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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (May 15, 2000)
Best Bet NBA Playoffs: Philadelphia vs. Indiana 5 p.m.,TBS Monday May 15,2000 Volume 101, Issue 152 EffieraM Softball will see familiar foe in first game ■ ino. iy uregon will play southern Mississippi tor the second time this season in its first game of the regional tournament By Matt O'Neill Oregon Daily Emerald Feelings of anticipation, nervous ness and anxiety were all going through the minds of the No. 19 Ore gon (34-27 overall, 6-12 Pacific-10 Conference) softball team Sunday. Again the Ducks had to wait to hear their name called by the NCAA selec tion committee. But, unlike last year the Ducks did not have to wait until the very last invites to see their name appear. - “Yeah, I was really nervous,” sen ior centerfielder Jill Robinson said. “I don’t really know how the selection committee works, and we had a bad weekend so I didn’t know if that would be the final determining factor for us.” One thing that Robinson and the Ducks do know is their first oppo nent. Fifth-seeded Oregon will travel to Baton Rouge, La., to face a familiar foe in No. 2 seeded Southern Missis sippi (56-10). The Ducks lost to the Golden Eagles in their first tourna ment of the year in the championship round. Southern Mississippi defeat ed Oregon, 3-0, behind the strong pitching of Courtney Blades, the all time NCAA strikeout leader. “This time of the year is always a stressful time of the year for us,” head coach Rick Gamez said. “Not only for the pairings, but also playing in the Turn to Softball, page 11 Kevin Calame Emerald Junior Santiago Lorens) picks up«73 of his second-place 7,649 points in the400at the end of day one of the Oregon Twilight. Lorenzo wins second in Pac-10 decathlon ■ California s Bevan Hart defends his title and wins with a score of 7,890, just missing the standard for the U.S. Olympic Trials By Scott Pesznecker Oregon Daily Emerald Gripping the pole with both hands and locking his eyes onto his target, Bevan Hart crouched down, rocked back and forth and prepared him self to vault the bar at 15 feet, 1 inch. The crowd, in true Tracktown fashion, rhythmi cally began clapping and stomping, urging the de fending Pacific-10 Conference champion to once again go the distance. But Hart needed to concentrate. He silenced the crowd with a few, short waves of his left hand, not once taking his eyes off of the end of the runway. Again, he rocked back and forth, and shouted some words of encouragement to himself. Then he took off, and smashed the height. Several minutes later, Hart was the only com petitor remaining in the pole vault portion of the Pac-10 decathlon championships, and he was still obliterating heights. He didn’t fail until 17-8 1/2. A new personal best for the soon-to-be champion. Hart won the Pac-10 title on Sunday with a score of 7,890, just missing the United States Turn to Decathlon, page 12 a I’m so happy. After the f irst day I wasn’t very pleased. But the hurdles came out very well, and I did my best three throws ever. Santiago Lorenzo decathlete jj Oregon men, women make the most of their last shot ■The Oregon men's track team closes its regular season with four personal bests at the Oregon Twilight By Scott Pesznecker Oregon Daily Emerald Steve Fein is back on track, literally. The Oregon senior who missed most of the outdoor season because of sinus prob lems competed in the Bill McChesney Jr. Memorial Twilight Mile — reputably one of the fastest mile races in the nation. And he finished third. The mile marked the end of the three hour Oregon Twilight meet, which is an nually designed to take advantage of dusk’s ideal track and field conditions. It worked, as three Ducks including Fein, sophomore John Bello and sophomore Cody Howell achieved personal bests. Sophomore Jason Boness notched a sea sonal best in the high jump. “I was really happy for Steve,” head coach Martin Smith said. “He broke four minutes, qualified for NCAAs and quite candidly, it’s good to see him running and running well again. “The focus right now is on the decath letes, that’s the Pac-10 Championships,” he said. “That’s really where we need to put our energy and really focus in on things.” Fein hung with a pack of post-colle gians, Olympic trial, Olympic and NCAA qualifiers en route to a third-place finish in 3 minutes, 59 seconds. It was the distance runner’s first-ever sub-4:00 mile, ranking him 21st among the 27 Ducks who have cracked the mark. “That was as good a mile race as you can come by,” Fein said. “The field was great. The talent level was in credible, and obviously, that’s what got us under four was the field.” Post-collegian Jason Pyrah won the mile with a time of 3:57.63. Before Fein thrilled the crowd with his electrifying run, it was Boness who was trying to break records in the high jump. The sophomore transfer from Northern Iowa set a seasonal best in the high jump, clearing the bar at 7 feet, 3 1/4 inches. On that jump, he clearly had a couple of inch es to spare between himself and the bar. “I should peak next week, and that 7-5 Turn to Men’s track, page 16 ■Several non-Oregon stars shine at the Duck-dominated Twilight, the final regular meet of the season By Mirjam Swanson Oregon Daily Emerald Marla Runyan, Elva Dryer and Cheri Ke nah punctuated Saturday’s Oregon Twilight by running the second-, third- and fourth fastest 5,000-meter races in the world this year, smashing Annette Peter’s nine-year old meet record in the process. Runyan won with a time of 15 minutes, 7.66 sec onds. Former Oregon great Marie Davis rode the pace, finishing 13th with a personal record of 16:5.84. Also, Katy Polansky, a current South Eu gene High School student and future Oregon student, produced an Olympic Trials quali fying mark (165-03) in winning the javelin event. But beyond that, Saturday’s last regular season meet at Hayward Field was all about the Ducks of now. It was quite the sight for the 3,210 on hand to see eight teammates dressed in bright green-and-gold take their places in the blocks for the 100 meters. Freshman Heather Murtaugh won the race (12.41). Endia Turn to Women, page 14 Kevin Calame Emerald Mary Etter earned her third Pac-10 mark in the hammer and earned marks in the shot put and discus.
