May 5, 2001
Los Angeles - One UCLA streak continued while another came to an end Saturday in the annual UCLA vs. USC women's and men's dual track and field meet held at USC Cromwell Field/Loker Stadium, before a capacity crowd of 3,127. The Bruin women won their dual meet over USC for the ninth consecutive year, beating the Trojans, 85-78. But the UCLA men's 22-meet winning streak came to a halt, as the Trojan men won the dual for the first time since 1977, 82-81.
The women's dual came down to the 4 X 400m relay. Going into the meet, the Trojan women had the best time of the season (3:34.86 to UCLA's 3:35.38). But the Bruin relay of freshman Adia McKinnon, freshman Sheena Johnson, junior Ysanne Williams and senior anchor Michelle Perry won with a time of 3:32.76 (USC ran 3:33.17). UCLA's time was a stadium record, season-best, an NCAA automatic qualifying mark and No. 8 in school history.
In the men's meet, UCLA had to place one-two-three in the 5000m and win the 4 X 400m relay to win the meet. But UCLA was only able to finish one-two in the 5000m (Bruin senior Will Bernaldo was first (14:57.91) and junior Bryan Green placed second (15:06.44), as USC sophomore Justin Neems (15:13.32) edged Bruin freshman Jon Rankin for third place (15:16.57), sealing the victory for the Trojan men. It was Rankin's second distance event of day, after winning the 1500m (3:49.08, personal-best). The Bruin men (3:08.03, season-best) did come back to win the 4 X 400m relay, beating USC (3:08.20).
UCLA Women
Perry's anchor leg victory in the 4 X 400m relay was her fifth event of the day. Perry, who is also the nation's collegiate leader in the women's heptathlon, won the 100m (13.18, season-best, NCAA provisional) and 400m hurdles (56.23, personal-best, NCAA automatic qualifier, No. 4 in school history), ran on UCLA's 4 X 100m relay that placed second (44.19, season-best, NCAA automatic) and finished fourth in the long jump (19-6 1/4).
UCLA's other winners were - senior Shakedia Jones in the 100m (11.13, season-best, NCAA automatic), sophomore Elaine Canchola in the 3000m steeplechase (13:08.99, the women actually ran an extra lap), junior Darnesha Griffith in the high jump (5-10 1/2, season-best, NCAA provisional qualifier), junior Tracy O'Hara in the pole vault (14-0, meet record), senior Christina Tolson in the shot put (58-2 1/2, personal-best, NCAA automatic qualifier, No. 4 in school history) and hammer throw (held on Friday at W. LA College, 207-3, meet record) and sophomore Chaniqua Ross in the discus (183-9, personal-best, NCAA automatic qualifier, No. 9 in school history).
UCLA has now won the last nine meets in a row and leads the series 15-3. Bruin head coach Jeanette Bolden has never lost to the Trojans (8-0, dating back to 1994).
UCLA Men
Other winners for the Bruin men were - freshman Michael Lipscomb in the 200m (20.87, personal-best), junior Andrew Wulf in the 3000m steeplechase (9:03.56, personal-best), freshman Dan Ames in the shot put (63-10 1/4, personal-best, NCAA automatic qualifier), junior Scott Moser in the discus (198-3) and sophomore Nate Marum in the javelin (215-3). USC's one-point win tied for the closet dual meet in the series history (in 1999, Bob Larsen's last season as the Bruin head coach, UCLA beat USC 82-81 at Cromwell Field). USC's dual win snaps UCLA's 22-meet winning streak. The Bruins' streak was from 1978-2000 (the 1982 meet was nonscoring). USC leads the series 39-29 (the Trojans won the first 33 meets, dating back to 1934).