Oregon daily emerald., May 08, 2002, Image 8

Sports Editor:
Adam Jude
adamjude@dailyemerald.com
Wednesday, May 8,2002
Best Bet
NHL playoffs:
Colorado at San Jose
7 p.m., ESPN
Oregon’s Nyland recognized for sportsmanship
■Janice Nyland, who will lead the Ducks into the NCAA
Tou rnament, is one of eightf inalists for national award
By Peter Martini
for the Emerald
For the past four years, senior Janice Nyland has been
the heart and soul of the Oregon women’s tennis team.
Now she’s getting national recognition for it.
Nyland received the Regional ITA Cissie Leary Award
for Sportsmanship and is one of eight finalists for the
national award.
“I was surprised,” said Nyland, an Oregon co-captain.
“I try to be professional and represent
the team well when I’m on the court,
and to get an award for doing it is a huge
honor.”
When Nyland came to Oregon in
1998, she found herself near the bottom
of the lineup. She started the year play
ing in the No. 4 spot but eventually com
peted at No. 2. She finished 15-19 that
year in singles.
“I was the worst player on the team, but I wanted to
learn,” said Nyland. a Davis, Calif., native who has a 60-68
career singles record. “I did learn a lot, mostly how to be re
ceptive to coaches and how to take criticism. ”
Head coach Jack Griffin said Nyland’s attitude and work
ethic make his job easier.
“She has high expectations for her coaches, herself and
her teammates,” Griffin said. “She pushes us all to do bet
ter, which makes us a better team. ”
Nyland’s teammates said they appreciate the sometimes
brutal honesty she brings to the team.
“She’s very opinionated, and she’ll tell you how it is,”
sophomore Courtney Nagle said. “It’s one thing to hear it
from a coach, but hearing it from a player, it really reaches
you in a different way. It means more coming from a peer.”
Nyland’s most significant performance this year came
at home against Washington. The Ducks, riding a two-year
winless streak in the Pacific-10 Conference at the time, and
the Huskies were tied 3-3 with Nyland’s match left unfin
ished. Down 5-4 in the third set, she battled back to win 7-6
and give Oregon the emotional win.
“That match against Washington signified Janice as a
player,” Griffin said. “She is a strong leader.”
Leadership and teamwork are aspects of tennis that Ny
land, who is majoring in biology and computer science, said
she will take into the professional world. With another year
of school left, she is searching for a summer internship.
“The NCAA doesn’t allow us to work, so I’m behind in
job experience,” said Nyland, who would like to work as a
software designer or bio-technologist. “But I will take
many important things from tennis into my career, like
teamwork, communication and being goal-oriented.”
On Saturday, Nyland will take these qualities into the
TENNIS
Turn to Women’s, page 12
Jonathan House Emerald
Senior Janice Nyland, an honorable mention all Pac-10 selection, is one of eight finalists for the
national Cissie Leary Award for Sportsmanship.
Logsdon
will wait
to decide
on Pac-10
■ Eric Logsdon, the shoeless
wonder, qualified for the Pac-10
Championships in two events,
but will only compete in one
By Peter Hockaday
Oregon Daily Emerald
So, when Eric Logsdon ran part of
the Cardinal Invite 5,000-meter race
with only one shoe Friday, it turns out
he was almost used to it.
Losing a shoe has happened twice
before to Logsdon, who ran the fastest
Oregon freshman 5,000 time in 22
years despite his equipment shortage.
It happened to him in a cross country
meet in Minneso
ta this past year,
where he ran the
last 4 1/2 miles
with one shoe. It
happened once in
high school.
So when he was
running in a pack
on Friday, and
one of his oppo
nents clipped his
heel, Logsdon’s
reaction was to keep running.
And how fast he ran. His time was
the fastest outdoor mark for a Duck
this season, and remarkably came in
Logsdon’s first-ever 5,000. Still, the
time came as a surprise to everyone
but Logsdon himself.
“We’ve been training for the 5K for a
while,” Logsdon said. “So it was nice
to get out there and run it.”
Now Logsdon has a dilemma: to run
the 1,500 or the 5,000? He qualified for
the Pacific-10 Championships in both
Turn to Men’s, page 12
Jonathan House tmerald
Portland State first baseman Alayna Peterson, left, lunges for Oregon’s Jenn Poore during Game 2 of
the April 24 doubfeheader at Howd Field.
UO softball trying to find right mix
■With three games left, Oregon alters
its lineup to find most productive offense
By Chris Cabot
Oregon Daily Emerald
There is little debate that the Oregon softball
team is struggling against the rest of the teams in
the top softball conference in the country — their
record of 1-17 tells the story of a long Pacific-10
Conference season. So first-year head coach Brent
Rincon has been trying to shake things up.
“The lineup has changed dramatically over
time,” Rincon said. “We as coaches try to find the
right combination of kids that are hot and can
be productive.”
Throughout most of the season, Rincon and his
two assistant coaches kept the top four spots some
what steady with Alyssa Laux, Lynsey Haij, Andrea
Vidlund and Jenn Poore. In the past few games,
Rincon’s lineup changes have included moving
Vidlund, who leads the team with eight home runs,
down to the No. 7 spot and Poore down to No. 8.
Freshman Mari Lyn Petrick and junior Janell
Bergstrom — who was 2-for-3 with a run scored in a
2-1 loss to No. 1 UCLA on Friday — have been hit
ting well lately, so in the last game against Wash
ington on Sunday, they hit in the third and fourth
slots, respectively. Oregon failed to score a run.
Lakeesha Eversley, who was hitting near the top
of the order at the start of the season, now fights for
playing time with Amber Hutchison.
“We haven’t had the kind of productivity from
some of the players that has allowed us to have a set
lineup,” Rincon said. “We’d still, with three games re
maining, like to settle on a set lineup, but we play who
coaches think are hot and who can be productive. ”
Going down fighting
Although Oregon’s conference record is 1-17, many
of the contests have been close. Kristi Hall, who was
honored with fellow senior Connie McMurren prior
to the Ducks’ final home game Sunday, said the Clucks
will be heading down to California for their last three
games with an intense determination.
“There’s a lot of teams that doubt our record, and
that is fair to say considering our record,” Hall said.
“But we have some of the best hitters, best defensive
players and best pitchers in the country, and we are
going to go out whether our record is 40-2 or 2-40 and
play just as hard as if it was a championship game.”
Around the Pac
For the second week in a row, UCLA catcher Stacey
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