Dana Macalanda was always into martial arts. She grew up watching Jackie Chan movies and was enrolled  into taekwondo at age 10. She practiced her craft intermittently until the end of high school. She continued with martial arts all throughout college and joined the wushu club, which didn’t seem like a far-off next step for her. Except it was.

Wushu is entirely performance-based. In other words, no hitting.

That’s why, when Macalanda’s roommate wanted her to check out the club in 2009, she was anything but thrilled.

“She was like, ‘Let’s go, let’s go,’” Macalanda said. “And I told her, ‘No, no…What do you mean it’s not a practical martial art.”

After attending a practice and being won over by the club members, Macalanda was hooked on the sport. While her past martial arts experience gave her a leg up over the other new members on the basics, habits that were formed while in taekwondo caused some unique problems.

“That stiffness and rigidity that carries over from taekwondo, that doesn’t fly in wushu,” Macalanda said. “That was really hard to break. My first year and second year were especially hard because I’d be like, ‘Oh, cool, I got this move,’ and my captain would be like, ‘No. Your stance is too high,’ or, ‘No. You look like a robot right now.’”

Stiffness and rigidity weren’t the only issues for her. With movements and patterns in taekwondo being very linear, some elements in wushu caused some unexpectedly comical setbacks.

“My sophomore year, my captain was trying to get us to run in a C-shape to set us up for a jump,” Macalanda said. “He said, ‘Just take one-two-three steps and then jump.’ Then I would run in a line every time.”

The process did not go smoothly.

“It was very fun and frustrating to watch,” said Kenney Hersch, who is currently a co-captain.

Over time, Macalanda broke her old ways and formed new ones, becoming one of the team captains and inspiring newer members to persevere through the tough early stages of learning.

“When I was practicing these high-low kicks … she taught me how to rotate the pelvis from one position to the other,” said Victor Santamaria, a new member. “Once I got that motion, she came back over and said, ‘Now you need to work on this.’ This was in the middle of training. I think that says a lot about someone who cares about other people and about someone who loves what she does.”

Macalanda’s primary focus is instructing, but her dedication is what keeps her going. Her love for the sport will keep her in the martial arts world.

“It looks like it’s not result-driven for her anymore,” Hersch said. “Since she’s so obsessive over it, so passionate about it, the results just come naturally.”

As for what’s next for Macalanda after she leaves the UO she wants to continue with more wushu, try boxing or muay thai and keep broadening her horizons.

“There’s always more stuff to learn,” she said. “That’s why I do martial arts.”

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– Oregon State’s men’s basketball head coach Craig Robinson was fired this morning. Under Robinson the Beavers went 94-105 in six seasons with no NCAA tournament appearances, no NITs and four College Basketball Invitationals. He will be paid $4-million for his departure due to three years being left on his contract.

– No. 1 Oregon softball broke its 12-game winning streak in a match against No. 3 Arizona State on Friday, in the first game of a three-game series at home. The following night, the Ducks responded to their loss with a 12-2 win against the Sun Devils. The game included eight runs on nine hits, including a two-run home run. Even after their third game on Sunday, the series remained split due to rain suspending play after the 6th inning. The score remained tied at 2-2.

– Team Mariasu blew out Team Twifo, 27-7 in Oregon’s annual spring game. The back-up quarterbacks’ performance was described as “myeh” by head coach Mark Helfrich as unimpressive plays marked their performance.

– Oregon baseball completed its three-game sweep of Arizona. The series featured  five home runs for the Ducks, three of them being on Friday (two of those by catcher Shaun Chase). The team’s last home runs were recorded in April against Washington State. Over the course of all three games, Chase logged seven RBIs, a double, three home runs and four runs. His performance earned him Pac-12 Player of the Week.

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It was the second day of the Pac-12 Championships in Ojai, Calif. and the women’s tennis team changed their focus from yesterday’s singles play to today’s doubles.

Representing Oregon in the doubles championship draw, Lana Buttner and Nicole Long faced California’s No. 4-seeded Lynn Chi and Anett Schutting in the round of 16. The Buttner-Long duo, which wasn’t a typical combination during the regular season, lost 8-4.

