MONDAY
April 21,1997
Emerald
OREGON TRACK & FIELD
UO men, women win Invitational
■ WOMEN: Ducks defeat three teams
in the Pepsi Team Invitational
Saturday at Hayward Field
By Ben Kwasney
Sports Reporter
The Oregon women’s track and field team
pulled together to overtake three teams in
the Pepsi Team Invitational at Hayward
Field Saturday.
Oregon scored 190 1/2 points to Washing
ton State’s 163, Arizona’s 148 1/2 and Indi
ana’s 132.
“They scrambled, and they scratched for
every point,” head coach Tom Heinonen
&dlU. 11 Wda d bUUIig tJllUri
across the board.”
Three weeks ago in Pull
man, Wash., the Ducks
lost by a point to the
Cougars, and this time
they wanted to make a
siaiemem.
“I wanted to win the meet badly. I figured
the athletes did too,” Heinonen said. “It
seemed like it was our turn.”
Even though track is reliant on a series of
individual performances, Oregon turned it
into a team sport on Saturday.
“We’re really competing like a team, and
it shows,” distance runner Marie Davis said.
The Ducks were off and running early with
first- and third-place finishes in the javelin
by Karis Howell and Katie Pearmine, re
spectively. Jennifer Thomas’ leap of 18-10
3/4 in the long jump edged Arizona’s Dee
Dee Buzzi.
"I thought we were in pretty good shape
right from the start,” Heinonen said.
Chris Cvitanich reset the Oregon record in
the hammer, which she owned, by throwing
160-11. Cvitanich followed her first-place
finish in the hammer with a second-place
finish in the shot put.
Vicky Fleschner turned in a provisional
qualifying mark in the 800-meter run with a
time of 2:08.84 and a second-place finish to
Indiana’s Krista Ferrara, who won in
2:06.76.
Tish Henes returned to action after a sore
hamstring had kept her out of the final day
of last week’s heptathlon. Henes raced to a
Turn to WOMEN, Page 13
MARK McTYRE/Emerald
Oregon freshman Nat Johnson won the long jump at the Pepsi Team Invitational with a leap
of 23 feet. Johnson also ran the second leg of the 4x100-meter relay that won in 41.48.
■ MEN: Gregg Bleakney, Nat Johnson
and Chris Nelson win infield events
to propel the Ducks to the victory
By Alex Pond
Sports Reporter
Right from the start, the Oregon men’s
track and field team ran away from the com
petition to win the Pepsi Team Invitational
on a drizzly Saturday afternoon at Hayward
field.
The Ducks compiled 206 1/2 points, fol
lowed by Washington State in a distant sec
ond with 175 1/2 points. Arizona and Indi
ana rounded out the field with 148 1/2 and
132 points, respectively.
“We like winning,” Ore
gon head coach Bill
Dellinger said. “It was a
good meet to win, and the
fact that we’d been beaten
two weeks ago by Wash
mgton state up mere kind ot evens that
score.”
The Ducks started the meet off on the
right foot, winning the 4xl00-meter relay in
41.48 seconds despite a shaky handoff on
the final exchange between Howard Moore
and Jody Mortimore. Mortimore recovered
in time to hold off Washington State’s
Guillermo Macias on the final straightaway
to give Oregon the victory.
“The 4x100 started us off on the right
track,” Dellinger said. “We knew that was
going to be a really close race, and we knew
if we got some good handoffs we had an op
portunity to win it. Then we fouled up one
at the end and still won it, so we were lucky
— good and lucky.”
The Ducks swept the top two positions in
the long jump, with freshman Nat Johnson
winning the event with a leap of 23 feet. Fel
low freshman Howard Moore followed with
a 22-3 1/2 jump.
“I wasn’t even going to long jump today,
so it was a nice surprise,” Johnson said.
Senior Chris Nelson got his fourth con
secutive win in the high jump, clearing 7-0
1/2 on his final attempt.
Oregon kept the winning going in the
triple jump, where junior Gregg Bleakney
won with a leap of 48-10 3/4. The meet was
Turn to MEN, Page 13
Spring time is sports fans’
dream come true
OPINION
J
Ryan
Frank
s there a better time of year for sports fans?
Sunday marked the end of the NBA’s
I regular season and the start of the “second
JL season.”
The weekend of analysis, gurus and predic
tions called the NFL Draft took place last week
end.
The NHL’s real season is now underway as
the playoffs began last week.
And baseball is now in full swing.
And, oh yeah, isn’t this the term when I’m
actually supposed to pass 12 credits? With all
this stuff going on in the sporting world, how
in the hell do my professors think I am going to
be able to do that?
The Blazers’ win over the Lakers Sunday de
nies Los Angeles the Pacific Division title and
sends it to a first-round matchup with Portland.
The Blazers defeated the Lakers three times
in four meetings this season, plus the on-again
off-again Blazers are on right now as they won
20 of their final 24.
And it should be interesting to see if Chicago
Turn to FRANK, Page 12
Three former Ducks go in NFL Draft
■ OREGON: Paul Wiggins was the
first former Duck selected with the
82nd overall pick
By Ryan Frank
Sports Editor
Two former Ducks were selected in the
third round and another was picked up in
the seventh round of the NFL Draft over the
weekend.
Paul Wiggins and Kenny Wheaton were
both taken in the late third round on Satur
day, and Tony Graziani was selected in the
seventh round on Sunday.
Wiggins, a former Oregon offensive tack
le, went as the 82nd overall pick to Pitts
burgh, and Wheaton, a cornerback at Ore
gon last season, was taken by Dallas with
the 94th overall pick.
Graziani was picked up by Atlanta with
the 204th overall pick and third of the sev
enth round.
Before the draft, many experts ranked
Wiggins as the sixth best offensive tackle in
the draft, but recent injuries may have
scared some scouts away. Wiggins was the
eighth tackle chosen in the draft.
Wheaton, who left the Ducks after his ju
nior season, was thought to be one of the top
six comerbacks taken entering the draft. But
reported poor showings before NFL scouts
may have pushed him back.
Wheaton was consistently tested at 4.7 in
the 40-yard sprint, which is considered too
slow for a comerback by many NFL teams.
After suffering a serious knee injury in sec
ond game of the 1996 season, Graziani was
thought to be questionable for the NFL Draft.
But the former Duck said he is now 100
percent healthy and also put on weight after
the season to bulk up to 202 pounds, which
he said helped his stock.
While Graziani said he expected to go in
the fourth or fifth round to the Chiefs, who
flew the former Duck to Kansas City two
weeks ago, he said he is satisfied with his
selection.
“I’m happy as hell,” Graziani said.
The selection reunites Graziani with his
former head coach, Rich Brooks. Brooks was
hired as the Falcons’ defensive coordinator
after he was fired from the Rams’ head
coaching job at the conclusion of the 1996
97 season.
NFL DRAFT
■ WIGGINS:
82nd overall to
Pittsburgh
■ WHEATON:
94th overall to
Dallas
■ GRAZIAN1:
204th overall
to Atlanta