University of California, Los Angeles, Athletics
UCLA Women Take First At Pac-10 Track & Field Championships
May 22, 2000
Final Team Scores: Women - UCLA 167.50, USC 161, Stanford 114, Washington State 86, Arizona State 75, Arizona 65, Washington 58, California 56, Oregon 35.50. (It's the closest women's meet in Pac-10 history, dating back to 1987).
Men - USC 154, Stanford 122.50, Arizona State 101, Washington 83/UCLA 83, Arizona 75, Oregon 71, California 68, Washington State 59.50.
The UCLA women, under Jeanette Bolden, have won the last four conference crowns (under Bolden, in her seventh year, the Bruins have won six league titles).
UCLA Women's Head Coach Jeanette Bolden: As the women's team title was tightening at the end of the meet between UCLA and USC, the Bruins won the team title with a top-three sweep (24 points) in the pole vault. "This is as nervous as I've ever been at a Pac-10 meet. I'm so happy for the vaulters. Anthony Curran has done such a great job with our women's and men's vaulters. I'm so proud of Heather Sickler (third in the vault). Yesterday she had a 102-degree temperature. But she got it done for us today, it's not easy to come through when you are sick. These vaulters work well together, they feed off of each other's energy. When they saw Heather doing well, it inspired the other two.
"I keep telling our group, we need to function as a team. We have such a large squad, we really didn't start coming together until the USC dual. I tell them a season is like a 15-round fight. The USC meet was about round seven and at the end of this meet it was round 14 and the cards were even. We have one more round to go at nationals."
UCLA Men
Field
Discus - sophomore Scott Moser was third (185-8) and freshman Scott Wiegand was 10th (164-11).
Triple Jump - senior Narc Narcisse was 11th (45-8, season-best legal mark).
High Jump - freshman Josh Levy placed 14th (6-5).
Track
4 X 100m Relay - no entry (two of the Bruins' top 400m runners, seniors, Malachi Davis (hamstring) and Terrence Williams (foot stress fracture) are not in the meet because of injury).
1500m - no entry
110m H - no entry
400m - senior Michael Granville won the event, in a time of 46.49. Senior Tom Jonsson was seventh (48.08). Granville, who in 1999 ran on two UCLA NCAA Championship relays (indoor, American record-setting DMR, outdoor, 4 X 400m relay) in his first three years at UCLA was an 800m runner, who set the national HS record in the 800 in 1996 (1:46.45).
"My coach (John Smith) told me to ran my race. He wanted me to beat everyone off the first turn, run strong into the wind and in the last 100, just let it go and trust my fitness level. It's a blessing to get a solo Pac-10 Championship in my senior season. This is going to help me in my future track endeavors."
100m - junior Bryan Harrison was sixth (10.39w, +3.0, season-best wind-aided mark) and senior Damian Allen pulled up (hamstring) abut _ into the race, but finished (eighth place) with a time of 11.37w (+3.0).
800m - senior Jess Strutzel, the national leader (1:46.03) and 2000 NCAA Indoor champion, placed second (1:49.59), to Arizona's Patrick Nduwimana (1:49.52), the 1999 Pac-10 winner.
400mH - junior John Hall placed second (50.48, personal best, NCAA provisional, No. 10 in school history) and freshman Kyle Erickson was sixth (52.68)
200m - junior Bryan Harrison was second (20.75w, +2.1, wind-aided personal best mark).
5000m - junior Paul Muite was 15th (14:41.75, personal best).
4 X 400m Relay - senior Michael Granville, senior Tom Jonsson, junior John Hall and senior Jess Strutzel placed second (3:06.89, season best and NCAA provisional).
UCLA Women
Field
Triple Jump - senior Deana Simmons was third (42-10 1/4w), sophomore Kristee Porter was sixth (41-5 3/4w, season-best, NCAA provisional), senior Kelly O'Connor was eighth (40-6w, season-best ) and sophomore Eboni Grayson was 14th (35-10). Simmons won the triple jump as a sophomore in 1998 and is a three-time outdoor/indoor All-America.
High Jump - sophomore Darnesha Griffith was first, with a mark of 5-10. The 1999 U. S. Junior champ and third at this meet last year, her aunts are Jackie Joyner Kersee and the late Florence Griffith Joyner. Freshman Heather Newlin tied for fifth (5-6).
"When I hit 5-10, I started to feel comfortable out there. At 6-0, I wanted to power over it. My only thought was to get over it." Griffith's personal-best is an NCAA automatic qualifying mark of 6-0 _, set in UCLA's win over USC on May 6.
Pole Vault - UCLA clinched the team title with a top-three sweep - sophomore Tracy O'Hara, the collegiate outdoor and indoor record-holder and junior Erica Hoernig, tied for first (13-7, it was a personal best for Hoernig), with sophomore Heather Sicker placing third 13-3 (personal best, NCAA automatic).
Discus - senior Seilala Sua won the discus (205-1) and freshman Caroline Soong was 11th (153-2). In her Pac-10 career, Sua, who yesterday won the shot put and placed second in the javelin, won six Pac-10 throwing championships in the shot put (3), discus (2) and javelin (1)
Track
4 X 100m Relay - sophomore Eboni Grayson, junior Michelle Perry, senior Tamar Cherebin and junior Shakedia Jones were second (44.79).
1500m - sophomore Katie Nuanes was seventh (4:32.87).
100m H - junior Michelle Perry, the defending champion, won the event, in a time of 13.03w (+3.5). It's her best time ever for a wind-aided mark and yesterday in prelims, she ran her personal legal best (13.15). For the fifth consecutive season, a Bruin has won this event (Joanna Hayes won three straight from 1996-98). Since 1987, the Bruins have won this event 10 times (of 14).
400m - sophomore Bunmi Ogunleye was fourth (54.93). Her mother Modupe Oshikoya, a Nigerian Olympian, competed for UCLA from 1977-78.
100m - junior Shakedia Jones, a seven-time indoor and outdoor sprint All-American, placed second (11.26w, +2.2, season-best wind-aided mark).
800m - sophomore Ysanne Williams, the 1999 Pan Am and U. S. Junior champion, placed fifth, 2:09.09.
400m H - junior Michelle Perry, who earlier in the day won the 100m hurdles, placed third (58.22).
200m - junior Shakedia Jones, who earlier in the day placed second in the 100m, was fourth (23.46w, +2.4).
5000m - senior Jessica Matthews was 15th (17:34.36) and sophomore Katie Nuanes placed 16th (17:44.88.
4 X 400m Relay - sophomore Bunmi Ogunleye, sophomore Ysanne Williams, junior Shakedia Jones and junior Michelle Perry placed second (3:37.10, season-best, NCAA provisional).