Tuesday
Best Bet
NBA: San Antonio at Portland
6 p.m., TBS
SPORTS EDITOR: JEFF SMITH Smittside@aol.com
Time for track
to receive its
proper respect
PETER HOCKADAY
I have something growing on me, and I can’t get it off. I
feel like I’m in the Matrix, and that silver stuff is crawl
ing up my arm, just waiting to swallow me whole.
You see, I’m a baseball-basketball-football-hockey guy. I
watch NHL 2Night and read the box scores every day. I like
my sports organized, with a large dose of head-to-head com
petition.
So when I found out that I was covering the Oregon
women’s track and field team this spring, my heart plunged
down to my ankles. I was hoping for softball, spring football
or even club ultimate frisbee, which would have been a
more organized team, and therefore better in my opinion at
the time.
But this “un-team” called Oregon track is growing on me.
Ifyoucould hear the immense pride that wells up i n
sprints coach Mark Stream’s voice when he talks about his
athletes, it would grow on you, too. If you could see the mis
chievous little glint in head coach Tom Heinonen’s eye
when one of his Ducks crushes her competition, it would
grow on you.
There are many reasons to love the Oregon track and field
team. There’s the Hayward Field atmosphere, which accom
modates both the casual passer-by and die intense track
guru. There’s the storied history, riddled with recognizable
names such as Prefontaine, Bowerman and Dellinger.
There are the legendary meets. Last year’s Prefontaine
Classic made Sports Illustrated and this May’s Classic will
too. So will June’s USA Championships, and probably the
May 30-June 2 NCAA Championships.
Then there are the athletes themselves. Most track stars
are not groomed for the media. Many won’t sign any multi
million dollar deals in their careers. They run, jump and
throw because they want to, period.
Just try and ask Oregon’s Niki Reed whether she’s looking
forward to the NCAA Championships at Hayward Field af
ter she became the first Duck to officially qualify for that
meet. She’lLtell you she has “big plans.”
Chat with Mary Etter, who won the discus and shot put at
the Washington Dual Saturday, and she’ll tell you her goal is
to set a school record in one of those events this year.
Talk to long jumper Amanda Brown, and she’ll tell you
she might jump 21 feet by the end of the season, which
would be almost two feet past her current personal best.
Not that track athletes are egotistical, they just tell it like
they see it. Sure, every basketball player would love to win
March Madness. Every football player wants to get to the
Rose Bowl, only they won’t tell you. They take things “one
game at a time.”
Unfortunately, most of the student population doesn’t
share my newfound enthusiasm for the track oval. I admit,
until a few weeks ago I couldn’t tell a PR from a 100 from a
high jump myself.
But, as I said, Hayward Field is just as inviting to the track
knucklehead as the track genius. By simply watching Hanna
Smedstad kick over the final 200 meters of the 1,500, or Jen
ny Brogdon clear 5-7 in the high jump, or the rhythmic clap
ping from the crowd as Amanda Brown takes off down the
long-jump runway, you can partake in the Hayward tradi
tion. Not to mention that the bleachers are a perfect place to
work on that spring tan. ,
In a few months, even the average sports fan will know the
names coming through Hayward. Marion Jones, Michael
Johnson and others will compete in the Prefontaine Classic
in late May. You don’t need to be a track nut to know those
names.
Track is a drastically overlooked sport. Not by the commu
nity, which supports the tradition unconditionally, but by
Oregon students. For those of you starving for sports in the
spring, you might want to wander over to Hayward Field.
Give track a chance. It might just grow on you.
Peter Hockaday is a sports reporter for the Emerald. You can're^yh
him at phockaday@yahoo.com.
Tom Patterson Emerald
Eight seasons at the helm of the Oregon women’s basketball program have made jody Runge the most successful coach in Oregon basketball
history. But Runge, 38, may have seen her fast days at McArthur Court. The results of an investigation of the program have yet to be announced.
All alone, ..
and waiting
To say that the
Jody Rungeera
has had its
ups and downs
would bean
understate
ment
By Adam Jude
Oregon Daily Emerald
Turmoil. Chaos. Disaster.
Whatever you choose to call it,
something — or perhaps, in many
minds, someone — is obviously not
quite right with the Oregon women’s
basketball program.
The problems have escalated since
eight players met with Oregon Ath
letic Director Bill Moos March 4 to re
quest that Jody Runge, the most suc
cessful coach in Oregon basketball
history, be fired. And the light at the
end of the tunnel is only getting dim
mer.
Moos called upon Kansas-based
law firm Bond, Schoeneck & King,
known for its internal handling of
collegiate sports programs, to con
duct an evaluation of Runge and her
program. Since the team began March
27, more than 80 people involved
with the program since Runge’s ar
rival in 1093 have been interviewed,
including Runge.
But the investigators have yet to re
port their findings to Moos.
Many have speculated that the
Athletic Department is merely
searching until it finds an excuse to
fire the controversial coach.
The Oregonian reported last week
that the investigators looked into an
incident in which a former Duck as
sistant was accused of slapping a for
mer player during a practice in the
1995-96 season. Former player Elsa
Oliveira said Kelly Kebe, now an as
sistant at Iowa State, slapped her dur
ing a shooting drill.
Kebe denied the accusation.
Oliveira said she is more upset
with how Runge handled the inci
dent. That is, Oliveira said Runge did
not “acknowledge that it was inap
propriate.”
“When it occurred, it took me by
surprise. But my gripe was not with
the way coach Kebe handled the sit
uation,” Oliveira told The Associat
Turn to Runge, page 9
ii The
situation at
Oregon is
chaotic at
best.
Bill Fennelly
head coach
Iowa State
_n
UO volleyball earns national title
■The Oregon club team survives
some close calls and pulls off a few
upsets on its way to the prestigious
championship
By Jesse Thomas
for the Emerald
The Oregon club women’s volleyball
team can now call itself the best of the
best after being crowned national
champion last weekend at the National
Intercollegiate Recreation Sports Asso
ciation Nationals tournament.
The team members traveled to Kansas
City, Kan., and came face-to-face with the
reality that- their ultimate goalwas finally
at thieir fingertips. t)regon was familiar
with the elite setting as it placed 15th last
season at nationals and entered this year’s
tournament ranked 39th out of 48 teams.
“We knew from
the start that we were
going to be a lower
seed, and they saw
. that as a challenge,”
Oregon coach Cbdy
Banner said. “They
proved to everybody how good of a team
they are.”
Oregon began its tournament run with
pool play Thursday, where the team won
three games with no difficulties. It then
faced Texas, the defending national
champion, on Friday, but Oregon pre
vailed and advanced onward to beat
Florida.
Oregon ran into difficulty against
Washington State after losing the first two
games of the match but battled back to >
capture the win and then took care of
Kentucky to play Purdue in the finals.
“Our team was very confident that we
were supposed to be there,” coordinator
Stacey Terry said. “We were there to
prove we were going to be national
champs.”
The women started slow against Pur
due by barely losing game one, 24-26. In
game two they again ran into trouble and
found themselves down 12-3. But they
were not about to give in and fought back
to win, 27-25. In the third and final game,
Oregon played with all its heart to edge
the Boilermakers, 16-14, to capture the
Turn to Volleyball, page 9