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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 28, 2001)
Sports Editor: Adam Jude adamjude@dailyemerald.com Assistant Sports Editor: Jeff Smith jeffsmith@dailyemerald.com Friday, September 28,2001 Oregon Daily Emerald Best Bet Baseball: Oakland at Seattle 7 p.m., Fox Sports Net UO harriers to run in Roy Griak Invitational ■The cross country teams travel to Minnesota for one of the nation’s biggest meets By Chris Cabot Oregon Daily Emerald If the men’s cross country team wants to achieve its goal of going to the NCAA Championships, it will need to run well on Saturday at the Roy Griak Invitational in St. Paul, Minn. Along with Pacific-10 Confer ence rivals Arizona, Arizona State, Washington, Wash ington State and UCLA, teams from around the nation will be in atten dance. The men, who are entering the weekend ranked No. 16 in the nation, will face other top-25 teams, including No. 5 Providence, No. 6 Wisconsin, No. 10 Georgetown and No. 13 Portland. The harriers will be specifically targeting No. 12 Arizona and No. 22 Arizona State. On the women’s side, the Ducks will run against No. 9 Providence, No. 15 Missouri and No. 14 Colorado State, among others. Pac-10 teams ranked in the top-25 are No. 8 Ari zona, No. 11 Arizona State and No. 17 Washington. In order for a team to make it to the NCAA Championships, it must either receive one of 13 at-large bids or run to a top-two finish at the regionals on Nov. 10. Because of a very strong western region, the Duck’s best bet is to compete well during the regular season and beat other potential cham pionship participants in order to turn the heads of the at-large selection vot ers. Many of the Ducks have yet to run in a race this year because in the men’s first meet they only sent out the “B” unit. Thanks to runner-up John Lucas and winner Noel Paulson, the Ducks beat Portland’s “B” squad and Portland State. A'dam Bergquist, Oliver Redig and Kyle Robinson also finished in the top-10 for the Ducks. Ryan Andrus, Brett Holts, Eric Logs don, Seth Pilkington and All-American Jason Hartmann will all be running in their first races of the season for the men’s top squad. Because of a calf injury that forced her to miss last Saturday’s Sundodger Invitational, sophomore Tara Struyk will also be running in her first race of the year for the women. In the Sundodger, the Ducks fin ished fifth out of nine teams and had a seventh place finish from Carrie Zo grafos, who may lead the Ducks all season. Other finishers for Oregon in cluded Laura Harmon (19th), Erinn Gulbrandsen (33rd) and Magdalena Sandoval (35th). While it may not be an ideal situa tion for either team, racing against some of the nation’s best will provide a solid challenge to start the season. Turn to Cross Country, page 14A Emerald Sophomore Heather Gilmore has returned to the Ducks with tlying colors after last season. She opened the 2001 season with a career high 13 kills last weekend at Arizona. Queen comeback ■After redshirting last season for health reasons, Heather Gilmore has become Oregon volleyball’s MVP By Hank Hager Oregon Daily Emerald After enjoying a success ful freshman season in 1999, a year in which she finished with 62 kills, 55 digs and nine blocks, Heather Gilmore knew the 2000 season would be like no other. Only, she couldn’t have known it could be as excruciating. Diagnosed with mononucle osis early in the 2000 season, Gilmore decided to redshirt the year, a decision she does not regret. “I think it was one of the best decisions I’ve done, because I got to spend a lot of time work ing on different things,” she said. “But it was really tough because we were playing bet ter, and your team is out there but don’t get the results you want, and you don’t have any part of it. You don’t feel like you can do anything. It was somewhat depressing.” It was not always going to be that way for the up-and-coming sophomore. After finishing her career at Bingham High School in South Jordan, Utah, Gilmore was high ly recruited after finishing her senior year as the Region II MVP. After touring the Oregon campus, Gilmore decided to be come a Duck because of the city and how well she enjoyed the surroundings. “I love Eugene,” she said. “The atmosphere, the people ... I love the outdoors. That’s one of the reasons why I came here. I love the campus.” In 1999, her first seasgjp, the outside hitter didn’t expect to play much. She was a young player in a sea of veterans and really didn’t know what to ex pect. At first she didn’t play, but when the Pacific-10 Con ference came calling, Gilmore got her time. The change from high school to college play was considerable despite her accolades. “It was a big change because most of us come from high school as the MVP and everyone else is too, so we’re kind of at the bot tom,” she said. “The intensity and the concentration levels are higher too. There’s a lot of pres sure, especially in the Pac-10 be cause that’s the highest caliber of teams you can play for.” Heather Gilmore ■ Hometown: South Jordan, Utah || (Bingham High School) m. Bom: Feb. 3,1981 1|| Year: Redshirt sophomore P Position: Outside hitter k 2001: Gilmore has 13 kills in two matches this season, including a career high 13 against Arizona I summer, she will be vying for a starting spot in the Oregon lineup. * I last weekend. After playing in Croatia this past 2000: Redshirt season after being diagnosed with mononucleosis before the season began. 1999: Finished the season with 62 kills, 55 digs and nine blocks, her first season in Oregon. Set career highs in total attacks in one match (31} versus Portland and digs (13) at Oregon State. High School: Named the Region ii MVP her senior season; named Utah prep-of-the-week by the Salt Lake Tribune and Desert News the same year; also played two years of basketball, leading her team to a 40-3 record. As a freshman, Gilmore spent the season under former head coach Cathy Nelson. After the team finished 1-17 that sea son, Carl Ferreira was brought in to help jump start the pro gram. Not only has the team improved since he was named head coach, but each individ ual player has made strides. And Gilmore is no exception. “When I got here, I had ques tions about whether she could play at this level,” Ferreira said about one of the Ducks’ most improved players. “She had to really work on improving her arm swing, and her jumping ability to be more explosive. The spring when I first got her, we began by having her throw Nerf footballs, getting her arm swing development going. “This past winter, all the work she put in has began to Turn to Gilmore, page 17A
