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