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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (April 7, 2000)
Best Bet NBA: Minnesota vs. Sacramento 7:30 p.m., TNT Friday April 7,2000 Volume 101, Issue 126 Kmerakl Emerald Top-flight COMPETITION The men’s track and field team has an early season opportunity to show it can run with the big boys (above) Despite a sore hamstring, jun ior high jumper Ky ley Johnson hopes to begin his drive fora second Pac-10 title, (left) Senior Colin McArthur hopes to finish his collegiate career with more Pac-10 points in the long jump. By Scott Pesznecker Oregon Daily Emerald Those who go to Oregon’s second home meet of the season this Saturday may be in for something special. But don’t blink, or you might miss it. No, Oregon’s relay teams aren’t quite that fast, but some of Stanford’s are. And if Cardi nal head coach Vin Lananna decides to let his second-place NCAA Indoor team run wild at the Hayward Relays, the Ducks could have fast times awaiting them. The Cardinal’s distance medley relay team took first place at the NCAA Indoor meet last month in a world-record time of 9 minutes, 28.83 seconds. Oregon sprinter Ross Kremp ley describes Stanford’s 4x800 relay team as “crazy.” Can the Ducks’ relay squads possibly match up with that? Maybe Oregon can’t break a world record... but, Oregon’s 4x400 relay team did almost make the NCAA Indoor meet, missing a pro visional time by about one second. “We’re really close, we could [qualify] in both of them, really,” said long jumper Nat Johnson, who plans to compete in the relays. “We have some good people running on our team. I think we could have some good Turn to Men’s, page 9 On tap What: Hayward Relays track and field meet Who: Oregon, Air Force, BYU, C$ Fullerton, Col orado, Colorado State, Minnesota (M), Northern Arizona, Portland, San Diego State (W), Stanford, Washington When: Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4:15 p.m. Where: Hayward Field OFF AND RUNNING The season gets rejuvenated this Saturday as the Oregon women’s track team hosts many top teams in the prestigious Hayward Relays By Jeff Smith Oregon Daily Emerald Katie Crabb is sick. She has been battling an ongoing flu and cold. A nagging bug that just doesn’t seem to go away. But that’s not stopping the en gaging smile from surfacing on the senior long-distance runner’s face. Yes, there’s a reason Crabb is, as she says, “pumped.” She’ll tell you that she’s ex tremely excited for Saturday’s Hayward Relays that features many of the country’s superior teams. No itty-bitty cold is going to keep her off the track this weekend. “It’s going to be a spectacular meet,” Crabb said. “It’s always seemed to make for a great race. And there’s nothing compared to running here at home.” The Hayward Relays mark Oregon’s second home meet of the season, and definitely its biggest home competition of the regular season. It also shifts the track and field season into high gear, as the women will compete in a different meet every week end from now until they host the Pacific-10 Conference Champi onships on May 20-21. In Ore gon’s previous meets they have had two week intervals to pre pare. “This weekend is the begin ning of a march to the Pac-10 Turn to Women’s, page 10 Emerald Sophomore runners Nattalie Wright and Endia Abrante and junior pole vaulter Karina Elstrom are among the Ducks hoping to capitalize on energy at the Hayward Relays. Ducks seek stability against top-ranked teams Emerald Christi Shelton is the Pac-10 Player of the week after hitting two home runs and driving in six runs in three games. ■ Oregon looks tor consistency at the plate and on the mound as it faces Washington and UCLA By Matt O'Neill Oregon Daily Emerald This weekend marks the be ginning of spring in Eugene. No, it doesn’t say so on a cal endar, or in the Farmer’s Al manac. Spring begins because the No. 23 Oregon softball team has its first Pacific-10 Confer ence homestand starting today. And what better way to open up the home season than against the defending national champions and the No. 1 team in the nation. Something that senior Lindsey Welch said the Ducks are ready for. “We just need to make sure our bats are working,” Welch said. “We need to keep each other pumped up and not have a let-down.” Oregon will open the homes tand against defending national champ No. 3 UCLA today at 2 p.m. at Howe Field, before host ing No. 1 Washington Saturday and Sunday. The Ducks are coming off a weekend trip to Arizona in which they either scored ten runs in a game or were held to three or less. It’s something that head coach Rick Gamez would like to see change during the homestand. “We’re playing No. 1 and No. 3, so runs are going be hard to come by,” Gamez said. “We’re going to try to manufacture runs as best we can.” During an offensive outburst that saw the Ducks explode for ten runs against Arizona State last Saturday, sophomore Christi Shelton, this week’s Pac-10 player of the week, hit her first home run of the season and knocked in five runs. How ever, the very next day, Oregon came back against the same Sun Devils and dropped a 7-3 deci sion, something that Shelton points to as a motivation. “[The loss] will make us more hungry,” Shelton said. Turn to Softball, page 12 On tap What: Softball Who: No. 3 UCLA vs. No. 23 Ore gon When: 2p.m. Where: Howe Field
