Oregon men’s golf is headed to Brandenton, Florida for the NCAA Championships.

A magical season was in danger of coming to an end. Through two days and two rounds, the Ducks sat in sixth and were on the outside of the top-five looking in at the Noblesville Regional.

But the Ducks saved their best golf for the back-nine of the last round, hitting 17 birdies and adding yet another clutch moment to their season.

Oregon’s lone senior, Jonathan Woo, was the most consistent golfer for the Ducks throughout the tournament. His three-under 69 scorecard in round three was a team-best, and included four birdies on the back-nine. Overall, he tied for seventh place among all golfers in the 14-team regional.

Thomas Lim was not far off. He finished only three strokes behind Woo for the tournament. His one-under 71 in Friday’s second round was the only score under par for the Ducks, which proved to be important in the end.

Zach Foushee and Brandon McIver struggled mightily throughout the tournament, but the latter turned it around on the final day with a two-under 70 scorecard.

Illinois’ Brian Campbell, the N0. 29 ranked player in the nation, won the tournament and finished 10 under.

From the Noblesville Regional, the Ducks will be joined by UCLA, UNLV, SMU and No. 1 Illinois in the NCAA Championships.

This is the second year in a row and sixth in the last nine years the Ducks have made the NCAA Championships. They’ll be looking to improve on last year’s 14th-place finish out of 30 teams.

The NCAA Championships begin on May 29 at the Concession Golf Club in Brandenton.

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– Oregon’s inaugural O Show took place on Monday night at Matt Knight Arena. Former Oregon quarterback Marcus Mariota won three awards, including male athlete of the year. Among the other recipients, long jumper Jenna Prandini won female athlete of the year and men’s basketball head coach Dana Altman won coach of the year. ESPN anchor and UO graduate Neil Everett hosted the event.

– Oregon baseball enters a critical stretch of the season. The Ducks play against Gonzaga tonight and are looking to sweep the two-game series.

– Oregon softball pitcher Cheridan Hawkins changed her pitching delivery midway through the season at the request of head coach Mike White. According to Andrew Greif of The Oregonian, Hawkins has responded well to the change.

– In the Noblesville Regional, Oregon men’s golf must finish in the top five of a 14-team field in order to advance to the NCAA Championship. The challenging field includes Big Ten champion Illinois and last year’s national champion Alabama.

– Head coach Nils Schyllander recently added Thomas Laurent, an international recruit from France, to the men’s tennis team. Having lost Daniel Sardu and Joey Swaysland to graduation, Laurent could be an impact player early on in the 2015-16 season for the Ducks.

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Nearly a month has passed since Joey Swaysland played his last collegiate tennis match in Eugene. It was an important one – against Washington on senior day. Swaysland and fellow senior Daniel Sardu were celebrated. The Ducks dominated in a 4-1 win over their rivals. Head coach Nils Schyllander later described the day as something “they are going to carry with them for the rest of their lives.”

As high as the moment was for Swaysland, an equally low one followed just five days later.

In the Pac-12 championships, the Ducks lost a heartbreaker to Cal, 4-3. A win likely would’ve propelled the Ducks into the NCAA tournament. Instead, the selection committee elected to leave the Ducks out of the field. Oregon’s season and Swaysland’s collegiate career came to an abrupt end.

“I’ve been thinking about it a lot lately,” said Swaysland. “We wished it went a little bit longer. We had a couple chances in key matches, but I think there’s a lot of potential in the years to come.”

Swaysland’s decision to transfer from the University of Texas to Oregon after his sophomore season was huge for a young Ducks team in need of upperclassmen experience.

The transfer made sense for Swaysland. He was buried deep in the rotation on a top-10 Texas team, and in the middle of Swaysland’s sophomore season, he broke his jaw after being punched by a Texas Longhorns football player at an Austin bar. Swaysland needed a change of scenery and saw a program on the rise in Oregon.

“I wanted to be part of something special and help set the foundation for the future,” Swaysland said.

Although the future is bright for Oregon men’s tennis, Swaysland’s loss will be felt, and not just in terms of wins and losses.

From losing a couple of heartbreaking matches to Kevin Farin’s dismissal, this year’s Oregon team experienced its fair share of challenges. Swaysland’s senior leadership was key to getting past them, according to Sardu.

“This team felt a lot of adversity,” Sardu said. “He’s the guy who everyone looks up to and talks to. He helped me a lot with leading this team.”

The season may be over, but Swaysland still feels like he’s a part of the team, at least for now. He continues to work out with the team and attend practices, albeit in a different role.

