Sports Editor
Peter Hockaday
peterhockaday@dailyemerald.com
Monday, May 19,2003
-Oregon Daily Emerald
Sports
Best bet
NBA Playoffs:
Dallas at San Antonio, Game 1
6:30 p.m., TNT
Cinderella softball season ends in loss
Oregon, facing elimination,
goes on a four-game run that
is ended by Louisiana-Lafayette
on Sunday in California
Softball
Mindi Rice
Sports Reporter
Despite a seventh-inning rally in
the final game of the Fullerton,
Calif., NCAA Regionals, Oregon’s
season is over.
The Ducks pushed Louisiana
Lafayette into a one-game, winner
takes-all situation on Sunday — the
only regional championship match
to play two games — but the No. 4
seeded Ragin’ Cajuns won the sec
ond game, 6-4, to advance to the
Women’s College World Series.
“We faced adversity and had
chances, we had a long day, we left
some people on base,” head coach
Kathy Arendsen. “The seventh in
ning is always tough. We stepped
up, we got some runs, we put people
in scoring position and just couldn't
come up with that last big hit.”
Four Ducks were selected to the
all-tournament team. Seniors Andrea
Vidlund and Amber Hutchison were
unanimous selections to the team.
Senior Lynsey Haij and junior Anissa
Meashintubby were also selected.
After a 10-8 win against No. 6
Penn State on Thursday, No. 3 Ore
gon stumbled in its first game on
Friday. The Ducks were held to one
run on an RBI single by Alyssa Laux
as No. 2 Oklahoma State bumped
Oregon to one loss from regional
elimination.
The Ducks bounced back immedi
ately in the next game as they elimi
nated San Diego State. Oregon scored
two runs in the third off a Vidlund
home run. Hutchison scored on an
error in the fifth and drove in senior
Janell Bergstrom with a bunt in the
sixth for the 4-1 win.
Again facing elimination on Sat
urday, Oregon scored two runs in
the first against No. 1-seed Galifor
nia State-Fullerton. Hutchison
scored on an error by the catcher,
and Vidlund drove in Haij for the
Ducks’ second run. Vidlund, Meash
intubby and freshman Amy Harris
combined to give up only one run
for the Oregon win. Gal State-Fuller
ton was eliminated with the loss.
The win against Gal State-Fuller
ton set the Ducks up for a rematch
with Oklahoma State. The Cowgirls
struck first with two runs in the top
of the first inning, but Oregon
Turn to Softball, page 12
(joIi advances to
national tourney
Junior Mike Sica’s hole-in-one propels
the Ducks into next weete NCAA finale
Mens golf
Scott Archer
Freelance Sports Reporter
As the old adage goes, sometimes it’s better to be lucky than
good. The Oregon men’s golf team was a little of both this
weekend at the NCAA West Regional, held at the 7,183-yard,
par-72 Washington National Golf Course.
Oregon combined veteran play and a few touches of luck to
edge out 17 other teams and lay claim to
the ninth and final ticket to the NCAA
Championships. The result may have
been different if it weren’t for junior Mike
Sica’s hole-in-one on 204-yard, par-3
eighth hole, as Oregon needed every
stroke to advance. Sica finished the day
with an even par, overcoming three bo
geys and a double bogey to finish tied for
49th at 223.
The Ducks finished Saturday’s third
and final round with their third consec
utive 7-over-par performance, ensuring
the team a spot in the NCAA final, to be
held May 28-31 in Stillwater, Okla. The berth ends a four
year hiatus for the Duck men, who last played in the cham
pionships in 1999.
“Sometimes, three-of-a-kind wins,” Oregon head coach
Steve Nosier said. “We could have made it a little easier on
ourselves, but that's the way it goes. We're going and that's the
important part.”
Senior captain John Ellis continued his veteran, poised
play, shooting his third-straight 73 on Saturday. That was good
"We may not have played great, but we
fought hard every round and I couldn't be
prouder of these guys "
Steve Nosier
Oregon head coach
enough for a 23rd place tie at 3-over-par, making it the high
est finish in the three regionals of his career.
However, it was fellow senior captain Chris Carnahan who
was impressive early. Carnahan birdied hole No. 2, No. 5 and
No. 6 and rolled in seven straight pars before finishing the fi
nal hole with a birdie. Carnahan followed Friday’s 72 with a 2
under 70 Saturday to finish tied for 36th overall.
