Mutola returns for ninth straight Pre Classic
■ Eugene resident and
Olympian Maria Mutola
headlines a tough field
in the 800-meter race
By Peter Hockaday
Oregon Daily Emerald
Maria Mutola will compete in the
Prefontaine Classic this year.
Wait, haven’t you heard that be
fore?
Mutola, arguably the best women’s
800-meter racer in the world and a
Hayward Field crowd favorite, will
take part in her record ninth straight
Prefontaine Classic May 27. A native
of Mozambique who resides in Eu
gene, Mutola has competed in the
meet more times than any other
women’s runner.
Mutola is coming off a gold-medal
performance in the Sydney
Olympics last year, a feat that com
plements her bronze medal in 1996
and World Championship gold in
1993. She
_ holds the Hay
ward Field
record in the
800, which she
set in 1995,
and her per
sonal best is
less than two
seconds slow
er than the
world record.
l. ^msa ,r,
MUTOLA There 1S a
reason Mutola
is so adored by the Eugene crowd.
She has won the 800 in eight of nine
years she has competed, and her only
loss came at her first Pre Classic in
1991 — when she attended Spring
field High School.
Mutola will face a deep field at this
year’s Pre Classic, including the cur
rent American record-holder, Jearl
Miles-Clark, the top-ranked Ameri
can runner in last year’s Track and
Field News magazine, Hazel Clark,
and Helena Fuchsova, who finished
fifth in Sydney. Rounding out the
field are Suriname’s Laetitia Vriesde,
Slovenia’s Jolanda Ceplak, Mozam
bique’s Tina Paulino and Germany’s
Linda Kisabaka.
Paulino is Mutola’s cousin, and
they aren’t the only relations to
square off in the event. Miles-Clark
and Clark are sisters-in-law.
All the competitors in the 800 are
good enough to have personal bests
under 2:00. Mutola’s personal best
is 1:55.19, and the slowest personal
best, Kisabaka’s, is 1:58.24.
High jump gets tough
Two additions to the Prefontaine
Classic high jump field will ensure
close competition in the event.
Sweden’s Kajsa Bergqvist, the
bronze medalist in Sydney and the
world’s top-ranked high jumper last
year, will square off with America’s
top-ranked jumper, Amy Acuff.
America’s top-ranked collegiate
jumper, Harvard’s Dora Gyorffy,
will also compete with Bergqvist
and Acuff.
Men's mile adds depth
Hicham El Guerrouj will have some
competition in the Pre Classic mile.
The world record-holder in the
mile, El Guerrouj will run the event on
American soil for the first time at the
Pre, against top-notch competition.
Bernard Lagat of Kenya, last year’s
Olympic bronze medalist, will race
against El Guerrouj. So will Canada’s
best runner, Kevin Sullivan, and
Daniel Zegeye of Ethiopia.
The top Americans in the race will
be Seneca Lassiter, Bryan Berryhill,
Jason Pyrah and Alan Webb. Eng
land’s top runner, John Mayock, will
also compete. The top-flight field is
rounded out by Brazil’s Hudson De
Souza, Somalia’s Ibrahim Aden and
Uganda’s Julius Achon.
All the runners have personal best
times under 3:55 in the mile. For
comparison, El Guerrouj’s world
record time is 3:4 3.13.
Minnesota fires women’s basketball coach for violations
By Dave Campbell
The Associated Press
MINNEAPOLIS — Minnesota
women’s basketball coach Cheryl
Littlejohn was fired Monday for a
pattern of rules violations, include
ing giving money to a player, the
school said.
A university investigation also
found Littlejohn interfered with an
earlier investigation by telling
players to lie. She had been on un
paid leave since earlier this spring.
The violations will probably be
considered major infractions by
the NCAA. The men’s athletics de
partment is already on four years’
probation for an academic fraud
scandal uncovered in 1999.
The university also reprimand
ed the school’s compliance direc
tor for failing to follow up on one
violation identified in a report,
which outlined the results of the
investigation. And the school
placed limits on recruiting, includ
ing reducing the number of official
visits and evaluation days.
“Our coaches have an obligation
to both know and follow the
NCAA rules, and the pattern of
disregard for the rules that is re
flected in this report is simply un
acceptable," said Tonya Moten
Brown, the school’s vice president
and chief of staff.
Littlejohn and her lawyer, Bless
ing Rugara, did not immediately
return phone calls seeking com
ment Monday.
According to the report, Little
john acknowledged to investiga
tors that she gave $200 to a player
in fall 1999. She said the player
was desperate because her finan
cial aid was delayed, and Little
john had been frustrated in her at
tempts to help her.
Natea Motley, who left the team
in December 1999, has said Little
john gave her money when she ar
rived on campus that fall from De
troit.
It wasn’t clear whether Motley
was the player mentioned in the
report because names were
blacked out. But the player in the
report told investigators she was
not in a desperate financial situa
tion and was able to obtain a $500
advance from the university by
mid-September.
The report said Littlejohn first
tried to pass money to the player
by putting it on the passenger seat
of Littlejohn’s car as she spoke to
the player through the open win
dow. The player said she declined.
Littlejohn later gave money to the
mother of a different player, with
instructions to use it to buy neces
sities for the first player.
The report also found Littlejohn
interfered with university officials
during an investigation into sum
The University of Oregon Humanities Center is pleased to present
The 2000-2001 Kritikos Professor in the Humanities
James Q. Wilson
Professor Emeritus, Anderson School of Management, University of California, Los
Tuesday, May 15,5:45 p.m. • 175 Knight Law Center
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UNIVERSITY of OREQON
mer 1998 housing and transporta
tion arrangements for four recruits
that Littlejohn was accused of im
properly arranging.
Littlejohn called at least one
player and manager into her office
to rehearse the story she wanted
them to give investigators, the re
port found.
The report also found that Little
john:
— Bought fleece clothing for
players in 1998.
— Let players stay overnight at
her house and make free long-dis
tance calls in September 1999.
— Gave money to a recruit to
pay recreation center admission
for several kids, including a re
cruit’s sibling, in fall 2000.
— Bought groceries and used
them to make a meal at a recruit’s
home during the 1999-2000 aca
demic year.
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— Required a recruit to partici
pate in individual workouts with a
player or players in summer 1998.
— Required players to play in
pickup games before sanctioned
practices began in October 2000,
and had student managers keep
stat sheets and report to the
coach.
— Sold personal clothing at very
low prices to players.
— Had a student assistant make
contact with a recruit after a high
school game.
— Bought or arranged purchase
of a restaurant meal for a player or
players.
Littlejohn is in the fourth year of
a five-year contract paying
$101,800 each year. The Gophers
were 8-20 and 1-16 in the Big Ten
this past season, and Littlejohn is
29-81 and 7-58 in the Big Ten dur
ing her career.
English Novel
Richard Stevenson
1:00-2:50 p.m.,MUWH
ENG 321/CRN 43119
2001 SUMMER SESSION • JUNE 25-AUGUST17
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