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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (May 6, 2004)
UO Club lacrosse prepares to compete in nationals The eighth-seeded Ducks get their first berth in the National Championships, which start on May 11 By Kirsten McEwen Freelance Reporter It was a historic weekend for Ore gon Club lacrosse. A week after the women's team se cured a spot at the National Champi onships, the men followed suite as they defeated Simon Fraser Universi ty in the final game of the Pacific NW College Lacrosse League playoffs. With an undefeated league record (13-6 overall, 8-0 Pacific Northwest Division), the Ducks went into last weekend's tournament as the No. 1 seeded team and were given a bye in the first round of play. At Mercer Island High School in Seattle, Oregon took on Washington in the semi-finals and easily handled the Huskies as it came away with its first win of the tournament 15-7, and assured its place in the PNCLL cham pionship game. Oregon expected to see Simon Fras er — six-time PNCLL champion — in the final game. The Ducks played their fielder Jon Opet, wOUllS and outscored win the PNCLL Cup, 19-9. The victory gave Oregon its first berth in the US Lacrosse Men's Divi sion Intercollegiate Associates Na tional Championships, which will be held in St. Louis at the Anheuser Busch Sports Centre on May 11 through 15. Twenty-nine players will make the trip to St. Louis to represent the eighth-seeded Ducks. "best game of the season" ac cording to mid dle Clansmen by 10 goals to "It's our first year at Nationals, and we want a good showing," Opet said. "We will see teams like Michigan, Brigham Young and Colorado State. Every team is going to be competitive" Oregon's first-round game is sched uled for Tuesday against No. 9 Boston College, the winner of the Pioneer Collegiate Lacrosse League title. The tournament, hosted by the St. Louis Chapter of U.S. Lacrosse, will be mn in single-elimination format. Opet said the Ducks, because of the single-elimination format, know how important their first game will be against the two-time Pioneer Confer ence champions. "We are expecting Boston College to be very competitive." Opet said. "We have played top teams before, and so we know what to expect. We feel like we can really do something this year at Nationals." Before the Ducks make the trip to St. Louis, Opet said, the team would like to fine-tune a number of things and forget about the pressure. Mental ly, he said, Oregon has the potential to pick up its level of play. "We would like to cut down on some penalties," Opet said. "We were penalized heavily during the playoffs and just made some mental mistakes." Midfielder Joshua Waldman said the Ducks play their best lacrosse when they do not take the game and the outcome too seriously. "I think we need to make light of the situation and we need to realize that when we play without pressure it helps us play better, and we have the most successful time on the field," Waldman said. Lucky Ducks After winning two of its last three games against Western Washington in Bellingham, Wash., last weekend, the Oregon Club baseball team (17-8 over all, 13-5 Pacific Mountain Conference) secured the wild-card spot and will join three other teams in the National Col legiate Baseball Association Regional Tournament held May 15 and 16. The location of the playoffs is still un determined, but the Ducks already know their competitors — UC Santa Cruz, Weber State and Western Wash ington. The winner of the NCBA re gional playoffs will receive a berth in the NCBA's World Series held in Bradenton, Fla., on May 26 through 31 at McKechnie Field, otherwise known as the spring training site of Major League Baseball's Pittsburgh Pirates. "We have worked really hard to get to this point," catcher Jon Loomis said. "The team deserves this chance." Oregon will take on defending NCBA National Champions Weber State in first round action. Kirsten McEwen is a freelance reporter for the Emerald. introducing: Sheri Sage We’ve got sports 24/7 www.dailyemerald.com r Danielle Hickey Photo Editor Adam Jenkins was fatigued Saturday but still took first in the javelin. TITLE continued from page 13 Gladstone native walked away from the event a winner, with his best chuck of the spear traveling 205 feet, 3 inches. While the throw was well short of his personal best (222-4), Jenkins managed to defeat former Duck and NCAA Champion John Stiegeler (second, 204-9) by six inch es. Stiegeler set the school record with a toss of252-10 in 2001. "I was hoping to get a decent mark," Jenkins said. "But I did beat John." Entering the meet fatigued, Jenkins decided to use a seven-step short ap proach for his throws and will return to a long approach for the conference championships. With the Pac-lOs right around the corner, Jenkins ad mitted his focus wasn't entirely on the task at hand. "Most of the time when 1 get moti vated, it's personal," Jenkins said. "But right when I stepped on the track, I said, 'I'm not motivated today.' I did n't prepare myself for this meet very well. I know within the next three meets ahead that 205 isn't going to do anything, so I have to prepare better for the next few meets." High jumper ready Despite finishing tied for second (6-10 3/4) and failing to clear seven feet, Jeff Lindsey was happy with his performance at the Oregon Invita tional. Lindsey is one of five Pac-10 high jumpers to clear seven feet this year, but also one of many Oregon athletes who was worn down from training at last weekend's meet. The sophomore said his performance was actually quite pleasing and can be used as a confidence builder. "I actually jumped higher than I wanted to," Lindsey said. "We just want ed to open at high bar, like (6-9 1/2) and if we made another bar that would be great. I think this is going to set me up for my jump in a couple weeks. "This was a really laid-back compe tition. Nobody jumped seven feet and nobody really felt that well before the competition. You can't really get hyped up if nobody's excited to jump. We were excited, but at the same time there's something kind of ho-hum about (the meet)." Contact the sports reporter atjonroetman@dailyemerald.com. Uaiwsfty Con—ons Apartments Now toasins far smmmar and M! 018934 . m ip - I Call today to ask about our $100 off move-in special. For a limited time only. 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