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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 11, 2001)
Sports Editor: Adam Jude adamjude@dailyemerald.com Assistant Sports Editor: Jeff Smith jeffsmith@dailyemerald.com Best Bet NHL: Los Angeles at St. Louis 4:30p.m., ESPN2 Thursday, October 11,2001 Moos orders audit of all athletic travel funds ■Athletic Director Bill Moos wants to review every team after an audit of the softball team revealed missing money By Adam Jude Oregon Daily Emerald In response to the discovery that former softball head coach Rick Gamez had misappropriated team funds, Oregon Athletic Director Bill Moos has asked the Oregon Univer sity System to audit all athletic teams’ travel expenses. A 10-page report released on Oct. i-— 3 by the OUS Internal Audit Divi sion revealed that over the last two years, Gamez had submitted inac curate travel reimbursement forms totaling $5,748.64. In interviews with the OUS audi tors, Gamez could not provide suf ficient receipts of meals purchased during road trips. Gamez offered Moos his resigna tion, effective Oct. 1, and the Ath letic Department agreed to a $26,000 settlement, half of Gamez’s yearly salary. He will pay the Uni versity for the missing money. “Following the review of our softball program, we felt it would be a good idea to have the Oregon University System examine the en tire department to make sure things are in order with all of our travel policies and procedures,” Moos said in a statement released Wednesday. The Athletic Department became aware of the problem with the soft ball program in the spring of 2000, when several parents and team members complained that Gamez was submitting fraudulent meal re imbursement forms. At an Oct. 1 press conference, Moos said he was “comfortable” with the situation after a conversa tion with Gamez following the 2001 season. The audit, however, discovered that money went missing after Gamez had team members sign blank per diem sheets at the begin ning of each road trip. While the OUS report said the University “was not unrespon sive” to the claims made against Gamez, the audit did note that the Athletic Department should contact the OUS Internal Audit Division “in the event of ques tioned financial transactions” in the future. “It should be noted that investi gating potential financial irregulari ties is much more involved than one may suspect as demonstrated in the findings of this report,” the audit said. Additionally, to “help deter the potential unethical behavior of a few employees,” the OUS recom mended that the Athletic Depart ment hold annual meetings with head coaches on team travel and provide coaches with copies of the code of ethics. itiiiPPi ■A highly recruited prep runner, Seth Pilkington has more than just the standard aspirations of a college freshman By Chris Cabot Oregon Daily Emerald Seth Pilkington considers himself to be a pretty nor mal college freshman. He is 5-foot-9, quiet, unassuming and kind. Pilkington’s resume includes the state cross country championship in Utah his senior year of high school; the one-mile and two-mile state titles his junior and senior years; the No. 2 finisher in the 18th-ranked Oregon cross country team’s first race; and aspirations for being an All-American and an Olympian. But then again, he’s just a nor mal freshman. Pilkington, who hails from Roy, Utah, has had running in his life from the start. His father, Paul, won the 1994 Los Angeles marathon and has been instru mental in Seth’s life and running career. “He is a huge influence,” Pilk ington said. “He coached me all throughout high school, and I trained with him all the way through as well. Ever since I was little, I have grown up around run ners and wanted to be one.” Pilkington said that he talks to his father often and receives run ning advice. Paul also keeps in contact with Oregon men’s cross country coach Martin Smith to discuss how Seth’s running is ad vancing. In the one race he has run so far this season, Pilkington placed second behind junior All-Ameri can Jason Hartmann. The Roy Gri ak Invitational, one of the nation’s largest meets, was Pilkington’s first taste of running against top collegiate competition. He ran in a pack with a couple other Ore gon runners and then pulled ahead of teammates Ryan Andrus and Noel Paulson, finishing with a time of 25:01.4 (30 seconds be hind Hartmann). Other than winning the state cross country championships his senior year of high school and winning the one- and two-mile races on the track, Pilkington was sixth at cross country nationals his senior year. His biggest accom plishment, though, was winning the Golden West 3200, where some of the best high school run ners were invited. In that race, which featured another future Duck runner Eric Heinonen, Pilk ington ran the second fastest time in the country (8:55.17). Seth sets his sights high, as he said he hopes to be an All-Ameri can as a freshman. He appreciates having an All-American, Hart mann, with whom he can train, and he soaks up all the advice he can get from Oregon’s top runner. “It’s great to have a guy who is an All-American, who knows what it takes to be an All-American and Turn to Pilkington, page 14 Ducks fall in four sets to Oregon State ■ The Ducks travel to Corvallis in the first installment of this season’s Civil War but lose a heartbreaker to the Beavers By Hank Hager Oregon Daily Emerald CORVALLIS — The 1,558 fans who turned out to see the Oregon Ducks and Oregon State Beavers Wednesday night were treated to one heck of a match. And although the Oregon women (8-8 overall, 0-7 Pacif ic-10 Conference) lost to the Beavers (11-4, 5-2) in four games (30-25, 23-30, 30-18, 30-21) at Gill Coliseum, it was the best they had played all season. After dropping the first game convincingly to Oregon State, the Ducks showed the strength and resiliency need ed to compete in the Pac-10. Twice in the second game the Ducks had runs of five points or more. They took a commanding 5-0 lead on the strength of three outstanding plays by juniors Lindsay Closs and Stephanie Martin. Martin, who had a career high 15 kills that led Ore 9 gon, sh°wed the ability that helped make ■y'/ her the junior college player of the year last season. After the Beavers climbed back into striking distance late in the game, head coach Carl Ferreira’s squad again showed a poise unseen before the match. A sec ond run of five points, this time led by juniors Sydney Chute and Amanda Porter, helped the Ducks jump out to a strong lead against the Beavers, and this time were able to hold Oregon State off for good. vOLUYBllt “We really won the scoring and passing game,” Ferreira said. “We minimized our unforced errors and got a lot of kills. That enabled us to have the runs that we did.” But that would be the only game the Ducks won on the night. After starting the third game off with a block by senior Monique Tobbagi, Oregon fell behind and was never able to come back. The stellar play of senior Gina Schmidt and sophomore Laura Collins helped bury the Ducks in the third game. Collins led the match with 48 assists and Schmidt tied with Martin for the match lead in kills with 15. The story would be the same for the Oregon women in the fourth and deciding match. The Ducks again led off the game with a 1-0 start, but were not able to hold on long. After coming within one point at 17-16, the Ducks fell behind and saw Oregon State win six of the last 10 points to win by nine. “We’ve been getting better each week,” Ferreira said. “It’s definitely frustrating, but there are two ways to look at it — either be disappointed or understand what allowed us to have success (in the second game) and focus on that.” For the third match in a row, Martin led the Ducks in kills, this time with 15. Also a strong point for Oregon was the play of Closs. Closs pitched in 11 kills, including two of the Ducks’ last three in game two, and pitched in with 4 block assists. “It’s disappointing and frustrating, but we’re making progress and we’re getting to where we need to be,” Closs said. “It’s nice to see we’re getting better and not going the other way.” Tom Patterson Emerald Freshman Seth Pilkington, the high school state champion in Utah last year, has lofty goals in his first season with the No. 18 Ducks. NEXT STEP: All-American
