Sports Editor Peter Hockaday petertiockaday@dailyemerald.com Tuesday, February 4,2003 -Oregon Daily Emerald Sports Best bet NCAA men's basketball: Florida at Kentucky 6 p.m., ESPN IX lives Title IX has been bad and good for sports, most recently benefiting Oregon’s female athletes Mindi Rice Freelance Sports Reporter A hockey team that had been to every national tournament in five years. A men’s gymnastics program that was consistently ranked in the top 10 in the country. A baseball program that is part of Oregon’s rich athletic history — in the early 1880s, a baseball game against Monmouth College was one of the first documented Oregon athletic events. While officials say these programs, along with women’s gymnastics, women’s field hockey and men’s and women’s swimming and diving squads, were cut by the Athletic Department mainly because of budgetary reasons, there was also another factor. Title IX. Tide IX, technically, prohibits gender discrimination in public and private schools that receive federal funding. Passed in 1972, it applies to high schools and colleges, and to opportunities both on the field and in the classroom. However, the most widely-used in terpretation of Title IX is the gender equity law that has spurred the mass entrance of women’s athletics and fe male athletes into existence and the national spotlight. Monday, the Athletic Department announced that a varsity women’s lacrosse program will begin at Oregon in fall 2004. The announcement came four days after a Title IX Commission appointed by the Bush administration approved recommendations to make minor, but calculated, changes to Ti tle IX that will, if approved, affect how schools determine whether they are in compliance. Currently, schools must show that they meet three standards. One standard is athlete scholarships, and making sure they are given propor tional to student-athlete participation according to gender. Oregon is in com pliance with this standard — in the 2001-02 school year, 37.47 percent of Oregon’s student-athletes were female, and 37.36 percent of scholarship mon ey went to those females. Another standard schools must comply with is the “laundry list.” This list of 11 items includes travel expens es, publicity and equipment. The school must show that men and women have equal funding and access to these items. The third, and most difficult to inter pret, is “accommodation of interests and abilities,” a three-prong test. Schools must meet one of three crite ria: Athlete gender percentage must be proportional to the student body, the school must demonstrate a history and continuing practice of program expan sion for the underrepresented gender, or the school must show that it fully and effectively accommodates the in terests and abilities of the underrepre sented gender. For Oregon, the prong choice is a simple one — the second prong. Oregon strives to demonstrate a history and continuing practice of program expan Turn to Title IX, page 12 Adam Amato Emerald Lauren Peters and the women's lacrosse team are the subject of Title IX reform, as Oregon will add the sport in 2004. Club lacrosse still looks forward to ‘03 season The Ducks are excited their sport will soon be a varsity one, but they are currently focusing on 2003 Women’s lacrosse Jon Roetman Freelance Sports Reporter They sprint around an area of the field, look ing for any way they can help the team win. Leaving everything out on the field, they go almost entirely unnoticed. They’re driven by the desire to win and a commitment to the team. Sound like the life of an offensive lineman? Try a West Coast women’s lacrosse player. The sport of lacrosse is a monster on the East Coast, but for athletes on the West Coast, like those on the Oregon women’s club lacrosse team, their efforts have gone mostly unnoticed. “I didn’t realize that it’s not a big sport out here at all,” said senior Tina Thompson, who grew up playing lacrosse in Washing ton, D.C. “People (on the West Coast) are like, ‘What’s lacrosse?’” With Monday’s announcement that Oregon will feature women’s lacrosse as a varsity sport for the 2004-05 season, it appears lacrosse out west is heading toward a growth in popularity. “(Lacrosse) is a wonderful sport,” stu dent club coordinator Louisa Dorsch said. “It will elevate the school in general just to have the program.” This year; the women’s club team returns half of its players from a team that finished tied for sixth in the Northwest Women’s Club Lacrosse League. The Ducks feature a mixture of youth and experience. Dorsch and Thompson, two of the Ducks’ most experienced players, lead the team into battle. Dorsch is in her third season with the Ducks. A goalkeeper from Hagerstown, Md., Dorsch said the Ducks have shown potential for the upcoming season. “We have some terrific players,” Dorsch said. “The team is very dedicated and a great group of girls.” Thompson is the only Duck in her fourth season. She said the biggest ally the Ducks have for potential success is that they’ve had the same coordinator for two years. In her first two seasons, the team switched coordi nators, essentially having to start from scratch each season. With half of the roster returning, they can continue to build on what is already established. “We have a little foundation going,” Thompson said. A talented group of underclassmen will con tribute to the Ducks as well. Freshmen Leslie Turn to Lacrosse, page 12 Sun sets early, Oregon finishes Ping first round in ninth Emerald Golf head coach Steve Nosier said he was pleased witfvhowthe Ducks played in their opening round. Jimmy White and Gregg LaVoie lead the Ducks with opening round par-71 s, and both sit 22nd overall Men’s golf Scott Archer Freelance Sports Reporter After the sun set early at the first day of the 2003 Ping-Arizona Intercollegiate tourna ment, the Oregon men’s golf team found itself tied for 9th when play was suspended mid way through the second round at the 6,973 yard, par-71 Arizona National Golf Course. The second round of play was suspended due to darkness. Junior Jimmy White led the Ducks with a saac#s»-low round of 71, also the second-low— est round for his career. Also scoring an open ing-round score of 71 was freshman Gregg LaVoie. Both White and LaVoie are tied for 22nd overall. Freshman Justin St. Glair set his lowest round score of his young career while tying teammate and senior John Ellis at 72. Senior Chris Carnahan finished the day with a two-over-par 73. “Our guys played pretty well for our open ing tournament, especially with two fresh men,” head coach Steve Nosier said. “We left a lot of shots out there on the course, but we’re not that far off.” The Ducks concluded the first round with a team score of 286, 16 strokes behind current leader and Pacific-10 Conference rival, No. 17 UCLA. No. 10 Arizona was second on the day, shooting a 276, followed by No. 21 Pepperdine with a team score of 280. • »©nly«K