Swaysland will graduate from Oregon in December. He has his sights set on a higher educational goal: law school.

“I plan on going to law school in Australia,” Swaysland said. “I’ve always been really interested in that field. It’s the next step in my life and it’s what I’m going to do.”

Swaysland won’t know until October which school he’ll be attending, but he said he’s most interested in the University of Sydney and his home state school, the University of New South Wales. He wants to become a corporate lawyer in Australia someday.

His competitive tennis career is likely over, but Swaysland is ready to begin the next chapter of his life.

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The Oregon men’s golf team will be heading to Noblesville, Indiana to compete in the NCAA Regionals. The tournament will be played May 14-16 at the Sagamore Club where Ball State will play host to the event.

Of the 14 teams in the field, the Ducks were seeded No. 2, only behind Big Ten champion Illinois. The Fighting Illini won seven tournaments during the season, more than any other team in the NCAA. The Ducks had five.

The field also features UCLA and Colorado, two teams the Ducks topped in the Pac-12 Championships.

The top five teams from each of the six regionals will compete in the NCAA Men’s Golf Championships in Bradenton, Florida. The tournament will be played at The Concessions Club and will take place from May 29 through June 3.

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After a couple days of battling 15-20 mph winds at Palouse Ridge, the No. 8 Oregon men’s golf team finished the Pac-12 Championships strong on the third day, placing second in the conference tournament.

Oregon shot a combined 10-over in the three day, four-round tournament. They finished second to Stanford, who won its second straight Pac-12 title. Oregon’s second place finish was encouraging for a team that finished eighth and sixth place respectively in the last two Pac-12 Championships.

Stanford sophomore Maverick McNealy, who finished first in the tournament, dominated the field with an 18-under, 10 stroke lead.

Ducks freshman Aaron Wise proved again that he could hang with older, more experienced golfers in a collegiate tournament. His eight-under final combined score trailed only McNealy’s. Wise flirted with first place throughout the tournament, but ultimately settled for second after McNealy shot 61 — a collegiate record at Palouse Ridge — in the final round of play.

Zach Foushee wasn’t far behind for the Ducks. He finished the tournament tied for sixth with a combined even-par scorecard.

After a brutal start to the Pac-12 Championships, Brandon McIver was able to figure out the course in rounds three and four. His two-under round three yesterday and a one-under score in the final round helped the Ducks move ahead of Arizona State and USC.

Jonathan Woo, the Ducks’ lone senior, also contributed. Although he cooled off near the end of the tournament, Woo still managed to finish tied for 23rd-place with a combined six-over score.

The Ducks will now continue championship season with the NCAA Regionals, which begin May 14.

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Eliza Pearce was only seven years old when she experienced sailing for the first time. It was summer in Penobscot Bay in Maine where she frequently vacationed at her grandma’s house.

“I had my first lessons in these little boats called optimists,” Pearce said. “They would put two of us in there and we would spin in circles and cry. We would do little races in the summer, but nothing big.”

Pearce stuck with sailing throughout her childhood. When she came to the University of Oregon, there was no doubt she was joining the UO club sailing team.

“I always enjoyed the racing aspect,” Pearce said. “It was fun to come (to Oregon) and be able to compete with more boats and have that challenge.”

Pearce is now a senior and co-captain of the club sailing team. Unlike most members of the team, however, Pearce had sailing experience prior to joining. In fact, only her and junior Stephen Moran came into club sailing with several years of experience. The majority comes in with little to no experience. But, with the help of teaching and guidance from well-versed sailors, beginners can catch on rather quickly.

Laura Trent, for example, was one of these newcomers. Outside of a sailing camp she went to in high school, Trent didn’t have experience sailing. Trent first went out with the team on Fern Ridge Lake last fall.

“Maybe 15 people showed up who had never sailed before,” Trent said. “They put us in boats as crew and took us out, and it was this gorgeous day. You just kind of fall in love with it.”

Trent and Pearce have become regular sailing partners this season. Each sailor stressed the importance of weight distribution for a successful race and as partners, they’ve developed some familiarity in this regard. Pearce’s background, particularly as a sailing instructor, has also lent itself well in teaching newcomers like Trent.

“She’s taught me pretty much everything I know,” Trent said.

With Pearce in the skipper position and Trent as crew, the pair finished first in their division to help Oregon’s women side win the North West Women’s qualifiers April 18-19.

After co-ed qualifiers next week, the club sailing team will start looking to fill leadership positions and recruit new members. Pearce, along with co-captain Ryan Fritsen, will be graduating at the end of this year.

