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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (May 16, 2002)
Sports brief UO women’s basketball signs final recruit Bev Smith completed her first recruiting class as head coach of the Oregon women’s basketball team with her fifth signing of the spring Wednesday. And Smith stayed in the country this time. After signing two recruits from her native Canada, Smith received a national letter of intent from Hillsboro native Kayla Steen. Last year at Clackamas Communi ty College — one of 26 schools in the Northwest Athletic Association of Community Colleges — the 5-foot-8 guard averaged 22.8 points, 7.2 re bounds and a league-best 7.1 assists while leading Clackamas to a 26-6 record. She garnered MVP honors of the NWAACC southern division for the second straight year. Steen joins 6-foot-3 post Carolyn Ganes of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, 6-foot-2 forward Yadili Okwum abua of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Saint Mary’s transfer Corrie Mizusawa, a 5-foot-8 guard, and Hawaii transfer Chelsea Wagner, a guard from Springfield, on this year’s recruit ing class. Mizusawa and Wagner, however, are required to sit out a season by NCAA regulations. Because Steen is transferring from a non-NCAA school, she is eligible to participate for the Ducks in the 2002-03 season. Steen will help fill the void of the departed Jamie Craighead, who finished her career second on Ore gon’s all-time three-point list. “Kayla brings qualities that we lose in our graduating players this year,” Smith said. “She will be able to play a little bit of a combo guard for us. Her strength is the ability to do the right thing for the team, whether it’s hitting a three pointer, getting after a rebound or dishing off an assist.” Steen adds to the already guard heavy lineup that features All American senior Shaquala Williams, Alissa Edwards, Kourt ney Shreve as well as sophomores Brandi Davis and Amy Taylor. “Kayla will be able to contribute right away to our program, and she’s got two years of being a strong leader at the JC level,” Smith said. “Plus, she’s a great student and has great character.” As a freshman at Clackamas, Steen averaged 17 points, six re bounds and six assists per game. A four-year letterwinner from St. Mary’s Academy in Portland, Steen was a first-team all-league selection as a junior and senior. She also holds a state prep record with 10 three-pointers in a game. — Adam Jude Men’s continued from page 13 conference because of an effective weapon come postseason time: balance. UCLA boasts an un precedented five athletes that lead the conference in their events, including the Pac-lO’s best shot putter, hammer thrower, discus thrower, long jumper and 400-meter hurdler. Scott Moser is the star for the Bruins. The senior, who won the discus title last year, leads the con ference in that event and the ham mer, where his best throw is more than three feet longer than the best throw of Oregon’s Adam Kriz, who is ranked second. Stanford — The Cardinal aren’t as balanced as the Bruins, but they are deeper. Much, much deeper. Stanford’s distance crew, which almost single-handedly won the Cardinal the conference title last year, will be back in ac tion in Pullman. Here’s just an idea of how good Stanford^ distance runners really are. In tne 5,000-meter race, 11 of the 24 athletes with qualifying times are Cardinal. The top four runners are from Stanford, and five of the top eight — the scoring posi tions — hail from Palo Alto. If the 5,000 ends up like it should, Stan ford would score 31 points, a huge number for one event. The contenders Arizona State — The Sun Devils should be the Sun Gnats of the Pac 10 Championships, picking up small amounts of points in loads of different events. Arizona State has only one conference leader, and it isn’t even an athlete, it’s the squad’s Locally owned LUBE, OIL, FILTER DOWNTOWN 1320 Willamette 485-2356 2975 West 11th 344-0007 Chassis Lube • New Oil Filter • Up to 5 Qts. 10W-30 Kendall Oil • Clean Front Window • Vaccuum Front Floor Boards sjo . _ __ ^ ^ Kendall MOTOR OIL ON IN TMt PNOTfCTION Appointment necessary Most light cars & trucks OPEM Sundays 942-8730 fffSDF COURxff 484-1927 GOLF 9 HOLES $10 | Students Onfy. Must shout ID. (Monday - Friday) Don’t Get Trapped In A Small Apartment • Basketball/Tennis Courts • 1 & 2 Bedrooms • Quiet & Large • Low Energy Cost • Air Conditioning • Laundry Hookups • Free Cable • Balcony/Deck Come check out our great apartments! McKenna Estates www.mckennaestates.com 342-5735 near Autzen Stadium Oregon Daily Emerald WORLDWIDE Another great way to read the ODE www.dailyemerald.com 4x400 relay team. But that doesn’t mean the Sun Devils aren’t a threat to the confer ence’s major powers. Five ASU ath letes are ranked second in their events, and at least one ASU ath lete, senior shot putter David Wood, has a golden chance to win the crown in his event. Wood won last year’s Pac-10 title in the shot put, and his best mark this season is only four inches short of the con ference’s best mark. Oregon — The Ducks, who fin ished fifth at last year’s conference championships, would win this year if the meet was judged on heart. Since stars John Stiegeler and Santiago Lorenzo went down earlier this year, the team has pulled together and posted several surprising marks. But the meet is not judged on heart, it’s judged on cold, hard times and distances, The Ducks have one conference leader in Si mon Kimata and one champion locked up in