The Oregon football team earned its highest preseason ranking ever, coming in at No. 3 in the USA Today coaches’ poll that was released late last week. The Ducks received a pair of first-place votes and trailed only the top-ranked Oklahoma Sooners and the No. 2 Alabama Crimson Tide in the overall standings.
Prior to this season, Oregon’s highest preseason ranking came in 2001, when the Ducks came in at No. 8 following a co-Pacific-10 Conference championship in 2000. Last year, Oregon was the 11th-ranked team in the nation in the preseason polls and went on to finish No. 3 in the final standings behind undefeated national champion Auburn and the unbeaten TCU Horned Frogs.@@http://special.registerguard.com/web/sports/26659574-41/oregon-poll-ducks-preseason-season.html.csp@@
Oregon begins fall camp today at 1:15 p.m., though due to ongoing construction around the Casanova Center, viewing of the grass practice fields is expected to be somewhat limited. Fans who do wish to attend are encouraged to observe from the grandstands to the south of the women’s soccer fields.
Oregon volleyball to begin practice Tuesday
After a very busy summer, the Oregon women’s volleyball team will return to the practice courts this week as it begins preparing for the 2011 season.
The Ducks welcome in a handful of new faces to their first practice on Tuesday with a roster that features five freshmen, three sophomores and six juniors, making it the first squad in head coach Jim Moore’s 23 years of collegiate coaching without a single senior.
Each of the five freshmen — Chloe Buckendahl, Shellsy Ashen, Savannah Paffen, Natalie Bookout Gonzalez and Elizabeth Brenner — had busy summers competing with their respective club teams and will have their first opportunity to showcase the groups’ talent in mid-August, when the Ducks host the Green-Yellow and Alumni Exhibitions on Saturday, Aug. 13 and Friday, Aug. 19. Both events will begin at 7 p.m. at Matthew Knight Arena and offer free admission. @@http://www.goducks.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=500&ATCLID=205178134@@ @@http://www.goducks.com/SportSelect.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=500&SPID=234&SPSID=4287@@
Elijah Greer, David Klech, Jordan Hasay highlight national All-Academic honorees
The Oregon track and field team was well-represented on the United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association men’s 2011 Division I All-Academic Track & Field team.
A pair of Ducks All-Americans made the team, with sophomore Elijah Greer and senior David Klech leading the way for the Oregon men. Greer, a sophomore from Lake Oswego, placed third in the 800 meters at the NCAA Outdoor Championships, while Klech, a San Ramon, Calif., native, finished 16th in the decathlon.@@http://www.goducks.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=500&ATCLID=205156491@@
Other Oregon men on the All-Academic team included junior sprinter Matt Butcher, high jumper Justin Frick, junior hurdler Eric Hersey, junior triple jumper Brian Schaudt, freshman distance runner Parker Stinson, senior hammer thrower Jordan Stray and senior javelin thrower Alex Wolff.
To make the team, a student-athlete must hold a cumulative grade point average of 3.25 and have qualified for an NCAA Regional or National Championships.
On the women’s side, sophomore sensation Jordan Hasay was named the USTFCCCA’s Indoor Track Scholar-Athlete of the Year late last week. Hasay was the NCAA indoor mile and 3,000m champion this year, and boasts a 3.96 cumulative GPA as a human physiology major.
Hasay, also the USTFCCCA Indoor National Track Athlete of the Year in 2011, helped led the Ducks to a second-straight NCAA team indoor title this past March.
Hasay was one of 17 Ducks to garner USTFCCCA All-Academic honors.
She was joined by fellow NCAA champions Melissa Gergel (pole vault), Anne Kesselring (800m), and Brianne Theisen (indoor pentathlon), while teammates Sarah Andrews (10,000m), Laura Bobek (discus), Zoe Buckman (mid-distance), Bronwyn Crossman (10,000m), Alexandria Davidson (sprints), Alex Kosinski (indoor 5,000m), Claire Michel (steeplechase), Megan Patrignelli (1,500 meters), Lyndsay Pearson (hurdles), Laura Roesler (800m), Jordan Roskelley (pole vault), Amy Skofstad (jumps), and Lanie Thompson (steeplechase) were also all-academic honorees.