Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (April 9, 2001)
Monday Best Bet High School Basketball: Roundball Classic 6 p.m., ESPN2 SPORTS EDITOR: JEFF SMITH Smittside@aol.com UO men’s track scores high marks in Texas Harris, Bello and Woods join the Oregon NCAA qualifier club with wind aided marks in Texas By Robbie McCallum Oregon Daily Emerald Athletes at Oregon are used to deal ing with the elements when competing. The Oregon men’s track and field team took a break from the cold rain of Eu gene for the high winds and muggy temperatures of Austin, Tex. Several Ducks recorded solid marks despite high winds at the Clyde Little field Texas Relays. Three Ducks earned NCAA provisional qualifying marks to bring the Oregon total to five. Junior transfer Micah Harris led the Ducks on the track. The former junior college All-American placed third in the 110 meter hurdles, earning an NCAA qualifying mark in only his third race in a Duck uniform. Harris’ time of 13.8 seconds moves him to second on the all-time school record book. “I got out strong, and everything con tinued to go great from there,” Harris said. “Coming in, we had been focus ing on this meet for a while so I was ready to put it on the line. I just tried to stay relaxed and focused, get out fast and continue to push through the line.” On Friday, redshirt junior John Bello came from behind to win the shot put on his final throw. The Alta Loma, Calif., native trailed Purdue’s Nick Swathwood with one attempt remain ing. Bello then tossed a personal best 59 feet, nine and 3/4 inches to edge Swath wood by a mere nine inches. Bello now ranks ninth nationally. Bello faced less favorable winds in the discus competition, but still man Turn to Men's track, page 10 Emerald junior Micah Harris now ranks second on the all-time school record list for the 110-meter hur Stranded: Oregon softball loses sixth consecutive R. Ashley Smith Emerald Sophomore Lisa Wangler tallied the loss in the Ducks’ 8-0 besting by No. 4 Stanford Friday, after giving up seven runs on seven hits. ■ UO senior Triawn Custer’s record-breaking day is overshadowed by a 9-4 loss to No. 5 Cal on Sunday By Adam Jude Oregon Daily Emerald Another bad hop just leaped up and hit the Oregon soft ball team in the face... well, make that three bad hops. Already in the midst of a three-game losing streak head ing into the weekend, the Ducks (23-24 overall, 1-5 Pacif ic-10 Conference) dropped three more games to two Pac 10 foes. In Berkeley Sunday, the Ducks put some runs on the board, but committed three errors in a 9-4 loss to No. 5 Cali fornia. Senior Triawn Custer’s record-break ing home run — the 34th of her career, the most ever by a Duck — scored jun ior Missy Coe and cut the Bears’ lead to 3-2 in the fourth inning. But sophomore Andrea Vidlund got into trouble in the bottom of the fourth, giving up four runs, including a two run homer by Cal’s Veronica Nelson, her 14th of the sea “I’m happy with the way we battled,” head coach Rick Gamez said. “I’m sure Triawn would have wanted the win, but that’s a great accomplishment for her.” Vidlund, who tallied the loss, was relieved by Connie McMurren with just one out in the fourth. At the plate, Vidlund hit a two-run home run in the sixth to provide the eventual final score. Cal’s Nicole DiSalvio (15-1) picked up the win, allow ing five hits in six innings and striking out eight. The Ducks Turn to Softball, page 10 Little-used players shine in first football scrimmage ■The Ducks partake in their first scrimmage of the season with the starters serving as mostly spectators By Jeff Smith Oregon Daily Emerald Quarterback Joey Harrington completed three out of his four passes for 42 yards. Tailback Maurice Morris ran five yards in his only carry. Looking at the numbers of those two, one thing’s clear about the Ore gon football team’s first scrimmage of the spring: It was a chance for the re serves to strut their stuff. The Ducks ended their opening week of spring practice Saturday afternoon with a one-hour scrimmage inside the friendly confines of the Moshofsky Center. Leading the way amongst the back-ups were quarterback Jason Fife and tailback Ryan Shaw. When asked for his overall assessment of the scrimmage, head coach Mike Bellotti de scribed it as being “okay.” “We did not plan to play our acknowledged starters a great deal,” Bellotti said. “We want ed to give them a little bit of work but the ma jority of time spent live this spring will be with our twos and threes to determine who has gotten better, who has elevated their game and should be playing for us. ” Fife took a major step in securing the No. 2 quarterback position behind Harrington by competing seven of 11 passes for 119 yards. Among those completions were a 13-yard touchdown pass to receiver Paris Warren and a 15-yard scoring dart to tight end Willie Walden. “Jason Fife got an extended opportunity and I thought did some good things,” Bellotti said. “He improved today.” Two other quarterbacks also received some playing time with freshman Chris Lombardo having a solid 3-for-4< outing for 60 yards. Lombardo also threw for two scores, a 25-yard touchdown pass to receiver Cy Ale man and a 30-yard scoring strike to Gary Daniels. Redshirt freshman quarterback Scott Vossmeyer was incomplete on all three of his pass attempts. As for the running game, Shaw led all rush ers with 33 yards on four carries, while Voss meyer was the second-highest with 10 yards on two quarterback sneaks. Onterrio Smith, the hyped transfer tailback from Tennessee, was held to seven yards on four carries. Warren led all receivers with two catches for 49 yards, while Keith Allen hauled in three passes for 46 yards. Defensively, Bellotti pointed out the play of defensive end Quinn Dorsey and line backer Wesly Mallard. Of course, perfection is hard to come by during the first week of spring ball and Bel lotti was quick to point out the areas that the Ducks need to improve upon. “We need to do a better job on first downs — both sides of the ball,” Bellotti said. “If we win the battle of first downs, we have a chance to win the series or the possessions battle. But we can’t give up big plays and it doesn’t matter if it’s first string, second or third string, I’m not tolerant of people walking into the end zone against us. “I think we need to work a lot on commu nication, and that’s coaches-to-players and players-to-players in terms of making sure we understand what we’re doing and where our help is,” Bellotti said. The Ducks will be back to work this week with practices today, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. The spring workouts conclude April 28 with the annual Spring Game at Hillsboro Stadium near Portland. Note: Bellotti announced the signing of another prep player Saturday, defensive back Cory Larsen of Gresham High. Larsen was the Mt. Hood Conference defensive player of the year last fall.
