Oregon daily emerald., May 17, 2002, Image 9

Friday, May 17,2002
Oregon track aims for Pac-10 supremacy
WOMEN: After two months of
outdoor meets, the Ducks get
down to business at the Pac-10
Championships in Pullman, Wash.
By Hank Hager
Oregon Daily Emerald
Like ancient Roman warriors who
converged on the Coliseum to battle to
the death, 200 athletes will compete
against one another at the Mooberry
Track and Field Complex in Pullman,
Wash., on Saturday and Sunday.
These athletes won’t be fighting to
the death, and there probably won’t be
any bloodshed — but there will be
dreams dashed and careers started.
And it all starts as the clock clicks
to noon.
The Pacific-10 Conference Champi
onships, after five months of indoor
and outdoor meets in Seattle, Lincoln,
Neb., and Eugene — among other des
tinations — are finally upon the 24
Oregon women who will make the
eight-hour bus ride to the tiny Wash
ington town.
“I’m very excited,” junior Jordan
Sauvage said. “The drive will be long
and tiresome, but it will be fun.”
Last season, the Ducks finished a
paltry eighth in Berkeley, Calif., a dis
appointment considering the overall
talent the team had. However, this
year’s squad is much improved, espe
cially in the field events.
“If you look at our marks list at the
end of the season, we’re better in 16 of
the 2'2 events,” head coach Tom
Heinonen said. “By any measure, we’re
a far better team.”
That said, first place is still most
likely out of reach for the green and
yellow. UCLA and USC — two of the
nation’s top powers — go into Pullman
with national title aspirations.
In fact, the Trojans and Bruins go
into the championships with top
ranked athletes in 14 of the 22 events,
a number that is even more impressive
because eight of those athletes are top
in the nation.
“Our athletes have seen plenty of
great competition,” Heinonen said.
“However, they know USC and UCLA
will battle it out for first place.”
Turn to Women’s, page 12
Adam Jones Emerald
Amanda Brown will be the first Duck athlete to compete at the Pac-10 Championships. Brown is
making her third consecutive appearance in the long jump.
Jonathan House Emerald
Kyley Johnson matched his personal best of 7-01/2 at the Oregon Twilight,
and will enter this weekend’s Pac-10 meet with momentum.
MEN: Oregon needs ‘everyone’ attheir best
to complete the “year of the Duck’sweep
By Peter Hockaday
Oregon Daily Emerald
Football started it. Men’s basketball continued it.
Now track gets a chance to finish it.
The Oregon men’s track and field team will try to com
plete the “year of the Duck” at the Pacific-10 Conference
Championships in Pullman, Wash., this weekend. Two of
the three major men’s sports have won Pac-10 titles this year,
and a victory for Oregon this weekend would simply seal
the deal, according to the athletes.
“We want to get (the Pac-10 title),” distance-runner Simon
Kimata said. “Everybody knows that, it’s not a secret. Bas
ketball has done it, football has done it. I’m not talking about
individual, I’m talking about the team. It would make a lot
of sense if we got it. They have done it, we have to do it too.”
In order to win this weekend, the Ducks will need to per
form at, and perhaps above, their potential. Track and field
powerhouses like Stanford and UCLA, who finished first
and second last year, respectively, will once again bring a
full slate of talented athletes to the meet. Teams like Arizona
Turn to Men’s, page 12
First-round woes again plague UO golfers in NCAA Regional
BYERS
■ Despite Aaron Byers’ 72,
the Ducks are 16th after the
first round of regional play
By Jesse Thomas
for the Emerald
The Oregon men’s golf team
foundered Thursday in the first round
of the NCAA West Regional and
walked away in 16th after 18 holes.
Senior Aaron Byers’ 2-under 70
placed him in a tie for fifth and
helped to keep Oregon in contention
for a bid to the NCAA Champi
onships. But now the Ducks have to
fight an uphill battle on the challeng
ing 7,368-yard, par 72 South Champi
ons Course in Albuquerque, N.M.
Oregon entered the tournament
seeded 11th, but their 12-over 300
puts them 15
strokes behind
first-round leader
Texas. The
Ducks, however,
are just six
strokes out of
10th place.
The top 10 teams and two individu
als from Albuquerque will advance to
the NCAA Championships May 29
June 1 in Columbus, Ohio.
Jason Hartwick led Texas to the
first-day lead with a 4-under 68. The
Longhorns fired off 285, four strokes
better than eighth-seeded San Diego
State’s 289. Fresno State, Minnesota
and Nevada are all keeping it a tight
race and are tied for third at 290.
Byers’ 70 put him in a tie with eight
other golfers including Oregon State’s
David Yarnes; both are just two
strokes back of first-round leader
Hartwick.
With five birdies and three bogies,
Byers, a senior from Albany, Ore., shot
off his lowest round in an NCAA Re
gional. Pepperdine’s Jason Allred,
UNLV’s Brandon Askew and Min
nesota’s David Morgan shared a tie for
second at three-under 69.
The other Ducks did not fare as well
as Byers, as junior John Ellis and sen
ior Brandon Harnden forced to count
76s to put them in a tie for 77th. Ju
nior Chris Carnahan and sophomore
Mike Sica shot disappointing 78s to
tie for 105th.
Oregon is following in the same
footsteps as last year’s regionals at the
Trysting Tree Golf Course in Corvallis,
where the Ducks sat in 21st after the
first round.
They fought back to 14th after the
second day but were doomed in the
end and finished 18th overall.
Oregon will begin second round
play at 8:15 a.m. today.
Jesse Thomas is a freelance reporter
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