Men’s Golf
Junior Derek Sipe continued his hot start to the spring season, setting a new school record while leading his team to a tie for 10th place last week in the UH Hilo Intercollegiate in Waikoloa, Hawaii. The Ducks finished tied with Texas Tech and behind conference rivals Oregon State and Washington, USC and Stanford, which captured the team title in a playoff over Oklahoma State.
In the second round of the 54-hole tournament, Sipe shot an eight under par 62, breaking the previous mark for the lowest single round of 63 set by Jimmy White at the Northwest Collegiate Classic in 2003.
“Derek was just phenomenal today,” coach Casey Martin said on Thursday. “He really had it going with his putter and that was the whole key for him.”
Sipe turned in a seven under 203 for the tournament, a score that put him in a tie for 12th place. Junior Joey Benedetti and freshman Marcus Sostak also played under par for the tournament as each finished with scores of 208. The Ducks’ team score of 833 strokes was their best performance on the Waikoloa course since the squad finished fourth in 2001.
“We had a very good day as a team,” said Martin. “I’m pretty pleased with what we shot today.”
Softball
After dropping the season-opener 2-1 to Florida on Friday, the Oregon softball team stormed back to earn four straight victories and finish 4-1 at the Kajikawa Tournament held on the campus of Arizona State in Tempe, Ariz. The Ducks defeated Long Beach State 3-0 on the strength of a two-run home run by junior left fielder Lovena Chaput and 6 2/3 shutout innings from sophomore Melissa Rice. Chaput finished Friday 3-for-6. On Saturday, Oregon picked up a pair of victories, 3-2 against Cal State Northridge, and 8-1 against Syracuse. The Ducks finished the tournament with a 4-2 victory against Texas Tech on Sunday. Freshman shortstop Jennifer Salling hit her first career home run and recorded two RBIs against the Red Raiders and six different Oregon players managed at least one hit, a very positive sign that Oregon’s new hitting philosophy is paying dividends.
Junior pitcher Alicia Cook pitched a complete game Sunday, surrendering just six hits and two unearned runs while striking out six.
Track and field
Sophomore Galen Rupp and redshirt senior Britney Henry set indoor school records Saturday in the Husky Collegiate in Seattle.
Rupp made a 9.51 second improvement on his personal best to place second in the 5,000 meters on the University of Washington campus. Rupp easily made the NCAA automatic qualifying standard of 13 minutes, 48 seconds.
Henry finished third in the weight throw at 65-6 and upped her school record by 5 feet, 4 3/4 inches. Henry shared the previous mark of 61-1 1/4 with former All-American Brittany Hinchcliffe last season.
Pole vaulter Tommy Skipper cleared 18 feet with an NCAA automatic mark of 18-1.
In the mile, Michael McGrath slipped below the NCAA provisional mark of 4:04.00 at 4:03.12. Four other Ducks had season or personal bests, including Andrew Wheating at 4:04.77, Duke Wasteney at 4:06.15, James Withers at 4:08.38 and Chris Winter at 4:09.43.
In the Tyson Invitational at the University of Arkansas, the Oregon women’s 4×400-meter relay team placed third overall and second in their heat in 3:38.92 Saturday.
The relay team was made up of Kavina Hall, Rebekah Noble, Leah Worthen and Keshia Baker.
Men’s Tennis
Oregon dropped the doubles point to UC Santa Barbara, but managed to rally back to an eventual 5-2 victory.
Playing in the No. 4 singles spot for the first time this season, freshman Geoff Embry justified Oregon men’s coach Nils Schyllander’s faith in his abilities when he dug himself out of a 1-5 hole in the first set against UCSB’s Josh Finkelstein, to take the set 7-6(4). Embry then closed out the second set 6-2 to clinch the crucial fourth point that the Ducks needed to win the dual.
Alex Cornelissen then defeated Anders Dalskov 6-4, 6-7(4), 6-3 to give the Ducks their fifth singles point.
Women’s Tennis
The Duck women bounced back from two close losses last week to beat Denver and No. 51 Colorado on Sunday.
The Ducks took the doubles point against Denver, then capitalized on strong play from the top half of their lineup to win 4-3. Dominika Dieskova pulled out a 6-4, 5-7, 6-2 win over Annette Aksdal, and Ceci Olivos also needed three sets to beat Ute Schnoy 6-2, 6-7(8-10), 6-4. Carmen Seremeta defeated Marisa Mechem in straight sets 6-2, 6-2.
Against Colorado, the Ducks were swept in doubles but redeemed themselves with singles from almost every position and won the match 5-2. Olivos lost her singles match 7-6, 6-4 to Camila Belassi.