Sports Editor
Hank Hager
hankhager@dailyemerald.com
Friday, April 9, 2003
-Oregon Daily Emerald
SPORTS
Best bet
MLB:
San Francisco vs. San Diego
5 p.m. Sunday, ESPN
Geoff Thurner Oregon Media Services
Junior Leonidas Watson has found success during an unexpected college track career.
Unexpectedjump
Leonidas Watson’s athletic ability has brought him recognition
in a different sport than he expected
By Jon Roetman
Sports Reporter
Leonidas Watson can jump.
This fact has been obvious since his childhood,
when he was a standout basketball player growing up
in St. Louis, Mo.
How he would use his athletic ability later in life,
however, turned out to be anything but obvious.
Watson's love was always basketball. lie could
jump so high that he played forward and center dur
show during a pep assembly. While most high school
students never experience die sensation of stuffing a
basketball, Watson stole the show with a 360° dou
ble-pump jam.
His jaw-dropping hops caught the attention of
more than just the Parkway West student body. Dale
Shepard, the school's track and field coach at the time,
took notice of Watson's athletic ability and asked him
to join the team during the spring.
While basketball was still Watson's first love, track
and field quickly grew on him as he got his start in the
high jump. It didn't take long before Watson's athleti
cism got him involved in several events.
"I was supposed to do the high jump, then I came
out and (Shepard) said, 'Let's see how you do in die
long jump,"' Watson said. "It was OK, I mean, it was
decent. After a couple of meets (Shepard) was like, 'All
right, we need points, let's put you in die triple jump.'"
Track and field condnued to play second fiddle to
basketball when it came time for Watson to make a
decision about where to attend college. He decided to
join the basketball team at St. Louis (Mo.) Commu
nity College, where he would play his natural position
of point guard.
After his freshman year (2000-01), the SLCC bas
ketball program made a coaching change and Watson
didn't figure into the team's plans. At this point, he
had a decision to make: Sit on the bench or give track
and field a shot.
Watson chose the latter.
"I was hurt for awhile because I was real cocky
about basketball," Watson said. "(It wasn't) until my
first (track and field) season when I really stopped
worrying about basketball."
Watson committed himself to track at SLCC and
started noticing improvements in his jumping as he
matched technique with his raw athletic ability. After a
ing his youth, despite standing
less than 6 feet tall.
MEN'S
TRACK
During his sophomore year
at Parkway West High School,
Watson wowed his fellow stu
dents by putting on a dunk
year or competition at the junior-college level, Watson
realized that the sport which always took a back seat
to basketball might be his ticket to a big-time school.
"There were a couple of meets, and after awhile I
started improving more and more," Watson said.
"Then 1 started to hit those marks where 1 was like,
'Man, 1 can actually do this at the Division I level.'"
During the 2003 season, Watson's hard work paid
off when he won junior college national champi
onships in the outdoor (53 feet) and indoor (52-5)
triple jump. I le also took second nationally in the out
door (25-1) and indoor (24-9) long jump.
Watson started getting attention from the likes of
Nebraska, Texas Tech, Tennessee, Arkansas and
Louisiana State. But it was a meeting with a certain Pa
cific-10 Conference school that helped make his deci
sion an easy one.
"Oregon was the last school to recruit me, but they
were the first to come to my house," Watson said.
"That really impressed me. (Jumps coach Bill Lawson)
came in my house, talked to my mom and didn't tell
me one thing and do another. (He) just straight up
told me, This is what we're going to do for you.' So far,
he's been right."
Lawson said that meeting face-to-face with an ath
lete is the best way to start building a trustworthy rela
tionship.
"If you're going to ask a young man to come
halfway across the country, it's important to visit him
at his home and get a feel for his environment before
he comes to your home and enters your environ
ment," Lawson said. "It's kind of like a two-way
street."
Watson has plenty of respect for Lawson and is a
large supporter of his coaching style. Watson said he
enjoys Lawson's method of coaching because rather
than simply barking instructions, the coach asks for
feedback and shows trust in athletes.
"(The relationship) isn't all coach, disciplinary, do it
this way," Watson said. "(Lawson) asks for your feed
back, then he tells you what you should do. When
you're with a program you have to believe in your
coach and believe in what he does."
Once Watson arrived in Eugene, the transition from
city life in St. Louis to small-town life began. While life
in Oregon's third-largest city has its moments, Watson
was hit by a case of culture shock.
"I'm so used to being in a city environment," Wat
son said. "Where I'm at now is more country and
open. Not being able to go to (a decent) mall or go to
the movies or go get my hair cut... I think there's only
one place in town I can get my hair cut. You actually
Turn to UNEXPECTED, page 8
Duck women confident heading into Pepsi Invite
The Ducks host the event after
winning the same meet last year
By Alex Tam
Sports Reporter
The Oregon women's track and field team
hopes to translate its efforts from last season's
Pepsi Team Invitational to this year's 15th edi
tion Saturday.
Last year, the Ducks defeated three squads af
_ ter accumulating 204
!Hffl M IP Wf C points against Minneso
WUfWliull ta, Colorado and Wash
RJ\ClV ington. Each of those
teams
returns
to
Hayward Field for the annual meet, which starts
at noon.
With recruiting scaled back the past couple of
years, several Ducks will compete in multiple
events, including senior sprinter Michelle Dono
van, who will compete in the 400-meters, 200
meters and other relay events.
Donovan said that being successful at the
meet is important for her team under first-year
program director and head coach Martin Smith.
"This is a big meet for us all," Donovan said.
"We're all being thrown into a bunch of events be
cause we want to go out there and win. We don't
want goose eggs out there in an individual event."
Turn to CONFIDENT, page 8
Ducks set for first scrimmage
The first game-style practice this spring
will afford younger players a chance to
stand out and impress their peers
By Hank Hager
Sports Editor
At this time last year, Johnny DuRocher was in a
whole different world.
He was out on the football field, practicing dur
ing the Ducks' spring workouts as a freshman quar
terback. The catch: He was supposed to be in high
school at the time.
The Graham, Wash, native was an early entry in
Oregon's workouts, foregoing the spring semester of
his senior year at Bethel High School.
"I just remember I was kind of swimming,"
DuRocher said Thursday. "I had a lot of stuff going
on, I wasn't sure what was going on, just in terms of
school and football."
Now a year older and wiser, DuRocher, a redshirt
freshman entering the 2004 season, is set to be the
"I'm looking forward to
the scrimmage a lot more,"
he said. "Get out there, have some fun, play some
football. Practice is one thing; practice is fun. But it's
DUCK
FOOTBALL
team's backup — at least
he's got the inside track —
as the Ducks play their first
scrimmage of spring work
outs today.
Turn to SCRIMMAGE, page 10
Oregon looks to bolster
its NCAA chances today
Dustin Pewarchuk and Therese
Wenslow lead their respective
teams into action this weekend
By Brian Smith
Freelance Reporter
The Oregon men's and women's golf
teams head into action this weekend with
a similar goal: To control their own fate
heading into the upcoming Pacific-10
Championships that loom a few weeks
away. Each team has its own agenda, and
each needs a solid showing to secure their
respective bids.
For the men, the task is a little more ar
duous, starting with this week's
PING/ASU Thun
MEN’S
derbird Invitation
al, held at the par
72, 7,037-yard
Karsten Golf
Course in Tempe,
Ariz. The Field includes eight of the top 25
teams in this week's Golfweek rankings
Turn to BOLSTER, page 10