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May 31,2000
Volume 101, Issue 163
Emerald
Fein is ready to rock
and UO ready to roll
■ Steve Fein wants to overcome adversity and
cap a brilliant collegiate career with a top finish
in the 1,500 at Thursday’s NCAA Championship
By Scott Pesznecker
Oregon Daily Emerald
Before the start of the
outdoor season, before fin
ishing first among colle
gians and 14th overall at
the World Cross Country
Championships, before his
third-place finish at the
NCAA cross country meet
and possibly before he
knew he’d ever don a
Duck uniform, Steve Fein
knew he wanted to be the
best. Not just one of the
best. Not just another All
American, because he has
already done that six
times.
Fein never wanted just a
piece of it — he wanted
the whole thing.
After putting the finish
ing touches on a stellar
cross country season, it
looked as if the whole
thing was in reach.
It would have been sto
rybook. Fein finishes third
at the cross country
NCAAs, ducking under
Bob Kennedy’s course
record.
Fein
gains
strength
and
wins the
NCAA
5,000
meter title. Then, in his
first move as a post-colle
gian, Fein makes a strong
showing in July’s 2000
Olympic Trials.
Fein’s career thus far is,
without a doubt, storied.
But heading into Thurs
day’s NCAA Champi
onship competition, what
lies ahead for the Oregon
senior cannot be so easily
read.
Three Ducks extend
their season to this week’s
NCAA meet. Jason Boness
competes in the high
jump, still fresh from leap
ing a school-record height
of 7 feet, 5 inches, and his
first Pacific-10 Conference
title. Santiago Lorenzo rep
resents Oregon in the de
cathlon after finishing as
conference runner-up
three weeks ago.
And Fein, who took sec
ond place in the Pac-10
5,000, his signature event,
will also compete at the
NCAAs — but in the
1,500, at 7:45 p.m. Satur
day. “I’m not a miler by na
ture,” Fein said. “The
mile’s kind of an interest
ing little race, especially at
Turn to Fein, page 12
Emerald
Steve Fein (7) runs to a second-place finish at the Pac-10 Championships but hopes for more at the NCAAs.
Four Ducks are hoping to fulfill potential at NCAAs
Karis Howell is hoping to put a tough Pac-10 Championships behind her by shining at the NCAA Championships.
■ Karis Howell is one of four Oregon women
who take on the nation at this week’s NCAA
Championships in North Carolina
By Mirjam Swanson
Oregon Daily Emerald
Javelin thrower Karis
Howell wasn’t trying to
deal with the media last
week.
Fair enough. Howell
likely wants to focus on the
task at hand and avoid dis
traction or added pressure
to an already intense situa
tion this week at the NCAA
Outdoor Track and Field
Championships beginning
today in Durham, N.C.
Howell claimed All
American status as a fresh
man with her lOth-place
finish at the NCAAs in
1997. Last season shoulder
surgery caused her to red
shirt. And now she is com
ing off a woeful Pacific-10
Conference Champi
onships on May 20 in
which she entered the meet
as the conference’s leading
thrower—her best mark of
166 feet, 4 inches was five
feet farther than any of her
opponents’ best — but fin
ished seventh with a be
low-par throw of 139-6.
It seems logical then,
that Howell wasn’t trying
to feed the hype now.
“We’re trying to go in
cognito,” throws coach
Sally Harmon said. “She
would rather slip through
the back door and do her
thing and be done with it,
instead of having huge
hype, because then she’s
gonna be all concerned
about not letting other
people down. And we
don’t want that.”
Especially after an up
and-down season in
which
she set
her sea
s o n a 1
best ear
ly on
March
26 but
then struggled to return to
her true, pre-injury form.
Actually, it wasn’t the
smoothest season for any
of the four Oregon women
— one freshman, one
sophomore, one junior
and one senior — who
compete in North Carolina
this week.
Katie Crabb spent almost
all of her senior season as
the Pac-lO’s leading 1,500
meter runner, with her best
time (4 minutes, 19.88 sec
onds) coming at the Mt.
SAC Relays on April 15.
But Crabb finished third
at the conference champi
onships on May 21 after
not winning a 1,500 race
this spring.
Sophomore pole vaulter
Niki Reed was a fourth
place finisher at this year’s
NCAA Indoor Champi
onships, an All-American
last season for her fifth
place finish at the NCAAs
and is Oregon’s all-time
leading vaulter with her
13-foot, 1 1/2-inch effort
on April 22.
Turn to Women, page 12
She
does very
well when
she's in
face-to-face
competi
tion. She
puts the
cap on real
tight, and
she gets
ready to
fight the
big kids.
Sally Harmon
throws coach
about
freshman
Mary
Etter