: ' ©V Satly ®ar MM
Jones Keeps Top Form
During Hunter Ordeal
Marion Jones stayed alive
in her chase for five golds
by advancing in the 200
and long jump Wednesday.
The Associated Press
SYDNEY, Australia - As the Aussies
like to say: “No Worries.”
Marionjones looked as good as ever
in her first day back on the Olympic
track since it was announced her hus
band had tested positive for the steroid
nandrolone.
She breezed
through the first
two rounds of the
200 meters
Wednesday, then
bettered the auto
matic qualifying
.mark in the long jump, her weakest
•event, with a leap of 22 feet, 3 inches.
“It’s been difficult, but I think having
my family here and then just having
total support and getting several phone
calls from people back home, overall, I
think the support has just been incredi
ble,” Jones said. “I think that’s the rea
son I’m able to get through it.”
Far from the serious woman who
made a brief statement in support of her
husband, shot putter CJ. Hunter, at a
packed news conference in a downtown
Sydney hotel on
Tuesday, this
Marion Jones was
the smiling, gra
cious one every
one remembered.
“This is where I
love to be,” Jones
said, “to be out
there in front of
the fans, in front of
the lights. It kind
“This is where I love to be,
to be out there in front 0f...
the lights. It kind of gets
my mind off everything. ”
Marion Jones
U.S. Olympic Sprinter and Jumper
of gets my mind off everything.”
In the morning session, she easily
won her first 200 heat in 22.75 seconds.
She was second in her second-round
heat Wednesday night but obviously
was slowing down at the finish. The
runner who beat her, Melinda
Gainsford-Taylor of Australia, had to go
full tilt to win.
The biggest relief for Jones came
Wednesday night in the long jump. She
flirted with disaster in the U.S. trials in
Sacramento, Calif., where her gold
medal quest almost came to a prema
ture conclusion.
In Sacramento, she fouled the first two
times in the qualifying before finally mak
ing it on her last attempt. At the World
Championships last year in Seville,
Spain, she had a similar close call before
winding up with the bronze medal.
“As you all know, I’ve had difficulty in
the past in my qualifying jumps in Seville
and Sacramento,”Jones said, “so to come
out this evening and pop a qualifying
jump on my first. I’m pleased with that.”
She admitted she hardly knew how
to react to the big first jump.
Open Adoption
g g Since 1982
■ -
Christina, age 6 months, lovingly placed in open adoption at birth, visiting her birthmom, Sara
A bright future for you and your baby
www.adoptionhelp.org
1(919)789-0707 • 1(800)877-6736
H INDEPENDENT
ADOPTION
CENTER licensed/nonprofit
Olympic Medals
Gold Silver Bronze Total
United •
States 29 15 25 69
Russia 18 17 21 56
China 24 14 15 53
Australia 13 21 14 48
Germany 8 11 17 36
SOURCE: THE ASSOCMED PRESS
“I was like ‘What?’ I turned around
just expecting a red flag,” she said with
a laugh, “but no worries at all.”
USA Baseball Upsets Cuba for Gold
With a U.S. flag hanging behind the
bench and Hall of Fame manager Tom
Lasorda cheering from the dugout, a
team of recent draft choices and major
league castoffs beat mighty Cuba 4-0
Wednesday.
They might not be big-leaguers, but
they played like them in their country’s
biggest Olympic game.
No one had ever done this to Cuba, the
Big Red Machine of international base
ball. The Cubans didn’t get a run off Ben
Sheets, one year removed from being
Milwaukee’s first-round draft choice.
Sheets pitched a three-hitter - only
one Cuban made it as far as second
base -then raised his arms and slid to
his knees in celebration after Neill’s
catch closed it out.
“Cuba is sup
posed to be the
best baseball team
in the world,”
shortstop Adam
Everett said. “We
just proved we are
when it counts.”
The United
States got started
in the first inning,
when Mike Neill hit a solo homer.
Young later added a bases-loaded sin
gle, and catcher Pat Borders had a run
scoring double.
The hits put the upset on the right hand
of Sheets, who got 16 groundball outs.
USA 1 Game Away in Women's Hoops
Lisa Leslie gave the U.S. women’s
basketball team just what it needed to
win its lowest-scoring game in
Olympics history.
The 6-foot-5 center hit three jump
shots from 15 feet and beyond early in
the second half to help the United States
shake off Slovakia 58-43 in an ugly
game Wednesday and move into die
semifinals of the Olympic tournament.
The United States will be in the gold
medal game with one more victory. But
to get there, they'll have to win a rematch
with pesky South Korea on Friday.
South Korea, which advanced with a
68-59 victory over France, gave the
United States fits in the first game of the
preliminary round. The Americans led
by only five points in the second half
before winning 89-75.
Stubborn Russell Follows Heart
The parents of UNC freshman
Brandon Russell wanted him
to go to Stanford, but Russell
chose North Carolina instead.
By Bret Strelow
Assistant Sports Editor
Kevin and Karen Russell’s oldest son
rarely defies his parent’s wishes.
His parents have watched him grow
for the last 18 years. They simply want
what’s best for their son.
But Brandon Russell had to make his
own call this time.
