Sports Editor:
Adam Jude
adamj ude@dailyemerald .com
Friday, April 26,2002
NHL playoffs:
.Ottawa at Philadelphia
4 p.m., ESPN
Athletes to fill
Hayward for
Invitational
■ Nearly 900 track athletes
will compete in Oregon’s third
home meet of the 2002 season
By Peter Hockaday
Oregon Daily Emerald
Eugene will earn its “Track Town”
nickname Saturday.
Almost 900 athletes will descend on
the city for more than 10 hours of com
petition in the Oregon Invitational, the
biggest meet at Hayward Field this year.
The headlining event will be the Bill
McChesney Jr. Memorial Mile, which
was moved from its original meet, the
Oregon Twilight. The mile will feature
at least four athletes with sub-four
minute personal bests and one former
Olympian, Jason Pyrah. Two more
events — the men’s hammer and the
women’s 1,500 — will feature former
Olympians or U.S. champions.
All three of those events will take
place in Saturday’s evening session,
which starts at 5 p.m. and requires a
ticket. The day session starts at 10 a.m.
and is free.
The men’s mile, which is sched
uled to start at 7:05 p.m., has the most
lucrative field of Saturday’s events.
Along with Pyrah, an Olympian in
the 1,500 in 1996 and 2000, the field
also includes 2001 Twilight-mile
champion Mike Miller and Ray Hugh
es, who ran the mile in 3:59.78 earlier
this year.
In the men’s hammer, Kevin McMa
hon will take on challengers including
James Parker, who finished third at the
U.S. Championships at Hayward Field
last seasoq. McMahon was the U.S.
champion last season and an Olympian
in 1996 and 2000.
In the women’s 1,500, former Oregon
standout Lisa Nye will return to the
Hayward track for the first time since
her victory in the 2001 U.S. Champi
Turn to Track, page 12
“We are the best. ”
— Sarah Malone, Oregon javelin thrower
; _i_ _
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ii
Adam Amato Emerald
The Oregon women’s javelin four, from left to right: Charyl Weingarten, Roslyn Lundeen, Sarah Malone and Elisa Crumley.
Each has earned an NCAA provisional mark, with Malone and Crumley earning an NCAA automatic.
Four-seeing
the future
■ One of the top foursomes
in the country, the Oregon
women’s javelin program
is the best in school history
By Hank Hager
Oregon Daily Emerald
Theodore Roosevelt may have coined
the expression, “Speak softly and carry a
big stick,” but the Oregon women’s
javelin foursome is making it come to life.
Earlier in the season, Ducks’ head
coach Tom Heinonen called the squad
the best in the nation and possibly the
best Oregon has ever seen. The national
rankings back this up, but is it some
thing they truly believe?
“We are the best,” sophomore Sarah
Malone said while sitting on a bench out
side the Bowerman Building. “We have
the best foursome in the country. No
body’s even close to us. Not only do we
have it now, but none of us are seniors.”
Malone, a sophomore, is the unques
tioned leader of the group, a foursome
that places each member in the top 25
in the nation. Malone, in addition to
being the leader, is also the highest
ranked at No. 2.
Then come the freshmen. Elisa Crum
ley, a native of Hillsboro, Ore., is fifth,
followed closely by Roslyn Lundeen at
ninth. Both have exceeded expectations
in their first season, and are looking for
ward to visiting Pullman, Wash., for the
Pacific-10 Conference Championships,
and possibly even Baton Rouge, La., for
the NCAA version.
“I knew coming in that we had some
strong kids and a good group of girls,”
Crumley said. “Through working hard,
it has just paid off.”
Last but not least, junior Charyl
Weingarten is the veteran of the group,
and one that is ranked No. 24 collegiate
ly. She is a two-time Pac-10 qualifier
and finished 19th in last season’s
NCAA Championships held at Hay
ward Field.
Turn to Javelin, page 10
Sarnie Parker, a wide receiver for the Oregon
football team, finished fourth in the 60-meter dash
at the NCAA Indoor Championships in March.
DOUBLE TROUBLE
■ Football speedsters Sarnie Parker
and Allan Amundson are serving
double duty on the Oregon track team
By Adam Jude
Oregon Daily Emerald
Samie Parker and Allan Amundson are fast. But
to get from Portland’s PGE Park after a 1 p.m. foot
ball game Saturday to Hayward Field in Eugene for
the start of a 5:05 p.m. relay race, they’d have to
run about, oh, 110 miles in one hour.
They’re fast, but not that fast.
With football’s spring drills concluding Satur
day with the Spring Game in Portland, Parker
and Amundson, both under football scholar
ships, will have the chance to concentrate more
on track in May.
“Hopefully (the football coaches) will let me
devote more time to track,” said Parker, who fin
ished fourth in the 60-meter dash at the NCAA
Indoor Championships in March. “I want to go to
the Pac-lOs.”
Parker, in his third year of double-dipping in the
spring, is Oregon’s fastest athlete — he has already
established a Pac-10 Conference qualifying time in
the 100-meter dash (a wind-aided 10.45) — but he
doesn’t stop there.
“Samie will be the fastest collegiate football play
er in the country (in the fall),” said Steve Silvey, the
sprints coach for the Oregon track team. “There’s no
question — if Samie did track full-time, he would
be at the national outdoor meet in June.”
Even at part-time, Parker may still advance to
the NCAA Championships, if not in the 100-meter
dash, perhaps with Amundson in the 4x100. The
foursome composed of Amundson, as the lead,
Micah Harris, Terry Ellis and Parker, the anchor,
ran a 40.77-second relay in the Washington Dual
at Hayward Field on April 13, just shy of an
NCAA-provisional mark of 40.10. |
That same day, after their events at the dual,
Parker and Amundson headed across the
Willamette River to the Moshofsky Center, where
they participated in spring’s first football scrim
mage. Amundson led the team with 11 carries (for
33 yards), while Parker had one catch.
“That was pretty cool, to do both sports in one
day,” Parker said. “It was like Deion Sanders when
he played in a football game and a World Series
baseball game in the same day. It was good experi
ence to have under my belt.”
Amundson, in his first year with the track pro
gram, said he’d been asked before to run with the
track team, but never thought he was fast enough.
“I got faster last summer, so I felt like I could hang
with the track guys this year,” said Amundson, who
Turn to Football, page 12
4f
Thomas Patterson Emerald
Allan Amundson, in his first year with the
track team, is Oregon’s fastest running back.