EMERALDS BRIEF
The Eugene Emeralds (11-8) con
tinue their stint away from Civic Sta
dium today as they face the Everett
AquaSox (9-10) in the fifth of a six
game series.
Since the beginning of the series it
has been a bat
Round
up
tie back and
forth, and Fri
day night
Everett came _
out deter
mined to put the Ems back on the
losing track, handing Eugene a
6-2 loss.
Eugene struggled from the start in
front of a sold-out crowd in Everett,
Wash., as the Emeralds didn't score
their first run until the eighth inning.
Center fielder Brian Wahlbrink, sec
ond baseman Peeter Ramos and
catcher Colt Morton recorded the
only hits for Eugene, with three each.
Ramos and Morton each drove in one
run for the game.
Saturday's game proved much
more interesting, however, as the Ems
showed they would not again be an
easy victory.
The Ems dominated the entire
game until the top of the ninth, where
they led 12-3, and Eugene looked like
they would easily walk away with
their first win of the series.
But the AquaSox recorded eight
runs in the bottom of the ninth in
ning to fall just one run short in the
Ems' 12-11 victory.
Morton again led the way for the
Ems, going three for six with two
home runs and five RBIs. Right fielder
Jeff Leise also hit a home run.
Right-hander Aaron Coonrod (1-1)
earned his first victory Saturday night
even with Everett earning eight hits in
the game.
Ihe Ems came back Sunday evening
and earned their second straight victory
over Everett to close out the third game
of the series with a 5-2 win.
The game stayed tied at 2-2 through
eight innings until the Ems managed
three runs in the top of the ninth to
secure a victory. Shortstop Alex Garcia
scored three runs in four at bats to
lead the Ems.
Eugene played Everett in the fourth
game of the series Monday in Wash
ington but results were not available
at press time.
The Ems head home to face Yakima
on Thursday.
Contact the sports editor
at jessethomas@dailyemerald.com.
Jessica Waters Emerald
Andrew Sakshaug (front), former Eugene Challengers player, snags a grounder as he covers first base during the San Diego Padres’
tryouts Wednesday at Civic Stadium. A Eureka Falcons player backs him up in the outfield. The entire Falcons team, under coach Todd
Zeigler, came to the tryouts while traveling for a league tournament. Other hopefuls came from Florence, Portland and around
Oregon to try their luck for the Padres’ scouts. The Eugene Emeralds are one of six Padres Organization Minor League teams, and
tryouts will be held at a number of the minor league teams' parks during the summer.
SPORTS BRIEFS
Oregon hires new assistant
women’s track coach
The Oregon track and field team an
nounced Thursday that Mamie Mar
son will join the Ducks as an assistant
track and field coach, and will oversee
the women's distance program for the
upcoming 2003-04 season.
This hiring comes after the men's
and women's programs were joined
after last season, when 27-year head
coach Tom Heinonen retired.
Marson, the head boys and girls dis
tance coach at North Medford High
School the past two seasons, quickly re
built her program and led the girls cross
country team to a 12th place finish in
the 2002 state track meet last fall.
Previous to coaching at North Med
ford, Marson was the assistant track
and head cross country coach at Kla
math Union in Klamath Falls. Among
her prep pupils, Marson coached Ari
zona State's Liz Lindgren and Ore
gon's Sara Schaaf.
"Were exdted to add Mamie to our
staff," Oregon coordinator of track and
field Martin Smith said. "She's an intelli
gent hard-working and honest coach
that has earned the respect of her peers."
In her time at Klamath Union, she
coached five 4A state individual
champions including Schaaf, Lind
gren, Stanford's Ian Dobson and Ja
cob Gomez. Marson was named 1999
Oregon Boys Cross Country Coach of
the Year after her team won the state
title and ranked fifth nationally.
In her prep days, Marson won the
1985 4A state 3,000 title as a senior at
Klamath Union, and won the 1983
state cross country title as a junior.
After high school, Marson compet
ed in three seasons for Brigham
Young University where she earned
success as a rookie. Injury and illness
plagued her as a sophomore and jun
ior, however.
As a collegiate senior, she trans
ferred to Southern Oregon University
and graduated with a bachelor's de
gree in social science and received a
special education teaching certificate.
"I'm excited to concentrate fully on
being a Duck," Marson said. "Kla
math and North Medford were two
distinctly different challenges, and I'm
equally excited about this chance.
"The University of Oregon, Eugene
and Hayward Field deserve to have a
great program. It's been a lifelong
dream to be here."
-Jesse Thomas
Magic
continued from page 5
of manning regional fund-raising of
fices in Medford and Portland.
"I've known )im for 20 years or so,"
Athletic Director Bill Moos said. "He
has a lot of energy and a lot of charis
ma. I le loves athletics and has the
right competitive work ethic."
The Cougar graduate helped
bring the athletic fund to another
level, too, bringing in unprecedent
ed donations.
"jim was very instrumental in
that," Williford said. "It was a combi
nation of hard work by a lot of differ
ent people."
College Town, USA
Bartko learned throughout his
tenure at Oregon that one can't be
afraid to take risks or do new things.
As a part of the new mascot 'Man
drake' introduction, however, Bartko
soon learned that all marketing ploys
aren't as openly accepted.
