Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012, November 24, 1998, Page 5, Image 5

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TUESDAY
Nov. 24,1998
Best Bet
College Basketball
Maui Invitational
4 p.m., ESPN
Women race ahead, men fall short at NCAAs
We women exceeded their
expectations by finishing 12th
and beating season rival
Arizona State at nationals
By Scott Pesznecker
Oregon Daily Emerald
It was a tale of two finishes for Oregon at
the NCAA Cross Country Championships in
Lawrence, Kan., on Monday.
One story was of triumph while the other
was of disappointment.
The Oregon women’s team did not meet
their expectations at the NCAAs — it ex
ceeded them.
The No. 16 Ducks beat their season-long
rival Arizona State by 150 points to finish in
12th place with a final team score of 384.
“Our runners ran their hearts out today,”
women’s head coach Tom Heinonen said.
“It was a really tough competition with 250
runners, making it even more challenging
on this hard course. I thought we handled
r
the pressure really well.”
Marie Davis led the Ducks by finishing
ninth overall with a time of 17:16.06. Davis
said that she ran so hard during the race that
afterwards she couldn’t move or speak.
“I kept remembering, ‘This is the last one,
said. I wasn't so con
cerned that this is my se
nior season, but just that
this was the last meet of
the season.”
After the race, Davis
was awarded her third
nu-rniiencan nonor. uniy mree otner
women runners in Oregon’s history were
three-time All-Americans: Kathy Hayes in
1981 to 1984, Penny Graves from 1986 to
1988 and Milena Glusac from 1993 to 1997.
A balanced attack by the remaining Ducks
lifted the team in the standings. Heather
McMahon finished 90th with a time of
18:10.66. Katie Crabb finished 99th, Liz
Howell finished 148th and Annie Ebiner
finished 257th to round out the scoring.
Robyn Sutherland and Kylee Wells fin
ished for the Ducks but did not score.
“We fought through it,” Davis said.
"There were a lot of teams from the region
that got here. But we did well, so we're hap
py-”
Villanova won the women’s NCAA title
with a score of 106, and Brigham Young fin
ished in second with a score of 110. Michi
gan’s Katie McGregor won the NCAA indi
vidual title with a time of 16:47.21.
The No. 3 Oregon men’s team had a "le
gitimate shot at winning the title,” accord
ing to head coach Bill Dellinger. But the
Ducks didn’t finish first or second or even
third. Instead they finished in fifth place
with a final team score of 233.
The conclusion of the race marked the
end of Dellinger’s 32-year career as head
coach. Monday’s race was the fifteenth top
five finish achieved by the Ducks under
Dellinger’s leadership. For the first time this
season, Matthew Davis failed to lead the
Ducks to the finish line. The senior finished
in 45th place with a time of 31 minutes, 21.5
seconds. Steve Fein finished in 18th place
to lead the men with a time of 30:51.60.
But the day was not lost for Davis and
Fein. Davis was awarded his third All
American honor and Fein received his sec
ond. Andrew Bliss ran his best race of the
season to finish third for the team and 48th
overall. Rob Aubrey and Micah Davis fin
ished 90th and 92nd, respectively, to round
out the Ducks’ scoring.
Also finishing for the Ducks was Oliver
Wirz in 133rd place and Greg James at
140th.
No. 1 Arkansas won the NCAA title and
No. 2 Stanford finished in second. Colorado
and Michigan edged Oregon to finish third
and fourth.
Colorado’s Adam Goucher won the indi
vidual NCAA title with a time of 29:26.90.
Abdi Abdirahman of Arizona placed second
overall and Butler’s Julius Mwangi finished
third.
Oregon 105, Global sports 77
Oregon men win big in final tuneup
Despite 22 turnovers, ihe
Ducks defeated a team of
post collegians on Monday
By Michael Hines
Oregon Daily Emerald
Oregon head coach Ernie Kent called
Monday night’s 105-77 exhibition defeat
of Global Sports at McArthur Court a
good tuneup.
And the Ducks needed the warm-up,
which came in front of6,494 fans, because
this was their last exhibition game before
heading into the meat of a tough non-con
ference season. The Ducks travel to South
ern Illinois on Saturday before facing Mi n
nesota in Minneapolis on Monday.
“I thought it was a great game, just for some
guys to gain some confidence and some min
utes,” Kent said.
Oregon, which won
its non-conference open
er over Coppin State 77
62 on Nov. 15, showed
its offensive potential
with a few high-flying
dunks and solid perfor
mances from junior A.D.
oiiuui ana senior iviiKe Larson on Monday.
But the Ducks also showed the tuneup
was needed. Smith led the Ducks with 23
points and 17 rebounds but also commit
ted five turnovers. The 7-foot Carson
made six of seven field goals and finished
with 15 points in 25 minutes.
Oregon was feeding Carson the ball to
prepare for the ensuing road trip, in
which 6-9 sophomore Flo Hartenstein
will still be ineligible for academic rea
sons. Chris Christoffersen, a 7-2 center,
did not play in Monday’s game. He re
cently aggravated a bruised sternum in
practice and might play limited minutes
this weekend, Kent said.
“When you look at our depth, it’s there.
Our talent is there,” Kent said. “We just need
to go on the road now and go through some
adversity. That adversity is going to allow us
to grow and come together as a team. ”
The Ducks gave fans a glimpse of the
future at Monday’s game when Freddie
Jones and Alex Scales traded alley-oop
passes to each other. Scales scored six
consecutive points for the Ducks midway
through the second half and added four
assists and 11 rebounds.
Nick Medley/Emerald
Junior Donte Quinine is about to hammer home the final points in Oregon’s 105-77 victory as time runs out.
Oregon ran
disheartened
in Corvallis
So there I was, a sitting duck in a Cor
vallis bar, amidst a swarm of Beaver
fans. Not to worry, I thought, 1
planned to just sit back and watch
the No. 15 Ducks silence these drunken
hopefuls.
After all, Oregon had redeemed itself de
fensively the week before with a 51-19 win
over Arizona State. Oregon held the Sun
Devils to just 117 yards rushing after Ari
zona State had rushed for more than 400
jaiuo circuital uic uuLKa int;
previous season. That win,
along with the Washington
victory on Nov. 7, reassured
Duck fans that Oregon
could stop the run, and was
the premier team in the
Northwest.
So there I sat, with my
cocky, “give-it-up-Beaver
fans,” attitude, and I was
thinking: There is no way
Oregon is going to end this
stellar season with a loss to
—gasp — the Beavers.
Opinion
A
Allison
Ross
But as the game progressed and Oregon
State starved Oregon’s running game and
ran over its defense, I began to realize the
cockiness of Duck fans and their players
would not be enough to derail this obsti
nate Beaver squad.
As I stood in line for the bathroom, I was
forced to listen to inebriated Beaver fans
discuss how Oregon State simply would
not lose this game. The more beer these
fans consumed, the more confident they
became. And nearly every play seemed to
give Beavers fans reason to high-five and
send vicious glares in my direction.
All week, Oregon players said they
would prepare for Oregon State like they
prepare for any other team. But as I remem
ber the week prior to the Arizona State
game, there was a different level of intensi
ty. Oregon wanted Arizona State — they
hadn’t beaten the Sun Devil’s during head
coach Mike Bellotti’s tenure. Arizona State
had embarrassed them last year. Oregon
craved that win, and they played like it.
On Saturday, the Oregon State football
Turn to ROSS, Page 8