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SPORTS BRIEF
Oregon trio earns berths
into NCAA individuals
Oregon tennis players Daria Panova,
Dominika Dieskova and Sven Swin
nen all earned individual NCAA
Championships bids Thursday.
Panova and Dieskova are both set
to travel to Athens, Ga„ from May 24
29, for the NCAA women's tourna
ment.
Swinnen, and possibly Manuel
Kost, who earned an alternate berth,
will participate in the men's tourna
ment from May 26-31 in Tulsa, Okla.
For 12th-ranked Panova, the nomi
nation marks her second straight trip
on the ultimate postseason journey.
She reached the Sweet 16 in 2003, los
ing to Southern California's Jewel Pe
terson, 6-2, 6-3.
Panova, a junior who hails from
Moscow, is 31-12 this season and is
helping lead the Duck women to a
berth into the NCAA Team Champi
onships next week.
Dieskova's selection in the field
marks the first time in the program's
history that a freshman has been cho
sen. She is 20-14 this season and has
been ranked in the top 75 by the In
tercollegiate Tennis Association for
most of the season.
Dieskova is currently 71st.
"I am so happy for both Daria and
Dominika," Oregon women's head
coach Nils Schyllander said. "Do
minika has worked very hard this sea
son and to make it as a freshman is a
huge accomplishment."
Swinnen will represent the Oregon
men as the team's only selection.
Junior Swinnen's gone 22-8 this
season, jumping from a No. 92 rank
ing early in the season to 16th in the
most recent ITA poll.
"Sven had a tremendous season,"
Oregon men's head coach Chris Rus
sell said. "He beat some of the top
players in the country and was a big
part of our success."
Precedent suggests Kost, ranked
66th in the nation after going 18-10
this season, could ultimately earn a
full bid. Oregon's Courtney Nagle
played in the women's individual
championships this past season after
being named an alternate.
— Hank Hager
t < /(t J
■Its Niwlif Officers for
019049
2004-2005
President
Vice President
Business Officer
3L Representatives
2L Representatives
Lacy Westfall
David Eder
Sara Hunter
Jessica Beaudoin,
Elizabeth Allred
Ben Andersen,
Anne Marie Sgarlata
Oregon takes 11th spot
after first day of regionals
Oregon will look to move into
one of the crucial top eight
slots at the NCAA West
Regional at Stanford today
By Brian Smith
Freelance Reporter
The Oregon women's golf team
finished the opening round of the
NCAA West Regional in 11th place
Thursday.
According to the team, that's not
such a bad thing.
The Ducks fired a 17-over 305 on
the 6,159-yard, par-72 Stanford Golf
Course in Stanford, Calif., and cur
rently sit only two strokes back of
eighth-place Ohio State. The top
eight finishers from the West region
al will advance to the NCAA Cham
pionships May 18-21 in Auburn, Ala.
"It's a good feeling when you get
off to a start like this because it puts
us in a position to finish in the top
eight," Oregon head coach Shannon
Rouillard said. "We still want to play
better tomorrow and focus on play
ing a solid round of golf, but if we
could improve a little bit each day
from here we should be in pretty
good shape."
Despite sending five individuals
who had never competed in the re
gionals, the Ducks couldn't help but
feel a bit lucky to be playing a course
the team has seen many times
before.
"We've certainly had our ups and
downs here," Rouillard said. "But we
tried to remember our good rounds
and what made us successful in the
past in hopes that we would play the
course well in the future."
Sophomores Erin Andrews and
Therese Wenslow led the Ducks on
day one, both of them carding
rounds of 2-over 74. Wenslow, look
ing to rebound from a disappointing
showing at the conference champi
onships, carded three birdies, five
bogeys and ten pars en route to post
ing her best individual round at the
Stanford course and a tie for 21st.
Andrews,
who has
struggled
since finish
ing seventh
in the first
event of the spring season — the
Duck Invitational — regained her
top form by draining three consec
utive birdies on holes 18, one and
two to move to 2-under for the
round. Andrews could not keep her
momentum coming in — bogeying
four out of the last five holes to fin
ish tied with Wenslow.
