Ellis, Ducks finish strong in California
Oregon senior co-captain John
Ellis finishes in second place
while the Ducks finish fifth
in the California tournament
Golf
Jon Roetman
Freelance Sports Reporter
John Ellis made sure there would
n’t be another final-round meltdown
for the Oregon men’s golf team.
The senior co-captain finished in
a tie for second place, and the Ducks
climbed into fifth place Tuesday at
the Alister MacKenzie Invitational at
the Meadow Club in Fairfax, Calif.
Ellis, who finished with an 8-under
par 205, had rounds of 68 and 72
Tuesday to complement his person
al-best round of 65 Monday.
“John had a very good tourna
ment,” Oregon head coach Steve
Nosier said. “It was exciting to have
John lead our team and to be in a
position to challenge for the indi
vidual title.”
It was the first tournament of the fall
in which the Ducks improved their
ranking over the second day. The
Ducks jumped from eighth place to
fifth, finishing with a 7-over 859, 15
strokes behind tournament winner
Fresno State. UCLA and Northwestern
tied for second, three strokes back.
“Overall, we played pretty fair,”
Nosier said. “The course was playing
a lot tougher today due to the wind
and some challenging pin place
ments, but we did ourselves some
good down the road by beating a lot
of teams from our district.”
Players had to finish the second
round, which was postponed due to
darkness Monday, before they started
on the final 18 holes. Fresno State
senior Nick Watney, ranked No. 1 in
the nation by the latest Golfweek/
Sagarin poll, was the individual win
ner with an 11-under 202. Watney fin
ished three strokes ahead of Ellis, No.
3 ranked Northwestern junior Tom
Johnson and UCLA junior Roy Moon.
Duck junior Mike Sica had a strong
showing with a career-best 12th-place
finish. Sica’s 1-under 212 included
two rounds of 71 and one 70.
“Mike Sica really played some sol
id golf for us,” Nosier said.
Junior Jimmy White, making his
fall debut, finished in a tie for 43rd at
221. Senior co-captain Chris Carna
han, coming off a ninth place finish
at the Club Grove Intercollegiate,
finished in a tie for 62nd. Redshirt
freshman Justin St. Clair also tied for
62nd at 225.
The Ducks fall finale is Nov. 4-5 at
the Prestige at Palm Desert in Palm
Desert, Calif.
jon Roetman is a freelance writer
for the Emerald.
Westendorf
continued from page 5A
drove to Manhattan Beach, a popu
lar hangout in the Los Angeles area.
While there, she worked out with
Krystal McFarland, a stalwart with
UCLA, and took on competitors in
beach volleyball.
“That was fun,” Westendorf said
of her summer. “I just tried to work
out and my goal was to come back
stronger and faster.”
That’s been noticed.
“She has a perfectionist attitude,
so she’s always working hard,” sen
ior Sydney Chute said. “She’s al
ways in the gym before practice and
after practice. She always goes the
extra mile and has a great work eth
ic. She also has a really good atti
tude on the court.”
Improvement means inevitable
comparisons to former Ducks. For
Westendorf, that former Oregon
star is current graduate assistant
coach Monique Tobbagi.
The two shared the same court
last season as teammates, and this
year, Westendorf has swallowed To
bbagi’s advice with vigor.
“Monique is probably my biggest
role model,” Westendorf said. “I
love Monique and cried for two
weeks after her last match. She’s the
one we all want to be and look up to.
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“So just hearing (myself compared
to her) is so humbling and just such
an amazing compliment and some
thing that I hope I can strive to be. I
would work hard every day to be just
half the player she was.”
That tireless work ethic has paid
off so far, but Westendorf under
stands the necessity of listening and
learning. Still just 18 years of age,
she has a long way to go.
“Carl reminds me daily that I
need to have an empty cup,” she
said. “Every day I’m just reminded
I need to keep growing and improv
ing on a daily basis.”
To be successful, the typical col
lege athlete needs to be intense on
the court. But off the court, it is a
whole other story.
