Oregon daily emerald., April 13, 2004, Image 7

Sports Editor:
Hank Hager
hankhager@dailyemerald.com
Tuesday, April 13, 2004
Oregon Daily Emerald
SPORTS
Best bet
MLB:
Seattle vs. Anaheim
7 p.m., ESPN
Hank Hager
Behind the dish
Heinonen
would be
big asset
for Ducks
As Colorado's Dathan Ritzenhein was
on his way to a record-breaking perform
ance Saturday at the Pepsi Team Invita
tional, Erik Heinonen was stuck in relative
anonymity.
The redshirt freshman was near the
back of the pack for most of the 3,000-me
ter race, fighting to stay out of last place at
Hayward Field. Predominantly clad in
Colorado's signature black uniform, he
stood out against Oregon's yellow, Wash
ington's purple and Minnesota's cream
colored uniforms, but not enough to get
serious recognition.
A year ago, Heinonen would have been
in that yellow. He would have been one of
Oregon head coach Martin Smith's ath
letes, a piece of a team that would end up
winning the Pacific-10 Conference Cham
pionship.
But he wasn't. Instead injuries that kept
him from competing as an Oregon entry
the entire season.
See, Heinonen isn't your typical runner.
He isn't a typical college athlete. Or at least
he wasn't in Eugene.
Heinonen has running in his blood.
He's the son of Tom Heinonen, the for
mer women's coach at Oregon who re
tired after last season. The elder Heinonen
had been at the helm for 27 years, leading
the track program to one national cham
pionship. He also spearheaded the
women's cross country team, where he
was even more successful, taking home
two top finishes.
Turn to HAGER, page 9
Ngata makes Oregon track debut
Haloti Ngata
described his
performance in the
shot put Saturday
as “all right."
Ngata, who tore
the anterior
cruciate ligament
in his left knee
during Oregon’s
win over
Mississippi State
last August, was
convinced to
compete in the
Pepsi Team
Invitational by
Oregon strength
and conditioning
coach Jim
Radcliffe. It was the
first time Ngata
had competed in
track and field
since his
sophomore year in
high school.
Lauren Wimer
Photographer
Haloti Ngata competes in the shot
put for the first time since his
sophomore year in high school
By Jon Roetman
Sports Reporter
I Ialoti Ngata sat on a bench Saturday, men
tally preparing himself for competition. He
stood up moments later, donning Oregon
green and yellow, and received an ovation from
the crowd at Hayward Field.
Ngata stepped out of
the realm of Duck foot
ball and into the world
of Oregon track Satur
day when he competed
in the shot put at the
Pepsi Team Invitational.
The 6-foot-4, 339-pound defensive lineman
last competed in the shot put as a sophomore
in high school, but he was talked into compet
ing for Oregon by strength and conditioning
coach Jim Raddiffe.
Ngata finished sixth with a top throw of 45
feet, 10 3/4 inches. The sophomore from Salt
Lake City finished second among Oregon com
petitors, less than two feet behind freshman
Brandon Tower (fifth, 47-9 3/4).
"I could have done better," Ngata said. "It
definitely wasn't to the best of my ability, but it
was all right."
Hayward Field?
MEN'S
TRACK
Despite a so-so performance, Ngata said he
was happy to be out competing in front of Ore
gon fans again after missing all but one game
of the football season with a knee injury.
"It felt great," Ngata said. "I'm on a different
team but it was nice to have fans cheering for
me again."
Ngata's future in the event is unknown, but
he said he'd like to keep at it if he continues to
improve.
"If I progress and start getting better throws
(I'll stay with it)," Ngata said. "Otherwise it will
just be another hobby."
Gilliam impressive
Another Oregon football player who had a
solid performance at Saturday's meet was fresh
man Ryan Gilliam.
The 5-foot-9,158-pound freshman from Talla
hassee, Fla., competed in the 100-meter dash and
took second with a windy time of 10.72 seconds.
Gilliam's time was only .04 seconds off the
pace set by Patrick Davidson of Washington
(first, 10.68).
Dotts disappointed
The positive tone set by Oregon's team victory
Turn to DEBUT, page 8
New system is no problem early in outdoor season
Oregon junior
Rachael Kriz
took third place
in the javelin
Saturday with a
mark of 139-6.
Kriz later achieved
a high jump
personal best.
Erik R. Bishoff
Photographer
The Oregon women continue
to break records as the 2004
outdoor season progresses
By Alex Tam
Sports Reporter
Records are made to be broken.
However, fans and members of the Ore
gon women's track and field team never
expected school records and personal
bests to continually fall during every meet
this season.
According to the
athletes, all of their
success so far can be
credited to the new
leadership under
first-year head coach
Martin Smith.
Junior Laura Harmon is one of those
Ducks reaping the benefits after knocking
almost 26 seconds off her personal best in
the 5,000-meters three weeks ago at the
WOMEN’S
TRACK
Stanford Invitational.
At Saturday's Pepsi Invitational, Harmon
achieved a new personal best in the 3,000
meters with a time of 9 minutes, 45.52 sec
onds. It was nearly eight seconds faster than
her previous indoor record of 9:53.55, set
at the Husky Preview in 2003.
Harmon said that she is happy about
the way things are going after Oregon de
feated three teams to win the 15th edition
of the Pepsi Team Invitational at Hayward
Field Saturday.
Most people "didn't expect great things
from our team," Harmon said. "I think
we're definitely surpassing what people
thought we were going to do."
Harmon, a Vancouver, Wash., native, said
that the team's success so far is instilling a
positive attitude and confident environ
ment that has been lacking the past couple
of years.
"Our athletes are definitely making
strides toward bigger goals and we're doing
it as a whole team," Hartnon said.
Junior Clarice Hayward-Lee is one exam
ple of the new philosophy. Despite winning
the triple jump event Saturday and setting a
new personal best of 40 feet 4 3/4 inches,
Hayward-Lee said afterward that she was
still unsatisfied with her efforts.
"I was happy with my 40-foot jump but I
wasn't really happy with my overall per
formance that I had," Hayward-Lee said. "I
had a lot of 38-foot jumps, but I was aim
ing for something higher."
The Bellevue, Wash., native dominated
her competition as she defeated the sec
ond-place finisher, Colorado's Liza Ne
griff, by almost a foot. Negriff s best mark
was 39-07 1/4.
In the long jump, junior Maegan Traver
also set a new personal best of 17-06 1/4.
Other personal records also fell for the
women. Sophomore Megan Kriz threw
181-09 in the hammer, which placed her
fourth all-time in school history. She is now
less than 10 feet away from the Oregon
Turn to SYSTEM, page 8