"Erin and Therese certainly came
through for us on a day when we re
ally needed their scores," Rouillard
said. "It was really exciting to watch
Erin get those three straight birdies.
She was really in control and com
posed today."
The rest of the Ducks struggled in
the first round. Junior Johnna Nealy
carded a 6-over 78 to finish in a tie
for 55th, while sophomore Michelle
Timpani shot a 7-over 79 in the first
round to finish tied for 64th. Fresh
man Kimberly McCready struggled
to an 9-over 81 to finish in a tie for
84th.
As a team, No. 2 UCLA grabbed
the first round lead by shooting a 6
under 282. The Bruins received a 5
under 67 from individual leader
Hannah Jun and a 2-under 70 from
teammate Charlotte Mayorkas. No.
3 California finished in second at 2
over 290, while No. 23 Stanford and
No. 12 Washington finished in third
and fourth, respectively.
Only six strokes separated teams
finishing between fifth and 12th.
Pepperdine finished fifth with a 300,
while favorable scoring conditions in
the afternoon helped push lower
seeded teams Washington State and
Denver into a tie for sixth at 302.
Ohio State was eighth, followed by
No. 8 Georgia and Texas Tech who
tied for ninth at 304.
Oregon will tee off its second
round today at 11:50 a.m. and will
be paired with Georgia and Texas.
Brian Smith is a freelance reporter
for the Emerald.
~—__—r...
Thomas James Hurst Seattle Times
Jerry Sokoloski is slightly smaller than the NBA’s Yao Ming, but is virtually unknown to the professional league.
NBA Draft may pass through
Mercer Island’s 7-5 big man
Jerry Sokoloski has received
little attention from the NBA
despite his 7 foot 5 frame
By Les Carpenter
The Seattle Times (KRT)
MERCER ISLAND, Wash. — In the
murkiness of a half-dark gymnasium,
Rob Potashnick works the zoom of
his hand-held home video camera,
trying not to shake, not to do any
thing to make this spectacle standing
before him disappear. Through the
viewfinder looms a man-child, a bas
ketball player of gargantuan propor
tions.
Bigger than Shaq.
Bigger than Arvydas Sabonis.
Nearly as tall as Yao Ming.
And this player is holding his arms
out from the side of his head, pinch
ing a basketball between the thumb
and forefinger of each palm. He gig
gles and waggles his hands, still
clutching the balls. Want him to use
different fingers? he asks. Jerry
Sokoloski is 7 feet 5,311 pounds and
wears a size-22 shoe. And here is the
best part: Almost nobody in basket
ball knows he exists.
"So you think this is what the NBA
scouts want to see?" Potashnick asks
from behind the camera.
Potashnick is a real-estate agent and
an eighth-grade basketball coach. He
knows nothing about NBA prospects
other than the most intriguing player
in this year's draft has just walked into
his life. And that the best thing to do
when you have the basketball equiva
lent of Sasquatch in your garage is to
make a videotape, because everyone
will want proof.
"Go do that thing you can do with
the rim and the basketballs," shouts
former NBA center Blair Rasmussen,
whom Potashnick has brought in to
watch.
Sokoloski smiles sheepishly and
walks to the basket, reaches up, and
while standing on his toes, he pulls
down the rim with one hand and
shoves a ball through with the other.
Rasmussen howls. Sokoloski
laughs. The camera rolls and who
knows what to make of all this?
"You're a freak!" shouts Ras
mussen, who stands 7 feet himself.
"A freak of nature!"
On Thursday, Jerry Sokoloski turned
21. But it has not been an easy 21 years.
He grew up a giant around the Toronto
suburb of Brampton, Ontario, taunted
by the other children, ogled by adults.
He was 7 feet tall in the eighth grade
and his full 7-5 by his second year of
high school. His father was a truck
driver, his mother lived in subsidized
housing, and because of this they were
apart for much of his childhood, leav
ing him tall, poor and vulnerable
By his 21st birthday, he will have
weighed 500 pounds, lost 200, put
100 back on, lost it again, nearly died
from a liver ailment, been to three
high schools, fallen in love, fallen
out of love and cared for an ailing fa
ther when no one else could.
© 2004, The Seattle Times. Distributed
by Knight Ridder/Tribune
Information Services.