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Show eSee How will Mike Weir deal with a tonger August Natona!? cs American League ¢-7 | National League c-7 Mnesota 7, Toronto 5 NBA c-12 | Montreal 5, Cinna 2 New Yor'3, Tampa BayO | Pittsburgh 6, Chicago 1 Boston 4, Baltimore 2 Cleveland 5, Detroit 3 Cicago 14, Kansas City 0 Anatom 6, Texas 3 Cakiand 6. Seat 3 San Antonio 89, Daas 87 Flonda 7, Phiadelpha 3 San Francisco 4,San Diego! New York 11, Alana 2 Anzona 6, Mibwaukee 3 St Lous 8, Houston 4 | Los Angeles 9, Colorado? | fOTIOy, Cleveland 120, Chicago 101 Chariote 93, Atanta 86 Washington 88, Memphis 85 Minnesota 108, Phoenix 104 Portand 113, Gokden State 86 SUNDAY 1 GOLF: MICKELSON PUTTS AWAY LEAD C-10 igNORDIC SKIING: FOUR US. COACHESRESIGN C-3 APRIL7, 2002 M WEATHER C-14 Ostertag Cares Not TooLittle, But Too Much he big man says hedoesn't care what people think about him. peeee es upon him like vy hammerhead ofa pounding ae Hesays he paysno attention to the jeers the crowd, to dispar- RKO See told with his name as the punch line. He says he laughs. attheir laugh- He says, “[Bleep] 'em.” language,though,ina quiet momentoff the court, says something it. ‘Tt says he cares nottoo little, but ‘too much. Itsays he hurts. No Jazz player in franchise history has absorbed the abuse that Greg Ostertag has absorbed. Maybe none other has invited it. He occupies an unenviable and eeeee circa praise, ae punishmentand parody. One has tumbled into the other, then theother ‘Trent Nelson/TheSalt Lake Tribune Highland High's Nurani Sheikh arrived in Utah in 2000 from Somalia via Yemen and Kenya. He has emerged asoneof the top 2-milers in the United States; Moving Ahead man,it seems so long ago — when Ostertag was receiving pats on the back forplaying Hakeem Olajuwon and Shaquille O'Neal at least reasonably tough? Remember when the Jazz were making title runs, when Jerry Sloan played a rare v reaching for a fancy, polysyllabic adjective, labeling Ostertag’s contributions “imperative”to the seem. pe. cess?. Anybody:recall when onesingled out Ostertag as *ara io to whatwe're trying to do”? More indelibly impressed is the nelook at Nurani Sheikh and there is noquestion whatheloves to do: run. The Hi had when Sloan ran ‘Ostertag mn several occasions — including on i ers thedoorto his Salt Lake City:/home decked outin full racing paraphernalia —a warm-up suitfrom the Foot Locker Cross Country Champicnships,a Tshirt from the National Scholastic Indoor Championships andthegold and silver medals he wonat the NSIC hanging from this year — offhis bench a ee dination, using an array of even more colorful expressions. ‘And when Ostertag was slapped to the ground by Shag,left solitarily, pitiably to search fora lost contact Jens, nota single teammate coming to hisneck. Sheikh (pronounced “shake”) has been in the United States less than two years, and al- his defense. Even after so much troubled water flowed under the bridge, assistant a) he has plenty to showforit. Thanks to his legs and his head — he’s one ofthefastest coach Gordie Chiesa said thatfor the Jazz to reach their peak, they must get their center with the Fred Flintstone't‘tattoo on his leg somehow to , mentally and prep distance runners in the country and carTies a 3.86 grade-point average — he’s headed to cross country powerhouse Northern Arizona Aa ram ee the last eaeSomalian native flashes tin-mele grin. physically.” . Which was fitting, considering Ostertag had once Highland’s Sheikh focused onfuture after turbulentpast BY MICHAEL YOUNT ‘THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE moment, in a different season, when Maen eens at ed, presumably sk after snapping outofa: “Nice, huh?”helaughs,referring to the orth- andField News and Runners World.” For someone with Sheikh’s prospects,life could hardly seem odontia. Braces are as close to a nightmare as it gets for many American teen-agers. For Sheikh, they're practically a dreamcometrue. As is his gift for running, whichhewill talk aboutendlessly, down to the smallestdetail. Split times. Tactical errors. Past results. Collegiate and Olympicaspirations. It’s no wonderthat whenhis coach, Tony ration. His father has been missingsince 1991, presumed by manyto be dead. But Sheikh clings to a thread of hope, a dream that somewhere,his fatheris alive. “T wantto forget about the past, those were all bad days,” he says. “I don’t like to keep re- membering it bytalking about it. “ Sheikh prefers talk of his newlife. The one that begins in Utah on June23, 