Sports Editor
Peter Hockaday
peterhockaday@dailyemerald.com
Friday, June 6,2003
Oregon Daily Emerald
Sports
Best bet
NBA Finals:
New Jersey at San Antonio, Game 2
5:30 p.m., ABC
Ridnour readies for Chicago draft ramp
Luke Ridnour's participation
at the NBA pre-draft camp
Saturday may not hurt
much, but it could help him
Hank Hager
Sports Reporter
The biggest decision Luke Rid
nour has ever had to make in his
basketball career has already passed.
Now it’s time for the former Ore
gon guard to put his skills to the test
at the NBA’s pre-draft camp in
r
Chicago. Ridnour, along with a
whole host of prospects for June’s
draft, will start the physical portion
of the camp Saturday, even though it
opened Tuesday.
In essence, said ESPN.com’s Andy
Katz, the tryouts in Chicago could
most benefit players who are consid
ered second-round material.
“The play of those invited to
Chicago will affect at least the late, if
not second half, of the first round on
June 26,” he wrote earlier this week.
“And that is why the atmosphere
Tuesday through Friday will be in
tense, and at times anxious, for the
65 players who know every high
profile NBA executive is deciding
whether they are worthy of a guar
anteed contract.”
From Saturday to Monday, Rid
nour — along with LeBron James,
Kirk Hinrich, and a number of po
tential lottery picks — will be evalu
ated on the NBA’s physical-only por
tion of the camp. This same group
was also invited by the NBA to be
evaluated by teams off the court.
For Ridnour, where he goes in the
draft will most likely not be influ
enced by the Chicago workouts. Be
cause most points guards attending
the week-long session are below him
in draft predictions, his first-round
status should not change.
However, his exact status may be
in question. Chad Ford, who writes
an NBA draft insider column for
ESPN, has Ridnour going in the lot
tery, and at the very least, as a mid
first round selection. He also writes
that Milwaukee, expected to lose
point guard Gary Payton in the off
season, has been working out a num
ber of collegiate point guards.
The Bucks draft eighth, although
NBADraft.net has the team select
ing Central Michigan center Chris
Kaman. That leaves Ridnour to be
selected by Boston with the 16th
overall pick, even though he at
one point was projected to go 10th
to Washington.
Confused? Well, until his name is
posted on the board, Ridnour could
Turn to Ridnour, page 9A
END Of THE
Heinonen
Tom Heinonen retires after almost 30 years
and leaves Oregon as one of its greatest coaches
Track and field
Jesse Thomas
Sports Reporter
On the back comer of the window sill in Tom Heinonen’s of
fice is a green and yellow card that reads, in glitter, “Who’s the
BEST coach around, TOM.”
Picture frames line the walls with pictures of past and pres
ent stars he has coached.
Annette Peters, former Olympian and American record hold
er at 5,000 meters is shown with a large bouquet of flowers and
her son at her side. Kathy Hayes has her special spot on the wall
as Oregon’s first woman to win an NCAA Championship.
All are a representation of milestones that Heinonen has
seen come and go with the Oregon women’s track and field
program since 1977.
After 27 years as head coach, Heinonen will soon reach his
final milestone: retirement.
“Yeah, it’s time,” Heinonen said. “I’ve had eight or 10 months to
get ready for this, and we’re getting down to where each time I do
somethingfor the last time, it’s something that’s pretty important.”
The men’s and women’s track and field teams will merge
into one program at the conclusion of the 2003 season.
“It’s a logical step, virtually everybody in the country has done
it,” Heinonen said. “It makes sense to simplify things, it makes
sense to have six coaches using their expertise across both gen
ders rather than having two people who are really good hurdle
coaches or two people who are really good long jump coaches. ”
Heinonen leaves Oregon without regret, as he has thought
about retirement for five years.
“He’s comfortable with the fact that it’s his time to go,” as
sistant coach Mark Stream said. “I think, in a sense, he’s go
Adam Amato Emerald
Tom Heinonen has spent almost 30 years coaching at Oregon and he won't stop now; he's slated to coach UO Club Running next year.
ing to be able to leave it behind, but he will never leave track
and field behind.”
The 57-year-old has done it all as a coach. He has led his teams
for nearly three decades and won every award and honor there is.
As the women’s cross country head coach and in track and field,
Heinonen’s distance crews have accounted for 86 All-American
honors, 33 Pacific-10 Conference titles and seven NCAA crowns.
“At some point or another, we won about everything you
can win,” Heinonen said. “At the same time we haven’t been
very good lately, and that’s been hard, but we try really hard.”
On the track this season, no runners advanced to next week’s
NCAA Championships. Heinonen’s harrier squad finished fifth in
the conference in 2002-03 after taking eighth the year before.
But despite limited success recently, Heinonen has had a
personal impact on his athletes of today.
Freshman Nicole Feest recently finished her first track sea
son as a Duck and was attracted to Oregon because of the two
time Pac-10 Track and Field Coach of the Year.
“That was the biggest, if not generally, the reason why I came
here,” Feest said of Heinonen’s stature. “I knew that coming here
to walk on, Tom would take me to the level I needed to be at.
“I had great confidence in him, he’s very successful, and when I
think Tom Heinonen, that’s women’s track and field right there.”
Feest improved from a 10 minute 59 second personal best
in the 3,200 meters as a prep to running 16:57.94 in the 5,000
meters on the track.
So what makes Heinonen a good coach?
Turn to Heinonen, page 12A
Santiago Lorenzo
(88) takes a baton at
a meet earlier this
year. Lorenzo is
ranked third in the
nation heading into
NCAAs and says
he'll need a
personal best next
week to take the
national title.
Emerald
Lorenzo shoots for NCAAs
The senior decathlete says he’ll need to score
8,100 points to win his second NCAA title
Men’s track and field
Peter Hockaday
Sports Editor
In between the first day and the second, that’s
when Santiago Lorenzo wins a decathlon.
Well, not completely. He wins a decathlon by
running faster, jumping higher and throwing
longer than his competition. But in the 10-event,
two-day decathlon, his best events are mostly on
the second day.
“Being able to be behind and come back the sec
ond day, it takes a lot of brain,” Lorenzo said.
And LQrgnzo has brain coming out his .ears...
but we’ll get to that. Without further ado, we pres
ent the final events in the 10-item, two-day story
of Santiago Lorenzo.
Event 6: Killer quad
After winning the 2001 NCAA decathlon title,
Lorenzo was the key component in a 2002 Duck
squad that was shooting for a Pacific-10 Confer
ence title.
With Lorenzo’s virtually-guaranteed 10 points
at nationals, the Ducks looked like they could
again make a top-10 finish at the national meet
like they did in 2001.
But then Lorenzo injured a quadricep muscle in
February. He tweaked it again several weeks later.
Then John Stiegeler, the Ducks’ other national
champion in 2001, went down with a knee injury.
Tu rn to Lorenzo, page 9A