Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (April 6, 2001)
Friday Best Bet MLB: Seattle at Texas 5 p.m., Fox Sports Net SPORTS EDITOR: JEFF SMITH Smittside@aol.com Tough Pac-10 foes await Ducks in Bay Area ■ Loser of three straight, the Oregon softball squad hits the road to take on No. 4 Stanford and No. 5 California By Adam Jude Oregon Daily Emerald After two heart-breaking, seventh-in ning defeats at Portland State Tuesday, the Oregon women’s softball team is looking to turn its season around this weekend in the Bay Area. And, if you’re the Ducks, in the midst of a three-game slide and losers of eight of 11, the worst schedule to have is one in the Pacific-10 Conference. Head coach Rick Gamez, however, is trying to keep up his team’s optimism as they em bark on a three-game road trip against two of the nation’s top five teams. The Ducks (23-21 overall, 1-2 Pac-10) travel to San Francisco to take on No. 4 Stanford today for a 2 p.m. matchup, and No. 5 California on Saturday and Sunday. “It’s not easy going on the road, espe cially in the Pac-10,” Gamez said. “We’re just trying to keep the team posi tive and stay positive for seven innings.” At Wednesday’s practice, Gamez said the focus was for the Ducks to stay strong for the duration of the games. In Lorenzo displays ‘grit' in victory ■Junior Santiago Lorenzo beats top competition to pull off the comeback victory in the Texas Relays Decathlon By Jeff Smith Oregon Daily Emerald He was only 288 points behind the leader after day one. But did Oregon junior decathlete Santia go Lorenzo believe he could come from be hind Thursday to win the two-day Texas Relays Decathlon? “Not really,” Lorenzo said. Lo and behold, the junior surprised himself with a personal-best sec ond day performance to become the first Duck in 52 years to win the Texas Relays. But who could blame Lorenzo for doubting himself, considering the leader of the pack was none other than multi-event track and field star Trafton Rodgers, who was a three-time national champion and eight-time Division II All American while at Abilene Christian in the late 1990s? Rodgers, who was competing unat tached, stumbled in the 1,500 meters — the 10th and final event of the decathlon — and finished second-to-last in an unim pressive five minutes and 28.3 seconds. Rodgers’ slow time left the door wide open for Lorenzo, and the Duck took full advan tage. Lorenzo gave it his all in his last race of the day and came from 50 meters behind to catch up to unattached Allen Bullick, who had led throughout the race. The two creat ed a photo finish at the line, with Lorenzo’s final lean proving the difference as he earned first place in the event by a mere 0.08 seconds. Lorenzo’s winning time of 4:30.57 also proved to be the difference in the entire meet, as he won and earned an automatic qualification to the NCAA Championships in the process. His final point tally of 7,726 was 23 points ahead of second-place Rodgers and topped his previous career-high of 7,649, earned at last season’s Pac-10 Champi onships at Hayward Field. “I thought I could win among the colle gians but not against people like Rodgers,” said Lorenzo, who leaped 275 points over Rodgers in that final event. “Trafton ran re ally pathetically in the 1,500. I think he kind of let up a bit on that. I mean, 5:30 is a slow time. My grandma could run that time.” But don’t think the Buenos Aires, Ar gentina, native is complaining after climb ing from sixth to first place in the talented 18-person field. “It means a lot,” Lorenzo said. “It’s a Turn to Santiago, page 12 Geoff Thurner Oregon Media Services Oregon junior Santiago Lorenzo leaped a career-high of 15-9 in the pole vault (above) and launched the javelin 201-4, just a foot less than his personal best (right) during his victorious performance at the Texas Relays Decathlon Thursday. the second game of a doubleheader against Portland State, the Ducks sur rendered a three-run lead in the bottom of the seventh to lose 8-7. Portland State also won the first game in the last at-bat. “We’ve just stressed working hard for seven innings, which is something we fell short of in both games [against Port land State],” Gamez said. Gamez has not announced the starters Turn to Softball, page 12 No deadline for Runge analysis ■ Bill Moos says it’s ‘imperative’ that investigators have time to conduct a fair review of the women’s basketball program SOFTBALL By Adam Jude Oregon Daily Emerald Thursday’s breaking news is that there is no new news. Day 33 of the saga surrounding the Oregon women’s basketball program and head coach Jody Runge showed little sign of the controversy coming to an end any time soon. Kansas City law firm Bond, Schoe neck and King, hired by the Athletic Department March 27, is still looking into the matter and could take another two weeks to finish its report. On Sunday, Oregon Athletic Direc tor Bill Moos said he hoped that the in vestigators would be done by the end of the week, but in a statement released Thursday, he said he is not putting any pressure on the lawyers from Bond, Schoeneck and King. “There is a strong desire to bring this process to closure,” Moos said. “It is imperative, however, that the team be allowed to conduct its review in the professional, confidential, fair and ob jective manner that is consistent with the firm’s national reputation. “To ensure that end result, I have not set a deadline for the review, but have asked that the team focus on ensuring the review is thorough, impartial and fair.” The investigators have interviewed more than 80 people, including Runge, members of the Athletic Department, players, former players and communi ty members. The evaluations of the program stem from a March 4 meeting between Moos and eight unidentified players, who asked that Runge — the winningest coach in Oregon basketball history — be fired. “The review team will now assess the information it gathered and deter mine whether it requires additional in terviews or information before prepar ing its report,” Moos said. University spokeswoman Maureen Shine said Thursday that a two-week timeline is reasonable, but she does not know for sure when the evaluation will conclude. “We’re reluctant to put a time frame around it right now because we want the team of investigators to do what they have to do,” Shine said. “I would say that two weeks is practical, but we’re not going to hold ourselves or the investigators to that. “Just stay tuned.” MOOS Hto ensure that end result, I have not set a deadline for the re view, but have asked that the team focus on ensuring the review is thorough, impartial and fair. Bill Moo$ Oregon athletic director yy
