Oregon daily emerald., April 28, 2005, Image 13

Oregon Daily Emerald
Thursday, April 28, 2005
“Forget how the game is played? I have
forgotten more baseball than this gay knows. ”
Tampa Bay manager Lou Piniella after Boston’s pitcher Curt Schilling criticized him
■ In my opinion
STEPHEN MILLER
OFF THE CROSSBAR
Just try to
'Stop Bree'
and her team
of supporters
So much has happened in the world of Oregon
track and field during the last few weeks.
Both the men and women have been putting
together some impressive performances.
We’ve all heard about the arrival of Galen
Rupp to the collegiate distance running world.
Steve Prefontaine’s boy wonder debuted at
the Oregon Invitational last week where he
suffered a nasty fall but still took fifth in the
5K race.
Then there’s Jordan Kent, quite possibly
the best athlete on any Duck roster — or ros
ters, in his case. The speedster, who happens
to play basketball on the side, has already col
lected first-place finishes in the long jump and
4x100 relay coming off a redshirt season.
Rupp is like one of those gas-electric
hybrid cars. He has a way of efficiently con
suming his fuel during a race to make the laps
look effortless.
Kent, on the other hand, is like a sports car
you can fire up, put the pedal to the metal and
be sure will be first to see the checkered flag.
The rest of us are amazed because we seem
to be more like those road-crowding SUV’s
that lug around and let so much go to waste.
Away from the running world,
throwers are usually overlooked in track and
field, but tucked away in Hayward Field,
the Oregon women are starting to catch
the attention of many spectators with
groundbreaking performances.
“It’s great because throwers tend to be on
the outskirts,” Oregon hammer thrower Brit
tany Hinchcliffe said.” But I think we get a lot
of support here. ”
And the support is well deserved. The
school records for two of the four throwing
events have already been rewritten this sea
son, and many more personal records have
been improved.
Senior Bree Fuqua tallied the first record
breaker at the Montana Open by heaving her
shot 53 feet, 9 inches.
Hinchcliffe made history when she started
the Pepsi Team Invitational with a hammer
toss of 199 feet, 2 inches (she broke
the school record on a previous throw but de
cided to up the ante for fun). Fuqua added
2 1/4 inches to her shot put mark at that meet
as well.
Teammates and training partners are trying
to create some awareness about Fuqua and
her progress.
Forget trying to stop Pre, try stopping Bree.
That idea came from Oregon throws coach
Lance Deal, and a group of his pupils ironed
his sentiment onto cotton. Senior javelin
thrower Sarah Malone, redshirt hammer
thrower Britney Henry and Team XO hammer
thrower Cari Soong all wore T-shirts with a
stop sign on the front that read “Stop Bree.”
Fuqua is Oregon’s only everyday competi
tor in the shot put and discus. The depth that
Oregon has in the hammer throw and javelin
THROWERS, page 14
■ Duck football
Senior cornerback
Justin Phinisee
is part of an
experienced
Oregon secondary
that is working to
carry its spring
success into the
fall season.
Danielle Hickey | Photo editor
Defensive
backs gain
invaluable
confidence
Vie Duck secondary has lacked
confidence in recent yean but is
finally feeling secure this spring
BY JON ROETMAN
SENIOR SPORTS REPORTER
The life of an Oregon defensive back hasn’t
exactly been a glamorous existence during
recent seasons.
Whether it was allowing former Arizona State
quarterback Andrew Walter to throw for a
Pacific-10 Conference record 536 yards at Autzen
Stadium in 2002, or watching former Oregon
State quarterback Derek Anderson knock the
Ducks out of bowl game eligibility by throwing
for 351 yards last fall, the Oregon secondary
hasn’t exactly been among the nation’s elite.
As spring practice enters its final days, howev
er, Oregon defensive backs have played like a
group that knows it can succeed in the fall.
It appears there are no memories of the rented
mule style beatings taken at the hands of Pac-10
quarterbacks. There are no glaring signs of hesi
tancy. On any given play, Aaron Gipson can be
seen locking up a receiver, while Justin Phinisee
can be heard informing Duck pass catchers — es
pecially Demetrius Williams — that their
attempts to get open will be futile.
DEFENSIVE, page 14
■ Men's golf
St. Clair shines as Ducks finish fifth
BY SCOTT J. ADAMS
DAILY EMERALD FREELANCE REPORTER
The Oregon men’s golf team
carried out a four-spot turn
around Wednesday in Walla
Walla, Wash., at the final round
of the Pacific-10 Conference
Championships as the Ducks
leap-frogged No. 14 Southern
California and others to take fifth
place. Tremendous play down
the stretch from Justin St. Clair
and Jay Snyder proved vital
in pulling Oregon out of its
ninth-place position after the
first round.
“I’m really proud of the boys
and how they played today,”
Oregon head coach Steve Nosier
said. “With how we finished to
day, I like our chances of making
it to the NCAA Regional.”
The NCAA West Regional is in
reach now for Oregon, a team
that was in dire need of a strong
finish at the championships.
St. Clair spearheaded the late ral
ly for the Ducks by carding a 2
under par 69 Tuesday and an
even par 71 Wednesday. St.
Clair’s performance garnered
him a tie for fifth place with Cali
fornia’s Brandon Beck, which is
the highest individual finish for
a Duck at the Pac-10
Championship in 13 years.
The biggest surprise of the
tournament came with the su
perb play of Snyder. The sopho
more from Vancouver, B.C.,
closed the third round of the
sixth tournament he has played
in as a Duck by shaving five
strokes off his first round score.
It was the second straight day
that Snyder, a walk-on, recorded
a career-low round, a pleasant
surprise for both him and Nosier.
“Jay gave us more than we
needed at the end,” Nosier said.
“His third round really made a
difference for us.”
Like Snyder and St. Clair,
sophomore Matt Ma also deliv
ered a sub-70 score for Oregon
on Thesday and added a 1-under
70 on Wednesday. He finished
the tournament tied for 14th.
Washington’s Erik Olson shot
a 2-under par 69 to claim the
Pac-10 crown. He shot 8-under
for the tournament and beat out
Arizona’s Nathan Lashley by a
shot and Arizona State’s Pat
Moore by two. Moore was the
leader after the third round Tlies
day but struggled in the final
round, shooting a 5-over par 76.
In the team competition,
Washington came back from a
17-shot deficit to defeat No. 17
Arizona State in a tie-breaker.
Washington shot a 5-under
250 on Wednesday, while the
Sun Devils limped to the finish
with a 12-over 267. The only
other team to break par in the fi
nal round was No. 24 Arizona,
who finished third. No. 16 UCLA
finished fourth.
The fifth-place finish for Ore
gon capped off a rejuvenating
prelude to the NCAA Regional,
which the Ducks are poised to
attend. Combined team efforts in
each week of play have helped
Geoff Thurner | Oregon media services
)regon's Matt Ma,
een here earlier
his season, shota
'0 on Wednesday
o help lead the
)ucks to a
ifth-place finish at
he Pacific-10
Conference
Championships,
i/la finished the
ournament tied
or 14th.
the Ducks record top-10 finishes
in the past five tournaments.
Nosier credits the success to
his team’s competitive nature,
maintaining that Oregon intends
to extend its season past the
NCAA Regional, scheduled to
start May 19. Bids to the Region
al will be announced Monday.
“We have had a terrific spring,”
Nosier said. “We don’t want to go
to regionals just to say we went to
regionals, though. We want to
make the most of it.”