“Ryan and I, we’re trying to transition away from us because we’re on our way out,” Pearce said. “That’s always tricky – getting the leadership transitioned… We’re trying to step back and let other people take over, which can be hard.”

The team will hold elections some time this spring. Due to his experience, Moran is expected to be elected as one of the co-captains. The other co-captain position, however, is still entirely up for grabs.

Trent will be leading the team’s recruiting efforts, an especially important position considering the team currently only has 6-8 regular participants. Trent wants to encourage newcomers just to try it, like she did last year.

“There’s not a contract you need to sign,” Trent said. “You can come out once, and if you like it, then come out again. If you get a good day and it’s gorgeous, you’ll probably get hooked.”

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In their three years together at the University of Oregon, Zach Foushee and Brandon McIver have seen promising finishes to the regular season quickly turn south at the Pac-12 Championships. With an eighth place finish last year and a sixth place finish in 2013, the Oregon men’s golf teams were missing something when the stakes became high.

“I just didn’t think we were ready,” McIver said of the previous teams. “We didn’t have the team, we were young in certain areas and had some older guys that were on their way out. There just wasn’t much flow or chemistry.”

While they prepare for another Pac-12 Championships as juniors, Foushee and McIver are trying to set aside memories of Oregon’s forgettable performances in the last two years.

But each of them insists there is a different feel to this year’s team, and not just in terms of talent.

“A lot of us hang out away from the course. We’re all really good friends and we have a lot of confidence in each other,” Foushee said. “I think that goes a long way. In previous years we were obviously all friends, but not like this year.”

The Pac-12 Championships begin on Monday, and the Oregon men’s golf team has its sights set on winning the tournament – something that has never been done in the history of the program. And despite those recent performances there is plenty of optimism within the team that this year’s group is capable of going places no other Duck team has gone before.

“Aaron (Wise) and Thomas (Lim) have proven themselves, John (Woo), being the lone senior, has been consistent and Zach and I are coming around,” McIver said. “Without a doubt it’s the most complete team I’ve been on, and I think it’s a team completely capable of winning.”

Another factor that favors the Ducks: The Pac-12 Championship will be played at the Palouse Ridge Golf Club in Pullman, Washington, where the Ducks took first place at the Itani Homes Collegiate against the likes of USC, Washington and Stanford.

“We haven’t played the best our past two years, but the courses have been pretty difficult,” Foushee said. “As a team we’re definitely more comfortable where we’re going at Palouse Ridge.”

However, as comfortable as the course might be, the atmosphere in the Pac-12 Championships is significantly different than a regular season tournament.

“It definitely has a different feel,” head coach Casey Martin said. “People come to watch a little bit. The rules tend to be a little tighter. It creates a little more anxiety, feelings of pressure. But at the same time, it also elevates a lot of peoples’ play.”

The pressure to perform at a high level is no different than the past two years. But with more experienced players like Foushee and McIver leading the team, this year’s group appears primed to handle it.

“Casey has high expectations and we do too,” Foushee said. “There’s definitely pressure to play well, but we’re a lot more confident as a team. I think this year will be different.”

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On senior day in Eugene, the Oregon men’s tennis team got the better of its rival in a 4-1 win against Washington.

Seniors Daniel Sardu and Joey Swaysland were honored in between doubles and singles matches, and their careers were celebrated as they stepped on the court for one last home match.

Fittingly, Sardu and Swaysland were assigned to play together as doubles partners despite only doing so on two prior occasions this season. Their 6-2 defeat over Washington’s Joao Barra and Viktor Farkas set the tone for the Ducks early.

“It’s pretty special to play with Danny (Sardu), he’s one of my best friends,” Swaysland said. “To go out the way we played to finish 6-2, it was awesome. I really enjoy playing with him.”

Head coach Nils Schyllander added, “It’s very special because these guys have been here for years. And for them, a beautiful day in Eugene, a big crowd against our rivals, being able to close it out is something they’re going to carry with them for the rest of their lives.”

Daan Maasland and Simon Stevens battled against Washington’s Emmett Egger and Jeff Hawke to earn the doubles point for the Ducks. The back and forth contest eventually ended in a 7-6 (10-8) win for the pair.

This was the third match in a row in which the Ducks won the doubles point, and all three matches have ended in victory.

“That doubles tiebreaker was huge,” Schyllander said. “Simon came up with an unbelievable shot at match point down. Once we got the doubles point, it just kept rolling.”

