Duck harriers get back in action at Invitational
Oregon will send its men s
squad and two women
to the 2003 Pre-NCAA
Invitational on Saturday
Scott Archer
Freelance Reporter
The Oregon men's team hasn't run
in quite some time, but it will receive
valuable feedback after this weekend.
DUCK
CROSSCOUNTRY
lire Ducks
will send nine
runners to the
2003 Pre-NCAA
Invitational Sat
urday in Cedar
Falls, Iowa.
Many ranked teams are expected to
participate, and Oregon is excited to
see where the team is at midway
through its season.
Previous to this weekend, Oregon
competed in the Pier Park Preview
— a race with mostly Oregon's 'B'
runners — and the Roy Griak invita
tional, where the Ducks finished
fourth.
After this weekend's race, the
Ducks will take two weeks off before
they run in the Pacific-10 Confer
ence Championships. That will be
followed by the NCAA Western Re
gional Championship in Pullman,
Wash., and, depending on how the
team fares at that point, the NCAA
Championships.
The NCAA Championships will
be held at the same venue as the
Pre-NCAA Invitational, with many
of the same teams and individuals
expected to compete in both.
Rankings... again.
Despite being dormant last week
end, the Duck men moved up one spot
in the cross country rankings to No. 7.
Oregon was helped by the poor
performance of Arkansas, which fell
from its previous No. 4 ranking down
to No. 9. Otherwise, the top-nine po
sitions stayed the same, with Stanford
continuing its stronghold on the No.
1 spot. Oregon and Stanford are two
of the five teams from the Pac-10 in
the nation's top 30. The Ducks and
the Cardinal are the only two Pac-10
teams ranked in the top 10, according
to a new poll released Oct. 7.
1 lowever, rankings do not play as
much of a major role in deciding the
fate of a team's season as it does in
football. The Ducks must still cap
ture a top-two finish at regionals or
receive an at-large bid in order to be
invited to race in the NCAA Cham
pionships, regardless of ranking.
Down and out... sort of
If it seems there hasn't been any
mention of one of Oregon's
strongest runners, it's no mistake.
Senior I^ura Harmon has red
shirted her season after a experienc
ing a case of pneumonia during the
summer that set back her training
and conditioning.
I based my decision on not get
ting as good a summer as I wanted
to," Harmon said. "I have a goal to
go to the NCAA (Championship)
and be the best I can be."
1 lowever, 1 larmon has participat
ed in Oregon's first two races of the
season, competing as an unat
tached. Despite her scores not
counting, she has shown a powerful
work ethic and has finished strong
in Oregon's first full varsity races.
Harmon finished ninth at the Sun
dodger Invitational and sixth over
all at the Willamette Invitational.
Harmon continues to work out
with the team and is involved in
every aspect of the program. That is,
everything except the races.
With new head coach Mamie Ma
son adjusting the intensity and dis
tances of practice, Harmon has seen
an improvement in her times.
"I was 22 seconds faster (this
year, compared to last year at
Willamette Invitational)," Harmon
said. "I attribute that to different
kinds of practice."
She isn't second guessing her de
cision, but some doubts remain
about the decision to redshirt.
"It makes you question it," Har
mon said.
Scott Archer is a freelance sports
reporter for the Emerald.
Brett Holts and the
Ducks will visit Cedar
Falls, Iowa this
weekend for the
Pre-NCAA
Invitational.
Geoff Thumer
Oregon Media Services
Red Sox come back to force final game in New York
Nomar barciaparra s triple
in the seventh inning helps
Boston defeat the Yankees,
64, on Wednesday
By Jim Salisbury
Knight Ridder Newspapers (KRT)
NEW YORK — After 25 meetings
this season, it comes down to one fi
nal game between the Boston Red Sox
and the New York Yankees.
Game 7 of the American league
Championship Series.
On Thursday night at Yankee
Stadium.
Winner goes to the World Series.
The Red Sox forced a deciding
game by coming from behind to
beat their arch-rivals, 9-6, in Game 6
on Wednesday at the big house in
the Bronx.
That set up Thursday night's win
or-go-horne showdown between
Boston's Pedro Martinez and New
York's Roger Clemens.
