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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (April 22, 1998)
,_BEST BETS Major League Baseball Kansas City at Seattle, FSNWC23) 7:30p.m. Sports Emerald Nicole Commissiong missed the entire 1997 season as a medical redshirt but has since returned as Oregon’s top 400-meter runner this season (( A lot of people remember that I had a good year in 1996, and then I vanished. ** Nicole Commissiong UO sprinter Without exception, the 400 meters is a race with clear ly defined parameters. The race begins slowly out of the blocks as the runner attempts to find her stride. As the sprint develops in the second 100 meters, the athlete nears her peak, which she hits in the third quarter of the oval before ending with the strongest, but most difficult, 100 me ters of all. And then it is done. The race is over. There is no overtime. There are no extra innings. When Oregon’s Nicole Commissiong settled into the blocks for the 400-meter dash at Saturday’s Pepsi Team Invita tional , her goal was simple: “I just want ed to breathe and relax and just think, ‘It’s time to go,”’ the 5-foot-10 senior says. Commissiong flew out of the blocks on Saturday intent on shocking the world, just as the 25-year-old law stu dent did when she came to Eugene as a freshman in 1993. As a freshman, the Montreal native at tempted to prove that a runner with just three years of experience could make an impact at the collegiate level. On Satur day, she was trying to prove that a fifth year athlete coming off a year of rehabi li tation for an injured knee could do the same. When Commissiong entered the back stretch of Saturday’s race, her strategy was coming to fruition, just as her career goals began to during her sophomore campaign. “I blasted the first turn, which I need ed to do, and I relaxed down the back straight, which I needed to do,” Com missiong says. The first turn of her Oregon career came in 1994, when she recorded a per sonal best of 54.54 seconds in the 400 and captured first team Pacific-10 Con ference all-academic honors. She hit the backstretch as a sophomore, but she did anything but relax. Commissiong led the Oregon 4x100 meter relay squad to a second-place fin ish at the Pac-lOs in 1995, and she earned All-American honors that same year for anchoring the Oregon 4x400 meter relay team to a fifth-place finish at the NCAA Championships. Add to that Turn to TRACK, Page 9 NICK MEDLEY/Emerald Senior Nicole Commissiongprovides leadership on and off the track for the Oregon women. Ducks improve score, not standing at Pac-1 Os Anika Heuser led the Oregon women to an eight-stroke improvement with a second round 74 By Tim Pyle Sports Heporter On a day when eight of the 10 teams at the pacific-10 Championships shot a lower score than in the first round, the Oregon women’s golf team shaved eight strokes off its Day One total with a second round 301 at Ti jeras Creek Golf Club on Tuesday. However, the Ducks still found them selves in the same fifth-place spot in the standings. "[All the teams] know the golf course a lit tle bit better,” Oregon head coach Renee Baumgartner said. “And if you play the course more often, you have an advantage. ” Anika Heuser shot a second-round 74 for the Ducks in Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif., to raise from a tie for 17th to a tie for 11th in the individual standings. Heuser, who has a two-day total of 150, is tied with six others for 11th and is only one stroke out of the top-10. “She has a lot of confidence,” Baumgart ner said. “Golf is ups and downs. Right now sue nds a 101 oi experience and is a really good player. She’s coining to play in the bigger tournaments.” Heuser, who won the in dividual title at the Peg Barnard Invitational on April 12, said she has had success recently because she is focused. “I think I’ve worked on my mental game a lot,” Heuser said. “I knew that I had the skills, but somehow my brain was in the way. I think I’ve gotten that under control a little bit.” Arizona tightened its grasp on first place in the team standings with a second-round 285 that leaves it at 575, one under par, through 36 holes. Second-place Arizona State shot a 291 to fall 12 strokes behind the Wildcats. Jenna Daniels followed her first-round 69, which was the low score of that round, with a 68, which is the lowest score of the tourna ment. Overall, Daniels is seven under par and has a seven-stroke lead on teammate Heather Graff. Grace Park, who is No. 1 in the Master Card Collegiate Golf Rankings, rose to third place after being tied for 13th at the end of the first round by shooting a 70. Her total is a one-over-par 145. Oregon senior Paula Patterson, who was tied with Park for 13th after Round 1, suf fered through an 83 in the second round to drop into a tie for 37th. Patterson, who fin ished tied for ninth at the Pac-lOs last year, has a 158 total through 36 holes. Turn to GOLF, Page 12 Results ■ TOP DUCK: Heuser 150 ■ INDIVIDUAL Daniels, Ariz., 137 ■ TOP 5 TEAMS 1. Arizona 575 2. ASU 587 3. USC 602 4. UW 608 5. Oregon 610
