University of California, Los Angeles, Athletics
Strutzel To Run The 800-meters At The NCAA Track & Field Championships On Friday
June 1, 2000
Second Day UCLA Track and Field Highlights
2000 NCAA M/W T & F Outdoor Championships
Wallace Wade Stadium, Duke University, Durham, NC
Complete Second Day Top 10 Team Scores:
Women - BYU 23, Arkansas and Nebraska 18, Houston 16, UCLA 15, California 11, SMU 10, Texas 10, Wyoming 10, Akron 10, USC 3 (22nd tie).
Men - Stanford 31, Auburn 21, SMU 18, LSU 16, Georgia 13, Wyoming 10, Ole Miss 10, Idaho 10, Texas A&M 9, Arizona State and Boise State 8, USC 4 (18th tie).
(There are eight finals on Thursday - men (4)- hammer, pole vault, shot put, 10,000m,
women (4) -discus, high jump, long jump, heptathlon).
UCLA Women
Field Events
Discus (final) - senior Seilala Sua won the event with a mark of 200-09 . For Sua, it was her fourth consecutive NCAA Outdoor discus title and her fifth outdoor title overall (she won the 1999 shot put crown). She joins Wisconsin's Suzy Favor as the only woman in NCAA Outdoor history to win four consecutive individual titles (Favor won the 1500m from 1987-90). Sua also ties (five) Favor (she won the 800m in 1990) for the most ever NCAA Outdoor titles by an individual. Sua will have a chance to set the record when she competes Friday in the shot put final (Sua is the defending champion).
"I think I was trying to hard, I was nervous on my first throw today," said Sua, who last year at the World Championships placed sixth in the discus, the highest finish ever by an American woman. "I was happy to get the win. I knew that Cheree (second place Cheree Hicks, Syracuse, 187-0) could come back at any time. There was not pressure to win, there was pressure to get a good throw.
"I'm happy this gets in the record book. UCLA is such a great throwing school.
"I know there is more in me," said Sua, who is chasing the American record of 216-10, set by Carol Cady in 1986. "I didn't feel like I could get a 220' throw today. There's better meets to come. I didn't have a very good day. But I still won and I'm happy for that." Sua's personal-best is 212-10.
High Jump (final) - sophomore Darnesha Griffith, who won this event at the Pac-10, no-heighted. She came into the meet tied for the fourth-best mark on the collegiate list (6-0 _). Griffith is the niece to Jackie Joyner Kersee and the late Florence Griffith Joyner.
Long Jump (final) - sophomore Keyon Soley placed 20th with a mark of 19-5 _ for the Bruins. It was uncertain at what level Soley, who won this event last March at the NCAA Indoor, would be able to complete. At the Pac-10 meet, held March 20-21 in Eugene, Soley hyperextended her right knee during the long jump and did not record a mark. For the last week-and-a-half, she has been in rehabilitation.
Track Events
100m Hurdles (prelims, semis Friday) - junior Michelle Perry, the two-time defending Pac-10 champ, placed fifth (13.17, her time was the 13th fastest) in heat three and advanced to Friday's semifinal. Perry has already qualified for the 400m hurdle final, also on Friday.
100m (prelims, semis Friday) - junior Shakedia Jones, a five-time Outdoor All-American, placed first (11.40, season legal best) in heat three. It was the third fastest time of the day and she qualifies for Friday's semis. Jones has already qualified for the 200m semis, also on Friday.
Looking to Friday for the Bruin women
Sua is the defending champion in the shot put. If she wins, it will be her sixth NCAA Outdoor individual crown, the most in women's NCAA outdoor history. Sophomore Tracy O'Hara, the collegiate outdoor record holder, junior Erica Hoernig and sophomore Heather Sickler compete in the pole vault final. Perry competes in the 400m hurdle final.
UCLA Men
Pole Vault (final) - senior Brian McLaughlin, who was fifth at the Pac-10, no-heighted.
Looking To Friday for the Bruin men
Senior Jess Strutzel, the collegiate leader in the 800m and the NCAA Indoor champ, competes in the 800m final.