Oregon daily emerald., May 21, 1997, Page 9, Image 9

ON THETUBE
Major League Baseball
Montreal vs. Atlanta,
TBS (3), 10:05 a. m.
Emerald
UO women looking for top-five finish at nationals
Paula Patterson
and the Ducks will
be looking to im
prove on their 13th
place finish in last
year’s NCAA
Women's Golf
Championships
when they begin
the 72-hole
tournament today
in Columbus, Ohio.
EMERALD
■ GOLF: Despite their youth, the
Ducks are confident heading into the
NCAA Championships
By Ryan Halvorsen
Sports Reporter
Last year, the Oregon women’s golf team
earned the highest finish in team history,
13th, at the NCAA Women’s Golf Champi
onships.
This year, 13th would be a disappoint
ment.
The Ducks are looking to bring home a
trophy with a top-five finish in the 1997 na
tional championships, which begin today
at the Ohio State University Scarlet Course
in Columbus, Ohio.
A top-five performance is not out of the
question for the No. 11 Ducks, who were
ranked as high as sixth in the nation after
winning four of their first five tournaments.
“I knew that we were good, but I didn’t
know we were great,” Oregon head coach
Renee Baumgartner said. “Our goal all year
has been to improve and peak at nationals.”
Oregon is coming off its worst showings
of the year in the last two
tournaments, placing fifth
at the Pacific-10 Champi
onships and sixth at the
West Regional. But it was
also the toughest competi
tion the Ducks have faced.
Five teams in the Pac
10 are ranked in the top 11, three others are
ranked in the top 35, and 10 teams in the
western region are ranked in the top 30.
Baumgartner said she thinks the experi
ence of the Ducks’ six foreign players, cou
pled with Paula Patterson’s experience in
big tournaments, is helping take the pres
Tum to GOLF, Page 12
WOMEN'S GOLF
■ WHAT: The
1997 NCAA
Women’s Golf
Championships
■ WHERE:
The Ohio State
University
Scarlet Course,
Columbus, Ohio
■ WHEN:
Play begins
today with the
first 18 holes of
the 72-hole
tournament
YESTERDAY’S RESULTS
NBA PLAYOFFS
Miami.77
Chicago.84
NHL PLAYOFFS
Philadelphia.6
New York.3
American League
Kansas City.3
Cleveland.4
Toronto.2
NY Yankees.0
Detroit.3
Baltimore.4
Seattle.6
Anaheim.7
Minnesota.4
Milwaukee.3
Boston.1
Chi. White Sox_10
Oakland.3
Texas.8
National League
imy Mets.b
Florida.6
Philadelphia.3
Chi. Cubs.2
Cincinnati.7
Houston .4
Colorado.3
San Francisco.6
Montreal.2
Atlanta.4
Pittsburgh.1
St. Louis.3
Los Angeles.3
San Diego.7
Ducks’ Welch adds another
award to trophy case
Freshman right fielder Lindsey Welch added
another award to her collection Tuesday when
she was named to the first-team all-Pacific Re
gion.
Welch was selected to the Pacific-10 Confer
ence’s first team last week and received the
team’s Rookie of the Year award Monday.
In just her first season with the Ducks, Welch
led the team in batting average (.337), runs
scored (40), triples (4) and slugging percentage
(.560), and she shared the lead for stolen bases
(10).
She also hit seven home runs and eight dou
bles.
Bleakney honored as
Pac-10 athlete of the week
For his efforts last weekend, Gregg Bleakney
was named the Pacific-10 Conference field ath
lete of the week. Fie is Oregon’s only winner of
the award this season.
Bleakney needed just two attempts Saturday
to leap into the Pac-10 lead in triple jump with a
mark of 53-31/2.
MARK McTYRE/ Emerald
Oregon’s Chris Nelson looks to defend his high jump title at the Pacific-10 Championships this weekend in Seattle. Nelson, who
currently ranks second in the Pac-10 with a jump of 7-31/4, won the event last season when he cleared 7-21/2.
UO men prepare for Pac-1 Os
■ MEN: Gregg Bleakney and Daniel Das Neves
lead their events going into the Pac-10
Championships this weekend
By Alex Pond
Sports Reporter
After concluding the regular season with a success
ful showing in the Oregon Twilight last Saturday, the
Oregon men’s track and field team has now set its sights
on the Pacific-10 Conference Championships this week
end in Seattle.
UCLA, which has captured the past six Pac-10 titles
and eight in the last 10 seasons, will again be the fa
vorite. Southern California and Stanford together rep
resent the most serious challenge to the Bruins.
While Oregon head coach Bill Dellinger said last
week his team isn’t likely to be a contender this week
end, several Oregon athletes should vie for individual
titles.
Daniel Das Neves heads into this weekend ranked
No. 1 in the conference in the steeplechase. Das Neves
is Oregon’s only NCAA automatic qualifier at this point,
with a time of 8 minutes, 43.47 seconds, and is looking
to defend his 1996 Pac-10 championship.
In the high jump, Chris Nelson will also look to de
fend his title. With a season best of 7-3 1/4, Nelson cur
rently ranks second behind Greg Walker of California.
Gregg Bleakney will be going after his first Pac-10 title
in the triple jump after taking the Pac-10 lead in the
event with his mark of 53-3 1/2 last weekend. Bleakney
was the runner-up in the event last season.
Piotr Buciarski also expects to figure into the compe
tition for the pole vault championship. He currently
ranks fifth in the conference after last weekend’s season
best of 17-81/2. Scott Slover of UCLA
leads the conference with a mark of
18-7 1/4.
Buciarski said he thinks it will take
at least 18-6 to win this weekend, but
he is confident he can go that high
and be a contender.
Other news and notes:
The Ducks have six athletes with NCAA provisional
qualifying marks heading into this weekend. The quali
fiers are: Buciarski in the pole vault, Nelson in the high
jump, Micah Davis in the steeplechase, Jeremy Robin
son in the hammer, Paul Pappas in the decathlon and
Oliver Wirz in the 5,000-meter run.
However, Wirz will not compete because of a foot in
jury, and Pappas competed in the Pac-10 decathlon last
weekend, where he placed fourth.
For his efforts last weekend, Bleakney was named the
Pac-10 Field Athlete of the Week. He is Oregon’s only
winner of the award this season.
Turn to MEN, Page 12
MEN S TRACK
■ TOP
COMPETITORS:
Daniel Das Neves
and Micah Davis,
steeplechase;
Gregg Bleakney,
triple jump;
Chris Nelson,
high jump;
Piotr Buciarski,
pole vault