The two Oregon pairs had similar results in the doubles invitational draw. Allie and Kadie Hueffner fell 8-3 to Arizona State’s Kassidy Jump and Joanna Smith. Lena Macomson and Maja Salibasic were defeated 8-2 by Utah’s No. 2 Luisa Gerstner da Rosa and Sarah Richter. Both losses were in the round of 16.

Despite being the first day of doubles, the singles consolation draw had games to be carried out. Three of four matches went to an extra set, but Salibasic’s 6-1, 2-6, (11-9) win over Colorado’s Ashley Tiefel was the only win for Oregon in the division.

Games with Kadie and Allie Hueffner also went to an extra set. Allie lost 6-3, 3-6, (10-4) to Inge Henrikx of Arizona, who teammate Lina Akesson had defeated 6-1, 3-6, 6-4 the previous day. Washington State’s Dajana Ognjenovic beat Kadie 2-6, 6-3, (10-6).

The only singles match which didn’t go to extra play was between Macomson and Washington’s Natalie Allen. Allen topped Macomson, who hadn’t played yesterday, 6-1, 6-3.

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In the first day of the women’s tennis Pac-12 championships, the Oregon women’s tennis team had six girls competing. All except one fell in the round of 32 for their respective division.

Lana Buttner and Nicole Long represented Oregon in the Women’s Singles Championship division and Maja Salibasic, Lina Åkesson, Allie Hueffner and Kadie Hueffner participated in the Women’s Singles Invitational division.

In the championship draw, both Buttner and Long lost in the round of 32 after going to tiebreakers. Buttner’s match against University of Washington’s Julija Lukac ended 6-4, 7-6(5). Stanford’s Taylor Davidson defeated Long 6-7(5), 6-3, 6-4.

In the invitational draw, the Ducks had barely more success. In the round of 32, Kadie Hueffner was blanked by Berkley’s No. 2 Maegan Manasse 6-0, 6-0. Kadie’s sister, Allie Hueffner, fell 7-5, 6-4. Oregon also lost the match between Maja Salibasic and Washington’s Sophia Bott 6-2, 6-3.

The only victory for the Ducks came in the form of Åkesson, who edged out Arizona’s Inge Hendrikx 6-1, 3-6, 6-4 in an extra set. Åkesson was eliminated in the round of 16 after a 6-0, 6-2 loss to USC’s  No. 3 Giuliana Olmos.

The Ducks will continue the tournament with doubles play tomorrow.

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On paper, the Collegiate Wushu Tournament looked like a bust for the three University of Oregon students who traveled to the University of Maryland on Saturday to participate.

They kept getting lost. There were fallen sashes and forgotten moves during forms. None of them placed.

However, for freshman Elirissa Hui and sophomores Wing Ng and Kevin Lai, the trip was anything but a failure. Despite their rankings, they all found reasons to consider it a success.

Collegiate Wushu Tournament’s existence is a success of its own. 18 years ago, UO wushu alum and former US Wushu Team member Brandon Sugiyama created the tournament with the UO serving as the first host.

For the club, continuing to compete at the tournament — even with only three people — is continuing the legacy and tradition that Sugiyama created.

“(Sugiyama) called us out (at the competition) actually. ‘Where are the UO people?’” Ng said. “It was daunting to yell out in front of all of those people, but it makes me proud to go to the school that started this event.”

History aside, the tournament holds another important role for the the club. Without a coach, the team uses these annual competitions as a way to check their performance and skill in comparison to others.

“One thing that’s really great about wushu and individual events is that, no matter who’s competing, everyone will always cheer you on,” Lai said. “The point about wushu isn’t necessarily winning. It’s about showing off your practice and hard work as well as camaraderie … It’s not about hating each other or trying to personally best each other, but watching everyone do the best they can.”

For all three of the members of the club, watching others perform and seeing the wide variety of wushu is what makes these trips special. Being able to watch more experienced competitors gives them the motivation and inspiration to better themselves and their skills.

“Seeing the different levels of people is really cool,” Hui said. “You’re like, I’m not alone. We’re all on this journey together even though we’re competing against each other.”

