Sports Editor:
Adam Jude
adamjude@dailyemerald.com
Assistant Sports Editor:
Jeff Smith
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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