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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (June 6, 1997)
ON THE TUBE NBA Finals Chicago vs. Utah, NBC (6), 6 p.m. MfiMR Hard work breeds success in return to Oreoon In her second year back, Renee Baum gartner has taken the UO womens golf team near the top By Ryan Halvorsen Sports Reporter Sitting in her office with her 11-week-old daughter, Ellie Mack, on her lap with her bottle of lunch, Oregon head women’s golf coach Renee Baumgartner probably never would have imagined at the beginning of the fall season she would be telling the sto ries that made her one of the most success ful coaches on campus this year. She has said it isn’t the coaching aspect that makes her great, but rather her rapport with her 10 students and her willingness to go the extra mile to get the best players that has made the Oregon program one of the elite in the nation. Probably the most compelling aspect about Baumgartner as a coach is the per sonal relationships she develops with her players. She doesn’t hesitate to give them all of the credit for her success. “The players really mean a lot to me, es pecially after having a child,” Baumgartner said. “If Ellie grew up to be like any of the 10, I’d be the proudest mother in the world. I would do anything for them. Not only am I their discipli narian and their coach, but I’m also someone they can come to if they need anything. They mean the world to me, and as a group we got along as a big family. And that kind of atmosphere helped in their success.” A native of Portland and a graduate of USC, Baumgartner started coaching the Ducks in 1985, the program’s first year, and took over as the sole head coach in 1989. With only three-and-a-half scholarships, she led the Ducks to 17th place at the na tional championships in 1993, before leav ing to coach her alma mater for two years. There she led the Trojans to a second-place finish at the NCAA Tournament. So why did she come back with to Ore gon? She credits the football team’s trip to the Rose Bowl as the best thing that ever hap pened to women’s golf at Oregon, creating the revenue the program lacked to be in the top 10. “When my sister [Lara Mack Tennant, Oregon coach from 1993-95] was leaving Oregon, they decided to give six scholar ships, so I knew that I could come back and compete against the best and that’s exactly what we did this year. It was great, it’s just Turn to BAUMGARTNER, Page 16A BAUMGARTNER r ■ AWARDS: Pacific-10 Conference Coach j of the Year, 96-97. Far West Region Coach of the Year, 96-97. ft p i j rj I I r YESTERDAY'S RESULTS IK -rJ~ NHL PLAYOFFS Philadelphia.1 Detroit.6 American League boston.i Milwaukee.1 Chi. White Sox.4 Cleveland.5 Anaheim.3 Minnesota.0 Seattle.14 Detroit.6 Oakland.4 Toronto.3 Texas.6 Kansas City.3 National League Houston .5 Cincinnati.6 St. Louis.3 Pittsburgh.9 San Diego.7 Colorado.9 Atlanta.9 Montreal.0 Florida.0 NY Mets.6 San Francisco.5 Los Angeles.4 Carlesimo to coach Warriors; GM Twardzik fired OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — The Golden State Warriors ended one job search on Thursday and immediately began another, hiring P. J. Carlesi mo as their new coach and firing general manag er Dave Twardzik. Carlesimo, fired last month after three season as coach of the Trail Blazers, succeeded Rick Adelman, the man he also followed in Portland. Carlesimo, who guided the Trail Blazers to winning seasons and three consecutive playoff berths, was let go by Portland after leading the Blazers to a 49-33 record and a first-round play off loss to the Los Angeles Lakers. Twardzik, hired in May 1995, was fired follow ing questionable personnel moves and consecu tive losing seasons during his tenure. Kemp wants out of Seattle, Sonics say no trade pending SEATTLE (AP)—Shawn Kemp, unhappy with his contract and fed up with the atmosphere sur rounding the team, says he is through playing for the Seattle SuperSonics. “It’s been so negative there in the city over the last couple of years. It would be impossible for me to be in that situation again,” the star forward told ESPN in an interview being broadcast Thurs day. “I would never let myself go back there to play another 82-game season in Seattle. “I think the team deserves better and the fans deserve better. I think it’s time for us to get a new start.” General manager Wally Walker isn’t so sure. In a telephone news conference Thursday, Walker said he was disappointed that Kemp went public with his grievances while spurning re quests to meet with the club. NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS Day 2 unkind to UO athletes mmnmv'v ■■ > ■■--S---_a3 MATHEW STIFFLER/Emerald Jennifer Thomas enters the opening day of the NCAA heptathlon ranked 14th in the nation. The 100-meter hurdles, high jump, shot put and 200-meter dash will take place today. ■ NCAA: Chris Nelson finished a disappointing 16th in the high jump at the NCAA Championships By Ben Kwasney and Alex Pond Sports Reporters It was a disappointing second day for the Oregon men’s and women's track and field teams at the NCAA Championships Thursday in Bloomington, Ind. On the men’s side, Chris Nelson failed to live up to expectations in the high jump, where he cleared just 6-11 and placed 16th on the day. Nelson, the two-time Pacific-10 Con ference champion and fourth place fin isher at last year’s NCAA meet, went into the competition ranked 11th and said he was looking to place in the top four. But after clearing fi ll with ease, he was unable to clear his next height, 7-01/2. “I’m really disappointed,” Nelson said. “Physically, I felt really good. I cleared my height by a good margin and, each time I missed, I’d get over, but just my timing was off on top. “I could have done a lot of things dif ferent that I think would have helped me, but when it comes down to it, I just never really found that rhythm.” Overall, the competition yielded some surprisingly low marks for an NCAA meet. Ivan Wagner of Texas won the event with a jump of 7-6 1/2, but the next best mark was just 7-21/4, attained by five dif ferent athletes. “I could have really took advantage of the low marks for the competition,” Nel son said. “But instead I kind of gave into everybody else in a way. I kind of got stuck in the group and jumped like every body else was.” On the women’s side, Kaarin Knudson did not advance into the 1,500-meter run finals Thursday after finishing 22nd out of 24 competitors. Knudson, who quali fied on Wednesday for today's 800-me ter final, finished the 1,500 in 4:32.40. The other Oregon competitor on the day was Heather McMahon, who failed to qualify for the 5,000-meter run final. McMahon placed eighth in her heat and 18th out of 22 athletes. Turn to NCAA, Page 12A