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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (June 1, 2001)
Friday Best Bet NBA Eastern Conference Finals: Philadelphia at Milwaukee 6 p.m., NBC SPORTS EDITOR: JEFF SMITH Smittside@aol.com OS Jon House Emerald Weber State’s Charles Clinger overcame abnormally warm temperatures to win the high jump. Jon House Emerald Stanford’s Sally Glynn prepared for Saturday’s 1,500-meter final by running the fastest preliminary time. (JO men hold on, other USC women show up ■ The Ducks still top the NCAA standings as Tennessee and TCU continue a sprint invasion By Robbie McCallum Oregon Daily Emerald In a meet expected to go to the team with the most sprinting prowess, the early leader has capitalized on points from other parts of the track — and a little home-field advantage. The Oregon men’s track and field team continued its Cinderella run atop the stand ings Thursday at the 2001 NCAA Track and Field Championships at Hayward Field. The Ducks remained the national leader for the second day in a row. Santiago Lorenzo’s unexpected win in the decathlon in the final event, coupled with Billy Pappas’ eighth-place fin ish and 16 points from Wednesday, pushed the Oregon total to 27 points, 11 ahead of its nearest competitor. “We’ve had a wonderful first two days,” Oregon head coach Martin Smith said. “When you take a step back and look at it, we have two national champions Turn to Men, page 8A MEN'S TRACK AND Flllfl ■ South Carolina makes a move in the sprinting preliminaries Thursday, but UCLA keeps accumulating points By Peter Hockaday Oregon Daily Emerald Most people have been thinking about the women’s team race at the NCAA Track and Field Championships as a two-team battle between UCLA and Southern California. But it was another USC that made the biggest impact at Hayward Field Thursday. The Gamecocks of South Carolina — the USC of the East Coast — put on a dazzling sprinting display in preliminary heats for the 400-meter dash and the 400 relay to prove that they, too, deserve to be mentioned as contenders for the 2001 women’s team title. “I’m glad we’re the un derdogs,” South Carolina sprinter Miki Barber said. “You never know what can happen at these meets.” “We’re keeping South Carolina in mind as well as USC,” UCLA sprinter Sheena Johnson said. Barber and her sister, Me’lisa, led the charge for the Gamecocks, along with Deme tria Washington. Olympian Miki finished Turn to Women, page 8A Another coach leaves the women’s basketball team Assistant coach Kirsten McKnight is hired by Pac-10 rival California as the women’s basketball coaching search continues By Adam Jude Oregon Daily Emerald As Athletic Director Bill Moos lingers on deciding who will be the next head coach of the Oregon women’s basketball team, assis tant coach Kirsten McKnight an nounced Thursday that she has accepted a position at California. “It’s been a difficult decision to make because I’ve absolutely loved my experiences at Oregon,” said McKnight, who lettered for fqpr ypprs as a Ducks guard (1994 98). “It won’t be easy to leave this community, the players and everybody who makes Oregon women’s basketball a premier pro gram on the West Coast.” After three years as an Oregon as sistant, the 25-year-old McKnight will be the top assistant and the main recruiting coordinator for the Bears. She will assist second-year Cal coach Caren Horstmeyer. "I’m obviously excited about this opportunity to further my career,” McKnight said. “It’s a goal of mine to be a head coach at the Division I level. To move closer to this goal early in my career is exciting.” McKnight’s future at Oregon was in question after Jody Runge re signed as head coach on April 30. Assistants Dan Muscatell and Fred L.itzenberger have both expressed interest in remaining at Oregon. Litzenberger interviewed for the vacant head coaching posi tion and Muscatell submitted a general application for one of the three openings. Moos has said that the new head coach — whom he hopes to announce sometime in the next week — will decide who the assis tants will be. Of the 38 applications le re ceived, Moos interviewed five candidates for the position: former Oregon standout and Canadian Olympic coach Bev Smith, Xavier’s Melanie Balcomb, South west Missouri State’s Cheryl Bur nett, Utah’s Elaine Elliott and Litzenberger.
