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SPORTS EDITOR: JEFF SMITH Smittside@aol.com
Emerald
Oregon senior Michael Kasahun (221) and freshman Jason Hartmann (213) represented the Ducks
in the distance races. Both are NCAA qualifiers and will run at the May 30-June 2 national meet.
Ducks edge Cal for fifth
■Javelin thrower John
Stiegeler captures the
Pac-10 title to spark
Oregon to a solid finish
By Robbie McCallum
Oregon Daily Emerald
Some pleasant surprises,
along with some disappoint
ments left the Ducks just about
even at the Pacific-10 Confer
ence Track and
Field Champi
onships in
Berkeley,
Calif., this past
weekend.
The Oregon
men’s track and field team fin
ished in fifth place with 86.5
points after some up-and-down
performances.
“I thought every kid on the
team gave a scrappy perform
ance,” Oregon head coach Mar
tin Smith said. “The goal com
ing in was to try and move up
into the top half of the confer
ence, and we knew we would
have to have an excellent meet
to do that, especially after los
ing a guy like Simon (Kimata)
in Texas a few weeks ago to a
hamstring injury.”
The difference between fifth
and sixth-place proved to come
down to the final event — the 4
x 400-meter relay. With the
Ducks leading California by
only two points after 19 events,
Oregon needed to stay within
two places of the Golden Bears
to maintain its lead. The Ducks
improved tipon their No. 8
seeding by placing seventh in a
time of three minutes, 14.8 sec
onds while Cal placed fifth in
3:10.5.
Redshirt sophomore John
Stiegeler turned in Oregon’s
only championship perform
ance of the weekend by win
ning the javelin. The nation’s
top javelin thrower’s winning
toss of 240 feet, 10 inches was
14 feet further than the second
place mark. Stiegeler’s final
throw actually made it to the
267-foot mark, but drifted into
foul territory and was counted
as a scratch.
“On that last one, I was hop
ing the cross-wind would pick
it up a little and push it in, but
what can you do?” Stiegeler
said.
Two other Ducks turned in
Turn to Men’s page 8
Nine PRs help UO to eighth
■ Women’s stars falter,
but many of the supporting
cast members help the
Ducks avoid the cellar
By Peter Hockaday
Oregon Daily Emerald
Well, it’s better than last.
A year after finishing ninth
out of nine
teams at the
P a c i f i c - i 0
Conference
C h a m p i •
onships in Eu
gene, the Ore
gon women’s
track and field team scored less
points but finished eighth in
Berkeley, Calif., Saturday and
Sunday.
“We competed hard and com
peted well,” Oregon head coach
Tom Heinonen said. “But we’re
just so overmatched talent-wise
in this conference.”
UCLA won the team competi
tion, edging out Southern Cali
fornia by three points. Stanford,
after leading on Saturday,
dropped to third.
Oregon stood in fifth-place
overall after Saturday’s compe
tition, but UCLA, Arizona and
California stormed past the
Ducks Sunday to finish first,
sixth and seventh, respectively.
The Ducks scored a total of 35
points, two less than last year’s
last-place performance.
Many of Oregon’s points
came from unexpected places.
Nine Duck athletes — an almost
unprecedented number for such
a big meet — scored lifetime
bests at the Pac-lOs. When some
of Oregon’s stars stumbled over
the weekend, the rest of the
team picked up most of the
slack.
“We’re just having fun,”
Ducks javelin standout Sarah
Malone said. “We did really
well, although the points don’t
show it.”
The most surprising event for
Oregon was the pole vault. For
mer all-American Niki Reed fin
ished eighth, even though she
was ranked fourth in the confer
ence heading into the meet. Se
nior Holly Speight finished
ninth with a personal best jump
of 12 feet, 7 1/4 inches, while
freshmen Georgette Moyle and
Kirsten Riley also scored per
sonal bests to land on the
NCAA provisional list.
“Those were huge PR’s for
[Speight, Moyle and Riley] that
made major statements,”
Heinonen said.
Senior Maureen Morrison
ended her Oregon career with
some style as she placed sev
enth in the hammer and discus
throws. Her discus throw was a
Turn to Women’s, page 9
Golfers‘disappointed’after ending year at regionals
■ Despite a second day of improvements, the Ducks
struggle again in their final round to finish in 18th-place
By Jeff Smith
Oregon Daily Emerald
Cross another Oregon sports
team off the active list.
The men’s golf team’s season
is over after it failed to make the
top-10 at last weekend’s NCAA
West Regional
in Corvallis.
Oregon en
tered the third
and final day
in 14th-place,
an improve
ment from its
21st-place standing after day
one, but then shot an 18-over
306 Saturday to fall back down
to 18th-place and close out its
year.
“We played much better yes
terday under worse conditions
to put ourselves in position, but
today we coultl not take advan
tage of that,” Oregon head coach
Steve Nosier said. “I’m very dis
appointed in our effort.”
The Ducks could never mas
ter the Trysting Tree Golf
Course, especially the back nine
holes. For example, in Satur
day’s final round, Oregon shot a
solid 1-over on the front-nine to
give itself reason for hope, but
then shot 17 strokes worse over
the back-nine.
“You just never know with
the way this golf course is play
ing,” Nosier said. “You can have
a five or six stroke swing on one
hole.”
The Ducks’ three-round total
of 902 was 19 strokes shy of
what they would have needed
to shoot to capture lOth-place
and earn a trip to the NCAA
Championships May 30-June 2
in Durham, N.C.
“We needed to be physically
and mentally prepared to play
at the top of our game, and I’m
not sure that we were,” Nosier
said. “We just didn’t get the job
done.”
Sophomore transfer John Ellis
led the way for the Ducks with a
score of 224 to finish tied-for
49th-place among individuals.
Albany natives Aaron Byers
(tied-for-67th, 226) and Chris
Carnahan (tied-for-77th, 227)
played respectably on their
home course, while junior Bran
don Harnden finished tied-for
85th-place with a score of 228.
Senior Matt Genovese ended
his Oregon career with a tied
for-92nd-place showing of 229.
Arizona State (1st, 852) cap
tured the NCAA West title for
the third time in four years, but
it did so without 2000 U.S. Ama
teur champion Jeff Quinney
leading the charge. The Eugene
Turn to Golf, page 12
..-v... ?.?■■■...i. 'I
Tom Patterson Emerald
Senior Matt Genovese (left) and junior Brandon Harnden were a part of Oregon’s top-five.