Oregon Daily Emerald
Thesday, March 1, 2005
“While he was running up and down...
I was laying on the beach drinking a
fruity drink with an umbrella. ”
Toronto’s Jalen Rose on why he outplayed New Jersey’s
Vince Carter in a matchup two days after the All-Star Game
■ Duck wrestling
Three Ducks take home championship titles
Joey Bracamonte, Shane Webster and Scott Barker led the Oregon
team to a third place finish at the Pac-10 Conference finals Monday
BY CLACTON JONES
SPORTS EDITOR
Three Oregon wrestlers competed in the Pacif
ic-10 Conference Championship finals, and all
three took home titles in their respective weight
divisions Monday night at Cal Poly’s Mott Gym
in San Luis Obispo, Calif.
Oregon’s Joey Bracamonte, Shane Webster
and Scott Barker all won by decision over their
respective opponents.
With the three wins, Oregon garnered enough
points to leap-frog into a third place team finish,
its highest placing since taking second in 2002.
Arizona State won the team title, its 15 th overall
and third in the past five years.
“We wrestled great in three out of the four ses
sions,” Oregon head coach Chuck Kearney said.
“We slipped a bit (Monday) morning, but we
dominated each finals match.”
Bracamonte won his match against Oregon
State’s Matt Ellis to capture the 165-pound title in
a 6-5 decision. The Albuquerque, N.M., native
finished third last season at the 157-pound class
and is currently 27-3 this season.
In the 184-pound championship match, Ore
gon’s Webster dominated Arizona State’s
C.B. Hollaway 15-5 and improved his record to
21-3 on the season.
In Oregon’s final championship match, Barker
(197) defeated two-time defending Pac-IO cham
pion Ryan Bader of Arizona State 3-0 to improve
his record to an impressive 31-5.
Barker’s victory made him the first Oregon
wrestler in this weight division to win a Pac-10 ti
tle since Ryan Kelly took home the honor in 1981.
“Our three champs did an excellent job man
aging each match,” Kearney said. “With every
one but Barker returning from our tournament
squad, this experience is going to help us.”
With appearances in the finals of their respec
tive weight classes, Bracamonte, Webster and
Barker have assured themselves a berth into the
NCAA Championships this month. It will be the
second consecutive appearance for Bracamonte
and Webster, and the third for Barker (his first
two were with Missouri).
In the consolation matches, all Oregon
wrestlers lost in the semifinals.
Oregon’s Cody Parker won fifth place in the
heavyweight class when he pinned Eric Parker
of Cal State Bakersfield at the 1:16 mark of the
first round.
In the 133-pound division, Oregon’s Martin
Mitchell defeated John Espinoza of Arizona State
in a 5-3 decision.
Two Oregon wrestlers took sixth place in
the tournament. Sophomore Skyler Woods fell
in the fifth-place match to Roberto Vargas of
Cal State Bakersfield in the 141-pound
weight class, and junior Chet McBee lost a
decision to Arizona State’s Rick Renzi in the
174-pound division.
daytonjones@dailyemerald. com
■ Duck softball
18th-ranked Oregon tops
Florida Atlantic, SD State
Alicia Cook pitched a two-hitter and struck out seven in the Ducks'
victory against San Diego State; improving her season record to 4-2
BY CLAYTON JONES
SPORTS EDITOR
The 18th-ranked Oregon softball team sal
vaged two wins Saturday after dropping two
games Friday at the lOth-annual NFCA Clas
sic in Columbus, Ga.
Behind the strength of pitchers Amy Harris
and Alicia Cook, the Ducks (8-6 overall) beat
Florida Atlantic, 5-0, in extra innings and San
Diego State, 3-1.
The Ducks stumbled the day before, falling
to No. 7 Alabama, 3-0, and Creighton,
“I thought we kept battling and continued
to play strong defense,” Arendsen said. “And
when we needed it, our offense came through
in a big way. I thought Amy (Harris) threw a
tremendous game for us.”
In the night game, Cook pitched a two-hit
ter and struck out seven for the Ducks as they
defeated San Diego State.