decathlete Billy Pap pas, who won his title on Sunday. But beyond those two, Oregon’s athletes are lodged in the second third-fourth range. The Ducks will need to have several athletes per form above their potential, but if that happens, Oregon could com plete the 2001-02 trifecta of Pac-10 Championships started by football and men’s basketball. USC — The Trojans are bal anced, but not as strong in their balance as their cross-town rivals, the Bruins. Still, a mixture of track and field semi-stars, along with a few upsets, could propel USC into the upper third of the final confer ence standings. The Trojans’ strength is in the field, but fast sprinters have led them to the conference’s top 4x100 relay time. Still, conference leaders Julien Kapek in the triple jump and Dawid Jaworski in the high jump will earn USC’s bread at the confer ence finale. The pretenders Arizona, Washington State, Cal ifornia, Washington — These teams have an impressive number of conference leaders among them — five in all — but little to no depth. Arizona has the best shot to finish closer to the “contenders” group, but only because of two conference leaders and four ath letes that rank either second or third in their event. Host Wash ington State has strong sprints, but little to impress in the field. Washington has two conference leaders, but only five other scor ing athletes. For these teams, the conference meet should prove long and pointless. E-mail sports reporter Peter Hockaday at peterhockaday@dailyemerald.com. Women’s continued from page 13 line and she was like ‘OK.’ So I asked her if I could be in this meet and she said it was fine and (assis tant coach Mark Stream) said it was fine. I was pumped.” Don’t think Kriz’ attempt at the javelin didn’t go unnoticed. Mal one, who took the meet with a throw of 166-10, had some kind words for her teammate. “She was just out there having fun,” Malone said. Better yet, is there a future for Kriz in the javelin? With all four javelin throwers re turning next season, it may not be likely, but there’s no reason not to dream, at least in Kriz’ mind. “It’s looking like a possibility,” Kriz said. “Sally says there could be a fu ture there. We’ll see what happens.” For the record, Kriz — who will be converging on Pullman, Wash., to compete in the Pac-10 Champi onships in the high jump — took fifth in her common event, but was at a height of 5-7. Full steam ahead The injury bug has stayed away from the Ducks for most of the sea son, and the week before the Pac-10 Championships is no different. Field stars such as Amanda Brown, Lundeen and Malone have all been sidelined with vari ous injuries, but are now ready for the championships and are at full strength. Alicia Snyder-Carlson and Janette Davis have also suffered through injury-plagued seasons, but are back in business in the run ning events. Oregon will go into the champi onships with the full squad of 24 al lowable by the conference. Coach knows best Head coach Tom Heinonen, Har mon, Stream and volunteer coach Mark Vanderville have all had suc cessful collegiate and post-colle giate careers, so paying attention to what they say, at least in the ath letes’ minds, is vital. There will be a full week after the Oregon Twilight to practice for the culmination of the season for most, and while rest and relaxation is in the books, listening to the coaches is also on the plate. “Whatever Tom tells me to, but I really don’t know what I’m going to be doing,” junior Eri Macdon ald said. What if...? The Ducks, in the final regular season ranking, were named as the 12th best team in the nation by www.team-power.org. Oregon, conveniently placed two spots ahead of Washington — a team they defeated in a dual meet earlier this season — is only behind two Pac-10 schools. Peren nial power UCLA has held the top spot for most of the season, and Washington State is holding on to the seventh spot. What if, though, it all came down to the Ducks and Bruins or Oregon and Washington State for the Pac-10 title? Either way, the Ducks lost. First, UCLA clobbered Oregon 129-73, with the Ducks then losing to the Cougars, 106-96. UCLA, theoretically would have no problem with the rest of the conference, defeating Wash ington State 126-77. E-mail sports reporter Hank Hager at hankhager@dailyemerald.com. Golf continued from page 13 The Ducks had a strong finish this spring with six straight top-six fin ishes since the beginning of March. Most recently, Oregon finished fifth at the Pacific-10 Conference Cham pionships at the end of April. Four of the Duck’s five golfers have season stroke averages with in two of par. Senior Aaron Byers, from Albany, leads the Ducks with a 72.4 stroke average followed by junior John Ellis at 72.6 strokes per round. Junior Chris Carnahan, another Albany native, is third for Oregon at 73.2 with Portland native Bran don Harnden , a senior captain, at 73.6. Sophomore Mike Sica, who averages 75.3 strokes per round, will play fifth for the Ducks. Oregon will face tough competi tion to reach nationals including Pac-10 champion USC as the West’s No. 1 seed, followed by Texas, Fres no State, Washington, San Diego State and Arizona. It has been four years since the Ducks last played in Albuquerque, at the 1998 NCAA Championships. That Oregon team finished tied for 27th and did not make the second round cut. But with their consistency this year, the Ducks said they plan to go much further. Jesse Thomas is a freelance reporter for the Emerald. Black & white and READ all over campus. Oregon Daily Emerald
