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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (May 16, 2003)
Sports Editor. Peter Hockaday peterhockaday@dailyemerald.com Friday, May 16,2003 -Oregon Daily Emerald Sports Best bet , NHL Playoffs: Minnesota at Anaheim, Game 4 7:30 p.m., ESPN2 Softball ousts Nittany Lions in NCAA Regionals The Ducks earn the 10-8 win over Penn State in regional play Thursday and face Oklahoma State today Softball Mindi Rice Sports Reporter Two doubles, one triple and a three-run home run led Oregon past Penn State in a two-hour and 34-minute game in the NCAA Re gional first round Thursday. In Fullerton, Calif., the No. 3 seeded Ducks survived a late come back by No. 7 Penn State in the sev enth inning for the 10-8 win. “We’re really pleased to get off to a good start,” head coach Kathy Arendsen said. “We stepped up when we had to. I’m proud of our effort.” Oregon, led by designated player Amber Hutchison’s two singles and a double, had a season-high 13 hits in the win. Andrea Vidlund, Jenn Poore and Janell Bergstrom each had two hits. After a scoreless first inning, Penn State struck first with two runs in the second. The Nittany Li ons scored both runs on a sacrifice fly-efror combination. The Ducks answered immediate ly in the bottom of the second. First baseman Alyssa Laux singled to right field. Poore followed with a triple to right field to score Laux. Bergstrom drove in Poore with a single for Oregon’s second run. Anissa Meashintubby and Nittany Lion Marisa Hanson pitched two shutout innings each to slow the pace of the game. In the top of the fifth, Penn State scored two unearned runs from three hits and two defensive errors. Oregon rallied in the fifth for three runs. Third baseman Lynsey Haij hit a one-out single to center field. Right fielder Beth Boskovich followed with a walk. Vidlund hit her 13th home run of the season to give the Ducks the 5-4 lead. “It was an inside pitch about belt high,” Vidlund said. “I was expect ing a change-up, and actually, this was perfect. I was thinking base hit or line drive, and I came out with a home run. Even better.” The Ducks padded their lead in the sixth with a five-run inning. Bergstrom led off with a bunt single to the pitcher. Jackie Eliades pinch ran for Bergstrom and advanced to third on a double by Erin Goodell. Ashley Richards hit a groundout to shortstop, and Eliades scored on an error by the shortstop. Hutchison followed with a single to right field, driving in Goodell. Haij walked, then advanced to sec ond on a fielder’s choice by Boskovich. Hutchison was out at third, while Haij and Boskovich were both safe. Vidlund singled to center to score Haij. Laux reached on an error by the shortstop, while Boskovich scored, and Vidlund advanced to Turn to Softball, page 8 Mark McCambridge Emerald Jordan Kent has only raced twice during the regular season, once each in the 100 and 200, but he won both races. Kent get Jordan Kent is the ultimate competitor, and irregular training this spring shouldn’t stop him from performing well at Pac-1 Os Men’s track and field Peter Hockaday Sports Editor Sure, the Oregon men’s basketball team had its season cut brutally short by Utah, but most of the Ducks at least got some vacation time out of the deal. It was spring break, after all. So Luke Ridnour and Luke Jackson went to Mexico, supposedly to sip margaritas or oggle girls on the beach or some such nonsense. The rest of the guys went home to their families or went on other various vacations. Freshman Jordan Kent, who sat out the basketball season as a redshirt but still traveled with the team all season, stayed in Eugene for that vacation. He had a week until he was scheduled to report to his “other” team, the Oregon track squad. He had seven days of vacation. But by the middle of the third day, Kent was on the track running sprints and long-jump ing into the Hayward Field sand like a kid on the playground. “I could see it in his face, in his body language, his energy. It’s hard to redshirt, especially if you’re a competitor,” said Oregon basketball head coach Ernie Kent, who holds the dual title of Jordan’s coach and father. “And he is a competitor.” Let’s get one thing clear at the outset: Jordan Kent does not have wings on his I enough back. He doesn’t wear a halo on top of his head. He carries no harp. Jordan Kent is not the savior of Oregon track and field. But he is Oregon’s only dual-sport ath lete to compete in his sports back-to back. He’s one of the few basketball-track dual athletes in recent Pacific-10 Confer ence history. And he’s the type of athlete who doesn’t want a break, doesn’t need a break. Vacation is for pansies. Kent is a competitor. And as the Ducks head to the Pac-10 Championships in Los Angeles this weekend, Kent has a real opportunity to score points in three or four different events, a rarity in the Pac-10 track realm of focused athletes and specialization. Kent will definitely run the 100-meter dash and the 200, and he will run either the 4x100 or 4x400 relay, depending on who you talk to. Which relay he runs will probably be a meet-time decision. This weekend is when we find out the results of The Great Jordan Kent Experi ment. We find out if it’s possible for an athlete to just be an athlete, or whether every athlete, great or not, is susceptible to an attack of the “ings” — training, weightlifting, scheduling. “He’s got all the tools; sky’s the limit,” Oregon sprints coach Steve Silvey said. “But in college, you’ve got to work out, and sometimes you’re at a disadvantage when you’re coming out of another sport on the first of April.” Kent’s first year as a Duck has been about restraint and controlled attack for him and the many coaches around him, Turn to Kent, page 8 Duck track heads to Pac-lOs with high expectations WOMEN: The Ducks head South in search of individual victories and a strong team showing Women’s track and field Hank Hager Sports Reporter Los Angeles is the city of surf and fun in the sun. That won’t be the case for the Oregon women this week end. With the Pacific-10 Conference Championships loom ing large for the track contingent, only one thing will be on each member’s mind. Winning. The event, held at USC’s Cromwell Field, features the conference’s best. Oregon, which finished sixth last season with 67 points, is poised to send a strong contingent down South. The first event begins at 10 a.m. with the hammer event, and the final event starts at 5:05 p.m. Sunday. Leading that group is Becky Holliday, not only the best in the conference in the pole vault, but also in the nation. Her Turn to Women's, page 10 Adam Amato Emerald Amanda Brown leads the Ducks into the Pac-10 Championships. MEN: Several Ducks lead the conference in their events, but the team will need points from other sources to win it all in Los Angeles this weekend Men’s track and field Peter Hockaday Sports Editor The word “team” doesn’t contain an “i.” But in order to win a * Pacific-10 Conference title this weekend, the Oregon men’s track team will need a heck of a lot more than one “i” to step up and lift the “team.” Track and field is an individual endeavor, but once a year the teams of the Pac-10 go head-to-head-to-head to deter mine a conference champion. This year’s version of the Pac 10 Championships starts Saturday and concludes Sunday at Cromwell Field in Los Angeles. The meet uses a point-scoring system that awards 10 points for first, eight for second, six for third, five for fourth, etc., down to one point for eighth in every one of the 21 events. In order to move up from last year’s second-place finish, the Turn to Men's, page 12