“Every time you come back from competition, there’s this kind of wushu high that you’re on for a while,” Hui said. “You’re like, ‘Oh, man. I want to train hard and do all these things,’ but you can’t rush it. You kinda just have to take it step-by-step.”

Even though they can’t jump into more complicated movements right away, everyone brought back things they plan to work on. Lai believes working on the basics will make his entire form better. Ng left Maryland eager to work on his flexibility and snappiness so he can rival his competition. Hui plans to refine and change her form as her injuries heal.

For the three club members, it’s coming away with ways to improve that makes a competition successful.

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While the women’s team took on the Cougars in Pullman, Wash., the men’s team had a rematch against Washington in Seattle. The Huskies (11-12, 2-5) claimed a 4-3 win over the Ducks (15-8, 1-6 Pac-12).

Although the Ducks won the doubles point with victories from the 64th-ranked duo of Robin Cambier and Kevin Farin and the pair of Daniel Sardu and Jayson Amos in the No. 1 and No. 3 spots respectively, the Huskies’ dominant performance in singles is what pulled them ahead of Oregon.

In singles, Washington took every match, except for the No. 3 and No. 6 spots. There, Amos defeated Michael Chamerski 6-2, 6-3 and Daan Maasland edged out Washington’s Gal Hakak  7-6 (5), 6-4.

In the other matches, Washington dominated.

Emmett Egger defeated No. 79 Cambier 6-1, 6-4 for the No. 1 place, the first match to complete.

Following Cambier’s loss, Oregon’s Joey Swaysland fell to Viktor Farkas 6-3, 6-0. In the final two matches to wrap up, Farin walked away from Husky, Max Manthou with a loss after a third set determined the winner (3-6, 7-5, 6-3).

The No. 4 spot is what clinched it for the Huskies. Jeff Hawke’s 3-6, 7-6 (4), 7-6 (3) win over Sardu ended the very close meet between the two rival schools.

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After a non-conference match against Idaho, the Oregon women’s tennis team headed to Pullman, Wash., for its final match of the regular season. There the Ducks faced off against the No. 45 Washington State Cougars and lost 4-2.

The No. 1 doubles match was the first to complete. Eliza Luzina and Lize Leenknecht beat Oregon’s Nicole Long and Jasmine Minor in lopsided 8-1 score. In No. 2 doubles, WSU’s Maria Biryukova and Olga Musilovich defeated Lina Åkesson and Marlou Kluiving in a closer match 8-4.

In singles, only the No. 6 match went unfinished. Oregon lost the first match to Musilovich 6-0, 6-1. When Sofia Hager of Oregon fell 6-0, 6-2 to Leenknecht, the match nearly seemed over. However, in the third match, Lana Buttner came through for Oregon with a 6-0, 6-2 win against Charlotte Koning.

In No. 1 singles, Long took on No. 82 Luzina again. After a close first set, Long put another point on the score-sheet for Oregon after she won 7-5, 6-1.

The match to clinch it for Washington State was determined by a third set after Jasmine Minor won the second set after losing the first. The final score was 6-2, 4-6, 6-0 in favor of Washington State’s Maria Biryukova.

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Oregon women’s tennis (7-12, 1-7 Pac-12) lost their fifth straight conference match to No. 6 California 4-0 in its last home game of the season.

The doubles point went to Cal (15-4, 8-0 Pac 12).

No. 2 doubles was the first to complete, with Marlou Kluiving and Lina Åkesson falling 8-1 to Maegan Manasse and Denise Starr. Second to finish was the No. 3 spot between Oregon’s Lana Buttner and Sofia Hager and Cal’s Klara Fabikova and Kelly Chui. Although Fabikova and Chui won the set 8-4, the two Ducks kept the score tight at 4-5 until Cal pulled away with the lead.

Buttner, a senior, said that although it was her last home game, she felt no extra pressure to perform when her doubles match was close.

“(The pressure) is the same as usual,” she said. “(The close score) gives you the extra motivation to do well since it’s senior day. I have been doing well all season with Sofia, so (the score) definitely got us excited to keep doing well.”

