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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (June 5, 1998)
BEST BETS NBA Playoffs Chicago at Utah, NBC (6), 6p.m. Effiendd Blustery winds affect Thomas’ performance Jennifer Thomas earned All-American honors for the second straight year by finishing sixth in the heptathlon By Rob Moseley Sports Reporter For the second consecutive year Oregon senior Jennifer Thomas earned All-Ameri can honors in the heptathlon at the NCAA "Championships, where she finished sixth in this year’s version of the event with 5,385 points. BYU’s Tiffany Lott successfully defend ed her title in Buffalo, N.Y., on Thursday by accumulating 5,982 points in the sev en-event competition, while Thomas im proved on her llth-place finish of a year ago, when she scored 5,306 points. “I’m really happy with the way I placed,” Thomas said. “I would have liked to score more points, if not for the weather conditions.” Thursday was the second straight blus tery Buffalo day, and Thomas said the wind gauge often passed seven meters per second, five mps' stronger than the ac Tnatnlf ceptable level. Be ll ulliv* cause of the wind, any records set in the championships will likely be disallowed. Two of the three events held Thursday were the javelin and long jump, usually two of Thomas’ strengths. It was not to be in Buffalo, however, as Thomas jumped just 19 feet, 1/2 inch and threw the javelin Championship 137 feet, seven inches. “I don’t know what my wind was [dur ing the long jump],” Thomas said “I don’t know if that’s what went wrong, and I did n’t feel like 1 threw very well.” She did say the wind affected perfor mances the most adversely in the throws. ' “Everybody had to deal with the condi tions,” Thomas said, “but there’s a lot of frustration.” Lott’s point total was 229 less than her winning score from last year. However, Thomas said she was im pressed with the championship effort, even though the rest of the field had to contend with the intrusive presence of Turn to WOMEN, Page16A UO Women ■ THOMAS: 100 Hurdles 14.31 High Jump 5-53/4 Shot Put 35-51/2 200 25.79 Long Jump 19-1/2 Javelin 137-7 800 2:28.64 ■ CRABB: 1.500 4:28.02 ■ DAVIS: 3.000 9:29.17 Two Ducks have titles in their sights After missing the cut at last season’s NCAA meet, junior Micah Davis competes in today’s steeplechase final By Alex Pond Spans Editor It all comes down to this. Two Oregon men will be chasing dreams of a national title when the NCAA Track and Field Championships con clude today and Saturday in Buffalo, N.Y. Junior Micah Davis will compete in to day’s final of the steeplechase after post - ing the third-fastest NCAA time in his heat dur ing Wednesday's preliminary. On Saturday, se nior Gregg Bleakney will showcase his talents for the final Championship time in an 0regon uniform when the triple jump competition unfolds. Davis, who ran Wednesday’s qualify ing race in eight minutes, 46.28 seconds, will be competing in the final of the NCAA meet for the first time after nar rowly missing the cut last season. He said he feels strong after being al lowed to conserve some energy Wednes day. Turn to MEN, Page16A • NICK MEDLEY/Emerald Gregg Bleakney's triple jump of53-9 3/4 at the Oregon Twilight ranks fifth heading into Saturday's competition at the NCAA Track and Field Championships in Buffalo, N. Y. Bleakney finished eighth at last season's NCAA meet. Malone will continue to shoot: Jordan eves Hornacek matchun Utah’s Karl Malone had trouble sinking jump shots in Game 1 but says he’s made a minor adjustment for tonight’s game By Bob Baum The Associated Press SALT LAKE CITY — There’s a lot more to the Utah Jazz than Karl Malone. If anyone hadn’t figured that by now, Utah’s 88-85 overtime victory over Chica go in Game 1 of the NBA Finals removed all doubt. “We can pick him up and carry him sometimes,” Utah’s Bryon Russell said. "He doesn’t always have to carry all the load. That’s something you guys don’t know about yet. You think it’s all about Karl Malone.” On Wednesday night, it was all about John Stockton and a Utah bench that has gained momentum through the playoffs. And it was all about an obviously weary Chicago team falling apart at crunch time. Even Michael Jordan made mistakes, most notably failing to notice the 24-sec ond shot clock was about to expire in the final minute of overtime. “I thought we were very fatigued last night,” Chicago coach Phil Jackson said on Thursday. "I actually tried to get Michael out of the game in the third quarter and he bargained his way back in. I watched in the video and our hands were on their knees in a defensive posture.” They have only two days off before tonight’s Game 2. They will hope for a second consecutive off night for Malone, who settled for, and almost always missed, jump shots against the defense of the big ger Luc Longley in Game 1. Malone hinted he might be taking it to the hoop more tonight. “I had opportunities," he said. “Let’s just say that Luc was a great defensive player and 1 didn’t do the things I was capable of maybe doing. I made a minor adjustment for tomorrow night’s game. I’m not going to tell you what it is. But I’m not going to stop shooting, if that’s what you’re ask ing." Utah coach Jerry Sloan said Malone’s misfiring was the least of his concerns. “It’s no big deal,” Sloan said. “I’m not going to lose any sleep over it. He’ll either make shots or miss them. That’s not a bril liant statement but that’s all this game is. He’s liable to have those same shots and make them the next time. It wasn’t like he was having to take shots that were totally strange to him. “The positions he go. the ball on the floor were almost identical positions where he’s had the ball the last four or five years.” Malone was bailed out by his old part ner, John Stockton, who had 24 points and eight assists, including seven of Utah’s nine points in overtime. The ever-mild-mannered Stockton shrugged off the performance. About the Turn to NBA, Page 12A (( I thought we were very fatigued [in Game 1J. ... I watched the video and our hands were on their knees in a defensive posture. ” Phil Jackson Chicago head coach