Oregon Daily Emerald
Friday; Jane 3, 2005
“George Mikan was the model for
all big men that followed him. ”
Pat Riley | Miami Heat president
■ In my opinion
ION ROETMAN
ROUGHING THE PASSER
Three days
of baseball,
beer and
bickering
LOS ANGELES — A drunken brawl, con
stant bickering and the rancid smell of vomit
stained carpeting.
Sound like substandard living?
TVy three fun nights in southern California.
For the second straight year, my buddy
Brandon and I drove to Los Angeles to watch
my Chicago Cubs take on his Dodgers. It was
a time for bonding, story telling and ample
calorie ingestion.
Last year’s test run was fun, but it didn’t last
long enough. We caught the final two games of
a three-game series, but it seemed like we had
to leave as soon as we got here. This year, we
got tickets to all three games and gave ourselves
plenty of free time with a four-night Ramada
Inn reservation.
We left Eugene around 11 a.m. Sunday, and
after far too many stops, got to Los Angeles
around 1:30 a.m. Monday. As if that long of a
drive isn’t brutal enough, I spent the entire trip
struggling to come to terms with the fact that
my hair is starting to thin out.
Hey, nothing makes a 14-hour drive fly by
like mental anguish and self-loathing.
We awoke Monday and tried to get a little
sun. We went out to the hotel’s swimming pool
and started doing cannonballs with a group of
youngsters and a fat old man.
Swimming around, I wasn’t giving much
thought to my physical appearance. I liken my
upper body to that of a construction worker,
since my workouts for the past few months
were 95 percent weight lifting and five percent
(if I’m lucky) cardiovascular work. Add a pair
of tattoos and a giant cigar burn to my broad
shoulders and gut and I figured the comparison
was fairly accurate.
I was informed otherwise when the old man
approached Brandon — whose body is fairly
similar — and asked, “Who y’all drive for?”
Being mistaken for a truck driver. Now
there’s a confidence builder.
From the pool, it was off to the game. After
briefly getting lost on Cesar Chavez Avenue, we
found our way into Dodger Stadium and imme
diately loaded up on Super Dodger Dogs and
carbonated beverages.
Our Memorial Day seats were near the left
field foul pole and protected from the sun,
which was nice after last year’s brutal sunburn.
After a few moments of soaking up the at
mosphere, it was time to get serious. Brandon’s
Dodgers took two out of three from my Cubs
during last year’s Los Angeles escapade — the
teams split the games we attended — and I was
out for revenge.
It didn’t take long for the Cubs to set the tone
as second baseman Jerry Hairston Jr. hit the
second pitch of the game into the left-field seats
for a home run. This immediately put a disgust
ed look on Brandon’s face and started the kind
of bickering that can only occur between two
uber-competitive friends.
Things got no better for the Dodgers as the
Cubs also got homers from catcher Michael
Barrett and third baseman Aramis Ramirez
and won 5-3 behind a quality pitching
ROETMAN, page 10A
Top athletes gather for Pre Classic
Tommy Skipper urill be Oregon's sole competitor
at this weekend's annual, Olympian-packed meet
BY STEPHEN MILLER
SPORTS REPORTER
An astounding number of
Olympic and World Champi
onship medals have been won
by athletes who will compete at
this year’s Prefontaine Classic.
It’s easily more than a track fan
can count on his or her fingers
and toes.
The total sits at 105, and the
field for the men’s 100-meter
dash still needs to be an
nounced for Saturday’s meet at
Hayward Field. As the list of
competitors stands, eight ath
letes won gold medals at the
2004 Olympic Games in Athens,
Greece, and eight others won a
silver or bronze medal.
“Tom (Jordan) is adamant
about putting on the best
track meet in the world,”
Oregon throws coach Lance
Deal said about the event coor
dinator of the honorary meet for
Steve Prefontaine. “The Pre
Classic is a track meet that peo
ple go to as a source of enter
tainment. It’s exciting; there’s
always great performances and
about the Pre Classic.
“It’ll be cool that it’s this
weekend before Nationals,”
said Oregon senior Kayla Mel
lott, who advanced to the
NCAA Championships in the
400-meter hurdles. “It gets you
excited and makes you want to
get out there. I’ve been looking
forward to it all year. ”
China’s Liu Xiang headlines
the 110 hurdles race. The 2004
Olympic gold medalist and co
world record holder is slated to
make his first appearance on
U.S. soil this weekend. Russian
gold medalist Yuri Borzakovskiy
will also be making his first U.S.
appearance in the 800.
Jamaica’s Danny McFarlane,
an Olympic silver medalist, will
compete for the 400-meter hur
dles crown.
LaShawn Merritt, who is only
18 years old, has the second
fastest time worldwide this year
in the 400 (44.66) and will face
fellow Americans and former
Olympic medalists Andrew
Rock and Derrick Brew.
