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June 1,2000
Volume 101, Issue 164
Emerald
Ducks set to make
presence known at NCAAs
■ Oregon makes its first showing at the NCAA Championships
as three athletes compete on day two of the four-day meet
By Jeff Smith *
Oregon Daily Emerald
The national rankings are im
pressive.
But to prove those rankings on
the national stage would be even
more convincing.
Oregon track athletes Mary Et
ter, Katie Crabb and Steve Fein
will get the opportunity to do just
that today in the second day of the
NCAA Outdoor Track and Field
Championships in Durham, N.C.
The three are the first Ducks out
of the seven Oregon competitors to
compete against the nation’s elite.
Etter gets things kick-started as
she competes in the women’s dis
cus at 4:30 p.m. The redshirt
freshman is seeded 16th in the na
tion after heaving a personal best
discus throw of 173 feet-11 inches
at the Pacific-10 Conference
Championships last week.
She has been known to be “un
predictable,” but that’s what
makes her appearance at the
NCAAs so intriguing.
She’s '‘kind of like a firecracker
in a heated box,” throws coach
Sally Harmon said. “You just don’t
know' when it’s going to go off.
And that’s exciting.”
Harmon then
goes on to com
pare her with a
famous box-of
fice hit.
“You know
that movie
‘There’s Some
thing About Mary’?” Harmon
asked. “That’s her. There’s some
thing about Mary. She’s very excit
ing.”
Two other Ducks who are “very
exciting” in their own right are
1,500 meter runners Fein and
Crabb.
Fein, ranked sixth in the nation,
will get the shot to make up for an
up-and-down spring when he
competes in the 1,500 Qualifying
at 7:55 p.m.
The senior will see a familiar
face in South Alabama freshman
David Kimani. Back in the fall, the
two were a part of a memorable
three-man finish at the NCAA
Cross Country Championships in
which Kimani took first and Fein
captured third.
Third-place was not exactly
where Crabb envisioned finishing
at her final Pac-10 meet, but at
8:10 p.m. tonight she has the
chance to atone for the slight dis
appointment in the 1,500 Qualify
ing run.
At stake is the prestigious All
American honor that eighth-seed
ed Crabb has set as her personal
goal.
“She’s got a great chance,” head
coach Tom Heinonen said. “She’s
got to run smarter and finish
strongly, and she’ll be fine.”
Santiago Lorenzo and Niki Reed
will compete on Friday while Ja
son Boness and Karis Howell have
to wait until Saturday to show
what they can do.
Oregon bids farewell to seniors and eyes its future
Kevin Calame Emerald
Sophomore catcher Missy Coe (above) made the AII-Pac-10 Conference second team while, Andrea
Vidlund (8) learned from seniors Jill Robinson (middle) and Lindsey Welch.
■The No. 19 Ducks made
the NCAA Regionalsand
had six players selected to
All-Conference teams
By Matt O'Neill
Oregon Daily Emerald
(There were some lofty goals
set in the beginning.
Some of them were met, some
were not.
But overall, the Oregon soft
ball season was a success as the
No. 19 Ducks made their second'
consecutive trip to the NCAA Re
gionals, falling one game short of
the coveted College World Se
ries.
If it were not for All-American
Courtney Blades of Southern
Mississippi, Oregon would have
made only its second trip to the
CWS in school history.
“We definitely should have
gone,” senior Jill Robinson said.
“When things don’t turn out the
way you wanted, you have a ten
dency to look back at them as a
' failure. But I don’t think that our
season was a failure.”
Taking a look back over the
season in which the Ducks fin
■ ished 36-29 overall, it can defi
nitely be seen as a season of
records and streaks.
Robinson and fellow departing
seniors Lindsey Welch and An
drea Gustafson
left their marks
in the Oregon
record books.
All three were
named to the
honorable
mention All
Pacific-10 Conference team.
Sophomore pitcher Connie
MGMurren joined the seniors on
the honorable mention All-Con
ference team. Missy Coe and Tri
awn Custer were named to the
All-Conference second team.
Robinson etched her name
atop both the single-season and
career home run categories.
Her 15 four-baggers pushed
her ahead of Katie Mackey for
most in one season and her 33
career total puts her two ahead of
Kathy Stahl.
“You come in as a freshman
and say ‘I can get up there,’”
Robinson said. “I’m glad that I
broke these records because I
worked hard.”
Along with her home run ac
Turn to Softball, page 16A