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
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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.