Oregon Daily Emerald
Wednesday, November 17, 2004
“Why would I want to help the (Timberwolves)
win a title? They aren’t doing anything for me. ”
Latrell Sprewell on his continuing negotiation troubles with the Minnesota Timberwolves
■ In my opinion
CLAYTON JONES
SEVENTH INNING STRETCH
Actions by
OSU player
on soldier
repulsive
This is Civil War week.
I should be analyzing whether Oregon
can slow down Derek Anderson or if Oregon
State can contain Oregon’s balanced offen
sive attack.
Instead, a horrible incident Friday night
in Corvallis has me steaming.
In case you haven’t heard, Oregon State
football player Joseph Rudulph was arrest
ed for punching National Guard Staff
Sgt. Gabriel Sapp, on leave from Iraq, in
the face because Sapp, who is white,
is married to a black woman, according
to police.
Authorities said Sapp and his wife were
dancing when a group of black men, later
identified as Oregon State players, ap
proached and started making comments
about his interracial relationship. The
altercation later resulted in Rudulph punch
ing Sapp and knocking him unconscious.
I know this is the sports section and we
are supposed to be talking about the Civil
War, but these actions are despicable.
What point are you getting across assault
ing somebody?
What matter is it to someone if they are
married to a person of a different race? It is
none of their business.
In a world where we are trying to bridge
the gap of racism, this is a step back.
I have another serious issue with this: It
takes a disturbed and despicable human be
ing to assault someone who is putting their
life on the line every day in a land that is un
stable and dangerous.
Maybe this fires me up so much because
I too am a soldier. I have spent most of
the past six years of my life in the Army,
both on active duty and in the National
Guard. I know the work, dedication and
sacrifice it takes to be a soldier and what
it means to have free time at home with
loved ones.
Rudulph didn’t think.
Yes, he is young, but he doesn’t realize
there will be severe consequences to
his actions.
I applaud Mike Riley for suspending
Rudulph. (The other players were sus
pended, but Oregon State didn’t specify
why they were suspended.) If he is found
guilty of a crime connected with racial im
plications, he should be kicked off the
team immediately.
There is no room for that anywhere.
If the tables were turned and it was a
white male assaulting a black male because
his wife was white, there would be no hesi
tation to kick him off the team, as their
shouldn’t be.
Rudulph should face the same penalty.
If charged with a racially motivated as
sault he could face up to five years in
prison. I say, “Good.”
But another question does have to be
JONES, page 10
■ Duck cross country
Geoff Thurner | Oregon Media Services
Seniors Ryan Andrus (82) and Eric Logsdon (86), seen here at the Pac-10 Championships in October, failed to qualify for the NCAA Championships with their eighth and llth-place
finishes, respectively, at the NCAA West Regional in Fresno, Calif. Senior Laura Harmon was the only Duck harrier to qualify for the national meet to be held Nov. 22 in Terre Haute, Ind.
and
then JV there
was
In a surprise finish, Laura Harmon was the only
Duck to qualify for the NCAA Championships
BY BEAU EASTES
DAILY EMERALD FREELANCE REPORTER
In a surprising turn of events,
senior Laura Harmon will be the
lone Duck harrier representing
Oregon at the NCAA Cross Country
Championships in Terre Haute, Ind.,
on Nov. 22, as she placed ninth
overall in the women’s NCAA West
Regional on Saturday.
Harmon, who has been domi
nant all season long, was expected
to qualify individually and did so as
the second individual qualifier
(ninth, 20 minutes, 52 seconds).
The first seven finishers were from
Stanford and Arizona State, who by
finishing first and second at the re
gional qualified their entire teams.
“I was a little disappointed with
the place because I was hoping to
get top-five,” Harmon said. “But
the bigger thing was to get to na
tionals, so I can’t be too upset.”
Although Harmon wasn’t as
pleased with her finish as she
would have liked, she chalked it
up as an experience that should
help her at the national meet.
“I learned a lot of what I’m going
to have to do,” Harmon said. “I’m
anticipating a better race (at nation
als). I need to be more reactive.”
Harmon is the third Duck
woman in the past three years to
qualify for the NCAA meet, follow
ing Carrie Zografos’ 33rd place fin
ish in 2002 and Magdalena San
doval’s appearance in 2003.
