Sports Editor:
Hank Hager
hankhager@dailyemerald.com
Monday, April 19,2004
Oregon Daily Emerald
SPORTS
Best bet
NBA Playoffs:
Memphis vs. San Antonio
5 p.m.,TNT
UO visits
UV^UCIA;
takes away
2 victories
The softball team went 2-1
on the road against two
top-five Pacific-10 Conference
opponents over the weekend
By Mindi Rice
Senior Sports Reporter
SEATTLE — The consistent pitching of
Oregon transfer Ani Nyhus remained a win
ning recipe in Pacific-10 Conference play
this weekend.
Add run support from the 14th-ranked
Ducks — including second baseman Erin
GoodelTs first and second home runs of the
season — and Oregon took two wins from
two top-five teams.
The Ducks (32-11 overall, 6-3 Pac-10)
opened their weekend with a 2-1 victory
against No. 5 Washington Friday in Seattle.
"Ani was brilliant and we found a way to
score runs," Oregon head coach Kathy
Arendsen said Friday. "Kristi Leiter, a native
kid playing at home for the first time in her
career, got a big home run and Erin Good
ell, who has really been swinging the bat
well the past couple weeks, stepped up with
_ a huge hit for us."
HHi i 1 gyf' Leiter, Oregon's
1L# w% baseman from
SOFTBALL Lake Stevens,
- Wash., hit her third
home mn of the
season, a shot into the right field bleachers,
to lead off the fifth inning.
Washington tied the game at one in the
bottom of the sixth, when Dominique Las
trapes scored after hitting a one-out double.
In the top of the seventh, Goodell, Ore
gon's second baseman, hit her first home
mn of the season over the left field wall.
"It felt really good, just to pick us up
from their mn that they scored the inning
before," Goodell said. "We were all pretty
determined that we had to score that in
ning. I was trying to get a base hit and I
guess that just happens."
Nyhus threw a complete game three-hit
ter in the victory, allowing the one run. She
struck out 11.
"We came out and scored early, which
was good," Nyhus said. "They weren't real
ly on to me yet. I was just looking for ground
balls and stuff, and I got a couple strikeouts
to add with it."
Ducks go 1-1 in Los Angeles
After the win, it was time for the Ducks
to step on a plane and fly to UCLA. Ore
gon opened the Los Angeles leg of its trip
with four runs in the top of the first inning
on Saturday.
Catcher Jenn Poore scored the Ducks'
first run on a single by third baseman Ash
ley Richards. Richards scored when the
next batter, designated player Beth
Boskovich, hit a double to deep right cen
ter field, making it 2-0.
Left fielder Julie Jaime drove in Oregon's
third run with a single, scoring Boskovich.
Goodell drove in the final Duck run with a
bloop single to right center field.
"We were able to put runs on the board
early and our defense made them hold up,"
Arendsen said in a release Saturday. "I
thought we did a great job picking up a win
on the road against a very good balldub."
Nyhus pitched her second complete
game victory in as many days. She gave up
three runs on seven hits and struck out six.
Turn to ROAD, page 12
MHchum breaks Ducks' hurdles record
Eric Mitchum broke Micah Harris’s two-year-old school record in the 110-meter hurdles by .14 seconds
The sophomore breaks a two-year-old
school record in the 110 hurdles
Sunday during the Mt. SAC Relays
Jon Roetman
Sports Reporter
Eric Mitchum is well on his way to re-writing
the Oregon record books.
The sophomore from Calumet City, 111., broke a
two-year-old school record with a time of 13.53
seconds in the 110-meter hurdles Sunday during
the Mt. SAC Relays in Walnut, Calif. ^
Mitchum finished second overall to Brazilian
entrant Matheus Facho (13.46) and broke the old
Oregon record, held by Micah Harris, by a consid
erable .14 seconds.
Mitchum's time came with the maximum
record-allowable wind limit of two meters per sec
ond. His previous wind-legal best was 13.70 dur
ing the Pepsi Team Invitational last weekend at
Hayward Field.
