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.
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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.
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