Defending champ goes down.

Byline: From Register-Guard and news service reports

WOODBURN - It was an up-and-down day for Ducks at the Oregon Amateur Championship on Thursday.

While sophomore Johnna Nealy beat former Oregon coach Lara Tennant, 2 and 1, to advance to today's women's quarterfinal round, defending men's champion Gregg LaVoie - a UO freshman - fell 1-up in the second round to Duck teammate and fellow freshman Dustin Pewarchuk.

REGIONAL ROUNDUP

Randy Mahar, of Columbia-Edgewater Country Club, stopped Pewarchuk's charge in the third round later Thursday with a 1-up victory.

Oregon freshman Kyle Johnson, a North Bend graduate, lost 1-up to Brian Hughes of Eastmoreland Golf Course. Hughes shot 134 during stroke-play qualifying to earn medalist honors.

Jimmy White and Mike Sica, both juniors for the Ducks, fell in the third round after advancing earlier in the day. White lost to Jordan Madison of Trysting Tree in Corvallis, 1-up, after beating Brooks Newsom 3 and 1. Sica fell 2 and 1 to Ryan Gilmour of Willamette Valley after beating Ryan Schaefer of Grants Pass, 4 and 3.

Nealy, of Grants Pass, faces Taya Battistella this morning. Battistella, a Portland State senior from Bend, advanced with a 5-and-4 win over Cassie Castleman of Langdon Farms.

Oregon State junior Sean Deacon advanced to today's quarterfinals with a 2-and-1 victory over Denny Taylor in the second round and a 1-up win over Matt Klenz in the third.

Kailin Downs of Bend moved into the quarterfinals with a 3-and-2 victory over Marist High School graduate Meredith Jones. Downs faces Portland Golf Club's Eloise Carson, who beat PSU senior Bobbie Dunn, 3 and 2.

Former Duck Megan Heckeroth lost 4 and 2 to Kristen Svicarovich. Both Heckeroth and Svicarovich are playing for The Reserve.

Today's quartefinal rounds begin at 7 a.m. with men's competition as Hughes faces Jay Poletiek of Rose City Golf Club. Tim O'Neal of Royal Oaks Country Club takes on Deacon at 7:08 a.m., Mahar takes on Madison at 7:16 a.m., and Gilmour plays Ryan Fery of RedTail Golf Course at 7:24 a.m.

The women's competition begins at 7:40 a.m. with Allison Hanna of Pleasant Valley Golf Club taking on Willamette Valley's Marcia Fisher. Battistella and Nealy tee off at 7:48 a.m., followed by Downs and Carson at 7:56 a.m., and Nicole Keller of Pumpkin Ridge against Svicarovich at 8:04 a.m.

Quarterfinal winners will advance to today's semifinal rounds, which begin at 12:45 p.m. The championship concludes with the 36-hole final matches on Saturday.

Ducks nearing cutoff

in football ticket sales

Oregon is within 1,000 season tickets of again being forced to cut off sales, UO officials announced Thursday.

More than 38,700 season football tickets have been sold for the six-game home schedule. The Ducks set a record last year with 40,207 season tickets sold in the expanded Autzen Stadium, and average attendance for 2002 was 56,341, with the seating capacity listed at 54,000.

Season ticket-holders also hold first rights to any single-game tickets that are available, and UO officials said it was likely that games against Michigan on Sept. 20 and Oregon State on Nov. 22 will be sold out before individual game tickets go on sale to the general public July 28. Oregon's other home games are Nevada on Sept. 6, Washington State on Sept. 27, Stanford on Oct. 25 and California on Nov. 8.

Season reserved seats are $228, with adult general admission season tickets at $122 and children and senior GA season tickets $68. There are also a limited number of family plan packages that admit two adults and three children for $305. Tickets may be purchased at the Casanova Center ticket office or by calling 346-4461 or 1-800-WEBFOOT.

Challengers fall to Fairfield

in American Legion game

The Fairfield Expos of Fairfield, Calif., beat the Eugene Challengers 7-5 in an American Legion baseball game at Swede Johnson Stadium on Thursday.

Adrian Lacy homered, doubled and singled for Fairfield and had two RBIs.

Kellen Hobie was 3-for-4 with two doubles to lead the Challengers (16-3), who play Grants Pass today in a pair of Area 4 games.

Russ Walker was 3-for-4, Ryan Royster was 2-for-4 and Austin Brushett went 2-for-4 with four RBIs for Eugene.

UO, OSU softball players

earn all-academic honors

Six Oregon softball players and three from Oregon State were named to the Pac-10 Conference all-academic team, the league announced Thursday.

For the Ducks, center fielder Janell Bergstrom and first baseman Alyssa Laux earned first-team honors, while second baseman Erin Goodell, designated player Amber Hutchison and reserve infielder Mari Lyn Petrick were named to the second team. Pitcher Lindsay Kontra earned honorable mention.

For the Beavers, outfielders Cara Maxey and Shannon Sorg earned second-team honors, and second baseman Brynnen Guthrie received honorable mention.

Also on the Pac-10 first team were Cassie Brangham, Katherine Hoffman and Tori Nyberg of Stanford, Kara Brun and Adriana Garcia of Arizona State, Julie Hoshizaki and Amanda Simpson of UCLA and Eryn Manahan of California.

Eugene Pro Rodeo

tickets available

Tickets for the 14th annual Eugene Pro Rodeo, held at the Eugene Rodeo Grounds July 3-4, and the Firecracker Bullride on July 5th, are now available at area Bi-Mart and Knecht's Auto Parts stores.

Tickets cost $12 for adults and $6 for kids age 6-12. Kids under 5 get in free. At the gate, general admission tickets for the PRCA-sanctioned event are $14 for the rodeo and $15 for the bullride.

Reserved seat tickets can be purchased at the Oregon Horse Center for $15.