In singles, it was the No. 4, 5, and 6 games which determined the game.

Buttner and Fabikova met again in the first match to complete, but this time Fabikova topped Buttner with the score of 6-2, 6-0. The No. 6 match between Cal’s Manasse and Allie Hueffner earned the Bears’ third point of the day when Manasse came away 6-1 in both sets. To clinch the game for Cal, Lynn Chi downed Kluiving 6-2, 6-0.

Despite the numbers being in favor of the Bears, assistant coach Maja Kovacek believes the girls performed well against the six-ranked team, an example being the No. 2 singles match between Jasmine Minor and Zsofi Susanyi that was suspended at 6-3, 0-1 in favor of Cal.

“I was happy how Jasmine competed (in singles),” Kovacek said. “She fought hard. There were a lot of good rallies, a lot of good points. The first match just got away from her. She had to come back 0-3 down.”

The loss might even bring some positives to the team.

“We know we can compete hard with a top-10 team,” Kovacek said. “We can take some confidence from that for sure. The scores may not show it in every spot, but we had some good points and close games. I think we’re encouraged by that.”

The final two games for Oregon are on the road against Idaho and Washington State.

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The Oregon women’s tennis team’s slump continued Friday when it faced off against the No. 7 Stanford Cardinal. Proving why five of their six players are ranked, Stanford showed their prowess and dominated Oregon 4-0.

Stanford won both doubles matches nearly at the same time, with the No. 2 and No. 3 matches finishing only minutes after one another.

The first doubles match was lost 8-1 by Jasmine Minor and Lina Åkesson in No. 2 doubles. Allie Hueffner and Kadie Hueffner lost to Caroline Doyle and Krista Hardebeck moments after by the same count. The Ducks trailed 7-1 in the incomplete game against 31st ranked Taylor Davidson and Ellen Tsay.

The Ducks had little success in singles. The first five matches of singles play were against ranked Stanford players. The only reason the Cardinal lacked a sixth ranked-player was because No. 4 Kristie Ahn was scratched from the No. 1 singles spot.

The first match to complete was between No. 41 Doyle and Lana Buttner. Although Doyle dominated the first set 6-0, Buttner was able to score four points in the second. The game ended 6-0, 6-4.

The final two games didn’t go any better. Minor lost both sets 6-1, 6-1 to No. 22 Carol Zhao. The loss was followed by teammate Sofia Hager’s in No. 3 singles, which she lost to No. 28 Davidson 6-0, 6-2.

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– Oregon softball’s Kailee Cuico was named the Pac-12 player of the week on Monday, after a record-setting weekend against No. 1 UCLA. Cuico broke the Oregon RBI record after a three-run home run during Saturday’s 12-4 win over the Bruins (she also hit a grand slam later in the game). The record isn’t the first that belongs to Cuico. She also holds the single-game record for most RBIs as well as the record for the most home runs, which she broke earlier this year. The Ducks’ series win over the Bruins perhaps proves they are national championship material.

– Gonzaga’s women’s basketball coach Kelly Graves reportedly came to Eugene on Sunday to meet with the Oregon women’s basketball team. The meeting was closed-door. Graves is a top-candidate for replacing Paul Westhead, but some wonder if the move is really a step up since Gonzaga’s success usually surpasses the Ducks.

– The Oregon club wushu team is the oldest and largest collegiate wushu team in the nation without a coach. Instead, the team uses student captains and collaborations in order to learn new forms and weapons. The team prefers their approach because it brings them closer together and allows them to network with other wushu schools in the nation.

– Runner Mac Fleet has just two months left in his Oregon running career to achieve his dream of climbing to the top of the Oregon record list. He is currently eighth in the 1,500m in school history with a personal record of 3:38.35. Number seven on the list is Steve Prefontaine. Fleet’s goal is to catch up to the American record of 3:29.30 and the collegiate record of 3:35.30.

– Spring football is underway and players are brushing off the dust from the off-season. Although Mark Helfrich said mistakes are in abundance, he believes, “The effort and the communication, our competitiveness, is really good.” Offensive coordinator Scott Frost is also optimistic about the practices, saying that many players have made improvements during their time off.

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