Track teams near end of indoor season
The Duck squads will head
in separate directions this
weekend for two different
meets in Seattle and Iowa
Track and field
Peter Hockaday
Sports Editor
The Oregon track and field squads
will scatter this weekend to two
meets, one in Seattle and one in
Ames, Iowa.
The men will head to Iowa for the
Iowa State Classic on Friday and
Saturday, while the women will head
to Husky-land for the Washington
Invitational on Saturday.
The men will be led once again by
dual-sport speedster Sarnie Parker,
while several of the Ducks’ touted dis
tance runners will make their 2003 de
buts. Parker is the only Oregon male
to notch an NCAA-provisional time in
the indoor season, as he sprinted to a
time of 6.68 seconds in the 60-meter
dash at the Bodybuilding.com Invita
tional earlier this month.
Oregon’s distance runners will try
to make a splash at the Classic. Ryan
Andrus and Eric Logsdon will com
pete in the 5,000 and the 3,000, re
spectively, after both capped suc
cessful fall cross country seasons by
leading Oregon to fifth place at the
NCAA Championships.
The women will be led by Niki
McEwan, who has returned to form
this indoor season after an up-and
down career. She notched a person
al-best and school-record-tying vault
of 14-1 1/4 at the season-opening
Pole Vault Summit. That mark is
only an NCAA provisional height,
but currently leads the nation. Fel
low vaulters Becky Holliday (sev
enth) and Kristin Riley (25th) are
also ranked among the nation’s best.
The Duck women distance run
ners, like the men, will make their de
but this weekend in Seattle. Highly
touted recruit Nicole Feest, who had a
successful cross country season and
even won one meet, will make her
track debut in the 3,000. Magdalena
Sandoval and Alicia Snyder-Carlson
will make their 2003 indoor debuts in
the 3,000 and mile, respectively.
Oregon’s contingent will be the
largest of the young season for the
women. A total of 28 athletes will
compete in almost every event this
weekend. The field at the Washing
ton Invitational includes Eastern
Washington, Portland and Portland
State, and partial teams from Ari
zona State, California, Stanford,
UCLA and USC.
For both teams, this weekend’s
meets signal an approach to the end of
the indoor season. The men have only
one more meet, the Pacific-10 Confer
ence Invitational, before the NCAA
Indoor Championships on March 14.
The women will compete in three
more meets before the NCAAs.
Contact the sports editor
atpeterhockaday@dailyemerald.com.
Steen
continued from page 11
“As a team, and I know it and the
rest of the team knows it, you’ve got
to step up and take what you have
and work with it,” Steen said in re
gards to the early season controver
sy. “It was, like I said, detrimental to
the team, and for a second, it was
like ‘Oh man, what are we going to
doV’ But you’ve got to practice the
next day. You build from it, and you
work from what you have.”
Coincidentally, shooting guard is
the position that Steen feels most
comfortable at and played at for
most of last season with Clackamas.
“It’s nice to have another guard,”
Edwards said. “At first, I thought,
‘Oh my gosh, we have so many
guards.’ But so much has happened.
"I'm having a lot
of fun. It's a good
experience."
Kayla Steen
junior guard
It’s just nice to have another body
on the team because we’re down to
nine people.”
Steen has started eight of the 16
games since Williams’ departure. In
Pac-10 play, she is averaging 5.1
points per game, has dished out 27
assists and is credited with 11 steals.
From the charity stripe, she has been
solid, hitting on 22-of-26 free throws
in conference play and at a little more
than 80 percent on the season.
“I’m having a lot of fun,” Steen
said. “It’s a good experience. In the
last couple of weeks, I think I’ve
been struggling a bit, but I’ve been
working hard to try and get back
Kayla Steen file
Bom: Kayla Ann Steen on April i 2,1982
in Hillsboro
Before Oregon: First-team All-League selection
in junior and senior seasons at St. Mary's
Academy in Portland. Set Oregon state record
with 10 three-pointers in a game. Spent two
years at Clackamas Community College, where
she earned Southern Division MVP honors both
seasons. Averaged 22.8 points last year.
Oregon: Despite suffering from back
problems, has started eight games for the
Ducks at shooting guard. Averages 5.1 points
per game in Pac-10 play. Hitting over 80 percent
of free throws on the season.
Steen
into the swing of things and play like
I normally can and the coaches
want me to.”
Since her senior season at St.
Mary’s Academy, according to
Steen, she’s had a problem with her
lower back. However, until this sea
son, it had not been that big of a
problem.
“It’s not something I want to use
an excuse,” she said. “I think it’s
more of a mental aspect than a
physical aspect that whether or not
I’m letting my back take over.”
A self-described hard-worker,
Steen has yet to have surgery to
take care of the problem. She has
seen more than just the Oregon
doctors — as suggested by the
Ducks’ team doctor, Dr. Bob Grist —
and has decided to evaluate the
problem at the end of the season.
Still, Steen, who has been de
scribed by Smith as a “warrior,” has
not let the problem get to her — at
least not visibly.
“When she steps on the court, it’s
kind of like the back injury goes to
the back of her mind and it’s game
time, and who cares what kind of
pain she’s in?” Edwards said. “We
really don’t notice it when she’s
playing.”
Entering Saturday’s Civil War
contest — slated to start at noon at
McArthur Court — Steen is going to
have to put that back pain deep into
her mind.
With Oregon (9-13 overall, 5-8
Pac-10) battling to get out of eighth
place in the conference standings,
Steen is going to need to be her usu
al self. Of course, that means bring
ing her hard-work mentality.
Of course, she also suggested
some ways for her to help.
“Well, I’m going to hit a 3-pointer,
which I haven’t done in a long time,
for sure,” she said. “I’m just going to
play really hard and things are going
to fall. My shot’s going to fall if I’m
feeling confident. I’m just going to
go out and play as hard as I can, and
hopefully it’s something that will be
contagious and we’re going to come
out with a big win.”
Contact the sports reporter
at hankhager@dailyemerald.com.
Danielle Hickey Emerald
Steen has fought through back problems this season, starting eight games.
S- Inc.
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