Sports Editor
Hank Hager
hank hager@dailyemerald.com
Tuesday, June 1,2004
-Oregon Daily Emerald
SPORTS
Best bet
NBA Playoffs:
Indiana vs. Detroit
5 p.m., ESPN
Freshman breaks conference pole vault record
Lauren Wimer Senior Photographer
Tommy Skipper’s outdoor record-breaking vault of 18-10 1/4 is second only to Washington’s Brad Walker, who cleared 19-11/4 during the 2003 indoor
season. Skipper’s three attempts to better the mark (19-1 1/2) failed. Skipper is pictured earlier this season.
Tommy Skipper sets the Pac-10 outdoor pole vault
record while only wanting to work on technique
By Jon Roetman
Sports Reporter
Tommy Skipper entered the weekend's NCAA West Regional
Qualifier in Northridge, Calif., saying that improving his tech
nique in the pole vault was all that mattered.
1 laving taken care of his NCAA qualifying mark with a vault of
18 feet, 8 3/4 indies during the indoor season, the ffeshman phe
nom simply wanted to iron out some rough spots before nation
als.
MEN’S
TRACK
"I'm just looking to work on my tech
nique, and I know people are getting tired
of hearing that and 1 keep repeating it,"
Skipper said the week preceding the meet.
"... Coach (Mark) Vanderville has been
working hard with us, and it may come to
gether this week or it may come together later."
For Skipper, "it" came together sooner than later as the Sandy
native broke the Patific-10 Conference outdoor pole vault record
with a dearance of 18-10 1/4 Saturday, regaining the national lead
and winning the event by more than a foot over UCLA's Yoo Kim
and Brigham Young's Robbie Pratt (second-tie, 17-7).
The previous outdoor conference record of 18-9 1 /4 was set by
Stanford's Toby Stevenson in 2000. The only Pac-10 vaulter to go
higher was Washington's Brad Walker, who deared 19-1 1/4 dur
ing the 2003 indoor season.
Skipper deared his opening bar of 17-3 on his second attempt,
after passing on the initial three heights. After a first-attempt dear
ance at 17-7 and a successful third attempt at 17-11, the freshman
got into a groove, dearing each of the next three bars (18-3,18-6
1/2, 18-10 1/4) on his first attempt.
He then went in search of his first-ever 19-foot dearance but
missed three attempts at 19-1 1/2. The pole Skipper used on his fi
nal three attempts was the biggest in his bag but was arguably too
small to adequately clear 19 feet.
"I had no idea that something like this would happen today,"
Skipper said. "Mark told me to only worry about technique to
day, not heights or places. It's easy to say that, but I was actually
Turn to RECORD, page 9
Duck women show strength at NCAA West Regional
Pole vaulter Emily Enders
edges out teammate Kirsten
Larwin to take an NCAA invite
By Alex Tam
Sports Reporter
The Ducks exceeded their expecta
tions once again with this weekend's
performance at the NCAA West Region
al in Northridge, Calif.
The Oregon women tallied four
top five finishers en route to a ninth
place, 29-point finish. More impor
_ tantly, four
WOMEN’S
TRACK
Ducks, in ad
dition to hep
tathlete Abby
Andrus, will
automatically
head to the NCAA Championships
in Austin, Texas, in less than two
weeks. Another Duck is expected to
receive an at-large bid.
UCLA won the meet (141 points)
over Southern California (second, 79
points) and Stanford (third, 74 points).
"The women had another impres
sive showing, and I'm not surprised,"
Oregon head coach Martin Smith said.
"Coming in, they only had three peo
ple that were ranked top five in their
events, so to look forward to six NCAA
invites is again a testament to their hard
work."
One of the invites indudes freshman
pole vauiter Emily Enders, who contin
ued her impressive first season at Ore
gon. The Snohomish, Wash., native
earned an automatic NCAA invite at
the expense of fellow Duck Kirsten Lar
win in a jump-off for fifth place. Both
tied after dealing the bar at 13 feet 1
3/4 inches on their second attempts.
Enders edged out her teammate on
the ensuing jump-off when she deared
12-5 1/4, while Larwin failed to capital
ize at the same height on three at
tempts.
"I really wanted to make NCAAs, but
the thing that 1 wanted more was for
Kirsten to make it, too," Enders said.
"In the jump-off, it was hard because I
was excited for myself but nervous for
her. When I found out about the jump
off, I asked if I could defer and let her go
automatically. But Mark (Vanderville,
pole vault coach) told me to focus and
Turn to WOMEN, page 9
Hank Hager
Behind the dish
Pac-10 rep
is good sans
Colorado
Colorado football is in the news again.
What, should we be surprised?
Five of eight administrators suggested
Sunday to The Denver Post that a top ad
ministrator, or more, should have been let
go for alleged inddents that have been
brought to the public in recent months.
• Laughable, right? The situation is
Turn to HAGER, page 8
_
Erik R. Bishoff Photographer
Right fielder Brad Ficek (right), seen here earlier this season, recorded one hit along with an RBI.
Central Michigan
gets better of UO
at World Series
With a 9-6 loss to No. 4 Central Michigan, Oregon
is ousted from the 2004 NCBA World Series
By Kirsten McEwen
Freelance Reporter
It was an uphill battle, and Oregon's baseball players seemed
too inexperienced to stay alive.
Battling against the possibility of being
- - eliminated from the 2004 National Club
IU D Baseball Association World Series, No. 8
• Oregon (19-8 overall, 13-5 Pacific Moun
aOOnS tain Conference) took on No. 4 Central
___ Michigan (18-10 overall, 9-1 Great Lakes
North Conference) in the first game of the
consolation round on May 28.
But a 9-6 loss Friday put Oregon out of the tournament at
McKechnie Field — a Spring Training venue — and the experi
ence of playing among seven of the best teams in the country was
over in only two games.
Going into the matchup, Oregon hoped to fix some of the mis
Tum to SERIES, page 8