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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (May 24, 2002)
Sports Editor: Adam Jude adamj ude@dailyemerald .com Friday, May 24,2002 NBA playoffs: Sacramento at Los Angeles 6p.m., NBC NCAA fete good for some Ducks, bad for others ■» s<. % w sv>" A ^■ § .__ __ .. . Courtesy Washington State Media Services Nick Bakke, ranked 20th nationally in the javelin, was the last Oregon athlete to make it into the NCAA Championships. ■ Nick Bakke is the last javelin thrower into the national meet, but Brandon Holliday and Eri Macdonald didn’t make the NCAA’s final cut By Peter Hockaday Oregon Daily Emerald Nick Bakke is in the picture. Even if he was never in the national javelin scene before he won the Pacific 10 Conference title last week, Oregon sophomore Nick Bakke (pronounced Back-ee) is now officially headed to the NCAA Championships, as the 20th and final member of the javelin field. When asked if he ever thought about making the NCAA Champi onships earlier this season, Bakke said, “Not realistically. “I had high hopes and everything,” Bakke said. “But not realistically, no.” Bakke moved up the NCAA list Thursday when Oregon junior John Stiegeler bowed out of the meet. Stiegel er tore his anterior cruciate ligament in April, but finished the season ranked fourth in the nation. Bakke was one of several Oregon athletes who learned their NCAA fate Thursday night. Brandon Holliday, ranked 25th in the 400 hurdles, didn’t move up the list and wasn’t invited to the national meet. On the women’s side, middle-distance runner Eri Mac donald, ranked 25th in the 800-meter race, missed making the NCAA meet by 10 spots. Several Oregon athletes were assured spots in the final meet of the season, but moved up or down the national lists. The rankings won’t mean anything next week, but for now they provide an idea of where the Oregon team might score points. Only the 1-8 positions score points, in descending order, at the NCAA meet. On the men’s side, the most dramat ic leap was made by Jason Hartmann, who moved from 12th to 10th in the 10,000. Adam Kriz jumped a spot to 12th in the hammer, and Micah Harris Oregon NCAA qualifiers (national rank) Men Simon Kimata, 800 (3) Trevor Woods, pole vault (7) Micah Harris, 110 hurdles (9) Jason Hartmann, 10,000 (10) Billy Pappas, decathlon (10) Adam Krtz, hammer (12) Nick Bakke, javelin (20) Women Becky Holliday, pole vault (3) Sarah Malone, javelin (4) Elisa Crumley, javelin (8) Mary Etter, discus (9) Rosiyn Lundeen, javelin (12) went from a tie for 11th to ninth in the 110 hurdles. Two Ducks moved down the list: Simon Kimata went from sec ond to third in the 800 and Trevor Woods dropped from fifth to seventh in the pole vault. On the women’s side, only one Duck of the five NCAA qualifiers moved on their lists. Javelin thrower Rosiyn Lundeen moved from 13th to 12th. Becky Holliday remained third nationally in the pole vault, Sarah Malone stayed at fourth in the javelin, Elisa Crumley stayed at eighth in the javelin and Mary Etter remained ninth in discus. Oregon will take the qualified ath letes to the national meet with high ex pectations to repeat last season’s suc cess. The men finished ninth overall last year, while the women finished 60th, but made progress. The Ducks will start competition in the NCAA meet on Wednesday in Ba ton Rouge, La. Becky Holliday, Kriz and Kimata are the three Ducks in action on Turn to Bakke, page 6A UO Club Sports ultimate team heads to nationals ■The Oregon ultimate team will represent the Northwest region By Jesse Thomas for the Emerald Coming from one of the toughest re gions in the country, the Club Sports women’s ultimate team will be repre senting the Northwest beginning today. The Ducks begin round robin play at the national championships this morning. The three teams in Oregon’s bracket are Yale, Bucknell and Carlton. In their last trip to the nation al tournament in 3 2000, Oregon placed 15th out of 16 teams. The Ducks said they are a completely different team this year and enter today ranked fifth. Colorado is ranked first fol lowed by San Diego in second and then Stanford, also representing the North west, is third. Carlton is ranked fourth. But according to Oregon captain Izzy Stohler, it was very difficult for the rankings to be decided. “I almost feel that we are underrat ed,” Stohler said. “We are hoping for quite a few upsets.” The Ducks qualified for the national tournament April 28 in the regional tournament. The women consider Stanford their biggest rival, primarily because the Ducks and the Cardinal represent the same region. Through the regular season compe tition, Stanford led the best of three se ries against Oregon, 2-1. “We’ve worked so hard to get to where we are now and I really think we have the ability to beat them,” co ordinator Serena Woods said, in refer ence to Stanford. Oregon will compete today through Sunday. Crew teams end season The Club Sports men’s and women’s crew teams finished their seasons during the weekend in a re spectable fashion. The Ducks competed in the Pacific Coast Rowing Championships on Sat urday and Pacific-10 Conference Championships on Sunday. The condi tions were far from desirable as Oregon experienced a 20-mph headwind for Turn to Club Sports, page 8A Track Town to show off Pre Classic ■The Prefontaine Classic is back for its 28th run, and features some of the best athletes in history By Hank Hager Oregon Daily Emerald Attendance has been down at Hayward Field this season and the weather hasn’t complied with the Oregon athletes, but the Prefontaine Classic Grand Prix is going to change that. The fans are coming back, and the clouds are going away, and the 28th version of one of the country’s most fabled meets is ready to get underway. “Ticket sales are going real ly well,” meet director Tom Jordan said. “But we really want to see the crowds come back for the (Oregon) meets because we want track to be healthy here.” The event, which starts at 1 p.m. Sunday, is going to allow Track Town, U.S.A., to get na tional exposure in an era that has not been kind to the Eu gene area. ESPN2 will air a de layed broadcast at 8 p.m. the same day, while Eurosport will also carry the meet. Marion Jones headlines a group of athletes that Jordan has called some of “the best fields we’ve ever had.” The six-time Prefontaine winner will be joined by Hicham El Guerrouj — termed the “King of the Mile” — as well as legendary pole vaulter Stacy Dragila, star hurdler Gail Devers and U.S. mile champion Mike Miller. But it will also feature some local flavor as well. Oregon star discus thrower announced Thursday as the latest addition to the field. The junior, ranked ninth nationally in the discus, will be competing in the NCAA Championships in Baton Rouge, La., on May 31. However, despite the less than a week difference between ETTER Mary Etter was the two meets, Etter doesn’t be lieve it will ruin her chances to compete at full strength. “It’s going to be nice be cause a lot of people in the na tion are going to have to wait two weeks before throwing in nationals,” she said. “It’s going to be nice being in a world class meet and then going to nationals.” The Prefontaine runs two hours long, and will feature some of the world’s best. With so many star-studded events taking place, weather immedi ately becomes a concern. However, Jordan is confident that the weather — which has been forecasted to be in the mid-60s with potential for rain — will be favorable when the some of the world’s best take to the Hayward track. “One of the things I’m hop ing for is that this crummy weather keeps down the aller gies,” Jordan said. “It doesn’t need to be warm. Just partly cloudy and dry.” E-mail sports reporter Hank Hager at hankhager@dailyemerald.com.
