Sports Editor
Hank Hager
hankhager@dailyemerald.com
-Oregon Daily Emerald
SPORTS
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NHL Playoffs
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6 p.m., ESPN
Monday, April 26, 2004
Ducks shock No. 1 Arizona in extra-inning win
Oregon’s Ashley Richards hit a
walk-off home run in the bottom
of the eighth to hand the Wildcats
their first Pac-10 loss this season
By Mindi Rice
Senior Sports Reporter
For seven and a half innings Sunday, it was a
challenge to pick out the nation's No. 1 team
on Howe Field.
Oregon left eight runners on base and man
aged five hits against Arizona pitcher Alicia Hol
lowed, who was 32-0 entering Sunday.
The Wildcats, who had six runners stranded
on base, also managed five hits and only had
one baserunner find her way past second against
the combined strengths of Duck pitchers Amy
_ Harris and Ani Nyhus.
DUCK
SOFTBALL
In the bottom of the
eighth, Oregon third
baseman Ashley
- Richards drove a lead
off home run over the
left center field fence to give the No. 12 Ducks
(34-12 overall, 8-4 Pacific-10 Conference) a 1-0
win against No. 1 Arizona (45-2, 9-1).
"I still can't find the words," Richards said,
nearing the end of her post-game interviews.
"I've been talking to so many people and I still
can't figure out what this feeling is. I feel like
our team's on the top of the world right now."
The moment the ball came off Richards' bat,
teammates jumped into the air and screamed as
they ran to home plate to congratulate the jun
ior from Richland, Wash.
"We kept talking about 'when we win,' not 'if
we win,'" Oregon head coach Kathy Arendsen
said. "I told them 'when we win today, I don't
want you to get too excited. Art like it happens
every day.' But when you win in the bottom of
the eighth on a home run, you can get excited. 1
don't care who you are."
Once again, the dominant story line for the
Ducks was pitching. For five and two-thirds in
nings, the sophomore Harris returned to her fresh
man-season form, controlling the pace of the
game and relying on the Oregon defense to han
dle anyone she didn't strike out.
"Amy Harris stepped up," Nyhus said. "She's
back and she's ready to go and that's huge. You
can't look at that game and think that it would
have gone anything like that if she hadn't been
throwing that well. She frustrated every one of
their batters."
Turn to SOFTBALL, page 8A
Oregon track and field shines against top talent
The Oregon men's track and field
team captures six individual event
victories at the Oregon Invitational
By Jon Roetman
Sports Reporter
When a sprinter is coming off an injury, several
things factor into his successful return to the track.
After patiently waiting for the injury to heal, stay
ing healthy during and after the race is of the ut
most importance. Secondly, finishing with a re
spectable time helps the athlete rebuild confidence
Sophomore Matt Scherer accomplished these
feats with ease Saturday, when he won the 400
meter dash (47.11 seconds) during the Oregon
Invitational at Hayward Field.
Making his 2004 outdoor debut after nursing
a right hamstring injury he suffered during the in
door campaign, the Sumner, 111. native edged
Highline Community College's Melvin Jenkins
(47.28) by .17 seconds.
"It was exactly what (sprints coach Dan Steele)
wanted me to do and exactly what I wanted to
do," Scherer said. "I think my hamstring is fully
recovered. I just wanted to
come out here and give it
a really good test."
The key to Scherer's suc
cess was his ability to put
the injury out of his mind.
"It's almost like you forget how to race (while
sitting out with an injury)," Scherer said. "You
have to go out there and think what the coach
trains you to think. I've been really patient trying
to get this injury gone and it just feels good to race
again in front of the fans."
MEN'S
' TRACK
Along with Scherer's win, five other Ducks cap
tured event victories for the Oregon men's track
and field team, during a meet that featured some
Turn to MEN, page 10A
Danielle Hickey Photo Editor
Sophomore Matt Scherer won the 400-meters during his 2004 outdoor debut Saturday at Hayward Field.
The Oregon women post four event
wins and 11 Pac-10 qualifers during
the Oregon Invitational on Saturday
By Alex Tam
Sports Reporter
The Oregon women's track and field team con
tinued its trend of improvement as the road to the
Pacific-10 Conference championships looms just
ahead.
In fart, a cold and windy day did not deter the
women from setting new personal bests at the
three-day Oregon Invitational at I Iayward Field,
which ended Saturday.
"We had some good performances," head
coach Martin Smith said. "I'm really pleased with
the women. They have gotten better every week
and they had some really plus showings."
Those improved showings began right from the
start.
In the first event of Saturday's morning session,
sophomore Haripurkh Khalsa won the 5,000-me
ter race and beat her previous personal record by
12 seconds at 17:25.33. The time was good
enough to meet the Pac-10 standard of 17:30.14.
Khalsa paced herself throughout the middle por
tion of the race before
pulling ahead late to win
by less than a second over
Sitges Marshall of High
line Community College.
"My goal was to qualify
for Pac-lOs and I got that," Khalsa said. "My race
was a little uneven. 1 felt pretty good and, in the
end, I kicked it in."
In the last event of the morning, junior Bree
Fuqua also claimed victory in the discus with a
throw of 164 feet, 1 inch. Fuqua, a first-year trans
fer from Wisconsin, improved her Oregon best by
more than three feet and fell just under 18 inches
short of earning a new personal record.
Her teammate senior Jill Hoxmeier took third
Turn to WOMEN, page 8A
WOMEN’S
TRACK
Olshansky, Siavii selected back-to-back in NFL draft
A total of four Ducks players,
including Igor Olshansky
and Junior Siavii, are
selected in the NFL Draft
By Alex Tam
Sports Reporter
The San Diego Chargers selected
former Duck Igor Olshansky in the
second round of this year's NFL Draft
as the 35th pick overall.
Immediately after, Kansas City
took 24-year-old Junior Siavii with
the No. 36 selection.
Olshanksy, who will turn 22 on
May 3, declared early for the draft after
choosing to forgo his senior year in
Eugene. The Ukraine native is looking
forward to moving on and beginning
his professional career.
"I didn't think about football until
my junior year in high school," Ol
shansky told Chargers.com. "I've only
been playing for six years, so my best
football is ahead of me. I'm happy to
be a San Diego Charger."
His flexibility to play at any posi
tion along the defensive line is what
intrigued NFL scouts. He started all
13 games for the Ducks last year,
where he played both defensive end
and tackle.
"The thing about him is he's got great
size," Chargers head coach Marty Schot
tenheimer told Chargers.com. "He's a
very tough, physical, hard-nosed guy
who gives great effort all the time."
Leading up to the draft, Olshansky
said he had no idea where he would
go and what team would take him.
Olshansky said many other teams, in
cluding Kansas City and Dallas, left
impressed with his pre-draft work
outs. His strength proved to be his
greatest asset with 43 bench press rep
etitions at 225 pounds to secure the
record among NFL prospects. He also
ran the 40-yard dash in 4.95 seconds.
Despite entering only his seventh
year of football, Olshansky remains
confident that he can make an imme
diate impact at the professional level.
"I'm going to do whatever it takes,"
Olshansky said. "I can play anywhere.
I consider myself a good run stopper. I
could stop the run anywhere along
the line of scrimmage."
Turn to DRAFT, page 10A
Adam Amato Senior Photographer
Junior Siavii (94) and Igor Olshansky (53) were drafted back-to-back Saturday.