Scoreboard
UO track & field:
Head coach Martin Smith
announced Monday that the
Oregon men’s track and field
team has signed its first group
of high school athletes for the
upcoming season.
Two of the state’s best pole
vaulters, Trevor Woods and
Caleb Krantz, will be Ducks, as
well as New York-native Aaron.
Emery, who is one of the na
tion’s top-50 distance runners.
Baseball:
CHICAGO (AP) — The deci
sion by the White Sox to post
pone Monday’s game might
benefit them more than the
Mariners, but Seattle manag
er Lou Piniella wasn’t com
plaining anyway.
The game between the
White Sox and Mariners was
called because of cold weath
er and will be made up as a
doubleheader Aug. 8.
“I think it’s very prudent on
their part to cancel the
game,” Piniella said. “I know
it’s darn cold and it’s miser
able and we went through
three days of this in Detroit
and it wasn’t any fun. This is a
Green Bay Packer day.”
NFL:
ELLENSBURG, Wash.(AP) —
Central Washington University
running back Dan Murphy has
signed a free-agent contract
with the Dallas Cowboys.
Murphy was not selected in
last weekend’s NFL draft, but
he says he received calls from
both Dallas and the Seattle
Seahawks.
“When the Seahawks called,
they were still trying to figure
things out," Murphy said in a
CWU news release. “They left
things kind of open. But when
the Cowboys called, they were
ready to offer a deal. That was
enough for me.”
He will report to a three-day
minicamp in Dallas on April
27 and return May 16.
“The Cowboys said they’d
have only their starting full
back in camp, so they wanted
another one,” Murphy said.
Olympics:
LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP)
— Don’t believe all that bad
news coming out of Sydney as
the Olympics approach — it’s
all media hype and political
grandstanding.
That’s the message from a
top International Olympic
Committee executive on the
eve of a review of Sydney’s
preparations for the games.
With less than five months
before the opening ceremony,
Sydney appears mired in trou
ble — from ticketing contro
versies, labor disputes and
threats of violent protests by
Aboriginals.
Best Bet •
NBA: Seattle vs. Sacramento
7:30 p.m., TNT
Sports
Tuesday
April 18,2000
Volume 101, Issue 133
Emerald
A record-setting run
... ,. Kevin Calame Emerald
Jill Robinson has spent her final season closing in on several Oregon records. She’s one home run away from tying Katy Stahl for most career home runs, with 31.
UO rides streak into second half
Some
record
setters have
led the
Ducks to a
comfortable
mid-season
spot and
have them
poised for a
good second
half of
season play
By Matt O'Neill
Oregon Daily Emerald
The first half of the Pacific
10 Conference softball season
was a half of streaks. The No.
23 Oregon Ducks (29-17 over
all, 4-6 Pac-10 ) are in the mid
dle of a five-game winning
streak, the last three wins com
ing in the Pac-10. But before
this current stretch, the Ducks
dropped five in a row — all
conference games.
During the losing streak,
Oregon’s offense only managed
15 hits in five contests, four of
them being the home stand
which included No. 1 Wash
ington, No. 3 UCLA, and No.
12 Oregon State. Freshman
Andrea Vidlund managed the
homestand’s only run on her
first home run of the season.
As the Ducks’ luck changed
so did their offensive effective
ness. In the last five wins, Ore
gon bats have produced 33 hits
and 23 runs.
The power has returned as
well. There were six home
runs, a double and 22 runs bat
ted in.
Senior Andrea Gustafson led
the weekend charge, going four
for 10 with two RBIs in three
games against No. 9 Stanford
and No. 8 California.
Assault on the
record books
Senior cen
ter fielder Jill
Robinson has
spent her final
season as a
Duck rewrit
ing many of
the Oregon ca
reer records. Coming into the
year, Robinson was tied with
SOFTBALL
teammate Triawn Custer for
fifth all-time in home runs
with 18. She was sixth in RBIs
with 91 and seventh in hits at
165.
With 12 round-trippers on the
year, Robinson has moved into
sole possession of second-place
with 30 — only one behind
Kathy Stahl at 31. While her 38
RBIs are second on this year’s
team behind Lindsey Welch’s
40, Robinson remains second
behind her teammate with 129
career RBIs, 10 behind Welch’s
all-time mark of 139.
Robinson has climbed four
spots on the hits list so far with
her 47 base hits this year. Her
212 career hits are third best in
Oregon history, and she is only
22 hits behind Julie Cavanaugh
for No. 1 all-time.
Like Robinson, Welch is aim
Turn to Streak, page 9
Oregon
leaders
Batting average
Custer .388
Robinson .348
Gustafson .341
Coe .336
Weich .325
On-base
percentage
Custer .453
Robinson .418
Welch .411
Coe .403
Gustafson .401
Oregon athletes make most of weekend
A couple of
Oregon Club
Sports cyclists
are among the
many Oregon
athletes in
weekend
competitions
By Inge McMillen and Shigenari
Matsumoto
for the Emerald
Sunday marked the final
stage of the Tour of
Willamette stage race and a
temporary end to the suffer
ing for the two Oregon club
cyclists who competed.
It’s the natural elements as
well as the steep, grueling
course that makes tl\p Tour
one of the toughest stage
races in the United States,
said Oregon’s Daimeon
Shanks, who raced for
Hutch’s bike shop team.
“It’s a step up from any
thing else you can do around
here,” Shanks said. “The size
and the quality of the field is
just a great experience.”
The rain made the narrow
roads slick, and marginal race
planning at times compro
mised safety in several stages.
During Sunday’s road race,
one field of racers descended
a large hill that another group
was climbing, resulting in
two crashes between bicy
clists.
Additionally, a section of
the
race
cov
ered a
gravel
road
where
racers
e n -
countered flat tires and other
mechanical problems.
“But you can’t let yourself
get knocked around,” said
Shanks, who was crashed
into by an out-of-control rid
er. The other rider was lean
ing on Shanks for several
minutes before he finally fell
down, leaving Shanks behind
the main field for a while as
he struggled to keep his bal
ance, stay upright and count
er the weight of the other.
Shanks expects the experi
ence from the large, long race
to add to his ability to race in
other competitions beyond
the collegiate level later this
season. While he thinks he
will always be involved in bi
cycle racing, he does not an
ticipate becoming a profes
sional racer.
“To be a professional racer
involves incredible amounts
of pain, dedication and sacri
fice for very little reward,”
Shanks said. “This is nothing
Turn to Club Sports, page 8
(( Tobeapro
fessional racer
involves incredi
ble amounts of
pain, dedica
tion and sacri
fice for very lit
tle reward.
Daimeon Shanks
Oregon cyclist