Oregon daily emerald., April 15, 2005, Image 5

Oregon Daily Emerald
Friday, April 15, 2005
“Our freshmen are doing a good job
producing, so as far as I’m concerned,
they can be as cocky as they want. ”
Oregon first baseman Beth Boskovich on the confidence
level of the softball team’s young players
■ Women's track and field
UO heads
to Berkeley
for Golden
Bear invite
BY STEPHEN MILLER
SPORTS REPORTER
A large portion of the Oregon women’s
track and field team will achieve a “first” for
the 2005 outdoor season this weekend.
The Ducks will travel to Berkeley, Calif., on
Saturday for the Golden Bear Invitational, mak
ing this journey the team’s first outdoor meet
away from Hayward Field.
California, Houston, Portland State, Sacramen
to State and Boise State have athletes entered into
the meet. Unattached athletes are expected to
compete as well.
Oregon’s first road trip of the season may not
be as substantial as what Kasey Harwood accom
plished in her first outdoor race for the Ducks, but
it’s still a first, nonetheless.
Harwood, a freshman middle distance runner,
competed in the women’s 400-meter hurdles at
last week’s Pepsi Team Invitational and won.
“That was a nice surprise,” Harwood said. “I
didn’t think I would get into the record books
that soon.
“It was the first 400 hurdles race that I’d done,
so I was really nervous. I thought about it a lot
and prepared for it and then just went out and did
what I could.”
Harwood took the event with 61.08 seconds,
edging out teammate and training partner
Kayla Mellott.
“I was going to her for advice before the race,”
Harwood said.
The same hurdle-hopping duo will be run
ning the 400-meter hurdles this weekend.
They hold the second- and third-best times in
the field, behind sophomore Tiffany Abney of
Houston (58.60).
Oregon’s Lauryn Jordan will add two new
events to her resume, the 100-meter hurdles and
the javelin. She will also compete in the long
jump and triple jump, both events she won at the
Pepsi Invitational.
“I want her to be really strong as a heptath
lete,” Oregon assistant coach Rock Light said.
“Right now everything is leading up to her hep
tathlon at the Oregon Invitational.”
Sofie Abildtrup is signed up for the 100, al
though she is known as Oregon’s primary
400-meter runner. Last week, she took second
in the 200-meter dash.
“Now it’s time for her to get faster in the
shorter events to be ready for the 400 later
on,” Light said.
Abildtrup’s seeding mark (11.94) sits in the
middle of the 11-sprinter pack. Oregon fresh
man Irie Searcy will run in the lane next to
Abildtrup. The two sprinters will also partici
pate in the 200. In a field of 20, Abildtrup holds
the third-best seeding time in that event (23.93).
Oregon has opted not to invest any athletes in
the distance running events — the 800,1,500 and
3,000 meters.
Hammer thrower Brittany Hinchcliffe’s listed
seeding measurement of 197 feet 5 1/2 inches is
almost two feet less than her school record at Ore
gon (199-2). Either way, she has at least a 10-foot
advantage over the competition.
The Ducks have four javelin throwers slated
to compete this weekend. Sarah Malone was re
cently reinstated and will compete after serving
the better part of a two-week suspension for vi
olating team policy. In addition, All-Americans
Roslyn Lundeen and Elisa Crumley will try to
pick up the slack as they did last week, finish
ing first and second.
Senior Bree Fuqua is scheduled as Oregon’s
lone competitor in the shotput and discus events.
She holds the school record in the shotput and
has nearly a four-foot advantage this weekend.
stephenmiller@dailyemerald.com
■ Duck softball
Emerald
Oregon head coach Kathy Arendsen talks to the Ducks' leadoff hitter Lovena Chaput after the end of an
inning. Arendsen called Chaput a competitive player who is not intimidated by any situation and who has
established herself as one of the top freshmen in the Pac-10.
eadoff
oveoa
Duck freshman Lovena Chaput's
career is off and running, thanks
to consistent hitting and poise
BY CLAYTON JONES
SPORTS EDITOR
Before practice, freshman Lovena Chaput
talks nervously with an Oregon sports
information director and teammate Beth
Boskovich about how she is a bit apprehen
sive about doing a television interview.
“I’m not ready for this,” said the
19-year-old Tlialatin native, who leads the
softball team in hitting during conference
play with a .368 average. “I’ve never done
one of these before.”
Boskovich tells her with a smile, “You’ve
got three more years so you might as well get
used to it.”
Oregon’s starting left fielder and leadoff
hitter rolls her eyes.
Chaput, who head coach Kathy Arendsen
said is fearless and will take on any chal
lenge, sneaks into the dugout as if to avoid
the cameraman, but returns shortly after and
conducts the interview.
Much like how she approaches the game
she loves, Chaput stared adversity in the face
and came through with a clutch performance.
“Lovena has some inner strengths, and
we recognized some and didn’t know about
others,” the third-year coach said. “She
handles adversity better than most young
players ... She is not intimidated. She is not
overly impressed. She’s respectful and has
good confidence.”
And with good reason.
