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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (May 31, 2001)
Best Bet NHL Finals, game 3: Colorado at New Jersey 5 p.m.,ESPN SPORTS EDITOR: JEFF SMITH Smittside@aol.com Ducks grab early lead at NCAAs R. Ashley Smith Emerald Oregon decathlete Santiago Lorenzo scored 3,991 points in Wednesday’s five events. He now stands in second place in the decathlon, and the Ducks are first in the team competition. Oregon’s Billy Pappas stands in ninth place, with 3,794 points. ■The Ducks jump on top of the field after three events, but favorites Texas Christian and Tennessee are hot on their trail By Robbie McCallum Oregon Daily Emerald In a tight race, some excel, some drop off, and some unknowns rise to the top. The 2001 NCAA Track and Field Championships looked to be one of the tightest team races in many years with no clear favorite, but five solid contenders and several dark horses. Following the first day of competition at Hayward Field, two teams were dealt ma jor setbacks, while some surprise teams leaped to the top of the standings — namely Oregon. The Ducks finished day one on top of the team standings with 16 points while favorites Texas Christian and Tennessee set themselves up for strong finishes by qualifying key athletes. Oregon jumped out to an early lead with John Stiegeler’s win in the javelin and Jason Hartmann’s third place finish in the 10,000 meters. Tennessee’s Justin Gatlin ran the world’s fastest 200 meters this year un der any conditions with a wind-aided time of 19.86 seconds in the preliminar ies. Teammate Leonard Scottalso moved onto the finals with the third fastest qualifying time. The second and fourth fastest times went to Texas Christian’s Kim Collins and Darvis Patton. “We wanted to make a statement ear ly,” Gatlin said. “Our focus was to set some kind of record in the prelims and then win the final. We don’t want to wish a win, we want a win. ” Texas Christian and Tennessee each Turn to Men’s, page 12 This time around USC gets the best of UCLA in relay ■Although there are still three days to go, USC gets a huge boost in their hopes for an NCAA team title as rival UCLA fails to qualify in 4X100 relay By Peter Hockaday Oregon Daily Emerald Although the women’s leaderboard at the NCAA Cham pionships shows that Arizona and Idaho are tied for the lead after day one, Southern California was the real win ner Wednesday. The Trojans got a leg up on their big rivals, the Bruins of UCLA, in the preliminary heats of the 4x100 relay. Between the first and second leg of the first heat, the Bruins failed to hand off the baton within the 20-meter “exchange zone” and failed to make the final of that event. “It’s sad, because even though we’re ri vals, we all know each other,” USC sprint er Angela Williams said. “Still, now we’re No. 4 heading into the finals, and we can take those points from UCLA.” The baton mix-up was ironic because the last time the two track titans met, in the Pacific-10 Conference Championships, the meet came down to a baton dropped by USC in the 4x400 relay. USC got another lift when UCLA’s best 400-meter hur dler, freshman Sheena Johnson, failed to qualify for that event’s final. Johnson ran a 59.84, far slower than her na tion-leading mark of 56.02. However, UCLA was the first of the two southern-Cali fornia superpowers to score points in the overall competi tion. Chaniqua Ross scored six points for the Bruins with a third-place finish in the discus. Idaho’s Katja Schreiber and Arizona’s Brianna Glenn won the only two finals of the day, in the discus and long jump, respectively. Schreiber won out over a tough field in the discus with her first throw. She easily surpassed her previous personal best of 192 feet, five inches with a toss of 197-11. She beat Liz Toman of Colorado State by 13 feet. “I was ready to go,” Schreiber said. “I didn’t want to wait any Turn to Women’s, page 13 Hartmann uses late kick to win third place at NCAAs ■ UO’s Jason Hartmann saves the best for last and finishes third in the final of the 10,000 meter race By Jeff Smith Oregon Daily Emerald Heading into the 10,000 me ters final, Oregon redshirt freshman Jason Hartmann’s best case scenario had him fin ishing in the top-eight and earning all-American status. If that was out of reach, he just wanted to do the best he could and take as much away from his first NCAA Track and Field Championship experience as possible. So what was his immediate reaction following his eye-open ing third-place finish in 29 min utes, 28.97 seconds? “Wow... I can’t even describe the feeling... it was just awe some,” Hartmann said. “If some body would have told me this before the race I would have said, ‘No way.’” Hartmann put the icing on the cake for the Oregon men’s track and field team as the six points he earned in Wednes day’s final event pushed the Ducks up to the top spot of the . . ... . . . i i < i t i i i i i • t i i i t leader board. Oregon’s ahead of Southern California and Notre Dame by six points in the over all team competition after day one of the four-day meet at Hayward Field. “It’s a very important day for us because we set the tone for everyone else,” Hartmann said. There were two separate races going on in the 10,000 meters. One was obviously Notre Dame’s Ryan Shay’s runaway victory in a fast-paced time cf 29:05.44. The race within the race, though, proved to be the most exciting. At the halfway mark, Hartmann was packed into a four-person clump of runners all vying for third-place. As the laps wound down, he began feeding off the energy of the Hayward crowd and edged out in front. “I had a feeling I could do it,” Hartmann said. “The fans were firing me up with their yelling and pushed me to keep running my heart out. “Then I got to that last lap and it just happened.” Once the bell rang signifying the final lap of the race, Hart mann visibly kicked into an other gear that separated him self from the pack and sent the tMMMMMMHUMItMt crowd to their feet in roaring approval. “Jason ran really tough with a lot of determination,” Oregon head coach Martin Smith said. “It was really special and such a nice way for him to end the col legiate season. I was nervous he went out a little too early since he’s not a speedster, but it all worked out for the best.” Hartmann, who entered the race ranked eighth nationally, was mobbed afterwards by a gathering of teammates, friends and family. Handshakes, hugs and plenty of smiles greeted the Rockford, Mich., native as he tried to catch his breath and realize what he had just accomplished. What made his race even more surprising was that he was coming off of a disappoint ing performance at the Pacific 10 Conference Championships just two weeks earlier. At the Pac-lOs, Hartmann finished 12th in a time of 31:33.83. “I ran a horrible Pac-10 race and I wanted to come back and re deem myself,” he said. “I’m just so young and enjoying every mo ment of this. What a great feeling. “All the hard work has paid off.” R. Ashley Smith Emerald Oregon’s Jason Hartmann, left, the only freshman in the 10,000 meters, finished third with a time of 29:28.97. Notre Dame’s Ryan Shay, center, won the event with a time of 29:05.44. , , , , , ,
