Morrow's Musings
- By Jeff Morrow
509-582-1507
Area athletes look for Aussie glory
Things we can talk about as I rejoice that my kids are back in school:
Two area athletes are embarking on their professional sports careers this week.
Benton City's Jeremy Eaton, a Richland High graduate who played college basketball at Gonzaga University, left Saturday to play professional basketball in Australia.
Meanwhile, Kennewick High grad Leo Slack leaves later this week for the San Francisco area, where he'll train full time for the decathlon with his eye on the 2000 Summer Olympics - ironically, also in Australia.
Eaton just completed a busy summer in which he played summer pro league ball with the Atlanta Hawks and the Utah Jazz, and he worked out for the Seattle Sonics.
He said he felt good about his performances.
"I really had a good time," he said. "I think I helped myself for next year. (Utah coach Jerry) Sloan told me to work hard for a year. Everybody I played for this summer, they were just surprised by my play."
A lot had to do with the guard-oriented style of ball Gonzaga played during its Elite Eight run in the NCAA tournament in March.
Eaton will play in Australia's National Basketball League for the Melbourne Tigers.
San Antonio Spurs forward Andrew Gaze is the star of the team, while Gaze's father, Lindsay, is the team's coach.
Eaton is joining the team a bit late.
"They've played some exhibition games," Eaton said. "We play the Victoria Titans, their big-time rivals, on Sept. 5th. There's a tournament in Melbourne, then the season gets started."
Slack, meanwhile, is rebounding after a disappointing finish to his college track career at Washington State University.
He injured his shoulder his junior season, then hurt his knee during his senior season.
"I think we waited too long to fix it," said Slack, who graduated from WSU in 1998 and spent last year training and helping out with the River View of Finley track team.
Slack got his big break just recently, though, when one of his mother-in-law's co-workers stepped forward to sponsor him.
"That was so great," Slack said. "Now all I have to do is train."
Which is why Slack is leaving for San Francisco. He'll be training under the watchful eye of USA decathlon coach Harry Mara.
And Slack wants to go, now.
"I feel like now would probably be the best time to go," he said. "Any later, there would be doubts about my shape."
All Slack has to do to get an invitation to the Olympic Trials next year is score a certain amount of points in the 10 events.
Slack was a standout long jumper and triple jumper at Kennewick High. But the 1994 KHS graduate loves the decathlon now.
"I like the mental challenge of doing more than one event. It keeps me from being bored," he said.
Slack expects to put in 30 hours of track training a week.
"Instead of an hour and 20 minutes per event that someone usually trains a day, in the decathlon you have to go 45 minutes to one hour per event," Slack said.
His least favorite event? The 1,500 meters, "I hope to remedy that, though," he said.
His favorite event though, is the pole vault.
"I was kind of afraid of it in high school," he said. "But I took a liking to it. I'm not too fond of heights, but I like the pole vault."
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Tri-City sports fans might remember Rich Sanders, the Kamiakin High graduate who coached the Hanford boys basketball team in the 1980s and was Ed Weidenbach's assistant coach for the CBC men's basketball team in 1990 and 1991.
Sanders has been the men's basketball coach at Northwest Nazarene College for the past two seasons, and he's bringing his team to the Tri-Cities for an exhibition game against a German team at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the new Life University Gymnasium on the Cathedral of Joy campus (325 Gage, Richland).
The team features one area athlete - Pasco's Kelly Herron, who averaged 7.9 points a game last season. Two Wenatchee athletes, Eli Effinger and Josh Cooprider, also play for Northwest Nazarene.
Because it's an exhibition, the game won't count against the Crusaders' record. And it's the best price. Free.
* * *
Pasco soccer standout Mike Pardini made his collegiate debut last week, coming off the bench for the Seattle Pacific University men's team in a 1-0 win over Cal Poly Pomona, and in a 1-0 double-overtime victory over Cal State Dominguez Hills.
- Sports editor Jeff Morrow can be reached at 582-1507 or via e-mail at jmorrow@tri-cityherald.com
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