The left-handed hitting Chaput has al
ready been named player of the week in ar
guably the toughest conference in the na
tion. She leads the team this season in hits
(37), runs (20), doubles (8) and total bases
(61), while sharing the team lead in home
runs (4) and triples (2).
Fellow freshman teammate Alicia Cook
said Chaput’s production at the plate is
amazing for her age.
“She’s definitely not playing like a fresh
man,” Cook said. “She plays like she has
been here forever. She consistently hits the
|. ■ ■ ■■ « - ■ f ■_.« I
Danielle Hickey | Photo editor
Freshman Lovena Chaput leads Oregon’s softball team
this season in hits (37), runs (20), doubles (8), and
total bases (61), and is tied for the team lead in home
runs (4) while maintaining a .336 batting average.
ball ... In a game where we walk away with
only two or three hits, it’s a pretty safe bet that
she has one of them. ”
The one aspect of Chaput’s hitting ap
proach Arendsen enjoys is her ability to adjust
at the plate.
“She can take a bad swing at a bad pitch
and be able to adjust in that at-bat and get a
base hit,” Arendsen said. “She is a very
competitive woman.”
Not only have pitchers enjoyed her produc
tion at the plate, but so have those that hit be
hind her. Boskovich, the Ducks’ No. 3 hitter,
said that having a hitter like Chaput hitting a
few spots ahead of her is a luxury.
“It’s always nice to have your leadoff batter
get on base all the time,” Boskovich said. “And
when she gets on second or third half the time,
it’s nice because you don’t have to waste a
sacrifice bunt."
While Chaput may be gaining notoriety
around Eugene for her hitting, many don’t
know that she was actually born to Grant and
Lovena just down the road from the University
at Sacred Heart Medical Center.
Why the same name as her mother?
SOFTBALL, page 6
■ Men's track and field
Mitchum,
Ikwuakor
headline
UO at Cal
BY BRIAN SMITH
SPORTS REPORTER
The Oregon men's track and field team
returns to action this weekend as it heads
south to compete in the Golden Bear
Invitational in Berkeley, Calif., on Saturday.
The Ducks’ third outdoor meet of the sea
son will feature a strong contingent of Ore
gon sprinters, highlighted by the hurdling
duo of Eric Mitchum and A.K. Ikwuakor.
Over the last two meets, Mitchum and Ik
wuakor have captured three hurdles titles,
with Ikwuakor winning the 400-meter hur
dles at both meets. The Arvada, Colo.,
native notched a personal best time of
51.47 seconds at the Pepsi Invitational,
bettering his time at the Oregon Preview
by more than 1.4 seconds.
Ikwuakor will compete against Houston’s
senior sprinter Andrew Carruthers, who has
run a personal best of 50.50 in the event.
Last year, Carruthers finished second at
the Conference USA Championships in the
400 and finished third at the Midwest Re
gional Championships with a time of 51.08.
Carruthers, Ikwuakor and Mitchum are
the only entrees in the 400-meter hurdles on
Saturday to post times under 52 seconds in
the event.
^arrutners win aiso compete in tne
110-meter hurdles with Mitchum, Houston
teammate Milton Mason, and California
sophomore Thomas Mack. Carruthers fin
ished fourth at the Tom Tellez Invitational
with a time of 14.13, while Mack ran a life
time-best 14.12 at the Stanford Invitational.
Both men will be chasing Mitchum, the
Ducks’ top-returning hurdler from last year.
In last week’s Pepsi Invitational,
Mitchum cruised to a victory in the
110, beating teammate Ikwuakor by
0.4 seconds. Mitchum owns the field’s
best mark, with last season’s 13.38 at the
NCAA Championships in Texas.
In addition, Mitchum will pull double
duty and compete in the 110 at the Mt. SAC
Relays in Walnut, Calif., on Sunday.
Also on the track, a quintet of Ducks will
compete in the 200-meter dash with red
shirt sophomore Jordan Kent and junior
Matt Scherer leading the way.
Kent will be competing in his second
event of the season, coming off his win
last week in the 100-meter dash at the
Pepsi Invitational.
Kent, along with Scherer, will be chasing
the regional qualifying mark of 21.19. Kent
last competed in the 200 at the NCAA Out
door preliminaries in 2003, where he fin
ished 20th with a time of 21.50.
Oregon javelin thrower Matt Adams and
senior long jumper Leonidas Watson will lead
the way for the Ducks in the field events.
Adams will compete against some of the
best throwers in the country, headlined by
California’s Paul Teinert. Teinert is ranked
fourth in the nation after setting a personal
record of 235 feet, 9 inches last week at the
Brutus Hamilton Memorial Invitational. Also
competing will be Canadian national record
holder Scott Russell, who comes in with a
personal best of 267-11.
“I want to hit the best I can,” Adams said.
“There are some pretty good throwers there,
and it will be pretty good competition. Hope
fully I can step up and do good.”
Watson will look to improve on his triple
jump regional qualifying mark of 50-6 3/4 set
last week at the Pepsi Invitational.
briansmith@dailyememld.com