There are few differences between Oregon sprinters, and twin sisters, Venessa and Kerissa D’Arpino.

Growing up in Grants Pass, Oregon, they lived in the same room together for 18 years, shared the same friends and drove the same car. The similarities continued on the track, where they run with an almost identical stride, and together have 21 North Valley High School track and field school records.

“I think people are blown away that twins can be on the same team, that twins can do the same thing,” Venessa said. “For us to be pretty identical in everything we do, and what we look like, it’s just mind-blowing to some people.”

After sprinting for three years at Oregon State, where Venessa set three school records, Team D’Arpino (a nickname given by a meet announcer) brings its stride to Oregon, where the sisters hope to build on the Ducks’ sprinting legacy.

Twins Venessa and Kerissa D’Arpino race side by side in a high school meet. The sisters transferred from Oregon State to Oregon this season. (Photo courtesy of Aaron Samuelson)

“This team is home. Like everybody is very welcoming,” Venessa said. “This is the dream school and a lot of people wish they could be here.”

Growing up as twins — Kerissa two minutes older than Venessa — the sisters naturally competed in everything; from grades to friends, to who had more money in their bank account.

“Learning how to ride a bike first or learning how to do anything, one always had to do it better,” said Sherry D’Arpino, their mother. “It was always, ‘Who did something first?’”

Together, the D’Arpino twins started track and field in the seventh grade, but it wasn’t until the end of their sophomore year of high school their sibling-competition formed a backbone to their motivation.

“They had a drive I have yet to see in another athlete in my 10 years of coaching,” North Valley sprinting coach Terry Guthrie said. “It was one of those things that you could see it in their eyes and in their body language and the way they approached their competitions. They just had that thing that other athletes didn’t.”

That drive helped them make North Valley history.

At the 4A Oregon High School Track and Field State Championships their junior year, Venessa swept all three sprints with school-record times. It was the first time that someone from North Valley had swept all three races in the 4A state championships since 1998 when Guthrie did it.

The following year, Kerissa won the 100m and 200m while Venessa took the 400m-title in the state meet. The twins’ record times that year helped the North Valley women win their first ever 4A State Championship.

“They changed the face of North Valley,” said North Valley head coach Aaron Samuelson. “It almost seems unreal with some of the things that they were doing.”

As a Duck, Venessa set a personal record in the 60-meter dash at the UW Indoor Preview in January. Kerissa is out this indoor season but hopes to return after recovering from detached rectus femoris muscle surgery.

“With Kerissa being down, Venessa is all, ‘I have to be good, not for both of us, but for our name,’” said Brian D’Arpino, their father.

Even though they have trained and competed with each other their whole lives, the twins have learned that crossing the finish line is something they have to do separately.

“In high school, one time we actually tried to hold hands as we were finishing the 100-meter dash,” Venessa said. “We went to grab each other’s hand and one went backward and one went forward, it was like a slingshot. We almost got disqualified for crossing lanes and we ran really slow times, but it was worth the memory for us.”

Follow Maggie Vanoni on Twitter @maggie_vanoni

The post Twins Venessa and Kerissa D’Arpino bring special connection to Oregon’s sprint team appeared first on Emerald Media.

Oregon’s first road trip of the season at the ITA Kick-Off at the Hellman Tennis Complex in Berkeley, California, out-tested the team against its highest level of competition yet. Falling to both No. 12 Stanford and No. 19 California, Oregon (3-2) ended its three-match sweep streak and lost the team’s chance at an automatic entry to the ITA National Team Indoor Championships.

On Sunday afternoon, the Ducks opened the ITA Kick-off with 4-0 loss to the Cardinal (3-0) and lost 4-3 on Monday against the Golden Bears (2-1) .

Against Stanford, Duck duo Simon Stevens and Ty Gentry earned the first win of the day, defeating Stanford’s Eric Fomba and David Wilczynski in the No. 3 doubles spot, 6-1— Oregon’s only win in the match.

But, the Cardinal clinched the doubles point with a win at the No. 1 spot, 6-3, and at the No. 2 spot, 6-2.

In singles play, Stanford created a three-point lead over Oregon as all three matches found their way into tiebreaker sets.

In the No. 1 spot, Thomas Laurent faced No. 101 nationally-ranked Cardinal Tom Fawcett. Laurent took the first set 6-3, but the score flipped in the second with Fawcett’s 6-3 win pushing the match into a tiebreaker.

Spots No. 5 and No. 6 were also pushed into tiebreakers. Cormac Clissold battled Stanford’s Michael Genender in spot No. 5 and in spot No. 6 Gentry faced Stanford’s Eric Fomba.

All three tiebreakers would be left unfinished when Stanford found victory in the No. 4 spot over Oregon freshman Riki Oshima.

Oshima forced the first set into a tiebreaker but fell in the opening set and the second with a final match score of 7-6(6), 6-2, giving the Cardinal the 4-0 match win.

On Monday afternoon the Ducks would see even more tiebreakers in the consolation bracket against No. 19 Cal. Oregon got close to defeating the Bears after claiming the early lead with the doubles point, but ultimately lost the match after dropping four of the six singles sets.

In doubles, Oregon came out victorious, earning the first point thanks to winning the No. 2 spot with the duo of Armando Soemarno and Charles Roberts, along with another win from Stevens and Gentry in the No. 3 spot. Both pairs won 6-4. Stevens and Gentry’s win marks a team-high 12-1 doubles record and the pair’s ninth straight doubles victory.

Cal was fast to get back on the board with Paul Barretto’s two-set win over Oshima in singles play.

The remaining five singles matches would all fall to tiebreaker sets.

