Thomas Patterson Emerald
Junior Sarnie Parker is merely a blur as a football and track star for the Ducks.
Football
continued from page 9
holds the football program’s record
in the 20-yard shuttle (3.71).
Hanging in practice, though, has
not been so easy for Amundson.
“The biggest challenge has been
track practice itself. It’s tough,”
Amundson said. “The kind of con
ditioning is completely different.
We just ran and ran and ran. And
the track coach even made it a little
easier for me ’cause I wasn’t in great
shape, but I was still dying.
“But I thought it really helped
me get in shape for football. When
I see everyone else getting wind
ed, I still have something in me.
It’s nice to know that all that hard
work is paying off.”
Although their main goal is to
improve speed endurance for foot
ball — Silvey said football players
tend to slow down after 30 or 40
yards of sprinting — Parker and
Amundson are still looking to be
competitive while working with
the track team.
“We haven’t been able to use them
that much,” Silvey said. “It’s not like
high school where you can just show
up and be successful. You can’t ex
pect to miss a month and the sud
denly come back and kick butt.”
But that doesn’t mean they
won’t try.
Silvey said the two football stand
outs will participate in the Jesse
Owens Classic at Ohio State next
weekend and in the Pac-lOs after that.
For the football-minded Parker
and Amundson, the track will al
ways finish second to the green
grass. But they’ll enjoy the race
while they can.
“These kids will improve their
chances of playing on Sunday if
they improve their track creden
tials,” Silvey said.
E-mail sports editor Adam Jude
at adamjude@dailyemerald.com.
Regionals await UO ultimate
■The Oregon Club Sports
men’s and women’s ultimate
teams will compete in
the Northwest Regionals
By Jesse Thomas
for the Emerald
It all comes down to this.
After eight months of training,
the Oregon Club Sports men’s and
women’s ultimate teams are set for
the Northwest Regionals in Santa
Cruz, Calif., this weekend.
The men’s and women’s teams
recently won their sectional tour
naments to advance to regionals.
The men enter ranked second —
behind Stanford — out of 16 teams.
The women are also the No. 2 seed
out of 13 teams.
“We have a really tough region,”
senior coordinator Matt Guy said.
“The toughest in college ultimate.
It is going to take a strong effort to
get out of regionals. ”
The Oregon men face double
elimination bracket play on Satur
day and Sunday. The women will
compete in pool play on Saturday
and then double elimination Sun
day. Both teams will vie for the top
two positions for the chance to
compete at nationals
“This is the best time for us to
peak,” women’s captain Izzy
Stohler said. “We have an incredi
ble shot of making nationals. ”
The national tournament will be
held in Spokane, Wash., beginning
May 24. Last year the men took third
in the final of the national tourna
ment. The women did not advance
to the national tournament.
UO dance team to appear on CBS
Call them trend-setters.
For the first time in school histo
ry, the Oregon Club Sports
women’s dance team competed in
a nationally-televised tournament
in Daytona Beach, Fla..
The Ducks left the preliminaries
in eighth place and finished ninth
out of 30 teams two weeks ago at
nationals. The national tourna
ment will be broadcast on CBS at
11 a. m. Saturday.
“We still have so much time to
grow and do the best we can to
keep giving a good name to Ore
gon,” senior co-captain Edith
Sumaquial said.
Oregon’s dance team was created
four years ago and Sumaquial has
competed for the last three years for
the Ducks. Now with the experi
ence from this year’s national tour
nament, the women are setting high
goals already for next year.
“I knew by the level of competi
tion that it would be a building
year,” Oregon head coach Karl
Mundt said. “But I was definitely
happy with how they did.”
Women’s rugby
It ended as a learning experience
for the Oregon Club Sports women’s
rugby team as they finished 10th in
last weekends Sweet 16 national
tournament last weekend.
The Ducks entered Orlando,
Fla., ranked 15th out of an experi
enced and competitive field.
“We were playing very high-cal
iber teams, ” junior coordinator Eri
ca Kelly said. “They play the type
of rugby that we don’t see on the
West Coast.”
Oregon participated in bracket
play, so in Saturday’s first round,
the Ducks had to-face Penn State,
ranked No. 2. Oregon lost that
game and then came back to give a
valiant effort in Sunday’s play.
The women were disappointed in
Sunday’s 18-10 loss to UMass, as
they thought they should have won.
