Sports Editor
Peter Hockaday
peterhockaday@dailyemerald.com
Friday, May 2,2003
-Oregon Daily Emerald
Sports
Best bet
NBA Playoffs:
Dallas at Portland, Game 6
7:30 p.m., ESPN2
Heinonen
Drepares
: :or finale
at home
The Oregon track program will
say goodbye to the legendary
coach at the Oregon Twilight
Track and field
jesse Thomas
Sports Reporter
For the Oregon seniors and women’s
head coach Tom Heinonen, Saturday is
n’t just the Oregon Twilight.
It’s the last regular-season meet before
Pacific-10 Conference Championships.
It’s the last time the veteran Ducks will
compete in an Oregon uniform on Hay
ward field.
And it’s the last meet for Heinonen at
Hayward Field after 27 years.
“It doesn’t seem like a big deal,”
Heinonen said. “It adds on an extra di
mension, but we still have all the big
meets ahead.”
The action begins at 3:30 p.m. on Sat
urday, and although
the meet isn’t as big
as the Oregon Invi
tational, nine
schools from around
the region will de
scend on Eugene.
For many, it is the
last chance to tune
up before postsea
son competition,
while others chase
marks to make it
past the weekend.
On the men’s side, freshmen Matt
Scherer and Travis Anderson will stretch
to reach regionals in the 400-meter dash.
Scherer, at 47.54 seconds, and Anderson
(47.59) are mere inches from the quali
fying mark of 47.45.
Another Duck duo of freshmen Ryan
Flaherty (1:51.64) and Jan Olszowy
(1:50.40-indoors) are less than one sec
ond from the regional qualifying mark in
the 800 meters of 1:51.15.
Off the track, senior James March will
have his final chance at Hayward to zero
in on a Pac-10 qualifying mark in the shot
put, with his personal best only 2 1/4
inches away.
“We’re trying to build toward the Pac
10 championships,” Oregon head coach
Martin Smith said. “We can build on (the
Oregon Invitational) and we’ll try to build
at the Oregon Twilight.”
The women’s team will also say
farewell to a few while others try to close
in on postseason marks. Two-time discus
All-American and senior Mary Etter will
make her final appearance at Hayward
and will try to add one more win to her
tally of 38 in her career.
The All-American sophomore javelin
duo of Elisa Crumley and Roslyn Lun
deen return from injuries after missing
last week’s competition.
“I’m really excited and hoping to work
some kinks out,” Crumley said, as she
will use the full 11-step approach on Sat
urday. “I’m excited to throw, and I’m
looking to go for it.”
Lundeen and Crumley have already
reached conference and regional qualify
ing marks, yet their marks this season
have fallen nearly 10 feet short of their
personal bests.
On the oval, redshirt sophomore Laura
Turn to Twilight page 8
Tough times in Track Town
mmtm
Jeremy Forrest Emerald
John Stiegeler walks away from a foul throw at Saturday's Oregon Invitational. Stiegeler has been competing with a brace (below) as he rehabs a torn ACL
Comeback kid?
John Stiegeler has turned from
teacher to student as he tries to
win his 2nd NCAA javelin title
Peter Hockaday
Sports Editor
Early in his Oregon career, javelin
thrower John Stiegeler was on a plane
with the rest of the Duck track team,
heading for a meet.
The landing was rocky. The team
was shaken. But not Stiegeler.
As the team filed out, most of the
Ducks gave the pilot the usual nod or
“thank you” or “goodbye.” Stiegeler si
dled up, put his arm around the pilot
and started talking about the landing.
“I just gave him a grade was all,”
Stiegeler said. “It was about a 7.5.
Maybe an 8.”
Stiegeler is always handing out
grades. Grades for airplane landings,
grades for other track athletes, grades
for Duck placekickers. He’s only
months away from completing his mas
ter’s degree and officially becoming a
teacher, but really, he’s been teaching
since he could say “midterm.”
But this last year has turned Stiegeler
from teacher to student. On one fateful
throw in Texas last April, Stiegeler tore the
anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee,
and his rehabilitation from that injury has
been hard and painful. Stiegeler still hasn’t
thrown at the distances he did two years
agp, and he competes with a brace the size
of Antarctica on his left knee.
He insists he’s learned from his in
jury. He’s learned patience, he’s learned
to rebuild himself.
Now, Stiegeler says, he’s strong as an
Oak tree. He implores that he can reach
his goal of a second NCAA title in June.
But he currently sits 23rd on the
Turn to Stiegeler, page 10
M
Adam Amato Emerald
Vtatt Floberg says he'll play in the spring game despite injuries.
Spring game’s format
isn’t green and white
A change in scoring is expected
to lead to a more balanced
contest at Autzen Stadium
Spring football
Hank Hager
Sports Reporter
It’s the spring game with a twist.
Saturday’s contest — set to start at 1
p.m. — is getting a bit of a makeover. Out is
the traditional format of the top offensive
and defensive units taking on the rest. No,
this one’s going to be competitive. This is
going to be offense versus defense.
This year, the Ducks will be playing on
a point system, where each unit can earn
points by successfully completing a cer
tain play. For instance, if the offense can
get off to a quick start and run for more
than 20 yards on a single play, it will take
a two-point lead.
“We sort of took it from a couple differ
ent magazine suggestions and then sort
of adjusted a couple,” head coach Mike
Bellotti said. “We feel like it’s good. It’s
very competitive.”
If the Duck defense is able to pick off
one of Oregon’s four quarterbacks, the
group will earn four points. If it can re
turn that interception all the way to the
end zone, tack on another six.
On the flip side, a field goal will earn
the offense a traditional three points,
Turn to Football, page 9