"My start was pretty good," Mitchum said. "I
sped up from then and hoped for the best. I don't
remember much from the race — I don't know if
I hit any hurdles and saw only one other person
during the race. The goal was to break the school
record, which I did so I'm happy with that part of
my race.
"It was probably the best race of the season."
Mitchum said he's going to keep working hard
and has his eye on the Oregon record book.
"I want to keep improving each year," Mitchum
said, "and keep on going fast."
Elsewhere on the track, sophomore A.K.
Ikwuakor finished 27th overall (53.51) in the 400
hurdles, but was less than a second from his sea
son best.
In the field, Oregon sent four pole vaulters to
compete at the Mt. San Antonio College meet but
only one produced a mark.
Senior Trevor Woods took
fifth in the university pole
vault, clearing 16 feet, 4 3/4
inches. Freshman Tommy
Skipper didn't compete in
the elite section, while sophomore Jon Derby and
freshman David Moore no-heighted in the univer
sity section.
In other action, Travis Anderson continued his
dominance in the 400-meter dash Saturday.
The sophomore from Arvada, Colo., won the 35
person event (47.08) during second day action at the
Mt. SAC Relays, a week after winning the 400 at the
Pepsi Team Invitational (47.04). It was also the third
meet this season in which Anderson met Pacific-10
Conference and regional qualifying standards.
Anderson is coming off a freshman season in
which he qualified for the Pac-10 Championships
in the 400 and the NCAAs as a member of the
Oregon 4x400-meter relay team.
Right behind Anderson in the 400 Saturday was
junior transfer Kedar Inico, who finished second
MEN’S
TRACK
Turn to RECORD, page 10
Abildtrup heads UO contingent at Mt. SAC
Sofie Abildtrup finishes
eighth in the 200; Clarice
Hayward-Lee takes fourth in
the triple jump in California
By Alex Tam
Sports Reporter
Oregon junior Sofie Abildtrup
said she hoped to achieve a new
personal record in the 100-meter
and 200-meter sprints Saturday at
the Mt. SAC Relays in Walnut, Calif.
Abildtrup traveled to the meet
full of confidence after a strong
performance last weekend where
she triumphed in three events: the
200, 400v and 4x400. > However,
while one goal was fulfilled, the
other was not.
The native of Fredericksberg,
Denmark, finished in second place
in the fourth section of the 100-me
ter dash with a time of 12.01 sec
onds. The mark was only .03 sec
onds behind the section's leader,
Michigan's Sierra Hauser-Price at
11.98, but still short of her goal.
In the overall standings,
Abildtrup's time was only good
enough for 18th place among the
44 competitors in the field who
recorded a legal time.
Abildtrup missed her personal
record of 11.84, which she
achieved nearjy five years ago, by
almost two-tenths of a second.
Even meeting her personal best
would have earned her only 10th
in the event this weekend.
Kaori Sakagami led a contingent
of three athletes from Japan who
.03 seconds better than the sec
ond-place finisher, Daniella Vega
of York University.
Abildtrup, the Pac-10 Confer
ence track athlete of the week, later
competed in the 200-meter dash,
which was the event she focused
WOMEN'S
TRACK
placed
among the
top five.
Sakagami
clocked in
at 11.65,
which was
on during the previous week.
Before the race, Abildtrup said
she believed she would break her
personal record from just one week
ago. Abildtrup, who is ranked sev
enth all-time in Oregon history in
the 200, recorded a time of23.94 at
the Pepsi Team Invitational at Hay
ward Field last Saturday.
"It was a good race last weekend
because of the wind and every
thing," Abildtrup said. "But still, I
had just done the 400 prior to that
and I didn't get a really good start so
1 think I can do better in the 200."
And that she did when she satis
fied the second of her two goals.
Abildtrup placed second in her
Turn to MT. SAC, page 10