Duck women crave for more
■ Oregon looks ahead to a
promising spring schedule
after enduring and up-and
down fall season
By Jeff Smith
Oregon Daily Emerald
The best is yet to come.
Renee Baumgartner knows her
No. 21 Oregon women’s golf team
“has always been a spring team.”
That’s why she shows no signs
of doubt, although her team com
pleted its fall schedule in Jekyll
and-Hyde fashion.
“We have the whole package,”
Baumgartner said. “They’re un
believably talented and want to
be one of the best teams in the
country. We just need to trust it
and really believe in ourselves.”
There was the encouraging sea
son-opening seventh-place finish
at the NCAA Fall Preview on
Sept. 13-15 in a field that includ
ed the top-21 teams in the coun
try.
“It was our first tournament of
the year, and we went out there
and made a statement,” Baum
gartner said. “It was a very criti
cal tournament for us to partici
pate in and gave us great
confidence.”
But then came the disappoint
ing Oregon Invitational, in which
the Ducks let California overtake
them on their home course dur
ing the final day to win the tour
nament.
A mere four days later, there
Oregon was, breaking records
and winning the Fall Nittany
Lion Invitational with a three
round school-record total of 885.
Senior Pam Sowden led the team
with a six-under-par 210, which
r
included tying the school mark
for a low round with a 68.
“The highlight of the fall was
definitely Penn State,” Baumgart
ner said. “The team chemistry
was incredible, and all of the girls
played so tough. The players had
never played there before and
that was exciting, and they tend
to play better when they’re excit
ed.”
The joy didn’t last long as the
Ducks faltered in the Stanford In
vitational on Oct. 22-24, finishing
tied for 16th out of 18 teams.
They ended their fall in better
shape at the Hawaii Fall Golf
Classic on Nov. 9-10, but even a
second-place
finish left Ore
gon craving for
more.
“Personally,
we should have
won that tour
nament,” Baumgartner said. “We
only lost by six shots to UCLA,
and we shot a 316 on that last day
compared to our average round of
305. Maybe it was another sign to
us saying that we shouldn’t rest
on our laurels and to capitalize
on our time off that we have to
improve.”
The Ducks return to action on
Feb. 21 when they take part in the
Arizona Wildcat Invitational.
They have reason to be optimistic
for a successful spring as two ma
jor tournaments are played in
their own backyard.
Oregon gets to host the Pacific
10 Championships on April 24
26 at the Eugene Country Club
and the NCAA Championships
are in Sunriver on May 24-27,
where the Ducks already played
Fall Results
NCAA Fall Preview
Tie 7th place
Oregon Invitational
2nd (Sowden tie 5th)
Fall Nittany Lion Invitational 1 st
(Sowden 1st)
Stanford Invitational
Tie 16th
Hawaii Fall Golf Classic
2nd (Sowden, Rizzo tie 4th)
at the Fall Preview.
“It’s going to be an exciting
time with us having the home
court advantage,” Baumgartner
said. “We’re going to play that
much better because we’ll have
our fans cheering us on, and our
five seniors will do anything they
can to go out with a bang.”
i i I truly believe, when all
is said and done, we’re
going to rise to the top. J J
Renee Baumgartner
Women’s golf coach
Those seniors are Anika
Heuser, Claire Hunter, Angie Riz
zo, Kylie Wilson and Sowden.
Baumgartner, who is expecting
her second child in March, will
step down as coach after this sea
son and feels blessed to have
such a great group.
“I truly believe, when all is
said and done, we’re going to rise
to the top,” Baumgartner said. “It
makes me so proud to know that
I’m finishing my career with a
class act of girls. That’s all you
can ask for as a coach.”
Young Oregon men
expect improved spring
■ The Ducks hope the
inexperience that hampered
them in the fall pays turns
into consistency for spring
By Matt O’Neill
lor the Emerald
With the fall schedule com
pleted, head coach Steve Nosier
can take stock of the Oregon
men’s golf team’s situation. He
finds the results of the fall cam
paign mixed.
“We had our ups and downs
during the fall,” Nosier said. “We
didn’t shoot ourselves in the foot,
but we certainly didn’t help our
selves either.”
One of the main reasons for the
inconsistent play is inexperi
enced players pressed into tour
nament action, according to
Nosier. With most of his top play
ers graduating, Nosier used as
many as four first-timers in a giv
en tournament.
“Last year, we had some more
experienced players, so we did
n’t have to use as many inexperi
enced players at the same time,”
Nosier said. “The new kids had
to take a big step, very quickly, in
adjusting to the next level.”
However, some of those new
faces did impress Nosier with
their play down the stretch. Chris
Carnahan played well, despite
his lack of experience at the col
legiate level.
“Some of the younger guys like
Carnahan really made some
strides,” Nosier said. “He played
consistently for all four tourna
ments.”
Fall Results
Northwest Collegiate
3rd place
Pacific Invitational
8th (Lavoie 4th)
Husky Invitational
2nd (Lavoie 2nd)
Pepperdine intercollegiate
Tie 5th (Carrahan 8th)
While Nosier is still looking for
consistency from his newcomers,
he is comfortable with the play of
his senior and co-captain Ryan
Lavoie, who had
both a second
and fourth
place finish dur
ing the fall.
“Ryan wasn’t
quite up to the
standard he set during the sum
mer, but he was still pretty con
sistent,” Nosier said.
One thing that Nosier takes
away from the fall schedule is the
fact that most of the newcomers
did get much-needed experience,
which helps them prepare for the
Pacific-10 Conference. He knows
that, if the team plays up to its ca
pability, the Ducks will be in the
hunt for postseason play.
“We know that we have to be
prepared and tee it up every
time,” Nosier said. “Last year at
this time, we were basically qual
ified for regionals. This year we
have to play to our capabilities
before we can think about that.”
The Ducks return to the greens
at the end of January, when they
head to the Arizona Invitational.
UO students
drinks
when they party
2606
Data taken from 1998 uo Health center Survey. Office of Student Life