Sports Editor:
Adam Jude
adamjude@dailyemerald.com
Assistant Sports Editor:
Jeff Smith
jeffsmith@dailyemerald.com
Tuesday, January 8,2002
Wrestlers
have mixed
December
■The Oregon wrestlers had
a busy past month, including
a win over powerhouse Nebraska
By Chris Cabot
Oregon Daily Emerald
While the Duck football players were
battling the Buffs and enjoying their Fi
esta, the Oregon wrestlers had concerns
of their own.
Since the end of fall term, head coach
Chuck Kearney’s squad has wrestled in
five different competitions — dual meets
against Oregon State, competitions
against Oklahoma State and Nebraska
and a match Saturday against Northern
Iowa. The Ducks (3-3 overall, 2-1 Pacific
10 Conference) also
competed at the Tour
nament of Champi
ons in Reno, Nev.
The team’s sched
ule during their vaca
tion from classes be
gan on Dec. 12 in
Corvallis against Pac-10 foe Oregon State.
The Ducks, peculiarly, came out with a
16-16 loss’. After six criteria had failed to
determine a winner of the dual meet, cri
teria “g,” which says that a winner is de
termined by the number of near falls,
gave the Beavers the win because of their
2-0 advantage.
In the meet, freshman Martin Mitchell
filled in at the 133-pound weight class for
sophomore Jason Harless, who had suf
fered an ankle injury, and picked up his
first Pac-10 win. Mitchell has started
every meet since then.
The Ducks then hosted Oklahoma
State four days later at McArthur Court
and were handed a 30-3 spanking from
the No. 2 team in the country.
Oregon’s Brian Watson (141 pounds)
picked up the lone win, but Kearney was
also pleased with the way Mitchell and
Shane Webster wrestled. The two fresh
men lost their matches by a single point.
“The younger guys just came out re
ally aggressive,” Kearney said. “I’m
pleased with the way they wrestled. It
really bodes well for our future.”
On Dec. 20th, the Ducks traveled to
Reno for the Tournament of Champions
where they finished seventh out of 15
teams. Senior Eugene Harris, who was
ranked 10th at the time, won an individ
ual title at the 165-pound weight class.
“If (Eugene) continues to improve,
he’ll have a chance to be very success
ful in the postseason,” Kearney said.
The new year started well for the
Ducks as they upset then-No.16 Nebras
ka on Jan. 3. As had happened against
Oregon State, the final score was tied,
this time at 24-24, but this time the
Ducks won by criteria “b” — the num
ber of falls. Harris at 165, Casey Hunt at
149 and Dustin Fisher at 174 all
pinned their opponents.
The Ducks traveled to Cedar Falls,
Iowa, on Saturday to face No. 11 North
ern Iowa. Individual wins by Harris,
Watson and heavyweight Eric Webb ,
along with a forfeit win at 174 by Fish
er, weren’t enough for the Ducks to pull
out another upset. Oregon lost 26-16 .
The Ducks’ next meet is 7:30 p.m.
Friday against Michigan at Mac Court.
E-mail sports reporter Chris Cabot at
chriscabot@dailyemerald.com.
A storybook ending for Harrington
■ The Heisman Trophy finalist led
the Ducks to 38 wins over four years and
finished with the team’s biggest win ever
By Adam Jude
Oregon Daily Emerald
If it weren’t for that ugly, left-footed punt,
Joey Harrington could say it ended perfectly.
But he’ll just have to settle for a win and the
team’s best-ever ranking — No. 2.
In the biggest game of his career — under
the spotlight of NFL scouts and a national au
dience — the senior quarterback had arguably
the best game of his career in Oregon’s 38-16
win over Colorado in the Fiesta Bowl Jan. 1.
“We made a statement today — 38 unan
swered points — and shot down the hottest
team in the country,” Harrington said after the
game. “We showed that we deserve to be play
ing for a share of the national championship. ”
The Ducks, of course, didn’t get a share of
the national championship, as Miami defeat
ed Nebraska in the Rose Bowl to finish the
season 12-0. But Harrington and the other 12
members of the senior class have been the
most successful group in program history,
recording 38 wins in the last four years (21 in
the last two).
