Sports Editor:
Peter Hockaday
peterhockaday@dailyemerald.com
Tuesday, January 14, 2003
-Oregon Daily Emerald
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Webb’s wrestling career ended by injury
The Oregon star finishes his Duck
career with a 69-31 overall record
Wrestling
Mindi Rice
Freelance Sports Reporter
Alter suffering his fourth concussion
in less than two years, senior heavy
weight wrestler Eric Webb will no longer
compete for the Oregon wrestling squad
to avoid the risk of further in jury.
“The medical personnel have decid
ed that it is not in his best interest to
continue competition," head coach
Chuck Kearney said. “It's no longer
safe for him to compete.”
Webb, a native of Eugene and gradu
ate of Willamette High School, had a
successful Oregon career, ending with
an overall record of 69-31. Webb red
shirted his first season, and went 23-15
overall and 15-9 in dual meet competi
tion during the 1999-2000 season, his
first year of competition. He had 12
pins, one fall and seven major decisions
going into his sophomore season.
Webb's strongest year, statistically,
was his sophomore campaign. On Dec.
29, 2000, at the Midlands Tournament,
Making
their point
The Oregon club fencing team
explains its often-misunderstood
sport to prospective fencers
Jon Roetman
Freelance Sports Reporter
•Joel’s; get a few particulars out of
the Wav.
Do you like fighting? Do you feel like
stabbing someone with a sharp object?
Do.you, want to swing in from a chan
delict kill the bad guv? If so, fencing
is not for you.
These are some of the most common
misconceptions that people have about
fencing, Oregon club fencing head
coach Paul Csonka said.
Csonka, who has been fencing for 15
years and coaching the Oregon fencing
team for five, said that a fair amount of
people come out for the fencing team,
but many are turned away when they
find out what fencing is really about.
“Fencing isn’t directly applicable to
dueling.” Csonka said. “This first turns
a lot of people off.”
Fencing is a game of strategy, defen
sive tactics and point scoring, rather
than slashing and bleeding.
Three weapons are used in the
sport, two of which are used by the
club. The two offered by club fencing
are the toil, a flexible 35-inch rectan
gular blade, and the epee, (EPP-pay)
which is similar in length, yet heavier
with a larger hand guard and a much
stiffer blade. The third weapon, which
is not used by the club, is the sabre,
which is the modern version of the
cavalry sword.
Each weapon has a different space
on the opponent’s body where a point
can be scored with a touch. A point
can be scored with the foil if contact is
made with the opponent's torso. The
epee’s contact zone is the entire body,
while the sabre’s zone is from the waist
Club Sports
Tuesday
up. A bout in preliminary pool play
is over when a fencer reaches five
points, while a bout in direct elimina
tion play is over when a fencer reach
es 15 points.
The club has 11 consistent mem
bers, Csonka said. Half of those come
with little experience.
“Fittv percent (of fencing members)
have had one or two fencing classes, or
nothing at all,” Csonka said.
Those who rely on club funding for
competition usually compete in two or
three tournaments a year. Those who
rclv on their own funding usually com
pete in six or seven. The team prac
tices twice a week. It costs nothing to
practice with the team.
Freshman Robert Teel, who has been
fencing for four years, said fencing in
volves more thought than fighting.
“The big misconception is that
there’s a lot ot slashing,” Teel said. “It’s
a lot of strategic defense.”
Teel placed second individually at
the Morgan Stanley Open in Portland
and was on a team that placed first at
the Eugene Fencer’s Club tournament
in December.
Assistant coach Adam Lake, 23, was
also on the team that placed first in the
Eugene tournament and tied for third
individually at the Portland tournament.
Lake has been fencing for almost nine
years, including four at Lawrence Uni
versity in Appleton, Wise.
Csonka was the gold medal winner
for the Foil Open event at the Oregon
Turn to Fencing, page 6
Webb defeated then-No. 3 John Lock
hart, 3-3. He ended the season 13-2 in
dual meets and 24-4 overall, including
seven pins.
Webb sustained a concussion while
warming up for the Pacific-10 Confer
ence Championships, and was unable
to finish the season on the mat. lie
ended the season ranked No. 4 at
heavyweight nationally, the highest
ranking of any Oregon wrestler that
season. Lockhart was the eventual
NCAA Champion.
During his junior season, Webb bat
tled foot injuries but still finished the
season 20-11 overall and had a third
r
place finish in the Pac -10.
Webb began the current season, his
final year, ranked by multiple publica
tions as one of the top 10 heavyweights
in the country. Many expected Webb to
make a run at the national title.
He started strong in the Nov. 23
Body Bar Invitational hosted by Cor
nell, winning his first two matches. He
suffered his eventual season-ending
concussion early in the third match,
and has not competed for the
Ducks since.
“He is a friend and a leader to the
young men in this program,” Kearney
Turn to Webb, page 6
Webb
Danielle Hickey Emerald
Jason Washburn sticks it to opponents as student coordinator for the Oregon fencing team, which competes regularly.
Oregon tennis struggles in Hawaii tournament
The Ducks win one singles
and three doubles matches
in the Kona Invitational
Men’s tennis
Ryan Heath
Freelance Sports Writer
For some, Hawaii is a tropical
island paradise. For the No. 73 Ore
gon men’s tennis team, it was a diffi
cult place to start the spring season.
The Ducks struggled against two
teams in the top 15 at the Kona In
vitational in Waikoloa, Hawaii over
the weekend. Saturday, the Ducks
were without No. 64 Manuel Kost,
out with a strained muscle, against
No. 2 Illinois. In singles play,
Illinois won all six matches and
the Ducks took two of three
in doubles.
Ducks Sven Swinnen and Oded
Teig defeated No. 2 Amer Delie and
Michael Calkins, 8-6. Jason Menke
and Arron Spencer also teamed up
to beat Illinois’ Rvler Delleart and
Chris Martin. Thomas Bieri and Ju
naid Hossain stayed close against
No. 35 Brian Wilson and Phil Stolt,
but tell 8-6.
“Doubles was definitely a good
showing,” head coach Chris Russell
said. “Oded and Sven played very
well. Some of the other guys need to
find a little more consistency.”
Sunday, with Kost sitting for the
second day in a row and pro
nouneed doubtful for Monday, the
Ducks managed just two victories
with one in singles and one in dou
bles. Hossain scored the singles
win, beating Illinois’ Alex Hobson,
6-3, 6-1, and Menke/Spencer han
dled Texas A&M’s Khaled El Dorry
and Cameron Fenner, 8-2. The top
five players for the No. 13 Aggies
were able to win all five singles
matches and take two of the three
doubles contests.
“Oded Teig has been very com
petitive at the No. 1 singles spot, so
that’s been a real positive for us,”
assistant coach Ross Duncan said.
“But the highlight was definitely the
doubles play of Jason Menke and
Arron Spencer.”
The Ducks closed out the Kona
Invitational with matches against
No. 23 Wake Forest on Monday
evening and have their first home
dual meet Jan. 24.
Ryan Heath is a freelance writer
for the Emerald.