Oregon daily emerald., April 12, 2004, Image 7

Sports Editor:
Hank Hager
hankhager@dailyemerald.com
Monday, April 12, 2004
-Oregon Daily Emerald
SPORTS
Best bet
NHL Playoffs:
San Jose vs. St. Louis
6:30 p.m., ESPN2
Leonidas
Watson
jumps
during the
Pepsi Team
Invitational
on Saturday.
He won the
long and
triple jump
events,
joining Sofie
Abildtrup
and Eric |
Mitchum as |
athletes |
to win two |
events. |
Lauren |
Wimer I
Photographer 1
Duck men dominate Invite
Oregon captures the team title at the
Pepsi Team Invitational while winning
eight individual events on Saturday
By Jon Roetman
Sports Reporter
Leonidas Watson was disappointed with the effort
he had just given in the triple jump. The junior trans
fer had given away several inches on his effort by miss
ing the board on his takeoff.
Watson turned to jumps coach Bill lawson, seeking
advice for improving in his next attempt.
"Hit the board," Lawson said to Watson in a fiery,
competitive voice. "And let's put this one away."
Watson took Uwson's words to heart, responding
with an eventual event-winning mark of 48 feet, 10
Pepsi Team Invitational at Hayward Field.
Oregon (191 points) defeated Minnesota (second,
169), Washington (third, 144) and Colorado
(fourth, 101) in the first point-scoring meet of the
outdoor season.
Eric Mitchum was one of Oregon's biggest point con
tributors, winning the 110 meter hurdles (13.70 seconds)
and the 400 meter hurdles (51.47). The sophomore All
American's blazing time in the 110 missed Micah Harris's
two-year school record by .03 seconds.
Travis Anderson shined in the 400-meter dash, win
ning the event with a time of 47.04.
Adam Jenkins set a positive tone early for Oregon
in the-field, winning the javelin with a mark of 218
feet. The 2003 Pacific-10 Conference champion made
his outdoor season debut after nursing a sore shoul
der and didn't disappoint. The Gladstone, Ore. native
improved on all but one of six throws — using a half
approach — and won the event by more than 15 feet.
"1 just wanted to go out there and get a decent
3/4 inches.
TRACK
MEN'S
Winning efforts were conta
gious for the Duck men Satur
day as eight individual event
victories led to an overall team
win for Oregon during the
mark, Jenkins said. “It felt good and 1 wanted to have
a good time because I didn't want to get stressed out
and mess up."
Along with Jenkins' performance, the Ducks cap
tured four other field events. Watson, in addition to
winning the triple jump, took home first-place hon
ors in the long jump (24-2 1/4). The St. Louis Com
munity College transfer stood in third place until his
fifth jump, when he was able to regain the top posi
tion from Minnesota's Steffen Landgraf (23-10 1/4).
While Watson's marks fell well short of his personal
bests, the St. Louis native said he was happy with his
performance because he was using a short approach.
"It feels good and it's a (personal record) from short
approach," Watson said. "I wanted to go from full ap
proach but coach (Lawson) was just holding me back.
We were just going for the win and just wanted to rest
for Pac-lOs."
Mansfield, Texas native Jeff Lindsey won the high
jump (7-13/4), while holding off Minnesota's talent
ed duo of Bryant Howe (second, 7-0 1/2) and Josh
Paulson (third, 7-0 1/2). The sophomore improved
his Oregon best by 1/4 inch and was pumped about
defeating his Golden Gopher opponents.
"It's a lot easier (to get excited) when there's three
guys over seven feet," Lindsey said. "Once you start
jumping like 6-10 you start getting in a zone and
you're in your own little world."
Freshman Tommy Skipper had one of the busiest
days of any Oregon athlete. The Sandy, Ore. native
won the pole vault for the second time at I layward
Field (17-5), but not before taking third in the javelin
with a Pac-10-qualifying mark of 198 feet.
The All-American pole vaulter said preparing him
self mentally for different events throughout the meet
might have had an impact on his performance in the
day's final field event — pole vault.
"When it's spread out throughout the day, you're
warming up and cooling down," Skipper said. "Emo
tionally it's a little straining on you, but you have to
try and be on top of your game."
Contact the sports reporter
atjonroetman@dailyemerald.com.
Abildtrup, Kriz pace UO women in scoring victory
The Oregon women triumph in seven
events to win the 2004 Pepsi Team
Invite on Saturday at Hayward Field
By Alex Tam
Sports Reporter
As junior Sofie Abildtrup took the baton for
the final leg of the 4x400 relay in the last
women's track event of the day, she was confi
dent she would overcome the leader, Minneso
ta's Mollie Hupp.
