Best Bet NBA Playoffs, Utah vs. Portland 7:30 p.m., TNT Tuesday May 9,2000 Volume 101, Issue 148 Emerald Seniors still want year to end at World Series Kevin Calame Emerald Senior Andrea Gustafson still hopes to be playing after the regular season ends next Sunday. ■As the season winds down, seniors reflect on their careers, and fresh man look to the future Softball Notes By Matt O'Neill Oregon Daily Emerald It was a great final week end for the seniors — espe cially roommates Jill Robin son and Andrea Gustafson. Robinson set two new records, one for career home runs (32) and another for single season homers (15). But, for Gustafson, it was the second of the two records that was especially sweet. “I knew it was gone right when she hit it,” Gustafson said. “I was so happy for her. It’s especially nice because I was on second. It was a relief to score in the first inning.” As one of four seniors on the team, Gustafson is sad to see her career coming to a close. But she also realizes that it has been a wild and exciting ride for them in their final campaign. “We’ve had our ups and downs,” Gustafson said. “But Sunday’s win has hopefully taken the monkey off our backs and we can now play more relaxed.” Gustafson said Sunday’s pregame ceremony for the seniors was nice, but captur ing the win was even better. With the final game at Howe Field finally over, she real ized how emotional that last contest turned out to be. “It was hard to stay fo cused for the whole game — it was really emotional,” Gustafson said. “I had this feeling for a couple of weeks now, and now that it’s over, it’s kind of sad. But it was great that everyone pulled together and got the win.” On the horizon While Gustafson and her fellow seniors had time to reflect Sunday, they know they have some work to be done. The Ducks still have to play No. 1 Washington and No. 3 UCLA on the road. But Sunday’s win does a lot for Oregon’s confidence for the final weekend. “Mentally, it takes the pressure off us,” Gustafson said. “Hopefully we can go there and steal a few wins.” Stealing a few wins will give the Ducks one last chance to impress the NCAA selection committee. Even though Oregon is ranked No. 16, Gustafson is still nervous about her team’s chances. Last season the Ducks found themselves in a similar situation in which they were the final team posted on the board. This year, however, Ore gon has a certain factor in its favor: sitting one game ahead of the No. 9 California . Turn to Softball, page 12 Oregon women s esteem furthers success of team ■The maturing track team is learning its lessons in the value ofconfidence Track Notes By Mirjam Swanson Oregon Daily Emerald Confidence is an impor tant thing, members of the Oregon track and field team will tell you. Pole vaulter Karina El strom knows it. Hurdler Lucretia Larkin knows it. And middle distance run ner Katie Crabb does too. Elstrom, an All-Ameri can pole vaulter last sea son, underwent medical meniscectomy knee sur gery last October. Once Oregon’s record-holder in the event, she hadn’t been the same since the surgery — at least not until Sunday. At the Steve Scott Invita tional at UC-Irvine, the jun ior led the women’s track and field team by vaulting 12 feet, 6 3/4 inches. That’s 3 1/4 inches higher than she had all season. “I was waiting for that all season,” Elstrom said Mon day. “I was totally excited to go down there. It was so warm, and there was no rain; there was a tailwind there because it’s kind of by the ocean. “And I was in the ideal mindframe too.” Meaning, of course, that she was confident — at last. “I’ve been having some problems with confidence after the knee surgery,” El strom said. “Pole vaulting is a mental sport. If you’re not mentally there then it’s an impossible event. After my surgery it was so hard to thing to think of myself as a good vaulter still.” The same goes for her teammates. The throw ers. The distance runners. The sprinters and hurdlers. Redshirt freshman Lu cretia Larkin, herself on the rebound from a stress frac ture in her leg last season, seems also to have located that sometimes-elusive confidence. The hurdler said she’s translated the conviction her coaches TurntoTrack, page 13 ^ It was frustrating to not be running the times I’ve been capable of, but then PR-ing, it means everything to me. Lucretia Larkin freshman hurdler Freshmen highlight women's mediocre lacrosse season Catharine Kendall Emerald Oregon Club Sports women’s lacrosse team member H’rlna De Troy lunges fora ball during practice. ■Two members of the women’s lacrosse team are selected to compete at nationals By Lisa Toth and Shigenari Matsumoto Oregon Daily Emerald They were sunburned and smiling when the Oregon Club Sports women’s lacrosse team re turned to Eugene from the Pacific Northwest Lacrosse Associ ation Tournament at Delta Park in Portland April 29. Despite the team’s three loses, two freshmen brought back their own victories. Defensive wing Terra Cloyes and attack wing Karen Stoker made the cut for the Division IV team that will compete at the national tournament sectionals on Memorial Day weekend in Longmeadow, Mass. The tournament is the highest level of competition for West Coast teams. Recruit ing coaches from West Coast schools will also be observ ing the players. The two-hour scrimmag ing tryout process “was an intimidating experience be cause the women were skilled athletes,” Cloyes said. Cloyes said playing with competent athletes in the se lection process had its ad vantages. “You could count on someone to be where you expected them to be,” she said. Stoker, a Massachusetts native, added that one of the reasons she tried out was the chance to fly home. She also said that although the nerve racking tryouts are over, she and Cloyes now have the task of keeping in peak con dition for nationals. Overall, the Oregon women’s lacrosse team had a rough season. Its only win was the first home game of the season against Pacific Lutheran University. The student-facilitated, two-hour practices three times a week with games every weekend from March through May kept the ath letes in good spirits despite seven defeats. Cloyes said the 18 play ers, mostly beginners, have grasped the concept of ball handling 1 complete TumtoCIt.* S,Hrts,page 16