Sports Editor:
Hank Hager
hankhager@dailyemerald.com
-Oregon Daily Emerald
SPORTS
Best bet
MLB:
Houston vs. St. Louis
5 p.m., ESPN
Friday, June 4, 2004
Jon Roetman
Roughing the passer
Intramural
T-shirt is a
must-have
I have a problem.
After three years at this University,
something is still missing from my col
lege experience.
It's not the feeling of academic enlight
enment. My brain has received its fair
share of knowledge.
It's not the partying. I've spent plenty of
time sleeping on bathroom floors.
It's something more petty than that.
Something so small in the grand scheme
of things that it's almost laughable.
But I can't help it. I have to get my
hands on one. It's not like I haven't had
my opportunities. Four times I've felt con
fident that I would be taking one home,
only to fall flat on my face.
The object I speak of is a "University
of Oregon Intramural Champions" T
shirt. That's right. Go ahead and laugh. I
can take it.
From the first time I saw one of those
shirts on the back of a intramural athlete
at Oregon, I had an obsession. I had to
have one. It was the top prize for second
tier athletes at Oregon. By second-tier, I
don't mean bad. Just not good enough to
line up under center for Oregon football
head coach Mike Bellotti or shoot
jumpers for Oregon men's basketball
head coach Ernie Kent.
My first opportunity to claim the prize
cafne when I moved to Eugene and into
the dorms as a sophomore. I was the
quarterback of the Robbins Hall flag
football team and we were poised to
rough some people up. We quickly fell
back to earth, however, dropping our
opening game to some bush league fra
ternity team when a bad call late in the
contest nullified what would have been a
go-ahead touchdown pass.
Things only got worse for me and my
Hamilton buddies as our team captain
forgot to inform us about the date of our
first playoff game, which led to a forfeit.
With that disappointment hanging
over my head during Christmas break,
my buddies and I signed up for the 5-on
5 basketball league as soon as winter
quarter started up.
Once again, 1 was on a team that was
very confident entering its first game. Once
again, things didn't go as planned. As we
went to present our student identification
cards and sign the play sheet, we noticed
some of the opponents names included
Onterrio Smith, Sarnie Parker, George
Wrighster and Keith Lewis.
Ouch.
We held our own for most of the game,
living off three-pointers and beating
Wrighster off the dribble. The game was
put out of reach, however, when Lewis —
without dribbling —took five steps (I'm
not exaggerating) before smiling at me
and drilling a huge three-pointer.
Things went the same way my junior
year and this year, each winter entering
the basketball season with hope only to
be shot down.
I eventually realized that the hope my
buddies and I hold entering each intramu
ral season is far-fetched. I'm one of the
Turn to ROETMAN, page 9A
Future looks bright for Oregon track
The Oregon men's track team had a strong
season behind the performances of its
young, but somewhat experienced, talent
The 2004 season served as notice that the Oregon
men's track and field program remains one of the best in
the country.
The Ducks finished in the top two of the Pacific-10
Conference for the third consecutive season under
head coach Martin Smith and will send 14 athletes
to the NCAA National Championships next week
in Austin, Texas.
The Ducks were loaded with plenty of talent this sea
next couple of years. Skipper, the Ducks' prize freshman
recruit from Sandy, put on a show every time he stepped
on the field. The freshman broke the school pole vault
record in February (18 feet, 8 3/4 inches) and then broke
his own record last week at the NCAA West Regional
Qualifier, setting the conference outdoor record with a
vault of 18-10 1/4.
"Athletically, looking back on this year, I was pleased
to be consistently over 18 feet," Skipper said. "Overall
happiness this year, athletically, has been an 8 (out of
10). With school and the track team and everything,
that's an 11."
Mitchum, a sophomore, was also a big part of Oregon's
youth movement. He smoked opponents all season long
in the 110-meter hurdles, including a pair of blazing times
at the Texas Relays (13.50 seconds) and the Mt. SAC Re
lays (13.53). The Calumet City, 111. native's time at Mt.
SAC was wind-legal and broke Micah Harris' school
record by 0.14 seconds.
Oregon's veterans were led by Brandon Holliday, who
was one of the conference's top hurdlers. The senior put
his mark on the season when he rebounded from a bout
with food poisoning to run the conference's top time
(51.08) in the 400 hurdles at the Oregon Twilight.
Oregon also featured a solid group of first-year trans
fers. Juniors Leonidas Watson, Paul Etter and Kedar Inico
By Jon Roetman
Sports Reporter
WIEN'S
TRACK
son — mostly underclassmen —
which led to several strong individ
ual performances.
Tommy Skipper and Eric
Mitchum were arguably Oregon's
best athletes this season and figure
to build a solid foundation for the
Turn to MEN, page 9A
Danielle Hickey Photo Editor
Senior hurdler Brandon Holliday is one of the few athletes Oregon will see return next season.
UO women finish year of surprise success
Junior Sarah
Malone holds
Oregon's all-time
javelin record at
179 feet, 7 inches
and is one of
seven Duck
women to
compete at this
year's NCAA
Championships.
The Newberg
native also ranks
third nationally in
the javelin among
collegiate
athletes. Malone
became one of
Oregon’s team
leaders this past
season by doing
things such as
organizing team
meetings before
every meet.
Lauren Wimer
Senior Photographer I
The Oregon women surpass expectations in the first
year of the merged men’s and women’s programs
By Alex Tam
Sports Reporter
A season that began with low expectations is ending with unfore
seen success.
With a roster consisting of 31 athletes — shortened compared to
the average of over 50 athletes per team — the Oregon women's
track and field team was predicted to be a bottom dweller in the
Pacific-10 Conference.
However, under first-year head coach Martin Smith, the Ducks
have seen personal records from each athlete fall at astounding
rates this season. A new era dawned upon the women that started
with the hiring of first-year assistant coaches Lance Deal, Rock Light
and Mamie Mason.
"Those three individuals have done a superb job coaching not
only technically, but psychologically," said Smith, who is also in his
sixth season as men's head coach. "Building a
new confidence, not setting the bar low, hav
ing expectations and being very fine teachers,
and I think the women have responded to
that. I'm really happy for them."
Sarah Malone, a junior javelin thrower, is
one athlete who has been openly enthusiastic about the coaching
changes. After battling through injuries last season, which caused her
to redshirt, Malone said she finally feels healthy and credits it to Deal,
the throws coach and four-time Olympian.
Malone has also been instrumental in becoming a leader by or
ganizing team meetings before every meet to discuss personal and
team goals.
"It's a complete 180 (from last year)," Malone said. "I finally feel
I'm a part of the Oregon track and field program that I imagined
Turn to WOMEN, page 8A
WOMEN’S
TRACK