Football
Continued from Page 9
Jerry Brown’s 29 yards on 13
carries.
“We’re not very deep at run
ning back,” Oregon head coach
Mike Bellotti said on Saturday.
“But Derien Latimer and Kevin
Parker should be back for any
bowl game."
SMITH
As encour
aging as that
sounds, La
timer has 232
yards on 71
carries this
season for a
3.3 yard aver
age. Parker
has been a lit
tle more effec
u ve, averaging 4.5 yards per car
ry with 14 rushes for 63 yards.
“The running game kind of
sputtered today,” Smith said af
ter the game. “We need to have
a running game so the passing
game will be open, too.”
In the past three games, in
which the Ducks have rushed
for a total of 186 yards, Smith
has completed 75 of 115 passes
(65 percent) for 1,269 yards and
11 touchdowns.
Ducks honored at awards banquet
Smith and Droughns were
among those honored Sunday
night at the Ducks’ annual ban
quet at the Eugene Hilton.
Smith was named the Ducks’
most outstanding player after
setting a new Pac-10 record
with his 170.4 efficiency rating
this season. He also set school
records for touchdown passes
(30), passing yards (3,307) and
total offense (3,490) with one
game remaining.
Droughns joined kicker
Nathan Villegas as co-recipi
ents of the Len Casanova award
as Oregon’s top first-year play
ers. Both are transfers.
Droughns rushed for 824
yards and 11 touchdowns be
fore breaking his leg in the
Ducks’ loss to UCLA Oct. 17.
Villegas was successful on
all 52 of his extra-point at
tempts and hit 20 of his 22 field
goals, including his first 14 in
a row. He set a school record
for points with 112.
Droughns also joined Parker
as co-recipients of the Gonyea
Award as Oregon’s most inspi
rational players.
Parker played in just six
games but served as the team’s
most visible cheerleader with
his signature white towel
swinging over his head.
Also recognized were Chris
Vandiver and Jed Weaver as
most improved players, Josh
Bidwell as top special teams
performer, Stefan deVries as top
offensive lineman and top se
nior student-athlete, Damon
Griffin for playing through
physical adversity, Eric Ed
wards for most playing time and
Leie Sual ua as the top defensive
lineman.
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Basketball
Continued from Page 9
25 minutes. Point guard Darius
Wright got his first start and con
tributed 12 points and six assists.
The Ducks broke the century
mark for the second time in their
two exhibition games despite the
absence of offense from guard
Terik Brown, who led the team
in scoring last season. Freshman
Freddie Jones started in Brown’s
usual off-guard spot, and Brown
did not respond well by going
scoreless in 11 minutes, Kent
said.
“I didn’t think he got himself
ready to play. Therefore, he did
n’t play a lot of minutes because
he really wasn’t productive
when he got on the floor offen
sively or defensively,” Kent
said.
Though he is encouraged by
Oregon’s prolific offensive pro
duction so far, Kent said the
Ducks need to improve defen
sively to win road games.
“You have got to defend on the
road,” Kent said. “Because if you
don’t you're going to be in trou
ble.”
If the Salukis cannot give Ore
gon a formidable challenge, the
Ducks will have to look no farther
then their Monday nonconfer
ence game against defending Na
tional Invitation Tournament
champion Minnesota for a real
test.
Wrestlers head to Mat-Town
By Scott Pesznecker
Oregon Daily Emerald
Many teams try to get “up and running” to open
their regular seasons. However, the Oregon wrestling
team would rather do the opposite — start its season
on the ground.
The Ducks hope to do just that on Saturday at the
Mat-Town USA Invitational, hosted by Lock Haven
at the Thomas Field House in Lockhaven, Pa.
WRESTLING
“It is important for the guys to
go out and be the aggressors,” Ore
gon’s first-year head coach Chuck
Kearney said. “We must be physi
cal and do the things we talked
about in practice.”
Three teams that received pre
season top-25 rankings by Amateur Wrestling News
will be at the tournament, as well as 13 individuals
who are ranked in the top 8 of their weight classes.
Kearney said the competition will be tougher than it
was last Saturday at the Southern Oregon Open in
Ashland.
“We’re getting outside of our certain comfort zone,”
Kearney said. “Anytime you wrestle in the state of
Oregon against teams from predominantly the north
west, these guys have wrestled those people all their
lives. When we travel, obviously we’re meeting
against people who are a little bit foreign to us."
Oregon’s Chael Sonnen, who is currently ranked
fourth in the nation at 197 pounds, will be hungry for
a win at the tournament. Last year at Mat-Town, Son
nen lost in the championship round to third-ranked
Mark Bodo of Pittsburgh. And at the Ducks’ most re
cent tournament, Sonnen lost in the final round to
Shane Zajack of Oregon State.
Sonnen should have an easier time on Saturday.