The day wasn’t without suspense, though, as Texas-El Paso,
playing behind the Ducks, rallied late with two birdies on 17
to close the gap to one stroke before failing to birdie on 18 and
force a playoff.
Each team in the field is given a throwaway score, and Ore
gon’s Gregg LaVoie had his score discounted after struggling to
finish the day with an 82. Redshirt freshman Kyle Johnson
shot an 80 on the day. However, Johnson paired the last four
holes to help the Ducks stay in the top 10.
“The guys are as excited as could be,” said Nosier. “We
counted at least two rounds from all five guys so everybody
contributed to us getting to nationals. We may not have played
great, but we fought hard every round and I couldn't be proud
er of these guys.”
Scott Archer is a freelance writer for the Emerald.
EricMitchum,
seen here earlier
this season at the
Oregon
Invitational,
finished second
in the 110 hurdles
on Sunday
atthePac-10
Championships.
His time in the
prelim on
Saturday, which
he bettered on
Sunday, put him
second all-time
at Oregon.
Danielle Hickey
Emerald
Track slips to third in Los Angeles
The Ducks lead for most of the
weekend at Rac-1 Os, but USC and
Stanford overtake them In the end
Men’s track and field
Peter Hockaday
Sports Editor
There are many ways to measure
close finishes in athletics, but only in
track do they measure finishes in hun
dredths of a second.
The Oregon men’s track and field
team missed a second-place finish at
the Pacific-10 Conference Champi
onships by .25 seconds. That was the
difference between Oregon and Stan
ford’s times in the 4x400-meter relay,
the final event of the Pac-lOs and the fi
nal dagger in the Ducks’ chances to re
peat last season’s runner-up finish.
USC hosted and won the Pac-lOs
with 139 points. Stanford finished sec
ond with 128 points, edging Oregon,
which finished with 127.
“We kind of stay away from feeling
disappointed,” Oregon head coach
Martin Smith said. “Obviously we
would have liked to add another point
or two—or 10 and put ourselves in po
sition to win. But every athlete on this
team did everything they could to do
the best they could, and the best they
could was 127 points for third.”
The Ducks led the meet for a day and
a half before the Trojans and Cardinal
caught and eventually passed Oregon
on Sunday afternoon.
With 16 events done and five left,
Oregon led USC by eight points. But
Trojan sprinter Wes Felix won the 200,
and USC jumped ahead. Later, Trojan
star Julien Kapek won the triple jump,
and Oregon’s runners couldn’t over
come Stanford’s studs in the 5,000.
The teams entered the final event,
the 4x400 relay, tied in knots. Oregon
and Stanford were deadlocked, and
both needed nine points to catch USC.
Oregon won its heat of the relay with
a season-best time of 3 minutes, 9.42
seconds. In the second heat, Stanford
finished last but in 3:09.17 to snatch
second place from the Ducks.
“It was very hard to see those teams
come back slowly,” Duck hurdler Eric
Mitchum said. “We were doing so good,
then they just started to come back.”
Mitchum and the Ducks had plenty
to be proud of despite the late-meet
fall. Mitchum was one of three Ore
gon athletes who finished second in
his event, while the Ducks had three
individual champions and three ath
letes finish third.
Oregon’s ability to score 127 points
with only three individual champions
was a testament to the overall strength
of the team.
Adam Jenkins was the first Duck to
score big on the weekend. The junior
javelin thrower won Saturday’s javelin
title with a toss of 217 feet, 9 inches.
The throw was short of his season best
of 221-4, but still earned Oregon 10
team points.
“I wanted to get the win, and after
that I wanted to go for the distance, but
I just didn’t have it yesterday,” Jenkins
said Sunday. “I was just happy to score
points for my team.”
On Sunday, hammer thrower Adam
Kriz added another title in a dramatic
competition. On his final throw of the
first round, Stanford’s Nick Welihozkiy
threw a massive distance of almost 220
feet, but Kriz threw 221-3 on the very
next toss to take the lead. That was a
personal best for Kriz and eventually
netted him the win.
“He was right on my heels, and then
over the rest of the competition we
kept trying to hit big throws, and nei
ther one of us could,” Kriz said. “My
third throw just kind of stood.”
Mitchum led Oregon’s charge on the
track early Sunday. The freshman fin
ished second in the 110 hurdles with a
personal-best and barely wind-legal
Turn to Men's, page 12