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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 5, 2000)
Thursday Best Bet MLB Playoffs Atlanta at St. Louis, Game 2 ESPN, 1:07 p.m. SPORTS EDITOR: JEFF SMITH Smittside@aol.com Dan Brunell Emerald Senior transfer Hanna Smedstad s path has gone from Sundsvall, Sweden, to Eugene and many other places in between. ■ Oregon is the fifth home in as many years for roving distance runner Hanna Smedstad By Robbie McCallum Oregon Daily Emerald By definition, the sport of cross coun try requires traveling long distances. Not only in terms of long mileage and late practices, but in going long dis tances to find meets. But Oregon senior Hanna Smedstad has taken the traveling theme to an ex treme. Over the years, the Swedish cross country runner has racked up many miles in her running shoes and on the road, traveling to different schools and races. Smedstad has attended four different schools and run for four teams in the past eight years. Before transferring to Oregon this fall, Smedstad attended Ok lahoma State, where she was an All American three times. The move to the west coast wasn’t the first time she changed places. Because secondary schools in Sweden do not of fer athletics along with academics, Smedstad had to attend a school 560 miles away because she wanted to run and study. “It was a tremendous distance from home,” Smedstad said. “But I still went because at home I was only running with nearby clubs and my high school didn't have a cross country team for me to join, like most high schools here do.” She spent three years at Kattgatt Gymnasiet, where she developed her running. After placing fourth at the Swedish junior championships, people began to take notice of the up-and-com ing star. But after high school, Smedstad still faced the same dilemma: European universities do not offer athletics. If she wanted to run and study in college, she had to go to America. (i So far so good. [Oregon is] a lot like Sweden — except for the rain. It's a lot easier to train here where it’s not so hot. In Oklahoma we would have to train in the morning. It’s better here. Hanna Smedstad Oregon senior Since Sweden isn’t known for its abundance in running talent, it isn’t a place where American universities re cruit heavily. After Smedstad graduated from Kattgatt, her family moved from Sundsvall, Sweden, to Kent, England. For a while, Smedstad worked as a ho tel receptionist in England. In the meantime, an article about Smedstad’s success at the Swedish jun ior level reached Oklahoma State coach Catrina Acosta. Turn to Smedstad, page 8A Oregon gets some rest after hot start in Pac-10 plav The Ducks are in the middle of their two week rest as they prepare to tackle the second half of their season By Scott Pesznecker Oregon Daily Emerald Oh, what a week for a bye. The Oregon football team rests this weekend after winning its first two con ference games against UCLA and Wash ington — probably the toughest games on its conference schedule. And the break comes not a moment too soon, as a few players were banged up while battling the Huskies. Among them was defensive tackle Walker Tem pleton, who will miss the rest of the sea son with a torn Achilles tendon. “It’s too bad for Walker to have to miss this season; he’s one of our better players this year,” said defensive end Saul Patu. “He’s worked very hard over the off-season to make himself injury free. “I have total confidence in the guys that were playing alongside Walker and playing behind him. We have to have confidence in them and have faith that those guys are going to step it up.” Tailback Maurice Morris could use the extra week of rest as much as any one. Morris, who has carried 122 times for 625 yards in his first five games as a Duck, sustained a toe injury against the Huskies and won’t practice until next week. Oregon head coach Mike Bellotti said his star tailback didn’t have turf toe and will be ready for Southern California, although team officials will be keeping a close eye on the injury. • • Cornerback Rashad Bauman and of fensive lineman Corey Chambers were among other lame Ducks after Satur day’s game. However, Bellotti said he expects everyone, save Templeton, to be ready to play against Southern Califor nia on Oct. 14. “It’s a good time to have a bye," Bel lotti said. “We’ve got a lot of nagging in juries that don’t go away in three or four days and 10 days to two weeks will give us a better chance to get those healed.” Offensive errors Against Wisconsin, it was dropped passes. Against Nevada and UCLA, it was sub-par passing. Most recently against the Huskies, it was a little bit of everything. Oregon has climbed to a No. 9 rank ing without much consistency in its of fense. Against Washington last Satur day, quarterback Joey Harrington completed just nine of 22 passes, the re ceivers dropped some easy catches and place-kicker Josh Frankel missed three field goals and an extra point. Harrington has connected on 47.3 percent of his passing attempts this sea son, down from last season’s mark of 53.2 percent. After the Washington game, Bellotti stood up for his starting quarterback. “He made a couple of throws that he’d like to have back, there’s no ques tion about it,” he said. “But on several throws, their defense did a very nice job • ’ Turn to Football, page 9A Oregon quarterback Joey Harrington and the offense hope to reload during the bye week.
