Nick Medley/F.meraki
Senior Matthew Davis, the Ducks’ top finisher at the Pac-10 Championships in Eugene
earlier this month, leads Oregon into the NCAA Championships today in Lawrence, Kan.
■NMIHBWHI
Men to battle Arkansas for national title
By Scott Pesznecker
Oregon Daily Emerald
When the Oregon men's cross
country team competed at the
NCAA Championships last year,
it finished in eighth place.
Today, the No. 3 Ducks will com
pete again at the prestigious nation
al competition—and this time they
said they want to win it all.
"We have a good team,” head
coach Bill Dellinger said. “They
have a definite shot at winning the
title, but it will take top perfor
mances by all the guys going back
there, not just Matthew Davis or
Steve Fein.”
Going into the meet, the favorite
is No. 1 Arkansas. The Ducks have
not met Arkansas in competition
this season, but they have faced
their other major opponent, Stan
ford, on several occasions.
The Cardinal dominated Oregon
at the Pre-NCAA Invitational in
Lawrence, Kan., on Oct. 10, but nar
rowly escaped defeat at the Pacific
10 Conference Championships in
Eugene three weeks ago. The two
teams met last weekend at the West
Regionals, and Stanford won that
match-up as well.
“If each of our guys runs well
and can pick off
a couple of
guys, then we
should be good
in the stand
ings,” Davis
said. “As long as
hard in each of their races, includ
ing myself, then we’ll be success
ful.”
Davis and Fein are expected to
lead the Ducks today in Lawrence,
Kan. Rob Aubrey, Micah Davis,
Andrew Bliss and Greg James will
also run, as will All-American
Oliver Wirz. Wirz has not run for
the Ducks since the Pre-NCAA.
“I feel pretty comfortable,” Wirz
said. “I’ve put my work in for the
last couple of weeks and I have done
some good workouts. I know that
I’ve progressed since I ran the pre
nationals and I'm actually really ex
cited about racing. ”
Today’s meet will be the last of
Dellinger’s 32-year Oregon career.
"I’m looking forward to it,”
Dellinger said. “This is a great
group of individuals. It is the
finest team I think we’ve had in a
longtime. ”
This meet will also be the final
cross-country meet for Matthew
and Micah Davis, Aubrey and
James. Matthew said it is impor
tant for the team to remained fo
cused on its immediate goals.
“In the midst of it, this is just an
other race,” he said. “The realiza
tion that it is the end won’t happen
until later.”
Women hope for a strong season finish
by bcott Pesznecker
Oregon Daily Emerald
A difficult schedule finally
paid off for the Oregon women’s
cross-country team.
The No. 16 Ducks will compete
today at the NCAA Champi
onships in Lawrence, Kan., and
head coach Tom Heinonen said
the Ducks are “ready to go.”
“As long as it doesn’t rain to
make the course muddy again, it
should be pretty decent,”
Heinonen said. “Our team is
healthy, and we plan on being
rested by Monday.”
The Ducks earned an at-large
invite after their fourth-place fin
ish at the West-Regionals in Fres
no, Calif., two weeks ago, one of
just 13 teams to earn the honor.
Heinonen said in order to fin
ish well, the team must remain
consistent with what it has done
throughout the season.
“This race will be a matter of do
ing what we’ve been doing all year
long, neinonen
said. "Teams
that can do that
do well. ”
Today will be
senior Marie
Davis’ final
cross-country
meet tor Uregon. Davis, a two
time All-American, has finished
in the top five in all six of her
races this season. This meet will
also be the last for seniors Headier
McMahon and Liz Howell.
Katie Crabb, Annie Ebiner,
Robyn Sutherland and Kylee
Wells will also make the trip to
the NCAAs. Wells entered into
the Ducks’ starting rotation short
ly before last weekend.
Heinonen said he would like
to see Oregon beat UCLA and
Arizona State as it did at the
West Regional meet. However,
he said the unknown factor of
the meet is the size of the field,
which has been expanded from
22 teams to the national format
of 31 teams.
“I’d like to beat them again and
I’d also like to beat Washington,”
Heinonen said. “There are a lot of
other teams out there, and the
conference teams are submerged
in all those other teams that we
haven’t met.”
■9
Join the University Health Center’s
Tree Planting Commemoration
Tuesday, December 1,1998 at 12:00 p.m.
EMU Amphitheatre
Guest speakers will address current
World Aids Day topics and issues
Performance by UO Gospel Choir
A Japanese Styrex Tree
will be planted in memory
of UO students, faculty and
staff who have and who
will die of AIDS
U N J V E H S I T Y
^_HEALTH CENTER
We’re a matter of degrees ^
Open daily 8 mi. to 6 p.m.. except Tuesdays <9 a.m.i and Sundays (10 a.m.).
Appointments and after hows; 346-2770 • Web; darkw ing .«< iregon.cdu/*-u<whe