Oregon Daily Emerald
Thesday, February 22, 2005
“Salim was disgustingly good. ”
Arizona’s Channing Frye on teammate Salim Stoudamire’s 9-for-14
three-point shooting performance against Oregon State on Sunday
Rec Center hosts fifth annual 'Circus'
About 65 people, many sporting
off-the-wall costumes, compete
in the rock-climbing contest
BYAIMEE FURBER
DAILY EMERALD FREELANCE REPORTER
Escaped prisoners, nerds and hula girls
were all part of the crowd that gathered Satur
day at the Student Recreation Center rock
wall for the fifth annual Vertical Circus rock
climbing competition.
The five-hour competition included conven
tional events such as speed climbing and boul
dering, as well as eccentric events such as
blindfolded and one-armed climbing. A cos
tume contest added to the Circus, with about 65
competitors dressed as everything from ’80s
breakdancers and spandex-clad sport climbers
to Chia Pets and lions.
The rock wall staff had been planning the
competition since the beginning of winter term,
volunteer coordinator Katie Sadowski said.
“I got introduced to the climbing communi
ty here through the Vertical Circus,” Sadowski
said. “I realized what an awesome group of
care-free, fun-loving people are here who are all
about getting it started. Everyone is in costume
and no one cares. Anything and everything.”
Junior Charlie Dorst, a regular at the rock
wall, donated a trophy he made for the com
petition in his metal working class. Dorst
spent approximately 40 hours on the trophy,
which displayed miniature climbers complete
with climbing gear.
“It shows how much people love this, Sad
owski said. “Nobody asked him to make it.
He just showed up and said, ‘Hey, I made
a trophy.’”
The first part of the competition was devoted
to the speed, blindfolded, one-arm and crack
climbing. These were timed events where com
petitors climbed vertically up the wall.
The bouldering event took up the second
part of the competition. Climbers attempted a
series of routes, called problems, that are low to
the ground and can be climbed without a rope.
The climbers who finished the most problems
moved on to the final problem, a long traverse
across the wall.
“This was the most accessible Vertical Circus
ever,” rock wall manager Dan Crowe said.
“Everything went smoothly. The route setting
was impeccable. It was a genuine good time
with the costumes. It was the most fun I’ve had
at a rock-climbing competition.”
Senior Cole Southworth said the atmosphere
added to the climbing experience.
Nicole Barker | Photographer
University student Amy McKellar, dressed as an inmate, climbs a rock wall at the fifth annual Vertical Circus.
The indoor rock-climbing competition was held Saturday at the Student Recreation Center.
“I like everybody dressing up, their energy,
and everybody being goofy,” South worth said.
“Where else do you get pirates, spandex, Chia
Pets, and a cow outside of a pagan holiday?”
IN BRIEF
Davis earns second Player
of the Week award of season
Senior Brandi Davis led the Oregon
women’s basketball team to two victories
last week in its final homestand of the sea
son at McArthur Court. As a result, she
earned her second Pacific-10 Conference
Player of the Week honor.
The Ducks (18-7 overall, 11-5 Pac-10)
claimed sole possession of second place in the
conference over the weekend, a half-game in
front of Southern California (17-9,11-6).
Davis, a native of La Habra, Calif., was the
leading scorer for Oregon against Arizona
State and Arizona.
The 6-foot Davis supplied 16 points
against the Sun Devils on 6-of-ll shooting
last Thursday. She then took advantage of
the Wildcats and made 7 of 15 field goal at
tempts for 19 points. She finished the week
end shooting 13 of 26 from the field and con
verting 7 of 18 from three-point range, while
averaging 31 minutes per game.
Davis is averaging 15.4 points per game
over the last seven games. She has started
five consecutive games — her only starts of
the season.
If Davis graduates this June, she would still
have another year of athletic eligibility avail
able. She has yet to announce a decision.
Davis is only the fourth Oregon player to
receive at least two Pac-10 Player of the
Week honors and the first since Arianne
Boyer was recognized twice in 1997.
— Stephen Miller
New women's soccer coach
Erickson adds two to staff
New Oregon women’s head soccer coach
Tara Erickson announced the hiring of asso
ciate head coach Mike Smith and assistant
coach Nicole Wilcox to her staff.
Smith was the top assistant coach at Santa
Clara for the past three seasons and Wilcox
was a volunteer assistant for Erickson last
season at Portland State. She was also a
standout player at Washington State, earn
ing second-team All-Pacific-10 Conference
honors in 2002.