Bernard Lagat, former runner
WU1 lU-UdbS
athletes.”
The Pre Clas
sic will feature
12 running
events and four
field events;
however, no
throwing events
will be included
in this year’s
meet.
“It’s not a full
“The Pre Classic is a
track meet that people go
to as a source of
entertainment. It’s
exciting; there’s always
great performances and
world-class athletes. ”
Lance Deal. | Oregon throws coach
lor Kenya
who is now a
U.S. citizen,
has a chance
to break the
record in the
Bowerman
Mile held by
Hicham El
G u e r r o u j
(3:49.92). La
gat’s best
time this sea
meet, wmcn
sticks in my craw a little bit,”
Deal said.
Still, Deal said the meet is fast
paced and always attracts a large
collection of world-class athletes.
This year is no different.
On the men’s side, Oregon
pole vaulter Tommy Skipper
is scheduled to make his second
appearance in the Pre Classic.
He finished eighth in 2004
with an 18 foot, 4 1/2 inch
clearance. Skipper, who did
not place at the Pacific-10 Con
ference Championships or
the NCAA West Regional, will
be Oregon’s only athlete com
peting Saturday. Within that
field are Olympians Tim Mack
and Toby Stevenson, who re
spectively claimed the gold and
silver medals in Athens. Seven
of the 10 competitors have
cleared the coveted six-meter
mark (19-8 1/4).
Oregon athletes not competing
this weekend are even excited
son is
3:49.89. He
has the fastest time by an Ameri
can in the 1,500 as well, at
3:34.34.
The two-mile race will be held
this weekend for the first time
since 1995. It will be a battle of
young guns as 20-year-olds Eliud
Kipchoge of Kenya and Muluge
ta Wendimu of Ethiopia are ex
pected to lead the pack. Two
Americans, Alan Webb and
Dathan Ritzenhein, have a
chance to set a new U.S. record
in the event.
On the women’s side,
Mozambique’s Maria Mutola re
turns in search of her 13th-con
secutive win at the Pre Classic
in the 800. At age 18, Mutola
lost her first race at Hayward
Field but hasn’t lost since. The
2000 Olympic champion took
fourth place in Athens.
The 100 and 400 races will
feature two showdowns be
tween gold and silver medalists.
Zane Rrn | Photographer
Oregon sophomore Tommy Skipper vaults himself toward the bar at last week’s NCAA
West Regional Championships in Eugene. Skipper is the only Duck who will compete
against some nf the natinn's tnn athletps at the Prpfnntaine P.laccir nn Qati irHavz
In the 100, Belarus’ gold medalist
Yuliya Nesterenko will fight to the
finish line once more with Ameri
can Lauryn Williams. In the 400,
Gold medalist Tonique Williams
Darling of the Bahamas will have
to shake off Mexican silver
medalist Ana Guevara.
In the 100 hurdles, Olympic
record holder Joanna Hayes of the
United States (12.37] faces off
against 2003 World champion
Perdita Felicien of Canada. Pre
Classic record holder Brigitte Fos
ter of Jamaica (12.45) and bronze
medalist Melissa Morrison are also
in the running.
Great Britain’s Paula Radcliffe,
silver medalist Tatyana Tomasho
va of Russia, and Shayne Culpep
per, the top American distance
runner who won the 3,000 at
Oregon Twilight, will run a show
down in the 1,500.
On the field, gold medalist Ye
lena Slesarenko of Russia will
highlight the high jump, while
her Russian teammate and
bronze medalist Tatyana Kotova
will compete in the long jump.
stephenrniller@dailyemerald.com
IN BRIEF
LaVoie shoots 2nd-consecutive
2-over par 72 at NCAAs
For the second straight day, Oregon’s Gregg
LaVoie shot a 2-over par 72 and sits tied for
37th after the second round Thursday at the
108th NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Champi
onship at the par-70, 7,131-yard Caves Valley
Golf Course in Owings Mills, Md.
The senior started consistent on the front
nine, bogeying the fifth and ninth holes and
recovering for a birdie on the seventh hole
for a 1-over 36.
Lavoie hiccupped on the 12th hole with a
bogey but bounced right back on the 13th
and birdied to stay at 1-over par. He made
par on the next two holes but ran into trou
ble on the 16th where he double-bogeyed
and dropped to 3-over par for the round.
He recovered once again on the next hole
with a birdie and parred the 18th to give him
a 2-over 72.
Atop the leaderboard is Michael
Putnam of Pepperdine, who shot his second
consecutive 67 Thursday and leads first
round leader Major Manning by one stroke
at 6-under par.
In the team competition, Georgia is 2-un
der par and leads Tennessee by a whopping
nine strokes. Southern California sits in
fourth place at 12-over par and Washington
is tied for fifth at 14-over par.
— Clayton Jones