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Effieraki
Women flounder in first round at NCAAs
The Oregon
women’s golf
team is in
dead last
heading into
today’s second
round after
shooting a 22
over-par 310
Wednesday
By Tim Pyle
Sports Reporter
The first round of the NCAA Championship
on Wednesday was a nightmare for the Oregon
women’s golf team.
Fortunately for the Ducks, they still have
three rounds to bring their sweet dreams to fife
at the University Ridge Golf Course in Madi
son, Wis., beginning with today's second
round and running through Saturday.
Oregon shot a 22-over-par 310 on Day One
to find itself dead last in the 19-team field. It
was not the start the experienced Ducks ex
pected of themselves after attaining a sev
enth-place finish, the best ever in school his
tory, at the 1997 nationals with the exact
same lineup they are using this season.
“We are trying too hard and trying to
make it happen rather
than letting it happen,”
Oregon head coach Re
nee Baumgartner said.
"This team feels lots of
pressure to do better
than last year. A lot can
change real quickly in golf, and there are
still 54 holes to play.”
Defending national champion Arizona
State, which is ranked No. 2 in the Master
Card Collegiate Golf Rankings, opened up a
seven-stroke lead in the championship by
firing an 11-under-par 277. The Sun Devils’
Grace Park, just a freshman, led the team
with a seven-under-par 65 that tied her for
first atop the individual leaderboard with
Duke’s Jenny Chuasiriporn. Arizona State
has won four of the last five titles.
Indiana shot a four-under-par 284 to claim
second place after the first 18 holes. Florida and
Duke tied for third at 285, and No. 1 Arizona
and Florida found themselves sharing fifth
Turn to GOLF, Page 9
Leaders
■ OREGON:
Patterson 76
■ INDIVIDUAL:
Park, ASU 65
Chuasiriporn,
Duke 65
■TOP5TEAMS:
1. ASU 277
2. Indiana 284
3. Duke 285
T3. Florida 285
19. Oregon 310
Oregon: Go
the distance
for sprints
The Pacific-10 Conference Track
and Field Championships begin
Saturday in Palo Alto, Calif., and
the Oregon women enter the meet
assured of not winning titles in either the
100 or 200-meter sprints for a fifth consec
utive year.
In fact, in the past 15 postseason meets
OPINION
me uucks nave entered,
they’ve come away with
titles in the short sprints
just twice: LaReina
Woods’ 100-meter cham
pionship in 1993, and
Rosie Williams’ title in
W.!ta— tne zuu in 1989.
clear. Oregon had just two women post ac
ceptable qualifying times for the 200, with
Tish Henes the top-ranked Duck at 15th,
while no Oregon woman was able to meet
the Pac-10 100-meter qualifying standard
of 12.04 seconds.
Moseley
Rob
The reason head coach
Tom Heinonen can forget
about scoring points in
the 100 and 200 meters is
several unavoidable factors have led to
Oregon’s weakness at the short sprints this
season, including an injury to 400-meter
runner Sue Morris that caused Oregon
sprint coach Mark Stream to scramble to
assemble competitive entries in every
event. Add to that the transfer of a talented
walk-on before the season, and Heinonen
and Stream have a legitimate excuse for
scoring just three times in the short sprints
at dual meets this season.
“Obviously we need some sprinters, so
that’s been a heavy emphasis on our re
cruiting,” Stream said.
And with the prospects of adding re
cruits Alexis Yeater, who has times of
11.85 and 24.35 in the 100 and 200, respec
tively, Endio Abrante, who has run a 24.40
in the 200 meters and Taryn Tarver, who
Turn to MOSELEY, Page 9
Athletes look to defend titles at Pac-1 Os
EMERALD
Southern California’s Jerome Davis will look to repeat his 1997 400-meter title at
this weekend’s Pac-10 Championships in Palo Alto, Calif.
Washington State’s Ian Waltz
returns to the Pacific-10
Championships to defend his
1997shot put and discus titles
By Alex Pond and Rob Moseley
Oregon Daily Emerald
Don't be surprised if this weekend’s
Pacific-10 Conference Track and Field
Championships look a lot like last sea
son’s meet.
On the men’s side, 10 different athletes
return with hopes of successfully de
fending titles won in 1997, with Wash
ington State’s Ian Waltz looking to de
fend titles in two
events.
Waltz dominated the
throws last season,
winning both the shot
put and discus, and re
turns as the favorite in
each event during this season’s confer
ence meet that is set to take place Satur
day and Sunday in Palo Alto, Calif.
On the women’s side, seven returning
champions will look to defend 1997 ti
tles, including double winners Grazyna
Penc of Southern California (800 and
1,500 meters), Amy Skieresz of Arizona
(3,000 and 5,000 meters), Joanna Hayes
of UCLA (100- and 400-meter hurdles)
and Suzy Powell of UCLA (discus and
javelin).
It last weekend’s heptathlon and de
cathlon championships were any indica
tion, track and field fans can look for
ward to seeing several repeat champions.
California’s Ross Bomben successful
ly defended last season’s decathlon
championship by winning the multi
events competition with a personal best
7,808 points, while Stanford’s Trayce
Lawyer won her second straight confer
ence heptathlon title with a school
record 5,809 points.
As far as the team races go, they could
look very similar to last season as well.
The USC men claimed their first con
Turn to TRACK, Page 8
High temperatures, humidity prove too much for Oregon cyclists
Rusty Beall dropped out of both
the men's road race and
criterium at the National
Collegiate Cycling Competition
By Eric Collins and Jeanette N. Diaz
Freelance Sports Reporters
Succumbing to the sweltering 90-degree
heat and humidity of South Carolina, the
three Oregon Club Sports cycling team’s na
tional qualifiers competed below expecta
tions last weekend at the National Colle
giate Cycling Competition.
Amy Piasek-Kluge, one of two Oregon
women qualifiers, was the only Duck to fin
ish a race, placing 60th in the 52.2-mile
road race. In the same race, Eriel Hoffmeier
did not finish.
Piasek-Kluge said cyclists from the
Southeast, especially Texas, were the only
competitors not affected by the weather.
“You stood still and there was just water
dripping from you,” Piasek-Kluge said.
For freshman cycling sensation Rusty
Beall, a flat tire 35 miles into the 78.3-mile
men’s road race — not the weather—forced
him to drop out of the competition. Beall, cy
cling in the lead pack before the tire trouble,
said he had to wait too long for a replace
ment tire. With the leaders 2 1/2 miles ahead
after the replacement, Beall said he dropped
out in order to conserve energy for the next
day’s criterium competition.
The criterium takes place on a one-kilo
meter course, where riders jockey for posi
tion for 60 minutes and then race five addi
tional laps to the
finish. But if the lead
ers lap other riders
during the 60-minute
period, the slower rid
ers are pulled out of
the race.
In the women’s cri
terium, both Piasek-Kluge and Hoffmeier
were pulled.
Beall was out for redemption in the
men’s criterium, which he said he would
have received had the weather cooperated.
Pacing with last year’s national champions
with five laps to go, Beall began to overheat.
Passing out and unable to continue, Beall
saw the leaders fly by as he once again
dropped out.
“It was a disappointing weekend,” he
said. “Had it been 60 degrees and raining,
we would have seen more Northwest guys
in the lead.”
Swoosh Challenge
After taking advantage of its home turf in
the April 18 regionals, an Oregon ROTC
team placed fourth out of 11 teams in the
Nike Swoosh Challenge National Champi
onships held in Los Angeles last weekend.
The Duck team of four was composed of
Turn to CLUB, Page 12