After their first trip to the nation
al tournament, the women have a
positive outlook on the future.
“We have been there now,” Kel
ly said. “We know if we work hard
and practice fundamentals we can
get there again.”
Jesse Thomas is a freelance reporter
for the Emerald.
Track
continued from page 9
onships steeplechase. Nye holds
the second-fastest American stee
plechase time ever.
Amid the chaos of post-colle
giate talent, the Oregon athletes
will also try to make an impact at
one of their few home meets of the
season. On the women’s side, the
most interesting spectacle could
be the javelin unit, which starts
competition at 6:05 p.m.
“We’re looking to go one-two
three-four” this weekend, stand
out Sarah Malone said of the four
person Oregon javelin squad.
“That’s always our goal.”
Other women to watch include
Eri Macdonald, an NCAA provi
sional qualifier in the 800, and
Becky Holliday, who recently set
the school record in the pole vault.
On the men’s side, pole vaulter
Trevor Woods and sprinter Micah
Harris will represent the NCAA
qualifiers from the squad. Harris
recently set the school record in
the 110 hurdles, while Woods is
six inches short of the school
record in the vault.
E-mail sports reporter Peter Hockaday
at peterhockaday@dailyemerald.com.
IPNOSI. 1022 WIIUMEIK. M, 00.541.H5.7028
Sports briefs
Golfers seventh after ay one
The Oregon men’s golf team had
a rough first round in the first 18
holes of the Pacific-10 Conference
Championships, but rallied back in
the second round on a windy day at
Trysting Tee Golf Course.
After shooting a 373 on the par
72 course in Corvallis the men were
tied with Arizona State for ninth
place. But fighting back, Oregon
shot eight strokes better to sit in a
tie for seventh heading into today’s
third round.
Their second round 365 was the
third-lowest score carded in the last
18 holes. They are in a tie with Cali
fornia and Arizona State.
“We drove the ball into the rough
too much today,” Oregon head
coach Steve Nosier said. “You’re
not going to make too many pars or
any birdies when you drive the ball
in the rough out here.”
Junior John Ellis was Oregon’s
lead golfer in both rounds and shot
a 71 then a 69 for 140 total to tie for
third at four-under. Senior Aaron
Byers sits in a tie for 16th with 10
other golfers at pliis-one 145. Se
nior Branden Hamden finished one
stroke behind Byers with a 146 and
is tied for 26th.
USC and Oregon State are lead
ing the way in a tie for first after 36
holes at 716 and finished four
strokes ahead of Stanford who lead
after the first round.
“We’re not so far back that we
can’t make a run,” Nosier said. “We
still have a chance to work our way
back up and achieve a respectable
finish.”
—Jesse Thomas
for the Emerald
U0 softball heads to desert
It’s back to Pacific-10 Conference
play for the Oregon softball team
this weekend as it travels to Ari
zona to take on No. 2 Arizona and
No. 5 Arizona State.
The Ducks are coming off a four
game week against Portland State
in which Oregon won three of four,
improving its record to 20-22 over
all (0-12 Pac-10). Prior to the games
against the Vikings, the Ducks had
lost 12 consecutive contests — all
against teams in their conference
and many of the games were decid
ed by slim margins.
“We have a tough road trip com
ing up,” head coach Brent Rincon
said. “We’ve proven wTe can com
pete in the Pac-lO, but we have got
to take the next step and go out and
win in the Pac-10.”
In the last four games against
Portland State, Rincon was pleased
with his team’s play and the pitch
ing trio of Connie McMurren, Anis
sa Meashintubby and, in particular,
Lindsey Kontra, but he said the
team needs to do a better job focus
ing on the defensive end.
“In the Pac-10, hits are hard to
come by, pitching is a little more
difficult, so the one area that we
have to be more focused in is de
fense as we go to the end of the year
here,” he said. “That is what we are
looking for — to grow as a team, es
pecially defensively, to play with
intensity defensively, and that help
will create intensity offensively and
also help give our pitchers confi
dence.”
If the Ducks can continue to re
ceive timely hits from players like
Mari Lyn Petrick, Rachel Tommasi
ni and Amber Hutchison, they
could break out of the Pac-10 win
less-slump they have been en
trenched in.
Oregon faces Arizona in Tucson
on Friday at 7 p.m. and then plays
the Sun Devils in Tempe on Satur
day at 7 p.m. and Sunday at 1 p.m.
— Chris Cabot