“I think we have an incredible staff,” Er
ickson said. “Mike and I have worked for
each other as region head and assistant
coaches and vice versa, so we have an excel
lent relationship.
“Nicole infuses youth, intelligence and hard
work, too,” she continued. “I like the fact that
the staff can exchange ideas freely, to optimize
a strategy that takes Oregon to a new level. ”
— Clayton Jones
■ Club Sports
Club hockey wins first-ever Pac-8 Championship
After upsetting second-seeded Cal, 7-3, the third-seeded
Ducks edged rival Washington, 3-2, to capture the title
BY LUKE ANDREWS
DAILY EMERALD FREELANCE REPORTER
For much of the season, head
coach Scott McCallum continually
raved about his Oregon Club hockey
team and its chances of winning the
Pac-8 Championship.
It appears he had legitimate reason.
After capping off the most success
ful season in school history, the
Ducks rode momentum into the Pac
8 tournament and defeated California
and Washington to claim their first
ever Pac-8 Championship.
“We set a goal at the beginning of
the season to go to the Pac-8 Cham
pionship game,” McCallum said.
“They put in so much time. They de
served it.”
The third-seeded Ducks, after nab
bing two victories against Boise State
to end the regular season, marched
into the first round of the tournament
in Berkeley, Calif., to take on Cal, the
second seed and last year’s tourna
ment winner.
Cal managed an early 1-0 lead in the
first period, but Oregon’s Nate King,
the tournament MVP, quickly respond
ed to knot the score at one apiece. The
Ducks again fell behind moments into
the second period, but it would be the
last lead for the Golden Bears.
Down 2-1, Oregon tacked on back
to-back goals to take its first lead of the
game. Oregon’s deep bench wore out
the Bears as the Ducks reeled off four
goals to close the game with a 7-3 win.
King, Ted Martin and Scott Tedrick
came up big for the Ducks, account
ing for five of Oregon’s seven goals
against Cal. King finished with three,
Martin with two and Tedrick pitched
in one. Cal Brackin scored the other
two goals for the Ducks.
“Every team in our league has one
or two really good lines,” senior cap
tain Mike Tornabene said. “The differ
ence is how well the third line plays,
and ours put the puck in the net."
The victory set the stage for a final
game battle of Northwest rivals as
the Ducks met the fourth-seeded
Washington Huskies, who also
recorded an upset in the first round
by defeating No. 1 UCLA, 6-4.
The Husky offense was quiet
against the Ducks in the first period, as
Oregon mustered an early 2-0 lead.
Justin Savich scored the first goal near
ly 11 minutes into the game and then
assisted on a Ryan Jones goal to give
the Ducks a two-point advantage.
In the opening minutes of the sec
ond period, Washington cut into Ore
gon’s lead with an early power-play
goal, but Martin responded to
reestablish the Ducks’ two-goal lead.
Another Husky goal on a power play
in the final minutes of the second pe
riod brought the score to 3-2 and set
up the dramatic final period.
Clinging to a one-point lead, the
Oregon defense remained intact and
preserved the 3-2 victory to claim the
Pac-8 Championship.
“Normally, a one-goal lead is not
good enough against a team like
Washington, but we shut them
down,” King said. “It just made it
that much sweeter of a victory that it
was against UW, our biggest rival.”
As the horn sounded, the Oregon
bench erupted onto the ice snd
rushed to the goal to surround goal
tender Matt Nuernberg, who finished
with 52 saves in the tournament.
“We came a long ways,” Jones
said. “No one in the Pac-8 expected
us to be near as good as we are.”
Oregon, which finished with a
record of 22-4-2, also claimed many in
dividual accolades for its impressive
season. McCallum, in his first year as
head coach at Oregon, received
Pac-8 Coach of the Year honors. Torn
abene, who has led the team in goals
the past five seasons, was named to
the All-Pac-8 first team. In addition,
Mike Roley was a first-team defense se
lection, and Jones and Nuernberg
were selected to the second team.
While the first Pac-8 Championship
may have been the highlight, it was a
season of many firsts for Oregon hock
ey. The Ducks secured the first 20-win
season in school history, as well as the
first 1-5 Cup victory over Washington.
For the veterans, the season quick
ly erased the memories of a two-win
season a year ago.
“All these seniors have seen the
lowest low for a team, but we turned
it around in a single season,” Torn
abene said.
“I think before this, we were soil of
overlooked and no one paid attention
to us,” McCallum said. “That won’t
happen anymore.”