When singles began, the Ducks had no trouble hitting their stride. Stevens kept his perfect spring record intact defeating Egger in straight sets. Jayson Amos got his 21st win of the season, a team high, against Hakak in straight sets. And finally, with a 3-1 lead, Cormac Clissold defeated Barra to clinch victory for the Ducks.

Washington got their only point of the afternoon from Jake Douglas’ win over Sardu. Swaysland and Daan Maasland’s matches went unfinished in the third sets.

Coming into the match, Washington’s record looked nearly identical to the Oregon’s on paper. With similar wins over Utah and Arizona, and similar losses to the likes of USC and UCLA, Schyllander said he expected the match to be a close one, and was somewhat surprise with how easy the Ducks made it look today.

For Swaysland and Sardu, the dominant victory over Washington, a team who used to own the Ducks, was the perfect ending to collegiate careers in Eugene.

“The first two years I was here, we didn’t beat Washington, and then finally my junior year we beat them,” Sardu said. “That was a huge step towards getting better as a team. To finish with a 4-1 win, it couldn’t be any better.”

The Ducks will have little time to celebrate as they begin the Pac-12 championship on Tuesday and set their sights on an appearance in the NCAA tournament.

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–  Multiple reports have surfaced that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers intend to use their number one overall pick on Marcus Mariota. ESPN’s Ron Jaworski was the first to report the story.

– Monday’s Oregon football practice featured ongoing storylines from Charles Nelson’s continued development in the secondary.

– Former Oregon basketball player Damyean Dotson has signed a national letter of intent to resume his college career at the University of Houston, according to Joseph Duarte of the Houston Chronicle.

– Oregon women’s golf took first place in the Silverado Showdown and beat in-state rival Oregon State in the process. This was a huge improvement for the team, as they placed fifth in this tournament last season. Caroline Inglis led the Ducks shooting a combined two-over 221 for the tournament.

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The Oregon men’s club rugby team reached a new sponsorship deal in January that will give them financial flexibility through the end of the calendar year and possibly beyond.

The deal was reached with Source Intelligence, a Carlsbad, California-based sustainability company that analyzes the supply chains of companies to determine if their products are produced ethically, morally and legally. With the sponsorship, the team received $5,000 for the winter/spring fifteens season and will receive an additional $5,000 for the upcoming fall sevens season.

This money will allow the team to do a number of things, such as ordering some much-needed gear. This includes tear-away warmup pants, duffle bags, backpacks, practice jerseys and shorts. As a club sport, the men’s rugby team receives some financial help from the university, but not enough to fund everything. In past years, paying for things like new gear had to come from fundraised money as well as individual dues. Before the sponsorship deal was put into place this year, the team struggled to collect enough dues to place an order for gear.

“It’s frustrating for a lot of players because they’ll play all season and they won’t get their gear until the end of the year,” team president Connor Crossley said. “I know when I came in, I wanted gear right away, but the way the cycle went, it was hard to do. This (sponsorship) will free us up for new gear.”

The foundation was laid out last fall when Crossley, vice president Jess Kraus and treasurer Vinoth Papan put together sponsorship proposals to send out to businesses. Kraus sent one of these to his uncle and his namesake, Jess F. Kraus IV, the CEO and co-founder of Source Intelligence.

Kraus IV wanted to learn more about the University of Oregon, so he did some research and was pleasantly surprised to learn that the school’s sustainable design major was ranked number one in the nation, according to DesignIntelligence.

“That really resonated with me,” Kraus IV said in a phone interview. “They also offer a rigorous major in the area of sustainability. My company is all about that.”

Crossley, Kraus and head coach Pate Tuisue conferenced with Kraus IV over the phone in January to figure out the terms of the sponsorship deal. The proposals sent out in the fall listed three tiers of sponsorship to choose from: bronze, silver and gold/platinum. Kraus IV chose the gold/platinum tier. While the team will receive $10,000 this year, Source Intelligence gets an exclusive sponsorship with the team, and the company logo will be appearing on the team’s new gear.

“Our warmup gear and team gear is going to have Source Intelligence on them,” Kraus said. “We also have a Source Intelligence banner that we’re going to put up on our home field for games, and we’re going to bring a canopy with their name on it to away games.”

The money from Source Intelligence has already helped in ordering new team gear, but that is just one of several positive impacts that this sponsorship will provide.

“This is going to help us grow as a club skill-wise,” Kraus said. “The more money we have to travel to places to play better teams, the better we can become ourselves. This is just the beginning.”

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