Kevin and Karen knew where they
wanted their son to attend college. Sine,
Stanford is on the opposite end of the
country from Decatur, Ga., but the
school’s academic tradition made the
decision a no-brainer in their minds.
Russell had other plans. Academics
were still important, but he also wanted
a school with the right social atmosphere,
a place where he could feel comfortable.
He dropped hints to let his parents
know where he wanted to go. He relied
on an implied trust to know he wouldn’t
disappoint them.
Russell had his heart set on North
Carolina from day one.
“I had to be a lot more stubborn than
I’m used to having to be,” Russell said.
“That’s what made the recruiting
process so difficult. Me and my family
have a real good relationship, but this
SB bourse
Open to the Public
■ran mummmmmmmm
Back to School Specials
*Mon-Thurs s2owith cart sl4 walking
Friday $22 with cart sl6 walking
Sat & Sun S3O after 1 lam and S2B after 3pm
Book your tee times at
\ www.southwickgoltcom or 942-0783
Directions: Take 54 West 20 miles to a stoplight. Take a
rlMfew- , -Vx left on Swepsonville Rd and go 1 mile to a stop sign. Take
a fif)* l ’ on Swepsonville-Saxapahaw Rd. and go IVi miles
ApAfJaF y' ’??4 Take a left on Boywood Rd. We're I'h miles on the left.
1 3136 SouTHWICK Drive *Graham, NC 27253
Expires 10/31/00 * Valid with student or pacuitvi.d.
<*+ J
ifHL - YOU’RE FOCUSED.
WB!r YOU’RE
DETERMINED.
\ and you
k HAVE NO IDEA
WHAT YOU’RE
DOING.
Find everything you need to Gathering information for grad school can be
know about grad school at absolutely mind-boggling. At Petersons.com, you'll
WWW.petersons.com/campuS find detailed information on programs, student
loan information, online practice tests and online
applications. Go to Petersons.com. And un-boggle
that brilliant mind of yours.
PETERSONS.COIVI
*
THOMSON LEARNING <r
ONLINE AND
IN PRINT
/ 7 AOL Keyword:
Peterson's
Sports
jJVw
DTH/MILLER PEARSALL
Freshman tailback Brandon Russell, shown here against Wake Forest on
Sept. 9, rushed for a career-high 79 yards on 17 carries against Marshall.
recruiting stuff came through and it just
turned my house upside down.”
The Tar Heels are sure glad Russell
went out of character. UNC entered the
season with three unproven freshman
tailbacks, yet Russell has emerged from
the pack.
Russell has started all four of UNC’s
games and amassed a career-high 79
yards on 17 carries against Marshall on
Saturday.
Russell’s parents needed just one
game, though, to finally realize their son
had made the right choice.
They came to UNC’s season opener
against Tulsa in Chapel Hill, where they
eased his concern and told him they
were happy he went to North Carolina.
“They didn’t really give a whole lot of
ground, and I didn’t give a whole lot of
ground,” Russell said. “I turned out in
the right place.”
He became the first true freshman to
start at tailback in the season opener
since Charlie “Choo-Choo” Justice did
it in 1946.
Russell said a dream is unfolding in
front of his face every day. Asa star at
Marist High School, he went and played
each game without much thought. The
college games he watched on ESPN
each Saturday seemed a world away.
SW 149 1/2 E Franklin St
Chapel Hill, NC
4 *. 9608688
Best known secret in Chapel Hill
Offering burgers, chicken sandwiches.
and specialty sandwiches for lunch
and dinner ’ with a late n & ht menu ancl
23 beers on tap. All ABC permits.
• Mon • 25 cent wings and $ 1.50
i fISSiSXSSBHi domestic bottles and
j late night jazz
• Hies • $2.00 Pints
KSfgEZpHHi ‘Weds* All you can eat spaghetti
$5.00 and $2.00 micro and
jHpS9jEpiS|BHj import bottles
j• Thurs • $2.00 Local Brews
• Daily food specials and $ t.(x > off •
appetizers from 4:<x>-7:<k>
Monday thru Saturday
Thursday, September 28, 2000
Suddenly, he’s reached the same
playing field.
“The yards definitely come a lot
tougher than they did in high school,”
said Russell, who gained 1,697 of them
as a senior.
“The players are a lot bigger. In high
school, my size wasn’t that big of a con
cern. Now, everybody is so much bigger
than me.”
Russell, who is 5-foot-11 and weighs
185 pounds, doesn’t get recognized on
campus. He looks like a normal student
compared to the hefty teammates he
strolls around with.
His relatively small stature concerned
UNC coach Carl Torbush, who knew
Russell was mannerly and intelligent. But
Torbush wasn’t so sure Russell could hold
up against bigger players.
“If you first look at him, you’re going
to say, ‘Boy, he’s too nice to start with
and not quite physical enough and
tough enough to step in and play major
college football,’” Torbush said.
Torbush’s concerns no longer exist.
Russell didn’t back down against
Florida State. He broke tackles and
earned tough yards against Marshall.
Russell sticks to his philosophy that
hard work, regardless of the school he
attends, will be the key to his success.
Said Russell, “The opportunities that
become available to you are created by
what you do, not what school you go to."
The Sports Editor can be reached at
sports@unc.edu.
11