Wednesday
April 14,1999
Best Bet
NCAA Basketball
Kentucky vs. Tennessee
6:30 p.m., ESPN
r
Girvan finds home away from home
Embraced
by a family
with a long
history in
Oregon
track,
Richard
Girvan finds
success far
from his
roots
a I heard
horror
stories about
how
American
athletes
were pushed
too hard,
but I always
wanted to
be in
America. >>
Richard Girvan
UO runner
By Allison Ross
Oregon Daily Emerald
As Richard Girvan crosses
the finish line less than one sec
ond ahead of a Stanford runner,
the Northern Ireland native
glances to the crowd, extends
his arms and nods his head.
After the brief recognition,
Girvan embraces Bill and Mar
sha McChesney — the parents of
former Oregon runners Billy and
Tom McChesney. Both Billy and
Tom enjoyed success at Oregon,
and Bill still holds the record in
the 5,000 and 10,000 meters.
But Billy and Tom were not
waiting for Girvan at the finish
line with their parents. The two
men lost their lives in two sep
arate car accidents — Tom in
1986 and Billy in 1992.
Girvan first met the McChes
neys after Bill’s Rotary Club ap
proached him about a scholar
ship that would honor his family.
“We’re Irish, so we said, ‘How
about someone from Ireland?”’
Bill said. “We never even
dreamed he would be a runner.”
The Rotary scholarship was
not a track scholarship, so Gir
van was unable to run for the
first five months he was in Eu
gene. Then former head coach
Bill Dellinger granted Girvan,
who had won 10 national titles
in Northern Ireland, a track
scholarship.
Girvan made an instant im
pact, securing the team’s season
record in the 800 in 1997.
To accept the track scholar
ship, Girvan had to give up the
Rotary scholarship and move
out on his own.
“I still see [the McChesneys]
every Sunday,” Girvan said.
“They’ve given me a home life.”
Perhaps his trip to America
was not under usual circum
stances, but in his final year of el
igibility Girvan is prepared to
leave on a high note. Already this
season he is inching toward a
provisional NCAA qualifying
mark in the 800 after failing to
qualify by half a second last year.
“The last two years have been
about improving," Girvan said.
“I just need to step it up a level.
I would like to qualify for the
NCAAs so I can sit back and fo
cus on training and not worry
about my times.”
Earlier this season, Girvan
finished second at Washington
State behind NCAA champion
Bernard Lagat with a time of
one minute, 52.75 seconds. He
improved his time last Saturday
at the Hayward Relays, running
the final 800 meters of the
4x800 relay in 1:49.1.
It was just the finish Oregon
needed in an event that had not
been run at Hayward Field in
years. For fans who weren’t sure
what to expect,
Girvan gave
them what
they needed to
see, and when
it was all over
he acknowl
edged the standing crowd and
headed for the McChesneys.
“Officials aren’t supposed to
be yelling,” said Bill, who calls
the splits at Oregon’s home
meets, “but I was screaming my
head off. I used to do that with
my boys, too.”
After a successful stint on the
European racing circuit that in
cluded running a personal best
1:49.13 at the British National
Championships, Girvan wanted to
come to the United States, he said.
“I heard horror stories about
how American athletes were
pushed too hard,” Girvan said,
“but I always wanted to be in
America.”
The McChesneys had no idea
what to expect the day they
went to pick up the first recipi
ent of the scholarship that was
in memory of their sons, but
Girvan knew who he was going
to be staying with.
“He got off the plane and he
knew every time that my sons had
Turn to GIRVAN, Page 16
Nick ModkyUmeraU
After coming to Oregon from Northern Ireland, senior Richard Girvan hopes to finish his career with an NCAA bid.
Ducks begin extended home stand against Vikings
Oregon will
seek a
winning
remedy after
losing three of
four last
weekend on
the road
By Tim Pyle
Oregon Daily Emerald
Everything was not bright and sunny for
the Oregon softball team Tuesday.
In preparing for today’s 1 p.m. double
header against Portland State at Howe
Field, the No. 12 Ducks were coming off
three losses in four league games last week
end in the Bay Area.
Worse yet, senior pitching ace Jennie
Cook was not practicing — and will not be
for about two to three weeks.
In the top of the seventh inning of Ore
gon’s second loss at Stanford on Sunday,
Cook swung at an inside pitch from a Car
dinal pitcher. But the only thing she hit
was her thumb against the ball, breaking it
in the process.
Despite the loss of Cook, who ranks third
on the Ducks’ all-time pitching wins list,
Oregon head coach Rick Gamez is confi
dent his team can survive in the rough
and-tumble Pacific-10 Conference.
“One of the things about this team is
they’ve got a lot of character,” Gamez said.
“We’ve had some key injuries before. This
year, we had Triawn [Custer] and Tia Du
mas go down, and the team responded real
well.
“They’ve been in a good frame of mind,
real positive. One of the good signs about
this team is that somebody will step up.”
In Cook’s absence, the
starting pitching load
will fall on freshman
Connie McMurren and
junior Danielle Haag,
while Bethany Smith
and Maegan Christie will
continue to work out of
the bullpen.
Before losing to Stanford on Sunday, Mc
Murren had tossed two straight shutouts,
one against Oregon State and one at Cali
fornia. She has nine wins, and Haag, who
has come out of the bullpen during Pac-10
play, has eight.
In the Vikings, Oregon (30-13 overall, 5-5
Pac-10) receives a brief respite from the rig
orous conference season.
The Ducks were scheduled to play at
Portland State on March 31, but the dou
bleheader was rained out and rescheduled
for April 22.
“They’re gonna be a scrappy team,”
Gamez said. “We’re gonna have to come
out and score a lot of runs, do all the little
things correctly, stay aggressive and make
sure we play hard for seven innings.”
Offensively, Oregon will try to break out
of the low-scoring lull that the Cardinal
pitchers put it in by allowing just five Duck
runs Sunday. Notably absent in those loss
es was Oregon’s power, which has already
flexed for a team-record 50 home runs this
season.
Today also marks the beginning of a
stretch in which the Ducks will play 11 of
13 games at home after playing at Howe
Field in just three of its first 43 games. And
the only road trip is the rematch with the
Vikings in Portland.
“It’s so good to be home,” Gamez said.
“We’re just excited to play at home in our
own ballpark and see what happens.”
On tap
What: Softball
doubJeheader
Who: No. 12
Oregon vs.
Portland State
When: Today,
1p.m.
Where: Howe Field