2000. The one Casillas, told him heneeded to read more to pre- pare forhis coll sponded,“I read, Coach.” better. But there have been darker days and painthat his high school friends could scarcely imagine. Civil war in his homelandripped hisfamily apart. From the age of7, Sheikh lived as an orphaned refugeein Yemen. Years passed beforehe was reunited with an uncle in Kenya. Sheikh joined his motherin the United States after nearly a decadeofsepa- test, Sheikh re- that has him living with his mother, Sharifa Qadi Mohamed, for first time since childhood. ‘The one with thefull-ridecollege scholarship See SHEIKH, Page C-6 “No,” Casillas replied. “You just read Track jump,that and then beamed back at slump's end Funnything was,judging from the way he had played, nobody questioned the explanation. It made as much sense as anything else. Itstill vexing, cryptic, goofy kind of Stingers’ Victory Has A Major-League Feel GYMNASTICS NCAA REGIONALS Utah Easily consistentinconsistency has defined Ostertag’s career. Up one game, down five, up three, down 10. BY PHIL MILLER thusly: “I don’t know what's been wrong.I'm trying to find a way to be intense every night, to be ready to , I'm great, and some- times, Teper belong cron the cont, Idon't know. Someday,I'll figure it out, maybe as I get more mature,I'm a oot T'mseen as aguy who signed thi contract CoveyField. Only the million-dollar pay For a Triple-A game, there sure were a lot of major-league checks were missing. Stingers starter Mickey Callawaycould be earning someofthose someday if he keeps pitching the way hedid in his Salt Lake debut. touches to the Stingers’ 4-1 victory over Portland on Saturday. Start with the 18 strikeouts, including a coupleof players with big-leagueworthy, him in — hehated the game as a kid challenge has. lowe friends anythat he does work at improving and he wants to please everybody, in the worst way. But thatif he blows a dunk or fumbles a ball, there comes a | | ‘The 26-year-old Tennessee native, now 35-17 in Triple-A, struck out seven and allowed four hits in five shutoutinnings. eeanythingMeat Tan ook. ing for. Even those who ridicule Ostertag should sense honesty in Pesothe passion of pated basketball doesn't completely draw Advances To Nationals And a Montreal-type crowd of 4,692 witnessed it all at Franklin THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE Sich osettocnsceslain it, although he made the attempt once were Knockedin by homeruns, Barry Bonds would be proud. Despite the low score, nine | ers had worn major-league uni forms in 70 guesnnd Saft Lake's tion to its 27th consecutive na tional meet in a performancehighlighted by Theresa Kulikowski's perfect Brumley seasons, was in the Portland beamroutine, the Utes scored 197.100 to win the West Region meet at Corvallis, Ore. ‘The Utes will competeat na: tionals, April 18:20 at Tuscaloosa, Ala. Two teams advanced Saturday from each of six re Sal the right-hander. lineup. Danny La/The Salt Lake Tribune Lake second baseman Chone Portland's Pete | Incaviglia, completing papon ears a double Spurs Inch ve vicissitudes, ttt ithe ban wa nate aalie R COPY| come Tim Duncan ifts San vmarlatintht hall a inthe Mdwest. q Fon ciate Nevesmea, over during the Stingers’ 4-1 win at Franklin Covey Field. Inside Sports mi Amid his ihe night, while earning an invita- He's not overpowering, solocation is key for him, but he had it work: starter spent much of the spring with the Angels, a tryout that gave the big-league team a good look at times in a dozen major-league women's gymnastics team did much more than that Saturday manager. “He's a four-pitch guy. cme; figufesto et evexi better once he gets a few more innings behind Incaviglia, who homered 206 vance. The University of Utah Heleft after nearing his 75-pitch limit, butnot before impressing his ing real well tonight,” said Mike Brumley. “When he works ahead of the hitters, he has lot of success.” Sale, whospent time with Tampa Baiy in two different it sea pitchers were used, a revolvingdoor approach that Tony LaRussa would admire, The starting ety THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE In any qualifying meet, the goal is just to survive and ad. dames Blake, right, and | Micaenes best-o-fve Davis Cup t | Adam Tate | Todd Martin put the ‘Amoricans up 2-1 in aepcrrniny oenance i void left by running backs DameonHunter, right, and _s gions, regardless of score. BYU, Southern Utah and Utah State missed chances to ac- companythe Utes to Alabama, Sec UTES,Page C-9 |