Ducks venture into great outdoors
■ Both track teams kick
off their 2000 outdoor
seasons at the Oregon
Preview Saturday
By Robbie McCallum
for the Emerald
The many newcomers on the
Oregon track and field team will
get their first taste of outdoor com
petition Saturday at the annual
Oregon Preview. In all, 18 women
and nine men will compete out
side for the first time in a Duck jer
sey.
The meet will be the first out
doors for the entire Duck squad,
which recently wrapped up its in
door season on Feb. 25 at the
Mountain Pacific Championships.
The Preview is “a stepping
stone in the development of the
Track and Field season,” men’s
head coach Martin Smith said.
“It’s really just a get-the-kinks-out
type of meet.”
This weekend’s meet at Hay
ward Field will be non-scoring
and will host college teams from
around Oregon.
Leading the Oregon newcomers
are two freshmen distance run
ners, Jason Hartmann and Amy
Nickerson. Nickerson led the
women’s cross country team this
fall, while Hartmann was third
among true freshman at the
NCAA Cross Country meet.
Other freshmen expected to con
tribute early are Mary Etter and
Doug Sells in the throws, Foluso
Akindarewo and Jenny Brogdon in
the jumps and Tara Struyk and Kris
Martin in the middle distances.
Several athletes who redshirted
in 1998-99 will return to action
this spring, giving the Ducks a ma
jor boost. Returning Saturday are
senior distance runners Andrew
Bliss, Adam Bergquist and Laird
Prosser and sophomore pole
vaulter Cody Howell.
Senior Steve Feine returns for
the men. Coming off of a third
place finish at the NCAA Cross
Country meet and a strong show
ing at the USA Cross Country
Championships, the senior trans
fer is ready to lead the long dis
tance corps.
Also returning for the Ducks is
junior Kyley Johnson. He won the
Pacific-10 Conference high jump
title as a freshman and has a life
time personal best 7 feet, 1/2 inch.
The Grants Pass native had a
strong indoor season, coming
within one inch of his PR at the
Iowa State Classic.
Joining Johnson in the high
jump is sophomore-transfer Jason
Bonnes. Bonnes did not compete
during the indoor season but will
contribute early with a lifetime PR
of 7-4 1/2.
Seniors Nat Johnson, Howard
Moore and Jermaine Hanspard
lead the sprinting crew. Freshman
football players Samie Parker and
Ric Cottengim will also aide in the
100 and 200 meters.
Sophomore John Bello looks to
get back on track after a strong in
door season. The former football
player put an indoor PR of 57-7
1/2 inches at the Mountain Pacific
Championships, surpassing his
outdoor PR of 53-1. Juniors Rian
Ingrim and Ryan Keith and fresh
man Adam Kriz also return.
For the women, seniors Katie
Crabb and Hilary Holly provide
leadership and ability. Crabb leads
the middle distance runners while
Holly has the best mark of any Duck
in the long and triple jumps.
Although Oregon will be with
out All-American sophomore
Nikki Reed, who is competing at
the NCAA Indoor Championships
in the pole vault, it will have jun
iors Karina Elstrom and Holly
Speight.
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All-American runner
might transfer to UO
■ Hanna Smedstad visited
the campus last Friday and
met with Oregon coaches
By Scott Pesznecker
Oregon Daily Emerald
Oklahoma State’s Hanna
Smedstad, a three-time All
American distance runner, said
Thursday that she might transfer
to Oregon to study psychology in
graduate school.
The Sundsvall, Sweden, na
tive would join the Ducks in time
for the cross country season this
fall.
Smedstad visited the Oregon
campus last Friday, where she
met with women’s track and
field head coach Tom Heinonen
and some members of the team.
Smedstad said she was pleased
with Eugene and the campus.
“It was nice, I liked it,” Smed
stad said.
“I’ve met quite a few [people
on the team]. I went to eat with
some of them, and then I met a
few of them on the track, too.”
Smedstad never lost a regular
season race during the 1999
cross country season. In the 1999
Outdoor Big-12 Conference
Championships, Smedstad fin
ished fifth in the 3,000 meters
and ninth in the 5,000.
If Smedstad transfers, she will
be the Ducks’ most-seasoned
runner.
“If I can be a leader, that would
be good,” Smedstad said.
Transferring “depends on
many different things, so I’m not
sure. If I transfer, I’ll probably go
to Oregon.”
The senior was the Cowgirls’
lone representative of the 1999
NCAA Cross Country Champi
onships, where her 18th-place
finish in 17 minutes, 13.90 sec
onds, resulted in her third All
American honor.
At the 1999 NCAA Indoors,
Smedstad placed 11th in the
3,000 and won her second All
American honors as the anchor
for Oklahoma State’s eighth
place distance medley team.
Smedstad’s first All-American
season in 1998 was capped with
a 28th-place finish at the NCAA
Cross Country Championships.
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