UO takes part in top tourney
■ A youthful Oregon hopes
to gain valuable experience
at the Las Vegas Invitational
By Brett Williams
Oregon Daily Emerald
Tourists from everywhere flock
to Las Vegas to see if they can
make it to the top. The Oregon
wrestling team is gambling that its
hard work will pay off when it
competes today and Saturday at
the Las Vegas Invitational.
The tournament, not sponsored
by the NCAA, is a tuneup for
some of the best wrestling pro
grams in the nation. More than 40
schools from around the country
participate annually.
“This tournament is like [bas
ketball’s] Preseason NIT for
wrestling,” said Chuck Kearney,
in his second season as Oregon’s
head coach. “This is the who’s
who of college wrestling.”
The tournament consists of 32
man brackets, and some teams are
entering partial squads. Unlike
the last tournament the Ducks
participated in, team scoring is
kept in this tournament.
Oregon’s youth will be tested
early and often. Only two of the
Ducks’ starters — junior Doug Lee
and sophomore David Watson —
have experience in a competitive
college match.
“No one else has wrestled in a
college tournament of this magni
tude,” Kearney said. “This will re
ally open their eyes to college
wrestling. We’re so young that the
experience we need we can only
gain through competition.”
Kearney said many of his ath
letes are ready to break out of
shells and be
come top
wrestlers, and
this tournament
is an excellent
opportunity to
make such a
statement.
“Brian Watson is really close to
making that step,” said'Kearney
of David’s freshman brother. “Eric
Webb and Leif Williams are the
same. We could walk out after
this weekend and say that they re
ally matured.”
Freshman Tony Overstake gets
his first start of the season in the
149-pound weight class. Senior
Mark Castle, who wrestled ahead
of Overstake in Oregon’s first
three competitions, is recovering
from injury and was not cleared
to participate.
Kearney said he feels positive
about having Overstake in the
starting lineup.
“He’s a kid that will rise to the
level of competition,” Kearney
said. “It’s extremely good for him
because he’s on the border of be
coming a good college wrestler.”
Despite his inexperience, Over
stake is confident he will perform
well this weekend.
“I’m going to go as hard as I
can, and I expect to win,” Over
stake said. “I was talking to coach,
and he said I can surprise some
people because I’m a freshman.
I’m just going to wrestle as hard as
I can and do my best to win.”
The Las Vegas Invitational is
the beginning of the Ducks’ most
difficult month of the season. Ore
gon hosts defending Pacific-10
Conference champion Cal-State
Bakersfield on Dec. 11 and No. 4
Oklahoma State on Dec. 16.
Lee said the competitive tour
naments give the Ducks a good
tuneup before Pac-10 play begins.
“It’s important mentally be
cause it will give us confidence
later in the season,” said Lee, who
wrestles in the 184-pound weight
class. “How you do in the presea
son gives you confidence when
you face the same wrestlers later
in the year.”
No. 5 and No. 7 clash for SEC title
By Paul Newberry
The Associated Press
ATLANTA — It’s like old times
in the Southeastern Conference
championship.
No. 5 Florida and No. 7 Alaba
ma, who met in four of the first five
title games, face each other again
Saturday night after a two-year
hiatus, with a trip to the Orange
Bowl at stake.
“It seems like every time we go,
it’s always against Alabama,”
Florida coach Steve Spurrier said.
This year, neither team has a
chance at the national title and
there are no individual honors at
stake.
Alabama (9-2) overcame the
personal troubles surrounding
coach Mike DuBose and a humili
ating 29-28 loss to Louisiana Tech
to get this far. Florida (9-2) was
eliminated from the race for No. 1
with a 30-23 loss to top-ranked
Florida State two weeks ago.
“This is the biggest game of the
year in the SEC unless you’re in
the national championship
game,” Spurrier said. “And we’re
not going to be in it.”
The SEC champion earns an au
tomatic bid to the Bowl Champi
onship Series, expecting to face
Michigan in the Orange. The loser
Saturday probably will head to the
Citrus Bowl against Michigan
State.
Alabama won its last confer
ence title in the first champi
onship game, defeating Florida
28-21 at Birmingham’s Legion
Field in 1992. The Tide went on to
beat Miami in the Sugar Bowl and
claim the national title.
“Most of the time it’s been a
very competitive game that’s gone
down to the wire,” said DuBose,
an assistant during Alabama’s pre
vious trips to the title game. “The
one I remember most is the only
one we won.”
Florida won the next four SEC
titles, beating Alabama three
times. Tennessee has been the
Eastern representative the past
two years, defeating Auburn and
Mississippi State in the champi
onship game.
DuBose seemed unlikely to get
this far in August, when he admit
ted to lying about his personal re
lationship with a school employee
who settled a sexual harassment
claim against him. Alabama pun
ished the coach by cutting two
years and $360,000 from his con
tract.
After the Sept. 18 loss to
Louisiana Tech, which pulled off
the upset by throwing a fourth
down, 28-yard touchdown pass
with two seconds remaining, an
gry fans called for DuBose’s
ouster. The mood changed dra
matically two weeks later when
Alabama shocked Florida 40-39 in
overtime.
The Tide lost only one more
game the rest of the way, to Ten
nessee, and wrapped up the West
ern Division championship with
victories over Mississippi State
and Auburn.
Join us in
CELEBRATING
25 YEARS
OF BUSINESS
IN EUGENE
FREE BOOK BAGS OR T-SHIRTS
WITH EVERY $50 PURCHASE
IN NOVEMBER!
25% Off
ALL FICTION, MYSTERIES,
SCIENCE FICTION, HORROR
December 2-8
768 East 13th 525 Willamette
(near the UO campus) (across from the Post Office)
345-1651 343-4717
smithfambooks@uswest.net
| 3$ <pu ain’t make it dame fat Obiitmad... uie ddiim,. 4
I Eugene’s Flower Home
^ “‘7Ae UnivexAity &£exi»t”
call 485-3655
toll free 1-800-478-3655
or log on to www.ftd.com/eugenesnowerhome
Located close to campus 610 E. 13th Ave.
FTD% Delivery worhlu ide since 1022 • 21-liour order service
Owners an
HO Alumni
“37 years of Quality Service”
Mercedes • BMW • Volkswagen • Audi
German Auto Service
342-2912 • 2025 Franklin Blvd.
Eugene, Oregon, 97402
To earn a 4.00
in Brewology
all you need to
know is
STEELHEAD.
□ 9 Award-Winning Micro-Brews
□ Sonps, Salads n Ribs □ Fresh Pizza
□ Sandwiches n Pastas □ Burgers
□ Spirits □ Home-Made Rootbeer
TAKE A BREW HOME IN STEELHEAD'S BOX O' BEER
Steelhead Brewing Company
199 East 5th Avenue Eugene, OR Phone 680-2739
Eugene, OR - Burlingame, CA - Fisherman’s Wharf, San Francisco, CA - Irvine, CA
SPRING TERM IN
MEXICO
A Few Spaces Remain For The Intensive
Spanish Program In Queretaro Mexico.
MARCH 26 - JUNE 9!!
• Fulfill the University of Oregon’s Language
requirement in one term.
• Open to those with SPAN 102 or 112 or
equivalent proficiency.
• Your financial aid applies.
Act Immediately!
For an application go to:
Office of International
Education & Exchange
330 Oregon Hall
or call:
Jennifer Jewett
346 3207