“I do tend to make a fool out of
myself on a daily basis,” Westendorf
said with a laugh. “My teammates
love the fact that I relate everything
in life to ‘Saved By the Bell’ or ‘(Bev
erly Hills) 90210.’ I’m such a teeny
bopper and I’ve grown up on those
shows. So pretty much, they love to
make fun of me on that.”
Apparently, Westendorf loved be
ing a freshman so much that she
can’t get over the fact she is now a
sophomore.
“Lauren can’t let go of being a
freshman,” Chute said. “A couple
of times this season she has intro
duced herself as a freshman when
we have to introduce ourselves
to different people. She says, ‘Hi,
I’m a freshman. Oh, wait, wait,
sophomore.’
“Definitely, she has some growing
up to do in that regard, remember
ing what year she is,” Chute added
with a smile.
A little more than two years re
main for Westendorf at Oregon.
First and foremost, she has her eyes
on a Pac-10 victory. But after that,
it’s all about improving and making
Adam Amato Emerald
Lauren Westendorf admits to being a 'teeny-bopper/ but the sophomore is a force
on the volleyball court.
her mark on the Duck program.
“I’m ready for any role that is
open for me,” she said. “I can’t wait
for next year, but right now, I’m fo
cused on this year and doing what
ever I can this year to improve.”
If anything, consensus is that
Westendorf will become a positive
fixture in the Oregon program.
“She’s always had an extremely in
fectious personality that is so engag
ing,” Ferreira said. “She makes oth
er people better just by being around
her. Not just as an athlete, but a per
son as well. You didn’t know how
good she was going to be, but you al
ways liked being around her.”
Contact the sports reporter
at hankhager@dailyemerald.com.
Hager
continued from page 5A
the hearts of most colleges in
America, including fans in the Eu
gene area. He made a statement
upon his appointment last week
that definitely shouldn’t sit well
with Duck backers.
“We must make certain that aca
demic concerns are first and fore
most,” Brand told a National Press
Club audience recently. “To do
that, we don’t have to turn off the
game. We just have to turn down
the volume.”
Turn down the volume? That’s
exactly the opposite direction the
Ducks have taken.
From Autzen Stadium on down
to Oregon merchandise, the Ducks
have done everything it takes to get
noticed. Each team’s uniform is
stylish, while each gigantic poster
in downtown New York screams
“Look at us!”
And that “us” is not just athletics.
The Oregon folks up top have done
it right, modeling the public rela
tions attempts at the University as a
whole, not just the football program.
There is nothing wrong with hav
ing athletics help enrollment at a
university. Based on current enroll
ment numbers at Oregon, one
could make a reasonable assump
tion that they have increased, not
only because of improved academ
ics, but also because football has
taken leaps and bounds off the map
while each other program has
seemingly improved.
Athletics, in this day and age,
gets universities noticed. That is re
ally vital to Oregon.
Academics, as Brand inferred, do
need to be at the forefront of a uni
versity’s purpose, but it is possible to
do so without taking away from ath
letics. The two can co-exist as they
do now. Tinkering is not needed.
So, getting back to Brand, it al
most seems like he could be direct
ly pointing at Oregon without actu
ally saying so.
He was president at a time
when Oregon was just beginning
to realize its potential on the grid
iron, from 1989-94. He was here
when the Len Casanova Athletic
Center went up, signaling the
rebirth of a program that had
been dormant for years.
Then, four years after his resigna
tion from Oregon, the Moshofsky
Sports Center was dedicated, this
time proclaiming Oregon’s rise to the
top of the Pacific-10 Conference.
Brand was there at the begin
ning. So now, it seems, he is call
ing for a stop to the process he
helped oversee.
Granted, Oregon is just a prime
example because it is in our back
yard. Who knows where Florida
will go with its program, or what
UCLA is thinking of doing in
the future?
So to single out and say that he is
doing this because, specifically,
Oregon has jumped the gun on
every program in the Pac-10 and
most in the country, is absurd.
And make no mistake, he is not
entirely “anti-athletics” as is as
sumed by many who have followed
his appointment.
Still, his words sound off with a
tinge of irony.
Contact the sports reporter
at hankhager@dailyemerald.com.