The real shock came in the men’s
race, where no runner will be repre
senting the storied Oregon cross
country program at the NCAA meet
for the first time since 1991. The
Ducks, who finished sixth with 196
points, will also be missing the na
tional championships for the first
time as a team since 2000.
Senior All-Americans Eric Logs
don and Ryan Andrus just missed
qualifying individually for the
championship meet under the
NCAA’s complex system for select
ing individual at-large bids. The
first four runners at each regional
not hailing from a qualifying team
receive individual at-large bids to
the national meet. Logsdon and
Andrus finished eighth (30:41) and
11th (30:43) overall and fifth and
sixth among those on teams that
didn't qualify.
For the women’s team, fresh
man Sarah Pearson ran her best
race of the season, placing 58th
(22:07) and trailing only Harmon
on the Duck squad.
“I felt more confident coming
into today than the Pac-lOs,” said
Pearson, whose foot injury earlier
in the season caused her to miss
the Pre-NCAA Invitational in Octo
ber. “I felt stronger this time.”
Juniors Mandi Fitz-Gustafson
(65th, 22:15), Sara Schaaf (74th,
22:24), and Haripurkh Khalsa
(90th, 22:37) also contributed to
the Ducks’ eighth place finish.
On the youthful men’s squad,
sophomore Patrick Werhane fin
ished 40th overall (31:32) and third
among Duck runners, his highest
finish in his two-year career. Fresh
man Chris Winter (71st, 32:36)
and sophomore Kyle Alcorn (77th,
32:37) rounded out the scoring on
the 8K course.
The disappointing regional finish
marked the end of Logsdon’s and
Andrus’ remarkable cross country
careers. Logsdon helped the Ducks
to a fifth-place finish at nationals in
2002 and earned All-American hon
ors in 2003 with his top-30 placing
at the NCAA Championship meet.
The track and field All-American in
the 5,000-meter event will finish up
his track eligibility in spring.
Andrus, who graduated in the
spring and plans to accept a job
at Intel in Hillsboro after fall
term, ends a collegiate career that
started in 1997. After a mission
trip and a transfer, Andrus ends
his stay at Oregon as an
CROSS COUNTRY, page 10
■ Pac-10 volleyball
Solid defense key to success in Pac-10
Digging and blocking have been essential
in a conference loaded with offensive potency
BY STEPHEN MILLER
SPORTS REPORTER
Defense has been the main
theme in the Pacific-10 Confer
ence this season. With so
many teams utilizing a potent,
well-balanced attack, the only
counters are precise digging
and authoritative blocking.
USC possesses players that
can successfully accomplish
those tasks better than any oth
er athletes in the conference.
Libero Debora Seilhamer set
a school record last week as
she posted 45 digs against
UCLA. That mark squeezes
her in at No. 2 on the Pac-lO’s
all-time list for digs in a match,
behind Oregon’s Amy Barnes
who recorded 50 against Cali
fornia in 1995.
Seilhamer, a sophomore, re
ceived Pac-10 Player of the
Week honors for that perform
ance. The native of Ponce,
Puerto Rico, has collected 373
digs this season and is averag
ing 5.18 per game, which
ranks fourth in the league and
is higher than USC’s current
record in that category.
Senior Emily Adams is third
in the conference in total
blocks with 110 for the TVo
jans. She is currently the Pac
10’s active-career leader with
414 in front of Cal’s Camille
Leffall (411). Adams recorded
a league-best 16 block assists
against Washington on Sept.
25 and she is one of six Pac-10
players with four solo blocks
in a match this season.
Sixth-ranked USC and No. 17
UCLA will host the Oregon
schools this weekend in Los
Angeles. The Women of Troy
swept both teams in three
games earlier this season. They
hold an all-time record of 32-5
against the Ducks and a 30-7
advantage over Oregon State.
Lee's defensive efforts
indispensible for UW
Washington’s Candace Lee
set a new' record for her pro
gram as she became the
Huskies’ all-time digs leader at
1,264. If the junior libero can
hold her average of 5.72 digs
per game she would break
VOLLEYBALL, page 10
Courtesy | USC Sports Information
USC sophomore libera Debora Seilhamer posted
45 digs against UCLA last week, the Pac-10's
second-highest dig total recorded in a single match.