ducks, begin their quest
to return to the NCAA tournament after a one-year absense, tonight.
Aloha Bowl
blinded by Cal’s
Pat Barnes
The Aloha Bowl selection committee
blew it. There is pretty much no
other way to describe it.
Its decision to take California in
stead of Oregon for its Christmas Day Bowl
game was a slap in the face of the Oregon
football players, the coaching staff and par
ticularly, the Oregon football fans in this
state and all over the country.
Where’s the logic in its
decision to take a Califor
nia team that has lost five
out of its last six games?
Did it even bother to
look into the fact that the
one win the Golden Bears
got in that six-game span
yiiUjIMM
was a quaarupJe overtime
victory against Arizona, a
team that Oregon had no
problem pummeling
three weeks ago 49-31 ?
Chris
Hansen
Did it not take into consideration that low
ly Oregon State — the same Beaver team that
Oregon destroyed 49-13 on Saturday—took
California into triple overtime before losing?
Obviously not.
And apparently, the Aloha Bowl repre
sentative that was in attendance at Autzen
Stadium when Oregon kicked California’s
ass two weeks ago must have been sleeping
in the press box.
Oregon head coach Mike Bellotti called
the decision a “travesty.”
Oregon athletic director Bill Moos called
the decision “disappointing.”
Add disgusting, idiotic and baseless, and
you will still just be skimming the top.
What is really irritating about this whole
tiling is that Aloha Bowl assistant executive
director Marcia Klompus talked out of both
sides of her mouth when trying to justify her
committee’s decision.
Klompus admitted that the primary rea
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