Laurent, the nation’s No. 6 player, fell to Cal’s Billy Griffith in the No. 1 singles spot, 2-6, 6-1, 6-0, giving Cal their first lead on the board of 2-1.

Gentry got the Ducks back on track by winning his set’s tiebreaker in the No. 6 spot, 6-4, 3-6, 6-1.

After Stevens dropped his match at the No. 2 spot, 3-6, 6-4, 2-6, Clissold tied the score for the final time with a win over Cal’s Jacob Brumm in the No. 5 spot, 7-6(5), 3-6, 7-6(4).

The deciding match came down to Oregon senior Akihiro Tanaka as he battled against Jack Molloy in the No. 3 spot. Molloy took the first set 6-3, but Tanaka rallied and won the second in 5-7. Molloy’s comeback of 6-4 in the tiebreaker gave Cal the match win over the Ducks.

Oregon will return to Eugene with its next match-up against the Pepperdine Waves on Feb. 4 at 1 p.m.

Follow Maggie Vanoni on Twitter @maggie_vanoni

The post Oregon drops ITA Kick-Off against Stanford and California appeared first on Emerald Media.

— Reported on Sunday morning by the Oregonian’s Ken Goe, Oregon sprinter Hannah Cunliffe left the school’s track and field team. Cunliffe was last year’s 60-meter national champion and USTFCCA Women’s Indoor Track Athlete of the year. She has not competed in either of Oregon’s two meets this indoor season.

— Sabrina Ionescu earned her ninth career triple-double in Oregon’s 84-68 win over Utah on Sunday. The victory marked the team’s sweep of the mountain schools during this weekend’s road trip. On Thursday, the Ducks defeated the Colorado Buffaloes, 74-55. The team remains on top of the Pac-12 with a record of 20-4 overall and 9-1 in the conference.

— The men and women of Oregon’s track and field team set numerous personal records and NCAA-leading times at the Columbia Challenge in New York City over the weekend. On Friday, both the men and women’s distance medley relay teams won their races, with the women setting an NCAA-leading time of 11:00.13. But it was redshirt sophomore Mick Stanovsek who highlighted Saturday’s meet. Stanovsek won the men’s mile with his sub-4 time of 3:57.90, a seven-second personal record and the seventh-best mark in UO history. For the women, junior ChaQuinn Cook broke the school record in the triple jump with a jump of 42 feet and 11 inches in her 2018 season debut.

— Oregon men’s basketball defeated Oregon State in the 350^th edition of the Civil War on Saturday night, 66-57. After dominating the Beavers in the first half, thanks to a 27-4 run and 65 percent field goal shooting, the Ducks had to rally hard through 6-of-24 shooting in the second half.

Follow Maggie Vanoni on Twitter @maggie_vanoni

The post Quick Hits: Cunliffe leaves Oregon track and field, Oregon men’s and women’s basketball victorious appeared first on Emerald Media.

It has been 22 days since the Civil War rivals battled it out on the court when Oregon fell in its biggest losing deficit of the season to Oregon State.

Twenty-two days of training and playing other Pac-12 schools. Each coming into tonight’s rematch with the same conference record after three weeks of playing the same opponents.

Oregon has played four-games since losing to Oregon State, 76-64.

“We looked at ourselves in the mirror after that game,” Oregon forward Paul White said. “We realized that we would have to do some maturing as individuals and as a team.”

In Saturday night’s rematch, Oregon showcased their improvement after defeating the Beavers 66-57 at Matthew Knight Arena.

The 22-day separation paid off.

“We got kicked in Corvallis when we didn’t play very well,” head coach Dana Altman said. “Our ball movement was better … we defended the 3 better than we did over there. Better effort defensively than what we had over there, evened out the rebounds instead of getting beat. Our defensive rebounds were better than what they were three weeks ago.”

After the disappointment of losing the season’s first Civil War, Oregon turned it around with an upset win over No. 11 Arizona State on Jan. 11, the beginning of an improved Oregon team.

Even with back-to-back losses against No. 17 Arizona and USC, the Ducks still wouldn’t shoot as poorly as they did against Oregon State. And in last week’s win against UCLA, Oregon shot percent better than its 36.2 percent, it even had at least six assists more in each of the four games.

Oregon showcased its readiness in the first half of Saturday’s game. With fueled motivation for redemption, the Ducks shot through a 65.2 percent in field goals, over 30 percent more than their first half against the Beavers in Corvallis.

In addition, the Ducks improved their 3-point percentage, free throw percentage, assists and blocks all from the rivals’ first matchup.

“Our biggest difference was our activity defensively,” Altman said. “Seventeen deflections that turned into 17 points, off of turnovers.”

After the loss in Corvallis and what was arguably Payton Pritchard’s worst game of the season, Altman told him that he wanted to see him take more of a leadership role on the court

Pritchard may have only scored seven points in tonight’s game, his lowest per single game all season, but he showed a better sense of team-leadership as he helped the team with seven assists—six more than his game on Jan. 5.

“I think after the first Civil War, I did try to be more vocal,” Pritchard said. “I know for me, my shoots will come, but that’s what I have to do to make this team win.”

Even with the win, the Ducks still showed a lack of consistency. In the second half, a tiring Oregon team allowed the Beavers to take advantage and get as close as eight to the Ducks.

With only 11 games left in the season, Altman wants this reoccurring inconsistency to decrease, alongside the team’s defense.

“Our last four games we scored well,” Altman said. “But we’ve got to get more consistent on the boards and we got to do a better job defensively consistently because you can’t win on the road just by exchanging baskets.”

Follow Maggie Vanoni on Twitter @maggie_vanoni

The post Ducks’ shooting the difference in Civil War rematch appeared first on Emerald Media.