Sports Editor
Peter Hockaday
peterhockaday@dailyemerald.com
Thursday, April 24,2003
-Oregon Daily Emerald
Sports
Best bet “
NBA Playoffs:
Minnesota at Lakers, Game 3
8 p.m., TNT
Not too
shabby
Junior transfer Abby Andrus has created quite the
buzz in the heptathlon world and attempts to reach
5,000 points in the UO Invitational today and Friday
Track and field
Jesse Thomas
Sports Reporter
Abby Andrus is not a boisterous per
son. She is not the type to attract atten
tion in a crowd. And she doesn’t have an
overbearing voice.
Rather, she keeps to herself and she
stays reserved. Andrus is just the
quiet type.
“She’s so quiet but such a nice girl,”
fellow teammate sophomore Kayla Mel
lott said. “Sometimes she can surprise
you, the funny stuff that she’ll say, just
because she is so quiet. You’ll be like
‘Whoa, Abby, that was really funny.’”
Yet the funny, soft-spoken junior has
been generating quite a bit of pandemonium on the track.
The buzz surrounding Andrus has grown as she tries to reach
the 5,000-point mark in this weekend’s Oregon Invitational.
Andrus has competed in just one heptathlon as a Duck,
scoring 4,963 points at a meet in California in late March.
That mark is just 37 points shy of an NCAA provisional quali
fying mark, which is why the Peoria, Ariz., native will try and
crest the 5,000-point barrier starting today.
“I don’t think I’ll have problems breaking 5,000 this week
end,” Andrus said. “I plan on a little higher than that. The most
important thing this weekend is qualifying for nationals. ”
In just her first season at Oregon, Andrus already ranks
eighth on the Ducks’ all-time career list with her mark of
4,963. Andrus has three years of experience in the multi
event heptathlon, which includes the 100-meter hurdles,
high jump, shot put, 200, long jump, javelin and 800.
Her heptathlon career began at Paradise Valley Communi
ty College in Arizona after she graduated from Cactus High in
Turn to Track, page 10
On tap
What: Oregon
Invitational
When:
Decathlon and
heptathlon start
today, regular
meet Saturday
Where;
Hayward Field
Adam Amato Emerald
Manuel Kost is ranked No. 47 in the nation heading into Pac-10s.
Adam Amato Emerald
Abby Andrus transferred to Oregon knowing she'd have only two years as a Duck.
Oregon swings into
conference tourney
Eght players from the Oregon
men’s tennis team and seven from
the women!* compete in singles
and doubles matches this weekend
Tennis
Ryan Heath
Sports Freelancer
A year that started for Oregon tennis
with preseason individual tournaments
in October comes to an end this weekend
with the Pacific-10 Conference Champi
onships in Ojai, Calif.
Leading off for the Ducks in the main
draw is junior Sven Swinnen with an 8
a.m. match against No. 27 Matt Hanlin
of Washington.
Hanlin should prove to be a tough first
match after he bested Oregon career sin
gles victories leader Oded Teig in three
sets last weekend.
Teig and Swinnen seem to be trading
enemies as Teig battles Or Dekel of Cali
fornia, winner of a three-set match
against Swinnen earlier this month.
Duck sophomore Manuel Kost,
ranked 47th in the nation, will take on
Chris Letcher of Arizona State. Closing
out the main draw for the Ducks is
Thomas Bieri, facing Washington’s No.
18 Alex Vlaski, who lost to Kost last
weekend in straight sets.
The No. 66 men will also send four sin
gles players to the invitational portion of
the touranment.
Senior Jason Menke takes on Tim Mul
lane of Arizona, while freshmen Andrew
Walker and Arron Spencer battle Gal’s
Steve Berke and Stanford’s Philip Sheng
respectively. Junior Chris King faces
Wayne Wong of Gal in one of the last
matches of the first round.
The No. 40 women send three play
ers each to the main draw and invita
tional portions.
Leading the way for the Ducks is No.
20 Daria Panova against No. 49 Dianne
Hollands of Arizona. Panova won the pre
season Pac-10 Indoor Championship in
January and is currendy ranked ninth in
the conference.
Closing out the main draw for the
Ducks is No. 55 Courtney Nagle taking on
UCLA’s Shilpa Joshi and freshman Jamie
Marshall battling Washington State’s
Chris Martinez.
Surprisingly absent from both the
main draw and invitational, but present
for doubles, is Duck senior captain Moni
ka Geiczys. Geiczys, winner of two
matches against Martinez earlier in the
season, is coming off a big win in San
Diego after losing four of her last six.
The Ducks send freshmen Julie Merle
and Anna Leksinska and sophomore Es
ter Bak to the invitational section of the
Turn to Tennis, page 10
Golfers
head to
Pac-lOs
Oregon sends five underclassmen
and one senior to its most
important tournament of the year
Golf
Scott Archer
Freelance Sports Reporter
Youth will be served for the Oregon
women’s golf team this week, as the
Ducks head 45 minutes north to Corval
lis for the annual Pacific-10 Conference
Championships to
day through Satur
day. The tourna
ment will be held at
the Trysting Tree
Golf Club, a par-72,
6,160-yard course.
Oregon’s youth
movement contin
ues as coach Shan
non Rouillard has
elected to send
three freshman and
two sophomores
into the most important tournament in
the Ducks’ 2002-03 season. Senior Annie
Davis will also participate in the tourna
ment but her score will not count, as she
has entered the field as an individual.
Among the youngest of Ducks compet
ing in the tournament is the team’s most
prolific player, Therese Wenslow.
Wenslow leads the team with a 76.8
stroke average to go along with three top
10 finishes and seven top-50 finishes.
Oregon will also send freshmen Erin An
drews and Michelle Timpani, who both
currently have a 79.9 stroke average.
However, Oregon’s most steady influ
ence comes from sophomore Johnna
Nealy and her 78 stroke average. Nealy’s
roommate and teammate Jess Carlyon
will also travel with the Ducks. Carlyon
holds an 82.7 stroke average.
The Ducks begin the tournament at 9
a.m. today along with Washington State,
the team the Ducks will be paired with
for the opening round.
Highlighting the competition this
weekend is No. 5 USC and defending
champion No. 6 Arizona. The Wildcats
have won five of the last six Pac-10 tour
naments and are strong favorites to re
peat again. No. 8 California has yet to
win a conference championship, along
with No. 13 UCLA and No. 20 Washing
ton, who are also seeking their first con
ference crown.
Oregon looks to bounce back from a
poor Pac-10 tournament performance
last season as it finished 10th overall.
Nealy and Carlyon are the only hold
overs from last year’s Pac-10 Tourna
ment. Nealy finished tied for 51st overall
and Carlyon tied for 56th. Both compet
ed as freshmen. The highest the Ducks
have finished in the tournament is a
fourth-place tie, which Oregon has done
twice, once in 1991 and again in 1993.
Oregon has struggled in its last two tour
naments after a string of several top-10 fin
ishes. Oregon competed April 4-6 at the
Ping/ASU Invitational and was led by
Wenslow. The team finished 15th overall
after finishing the previous week at 17th at
the UCLA Bruin Classic. The Ducks ap
peared to be hitting their stride in early
March, when they finished the Spartan In
vitational and their own Duck Invitational
ninth and eighth, respectively.
Scott Archer is a freelance writer
for the Emerald.