“That’s something we set out to do — to
raise the expectations,” said Harrington, who
is 25-4 as a starter. “I do believe we’ve raised
the expectations for Ducks football.”
With his performance against Colorado,
Harrington may have also raised eyebrows in
the NFL. * ,
Trailing 7-0 in the first quarter, Harrington
found a wide-open Keenan Howry for a 28
yard score to tie the game. From there, Har
rington could seemingly do no wrong.
Like a perfect melody, Harrington, a jazz pi
anist, hit Sarnie Parker down the middle of
the field early in the second quarter for a 79
yard touchdown, the longest passing play of
Harrington’s career.
“It was very important for him. He had an
incredible game,” senior offensive guard Ryan
Schmid said. “We’re all proud of him. I think
he made a statement.”
John Stoops for the Emerald
Senior Joey Harrington had four touchdown passes in Oregon’s 38-16 win over Colorado in the Fiesta Bowl.
Harrington also hit tailback Onterrio Smith
for a six-yard score and tight end Justin Peelle
for a four-yard touchdown. Besides an inter
ception late in the first half— for which he re
deemed himself with a solid tackle — Har
rington’s only blemish was a shanked punt
that went out of bounds at the Colorado 18
yard line.
For the season, the Heisman Trophy final
ist threw for 2,764 yards and 28 touchdown
(to six interceptions), while rushing for seven
more scores.
The emotions of playing his final game in
an Oregon uniform sunk in for Harrington pri
or to the Fiesta Bowl.
“It hit me last night,” Harrington said after
•the game. “We were having our pregame
meeting. Everybody was in there. We watched
the highlight film and it kind of dawned on
me and some of the seniors that this is the last
time we are going to be spending the night to
gether. ... It was really a special thing.”
As was Harrington’s performance on New
Year's Day.
“Joey was Joey,” linebacker Kevin Mitchell
said. “He’s our general.”
He’s also headed to the next level.
E-mail sports editor Adam Jude at
adamjude@dailyemerald.com.
Women’s hoops searching for consistency in Pac-10
After missing three games with a foot injury, senior guard Edniesha Curry, a
tenacious defender, returned to the hardwood Sunday.
■ The Ducks are 9-6 overall
and 4-2 in conference play
By Hank Hager
Oregon Daily Emerald
While most University students
were enjoying their winter break, the
women’s basketball team was taking
care of business.
With eight games in the last four
weeks, December and early January
proved to be an important stretch for
the Oregon squad. And with Pacific
10 Conference play starting early
due to the inaugural conference
tournament in March, a fast start is
more important than ever.
But conference play began ominous
ly for head coach Bev Smith’s team.
After splitting a pair of nonconfer
ence matches with Utah and
Brigham Young, the Ducks traveled
to Los Angeles Dec. 20 to begin their
earliest conference start since the
program joined the Pac-10 in the
1986-87 season.
Ahead 43-25 after one half of play
at UCLA, the Ducks saw their lead
shrink quickly in the second half be
fore holding off the Bruins for a 76
67 win.
Staying down south, the Ducks
faced their stiffest opposition yet,
taking on the Trojans of USC. Ore
gon was hit with a surprise from the
outset when senior Edniesha Curry
had to sit out the start of the game
due to a left foot injury. She would
eventually enter the game late in
the first quarter, but she was not her
usual self.
Despite connecting on half of their
shots from the field in the first half,
the Ducks were down big at the
break, 43-34, and were not able to
make up the difference in the second
half. Junior Shaquala Williams led
the Oregon attack offensively, lead
ing the team with
29 points and
posting five as
sists.
As was the case
against UCLA,
consistency
plagued the
Ducks. USC was
vulnerable in the second half, but
Oregon could not capitalize.
“Our big problem is our consisten
cy for 40 minutes,” Smith said after
the game.
Sophomore forward Cathrine
Kraayeveld made the first start of her
career against pivotal conference foe
Washington on Dec. 28. KraayeveM,
who leads the team in field goal per
centage, gave the Ducks an inside
presence and a shooting touch from
the perimeter.
Logging 35 minutes against the
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