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Editor in chief: Laura Cadiz
Sports Editor: Tim Pyle
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Tomev nervous about UO
Mirjam
Swanson
Dick Tomey has his charges sweating down in
Tucson, Ariz. First, the Wildcats’ upcoming
date with Oregon has reportedly poured
some nervous energy into the Arizona camp.
With five games left in the regular season, Arizona,
the preseason No. 3 pick, is desperate to make up for a
disenchanting 2-2 start with a strong finish.
But before the ‘Cats can do that, they’ll have to deal
with the Ducks on Saturday night.
And that has Arizona concerned.
Tomey broke it down like this to the Arizona Repub
lic: “With [Oregon] coming off a bye, to me, this is the
biggest challenge we’ve had all year.”
Bigger than the Wildcats’ season-opening matchup
with Penn State, which became a high-profile embar
rassment as the Nittany Lions bowled over Arizona?
Yes, probably, considering the implications the game
could have on either team’s chances at a Pacific-10 Con
ference title.
Tomey continued: “We all know how we felt against
[Southern California] with an extra week of rest. [The
‘Cats won 31-24.] Plus, Oregon’s coming off two straight
losses, which will make them extraordinarily hungry.”
Oh, and the Ducks head to the desert remembering
last season’s 38-3 debacle, and with payback in mind.
The prospect of facing Oregon without starting quar
terback Keith Smith, who injured his ribs on the first
play of last Saturday’s win against Texas-El Paso, does
n’t give Arizona reason to rest any easier.
Secondly, several Wildcats must be sweating simply
because they’re neither getting the opportunity to catch
their breaths nor wipe the moisture from their brows.
Players like Dennis Northcutt are spending almost
the entire game on the field. Offensively against USC
two weeks ago, Northcutt manned his usual wide re
ceiver slot and caught eight passes for 121 yards. Defen
sively, he played comerback and managed to contain
the Trojans’ star receiver, R. Jay Soward. As if he was
n’t involved enough, Northcutt is also the Wildcats’
punt returner.
Other players doing double-time include Eli Wnek,
who has started at both defensive end and fullback. The
quarterback tandem of Smith — if healthy — and Or
tege Jenkins is still splitting snaps, but that doesn’t
mean that either is heading to the sidelines. When one
lines up at quarterback, the other has been sliding to re
Turn to Pac-10 notes, Page 8
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Todd Husak has helped make Stanford the Pac-10’s top scoring offense.
Jeffrey Stockton Emerald
The Oregon women broke into the top-25 poll for the first time this season after a strong 16th-place finish at the Pre-NCAAs.
Women join men
in top-25 polls
For the first time this
season, both the men’s
and women’s cross
country team are
ranked in the current NCAA
Coaches Top 25.
The women’s tie for 16th in
the talent-rich Pre-NCAAs
field Saturday pushed the
Ducks into the polls at No. 23
and has them in good position
to go after one of the 13 at
large berths for the NCAA
Championships on Nov. 22.
“We got at-large points that
we needed but missed a gold
en opportunity to get more,”
head coach Tom Heinonen
said. “The meet was really de
manding with it making up
about 90 percent of the nation
al-championship field, and
the experience that was
gained will help a great deal.”
On the men’s side, the
Ducks finished seventh over
all in Indiana, but dropped
three places in the polls to No.
12. The strong showing, how
ever, earned the men vital at
large points that greatly help
the Ducks’ chances of securing
a berth in the championships.
On the medical front
Both teams ran into physi
cal problems in Indiana with
one runner being pulled out of
a race and another collapsing
afterweird.
The women’s top returnee,
junior Katie Crabb, decided to
give it a go even though she
has been dealing with a nag
ging Achilles aggravation.
Crabb, who was pulled out of
a race in Notre Dame earlier
this month, gutted it out
through most of Saturday be
fore spotting Heinonen in the
crowd with one kilometer to
g°
“Katie somehow saw me in
the crowd and mouthed, ‘It
hurts a lot,’ ” Heinonen said.
“I hadn’t seen her until that
point, and I pulled her out of
the race when I did. We gam
bled twice with her and lost
both times.”
Crabb is unlikely to race in
the Pacific-10 Conference
Championships on Oct. 30,
and Heinonen lists her as
“possible” for the NCAA West
Regionals on Nov. 13. She will
begin running daily in a pool to
enhance the healing process.
A bright note for the women
is the health of freshman Amy
Nickerson, who had been bat
tling a mild Achilles aggrava
tion. Nickerson led Oregon for
the second time this fall with
her 32nd-place finish at the
Pre-NCAAs and has gone
through solid follow-up runs
Sunday and Monday.
The men had a scare after
Saturday’s race when fresh
man Travis Stehman col
lapsed after his run for the sec
ond time in as many races.
Stehman also collapsed after
his run in the Roy Griak Invi
tational on Sept. 25.
Oregon officials said
Stehman collapsed with a hy
poglycemic reaction. He was
taken to a hospital in Indiana
before returning to Eugene on
Sunday. Stehman was evalu
ated Tuesday by physicians,
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