Before a crowd of 3,514 people, who rose to
their feet and cheered raucously as she ran down
the back stretch, Abildtrup took the lead and
won the event to cap off an eventful day for the
Oregon women.
The Ducks posted 184 1/2 points to defeat
Washington (169), Minnesota (160) and Col
orado (100) in the 15th annual Pepsi Team
Invitational at Hayward Field on Saturday. The
meet was Oregon's first scoring meet of the season.
Abildtrup finished the race for her team in
three minutes, 46.92 seconds, which topped
Minnesota by less than one second at 3:47.81.
The Denmark native said the fans played a huge
factor as she rounded the final turn.
TRACK
"It was great to com
pete," Abildtrup said. "I
felt like the crowd just
gave me an extra kick.
Going over there with
the home crowd in the
back, I just knew I had the extra strength to go."
The women's triumph in the 4x400 relay was
one of seven event wins that also included
Abildtrup's victories in the 200-meters and 400
meters. Her time of 23.94 seconds in the 200
meters set a new personal best and placed her
seventh all-time in school history.
With a shortened roster because of reduced re
cruiting during the past couple years, several
Ducks participated in multiple events. However,
that fact did not deter many of the women from
their goals.
Junior Rachael Kriz enjoyed success in the
high jump and javelin, despite having to com
pete in both events at the same time. The Tole
do, Ore., native won the high jump at 5 feet 8
inches. The mark set a new personal record and
was a Pacific-10 Conference- and regional-quali
fying mark.
Kriz also credited the crowd for their support
and jumps coach Rock Light for helping her im
prove in the high jump during the week.
"High jump was just incredible," Kriz said.
"That was the best feeling to do that in front of a
Hayward crowd. It was sheer and utter excitement.
I knew I cleared it from them before I even knew I
cleared it, so that just got the celebration going."
Kriz finished in third place at the javelin. 1 ler
first attempt ended up being her best at 139-6.
Her sister, Megan Kriz, won the first event of the
day for Oregon with a throw 10 feet beyond her
personal best at the hammer with a mark of 181-9.
In other field event wins, Sarah Malone dom
inated the javelin section with a throw of 167
10 to claim first place. The mark was more than
17 feet better than that of the second-place fin
isher, Washington's Tiffany Zahn, who finished
at 150 feet.
Nevertheless, Malone said she was not happy
with her performance after breaking her own
school record at 179-7 last weekend in the Texas
Relays. The Newberg native said she had trouble
sleeping before the meet and had to deal with
other off-the-field issues.
"I'm OK with (my marks)," Malone said. "I'm
not satisfied with it obviously. It was a hard day
Turn to VICTORY, page 9
Duck defense shines in first scrimmage
Nate LiaBraaten had a sack for 11 yards and
caught three passes in Oregon's scrimmage
By Hank Hager
Sports Editor
Usually, Oregon linebacker Jerry Matson said, when an offense
makes spectacular plays during spring football, it was because of
blown coverage or missed strategy on behalf of the defense.
So when exactly did that happen Saturday at Autzen Stadium?
When did the offense exploit the defense?
According to the score, not enough times. The Ducks' defense
outplayed its counterpart, winning the first scrimmage of the
spring, 48-37.
"Just some great enthusiasm, running around and rallying,"
Matson said. "A lot of young guys got unleashed today. They
did a great job."
The defense won the scrimmage by pressuring five Oregon
quarterbacks for three sacks. They held the offense to 13 of 24
passing for one touchdown.
The defense also recovered two fumbles, both created by Den
nis Dixon's inability to cleanly handle snaps.
All of that led to the defense's victory, which was scored based
on individual plays as well as scoring plays.
"I though the defense did a good job of making the big plays in
fourth-down situations and red zone situations," Oregon head
coach Mike Bellotti said. "(They) got some turnovers, got some
crucial stops. The defense so far in practice had not been show
_ ing that, but they played with more emo
Dtion today."
> ^ Matt Toeaina, Robby Valenzuela and
FOOTBALL Nate LiaBraaten, who split time on offense
—- and defense, were all credited with sacks.
Matson led the team with five tackles, in
cluding two for losses, while Sam Hughes had two breakups.
LiaBraaten equaled his defensive output on offense. The jun
ior emerged as the team's leading receiver with three receptions
for 11 yards — all the while switching between white and green
jersey tops.
"Nasty Nate LiaBraaten, we got him in a green jersey and all of a
Adam Amato Senior Photographer
J.D. Nelson tackles Ryan Shaw (with ball) during Oregon’s scrimmage.
sudden he's sacking quarterbacks," Matson said. "We might have to
steal him. We'll welcome him with open arms."
Turn to DEFENSE, page 9