The freshman from Elmira improved her
record to 4-2 on the season and dropped her
ERA to a team-leading 1.91 — .03 better
than Harris’.
4-1, during the
opening day of
the tournament.
Against Florida At
lantic, Harris held
the Owls scoreless,
but the Oregon
offense could not
get anything going
until the top of the
ninth inning.
Sophomore Ann
“I thought we kept battling and
continued to play strong defense.
And when we needed it, our
offense came through in a big way.
I thought Amy (Harris) threw a
tremendous game for us. ”
Kathy Arendsen |
Oregon head coach
Leading tne otten
sive charge for the
Ducks was freshman
Kristi Jorgensen. The
Tigard native went
3 for 3 with a double,
a run scored and
an RBI.
Oregon jumped on
top with a two-run
fourth inning,
sparked by an Ashley
Marie Topps got Oregon moving with an RBI
double to give the Ducks a 1-0 advantage.
Consecutive RBI hits by Erin Goodell and
Suzie Barnes upped the score to 3-0.
Freshman lead-off hitter Lovena Chaput
stepped up next and blasted a ball over the
right-field fence for a two-run homer, extend
ing the lead to 5-0. The Tlialatin native went
3 for 4 with a double to go along with her
home run.
Harris finished the Owls off in the bottom
of the ninth for her third win of the season.
The junior struck out nine and gave up five
hits in her nine innings of work.
Oregon head coach Kathy Arendsen said
she was proud of the way her team hung in
the game.
Richards RBI single. Jorgensen scored
Richards on a double, giving the Ducks the
2-0 lead.
The Aztecs cut the lead to one when pinch
hitter Megan McDonald hit an RBI single in
the fifth inning, which turned out to be their
last hit of the game.
“We continued to get timely hits and had a
great pitching performance by Alicia Cook,”
Arendsen said. “I’m very pleased with how
we came out.”
Next up for the Ducks is their second trip of
the season to Las Vegas to compete in the
UNLV Classic. Oregon opens the tournament
Thursday against Illinois-Chicago at 3 p.m.
clay tonjones @ dailyemerald. com
Erik R. Bishoff | Photographer
Oregon's Amy Harris, seen here earlier this season, recorded nine strikeouts and gave up five hits in Oregon’s
extra-inning win over Florida Atlantic on Saturday.
IN BRIEF
Women's tennis splits
pair of dual matches
The Oregon women’s tennis team opened up
Pacific-10 Conference play on the road by split
ting a pair of dual matches.
The Ducks (9-2 overall, 1-1 Pac-10) fell to
No. 37 Arizona State 7-0 Saturday, but defeat
ed No. 25 Arizona 4-3 on Friday.
The loss to Arizona State was the first time
Oregon was shut out in 24 dual matches. The
last shutout occurred against California on
Feb. 28,2004.
Senior Davina Mendiburu came closest to
capturing a point for the Ducks after her singles
match went to three sets. However, Mendiburu
was upended by the Sun Devils’ Jessica Leitch,
6-3, 3-6, (10-7).
In Friday’s game, junior Anna Leksinska
clinched the win against Arizona when she de
feated the Wildcats’ Kasia Jakowlew at the
No. 5 position in straight sets, 6-4, 7-5.
“I was really proud that we performed as
well as we did,” Oregon head coach Nils Schyl
lander said. “It was our first competition
outside since October, so we had to adapt to
the surroundings.”
The Oregon women hold the same record
through 11 matches as last season, but the team
will need to sustain its early season momentum
that lead the Ducks to win their first eight
matches. In 2004, the Ducks saw their record
slide from 9-0 to 9-7 in less than a month during
the Pac-10 schedule.
The Ducks’ next three matches are at home
against non-conference opponents. Boise State
visits Eugene for the second straight season Sat
urday at noon. Oregon then hosts Princeton on
March 13 and Brigham Young on March 19.
Pac-10 play will resume March 22 when the
25th-ranked Ducks travel to Seattle to face
Washington. In the teams’ last meeting on
Feb. 12 in Eugene, the Huskies triumphed with
a 5-2 victory.
— Alex Tam