"Everybody thought that here we
are trying to sell more clothes and
get rid of the (Oregon) Duck," he
said. "But you can't fear failure. You
can't ever say, 'Let's not do some
thing because these people don't
like it.' People didn't like our uni
forms the first year and now we are
one of the top selling Nike schools
in the country."
But despite the ups and downs of
marketing, Bartko and the athletic
Jessica Waters Emerald
Bartko shows off one of the Duck campaigns for the upcoming football season including
defensive tackles Igor Olshansky and Haloti Ngata in “FULLY ARMED.”
department still have everybody
wondering: What will come next?
For football, Oregon has nothing
planned on a national scale, but
will put up numerous local bill
boards, with possibilities of some
in Portland.
Defensive tackles Igor Olshansky
and Haloti Ngata already have their
faces on a billboard near Salem and
locally on West Seventh Avenue, with
the statement FULLY ARMED.
Wide receiver Sarnie Parker was
recently epitomized on Franklin
Boulevard with the simple word
SPEED. A billboard is planned for
kicker Jared Siegel, saying LONG
RANGE, but the picture and graph
ics have not been finalized.
And for linebacker Kevin Mitchell,
one will see none other than OLD
SCHOOL, which will be revealed in
Eugene within two weeks.
"We'll never stop the local bill
boards," Bartko said. "That's our
push, to make it College Town, USA."
And what's next for the gums over
at the Casanova Center?
"You never know, we could go to
South Korea or Hong Kong," Bartko
said. "We could do whatever. That's
part of it is to catch people
off-guard."
Contact the sports editor
at jessethomas@dailyemerald.com.
SPORTS BRIEFS
March Madness
changes in effect
In addition to announcing Final
Four sites through 2011 last week, the
men's basketball committee also
made two significant changes to the
look of the NCAA Tournament men's
bracket starting in 2004.
When the bracket is released on Se
lection Sunday, which is March 14 next
year, the committee will determine the
Final Four semifinal pairings when it
sets the bracket. In years past the semifi
nal matchups of regional winners were
predetermined and rotated each year.
"Hie committee's main charge has
been to competitively balance the
bracket," Bill Hancock, NCAA con
sultant to the Division I men's basket
ball championship, said Monday.
"But the Final Four semifinal
matchups really weren't balanced.
Hiis addresses that."
Basically, the tournament's top two
No. 1 seeds will be placed in opposite
brackets. The fourth-best No. 1 seed
will be placed in the regional opposite
the overall No. 1 seed with the third
best No. 1 seed placed with the other
No. 1 seed.
The committee will do away with
the directional names for the four re
gions on the bracket. Instead, each of
the four regions will be referred to by
the host city's name. In 2004, the re
gional will be East Rutherford (for
merly East), Atlanta (South), St. Louis
(Midwest) and Phoenix (West).
— By Wendell Bamhous
Knight Ridder Newspapers (KRT)
Lakers' Bryant
faces felony allegations
Los Angeles Lakers superstar Kobe
Bryant was arrested July 4 on suspi
cion of felony sexual assault following
an alleged incident with an unidenti
fied woman at a hotel near Vail, Colo.,
authorities said.
The 24-year-old Bryant has not
been charged with a crime, said
Mark LIurlbert, district attorney
for the Fifth Judicial District in
Breckenridge, Colo.
"We have not made a decision,"
said Hurlbert, who planned
Monday to review the arrest report
and evidence.
Bryant turned himself in on July
4, voluntarily complying with an
arrest warrant stemming from
allegations of sexual misconduct
filed on June 30.
Bryant posted $25,000 bond at
the Eagle County Sheriffs
Detention Facility on Friday. He
could not be reached for comment.
"These allegations are complete
ly out of character of the Kobe
Bryant we know," Lakers general
manager Mitch Kupchak said. "For
the seven years he's been with us,
he has been one of the finest young
men we've known and a wonderful
asset to both our team and our
community."
— Kevin Ding
and Natalya Shulyakovskaya
The Orange County Register (KRT)
Thomas
continued from page 5
Joseba Beloki and two-time Giro d'l
talia champion Gilberto Simoni.
They are merely listed for the sake of
making it seem that Armstrong will
not easily ride into the sunset with
another victory.
But in reality, Armstrong has no
competition. Not because of lack of
physical capability or inexperience,
but because no other cyclist in the
race can match his mentality. His
mental focus is stronger than Igor Ol
shank/s biceps.
Sean Yates, a former teammate of
Armstrong's and current sports direc
tor at rival Team CSC, understands
that Lance has to falter to lose.
"We're not building toward top
pling Lance," Yates told ESPN.com.
"Unless he has a bad day, no one can
touch Lance. He's at the top of his
game. He just gets better and stronger
every year."
In the last half decade, Armstrong
has managed to conquer every barri
er placed before him. He has faced
more adversity than any other athlete
and destroyed any expectation that
his rivals and the media have placed
on him.
Armstrong will go on to win his
fifth Tour de France, barring no in
jury or significant mishap. Will he
go on to win six or seven? I hope so,
but I don't know. That's like
asking whether Michael Jordan will
ever retire.
Contact the sports editor
at jessethomas@dailyemerald.com.
His opinions do not necessarily represent
those of the Emerald.