The only other ranked wrestler he will face is No. 18
Shawn Scanned of Rider.
“I’m excited for the tournament, definitely,” Son
nen said. “I want to go out and wrestle, especially af
ter last weekend. Getting to the finals last year at this
tournament and again last weekend and coming up
short isn’t too fun. I’m ready to go.”
Daryl Christian will wrestle in the 157-pound
weight class, a group that includes No. 2 Clint Muss
er of Penn State and No. 14 John Fogarty of Cornell.
No. 9 Sean Morgan will also wrestle in difficult
company, grouped with Bucknell’s Brian Pitzer, who
won the 158-pound weight class title last year. No. 11
Doug Lee will fight for the 184-pound title with Ross
Thatcher of Penn State and Dave Murray of Lock
Haven, who are ranked ninth and 10th, respectively.
“We need to quit thinking too much,” Sonnen
said. “The guys talk themselves out of winning. I’ll
look up and see guys sitting in the corner focusing
and all this stuff that I don’t understand. We need to
just go out there and fight until the match is over,
then go home. It’s simple.”
Ducks will face tough postseason
uy Allison koss
Oregon Daily Emerald
The Oregon volleyball team had hopes of reaching
postseason play this season. It wanted a berth at the
NCAA Tournament.
Unfortunately, the Ducks’ 8-21
I iMilWMI
overall record and 3-15 record in
the Pacific-10 Conference did not
qualify them for the tournament.
However, Oregon will compete in
some tough postseason competi
tion this weekend when they trav
el to California to compete in
L.ong Beacn state s annual
Thanksgiving Tournament.
Oregon will go against Oral Roberts on Friday and
Illinois State on Saturday to finish out its 1998 season.
“We feel this is a chance to prove to the other
teams how tough the Pac-10 is,” Oregon middle
blocker Alii White said. “It’s tough to get to the tour
nament because we’re in the toughest conference.
That’s our drawback.”
The tournament features six teams, including No.
1 Long Beach State and No. 11 Santa Barbara.
Although Oregon won’t play a ranked team in the
tournament, Illinois State has received votes for the
Associated Press Top 25 poll. The Redbirds finished
the season 21-7 overall and placed second at the Mis
souri Valley Conference Tournament last weekend.
“This is a great way for us to get some competi
tion,” Illinois State representative Tom Lamonica
said. “If we don’t get an NCAA bid (after this tourna
ment] this will help us see how we size up against
some of the best teams.”
Oregon is coming off a tough loss to Oregon State
last weekend, but it didn’t deter the Ducks’ motiva
tion going into this weekend’s tournament.
"We aren’t going to change anything,” White said.
“We are going to focus on our middle attack and our
offense,” White said. “If we pass the ball well, there
is no telling what we can do.”
In four seasons as head coach, Cathy Nelson has
led the Ducks to a 36-82 overall record and has yet to
make an NCAA Tournament appearance.
! Sports briefs
Oregon has strong
showing at Nationals
The Oregon Club Sports men’s
soccer team made a good show
ing at the National Champi
onships in Statesboro, Ga., last
weekend, marking the fourth
straight championship appear
ance by the Ducks.
The Ducks (15-4-4) made it
into the quarterfinals before los
ing 2-1 to eventual runner up
Virginia. Oregon advanced to the
second round by finishing sec
ond in its bracket with a win over
Armstrong Atlantic State and a 0
0 tie against Houston.
Forward B.J. Perrett led the
Ducks with three goals and Andy
Lanier and Ross Minckler added
two goals apiece in Oregon’s 7-0
rout of Armstrong Atlantic on
Thursday. The Ducks had a
chance to claim first in their
bracket Friday morning, but they
lost 3-2 to James Madison after
taking a 1-0 halftime lead.
forward
Chad Wright
was named to
the all-tourna
ment team for
the second sea
son in a row.
lne players are voted onto the
team by the coaches and players
from other tournament teams.
Louisiana State concluded the
championships Saturday with a
1-0 victory against Virginia.
Equestrian team
claims top honors
Thirteen members from the
Oregon Club Sports Equestrian
team competed in an intercolle
giate horse show hosted by
Brigham Young in Provo, Utah,
over the weekend.
The team won the English
High Point and the Western High
Point team awards with top fin
ishes in each event. Oregon also
swept first, second and third
place in the Advanced Stock Seat
II division with Christina Gomez
Novy, Megan Starkey and Megan
Robinson taking home top hon
ors.
Overall, Oregon was able to
bring home five first-place
ribbons, seven second-place
ribbons, one High Point rider
award and 11 other ribbons for
general excellence in
competition. Every Oregon rider
was able to place in her weight
class.
The competition was the
second of the Intercollegiate
Horse Show Association’s fall
season. Oregon’s next
competition will be hosted by
UC Davis in Davis, Calif., on
Saturday Dec. 12.