” It's what we wanted — a Game 7,"
Red Sox shortstop Nomar Garciaparra
said. "Two great teams. Go out, do
our best, and see what happens."
The teams met 19 times in the regu
lar season. The Yankees won 10, the
Red Sox nine.
Now, they are tied at three games
apiece in the American League Cham
pionship Series.
"I guess it was supposed to come
down to a Game 7, as much as 1 hate
to admit it," said Yankees manager
Joe Torre, whose team was nine outs
from winning the pennant when it
squandered a two-run lead in the
seventh inning.
"We battled each other all year.
Ihere's no quit in either team. At least
we know tomorrow is the last day.
"I don't know any two teams
more evenly matched than us and
the Red Sox. Now it comes down to
7, and you really have to talk your
self into believing that it'll be just
another baseball game," he said.
The Yankees haven't hosted a sev
enth game in a postseason series since
1957, when they lost in the World Se
ries to the Milwaukee Braves.
Lew Burdette beat Don Larsen in
that game.
Red Sox fans hope Martinez has a
little Burdette in him Thursday night.
Yankees fans hope Clemens pitches as
well as he did in Game 3, when he
beat Martinez at Fenway Park.
Had the Yankees won Wednesday,
Clemens would have been available
to pitch Game 1 of the World Series
on Saturday.
Now, the Yanks are just hoping to
get there.
The Red Sox go into Thursday
night's game with a healthy dose of
momentum after the bats of several
key players finally awakened in the
Sox' 16-hit attack.
David Ortiz, who entered the game
with just three hits in 16 at-bats in the
series, had a pair of singles, including
one that tied the score, and three RBIs.
Kevin Millar, 3 for 19 in the series
going into the game, had pair of hits.
AL batting champion Bill Mueller
broke out of a 2 for 17 skid with
three hits.
But the bat that the Red Sox were
most happy to see ignite belonged to
Garciaparra, the man who often
makes this team go.
Garciaparra was just 2 for 19 in the
series entering the day. He had four
hits, including a leadoff triple to begin
the Red Sox' decisive rally in the sev
enth inning.
"Good for him and good for us,"
Red Sox manager Grady Little said.
"We knew it would happen sooner or
later for Nomar."
Garciaparra's triple came with the
Sox trailing, 6-4. It was sweet on a
couple of levels for the Red Sox. First,
he ended up scoring on the play on
an overthrow to third by leftfielder
Hideki Matsui. Second, the triple
came off reliever Jose Contreras. The
Red Sox wanted Contreras badly last
winter, only to lose out to the Yankees
in their bid to sign him.
Red Sox president Larry Lucchino
was so angry that his team didn't get
Contreras that he called the Yankees
baseball's "Evil Empire," adding an
other chapter to the two teams' long
and-heated rivalry.
After Garciaparra scored to make it
6-5, Manny Ramirez followed with a
booming double to center. He scored
on Ortiz's single off the first base bag.
Contreras got Millar to pop out for
the first out before Mueller singled,
putting runners at first and second.
Torre replaced Contreras with left
hander Felix Heredia, who threw a
wild pitch to advance the runners.
Heredia got the second out, a
strikeout of Trot Nixon. Torre then
rolled the dice. With first base open,
he had Heredia walk switch-hitter Ja
son Varitek to load the bases for left
handed-hitting Johnny Damon.
Heredia walked Damon, scoring
Ortiz with the go-ahead run.
Had Contreras just been able to get
through the seventh, the Yankees
probably would have gone to Mari
ano Rivera for his third two-inning
save of the series. But this time, the
Yanks couldn't get the ball to Rivera.
Torre didn't second-guess himself
for walking Varitek and taking his
chances on Damon.
"It wasn't an easy decision, but
Heredia shouldn't be on the mound
there if I don't have confidence in him
to handle something like that," Torre
said. "Varitek had been swinging the
bat well righthanded. It was some
thing I felt we had to do. We'll just
have to live with the results."
And now it's on to Game 7.
(c) 2003, The Philadelphia Inquirer.
Distributed by Knight Ridder/
Tribune Information Services.
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