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BEST BETS
NBA Playoffs
Neu[ York at Indiana,
TNT(27), 4p.m.
Emerald
Ben Crane, ivbo qualified for the
NCAA Championships as an individual
in 1997, hopes his teammates will
join him for a return trip
By Tim Pyle
Sports Reporter
Ben Crane lias been to the promised land
of collegiate golf.
He embarked on the trip that all college
golfers dream of to top their seasons.
He earned the right to battle the best for a
chance at a national championship — albeit an
individual national title.
Crane’s teammates on the Oregon men’s golf
team were not able to join him in enjoying the
view from the pinnacle of college golf that is the
NCAA Championships.
Oregon was eliminated a step before Crane.
While he birdied the final hole at the 1997
NCAA West Regional in Santee, Calif., to tie for
16th and capture one of two individual berths at
the championships, the Ducks finished tied for
12th and missed the nationals cut.
That individual accomplishment is considered
perhaps the biggest highlight thus far in a stellar
career on the Oregon men’s golf team by both
Crane and head coach Steve Nosier.
“That was a great moment for me," Crane says.
“There’s been a lot of them, but I look at that as
just as good as any.”
Many of those other prominent achievements
have occurred this season for Crane, who is ranked
No. 61 in the MasterCard Collegiate Golf Rankings.
Turn to CRANE, Page 16
EMERALC
Career
highlights
■ 1997-98:
Eight top 20
finishes in 12
tournaments... |
Named second f
team All-Pac
10...Tied for
first at Pacific
Invitational
■11996-97:
Tied for 16th at
West Regional |
to earn individ- j
ual berth to the
NCMChampi- I
onships
Crane, shown
here at the
1997 Pac-10
Championships,
looks to help the
Ducks secure a
nationals berth
with a strong
showing at the
West Regional.
Ihe regional
begins
Thursday in
Tempe, Ariz.
NICK MEDLEY/Emerald
Jennie Cook will need to come through at the plate and on the mound Friday as she
will start against Iowa in the first round of the NCAA Tournament
Hawkeyes up first for Ducks
Iowa ranks near the bottom of
the Big Ten in home rims and
RBIs but beat No. 2 Michigan
to finish the regular season
By Joel Hood
Sports Reporter
It must have been quite a scene.
Nearly two dozen softball players ner
vously huddled around each other Sunday
night waiting for the announcement that
would decide their postseason fate. The
place: a small sports bar adjacent to the
Stanford campus. The mood: "hysterical."
It was fortunate for the Oregon softball
team that the announcement came quickly.
There were no injuries to report — just a lot
of screaming.
Oregon matches up with Iowa on Friday
in Lincoln, Neb., to kick off the opening
round of the NCAA’s 32-team postseason
tournament, but that’s where the similari
ties between these two teams end.
The Hawkeyes (37-18 overall, 14-9 Big
Ten Conference) finished third overall in
the Big Ten but finished the regular season
strong by beating No. 2 Michigan and secur
ing second place in the Big Ten Tourna
ment. The Ducks finished their regular sea
son with five straight Pacific-10 Conference
SOFTBALL
losses and just two wins
in their last eight games.
Oregon ranked second
in the Pao-10 — arguably
the most prolific scoring
conference in the country
— in team batting for
nearly the entire season.
Iowa s power numbers ranked near the bot
tom of the Big Ten standings with just 14
combined home runs and just 143 runs bat
ted in.
In their 38 victories this season, the
Ducks outscored their opponents by an av
erage of 4.5 runs per game. By contrast, 22
Turn to NCAAS, Page 12
Saraceno battles back from bicycle accident to win triathlon
Matt Saraceno
will compete
in the World
Championships
in Switzerland
on the road
to the Sydney
Olympics
By Eric Collins
Freelance Sports Reporter
Rolling swiftly down the cold morning
streets of downtown Portland on an over
cast, drizzly December day in 1995, his
mind wandered as he pedaled his bike to
work in 1995.
With the go-ahead green light, he monot
onously spun through another intersection
like a million times before.
But an armored truck didn’t stop for the
red light this time. Matt Saraceno, an Ore
gon senior triathlete, was no match for the
monster that tossed him about 40 feet
across the intersection. Bloody and broken,
fading in and out of consciousness, the dis
tinct taste of oil from the pavement in his
mouth, an emergency vehicle whisked him
to the hospital. Saraceno remembers think
nig in nuuseu, louay
is a horrible day to
die.”
Despite the broken
ribs and wrist, concus
sion and collapsed
lung, Saraceno lived.
I he accident left no
damage to his spine or legs. It would take
much more to kill the competitive nature of
this triathlete.
He had competed in some form of run
ning, swimming or bike racing since he was
16. Without'the daily tests of his body,
Saraceno knew he would go crazy. Six
months after the crash he was training
again. By the end of 1996, he was back to
full strength.
The biggest leap came in the spring of
1997, back at his first triathlon in years, the
men’s Collegiate National Triathlon Cham
pionships. Expecting little, Saraceno came
across the finish line in fifth place, unable
to believe his progress.
Devoting the next year to the 1998 colle
giate championships, Saraceno wanted
nothing short of first place.
Last weekend, he got his wish.
With a late kick, he easily cruised past
his final challenger in the six-mile nin, fin
Turn to TRIATHLETE, Page 12
SARACENO