University of California, Los Angeles, Athletics
Results From Day Three Of NCAA Track And Field Championships
June 2, 2000
2000 NCAA M/W T & F Outdoor Championships
Wallace Wade Stadium, Duke University, Durham, NC
Third Day Top 10 Team Scores
Women
1. UCLA 44, 2. BYU 31, 3. Arkansas 29, 4. Texas 27, 5. USC 24, 6. SMU 20, 7. Nebraska/Houston 18, 9. Syracuse 16, 10. Colorado 15.
Men
1. Stanford 36, 2. LSU 28, 3. Arizona 26, 4. Auburn 24, 5. Arkansas 23, 6. USC/SMU 18, 8. Florida/Alabama 14, 10. Georgia/Arizona State 13.
UCLA Women's Head Coach Jeanette Bolden - "I don't mind sitting on a lead, we were hoping to be ahead at this time, but I wish we were a lot further ahead. We had a good day, but not our best day and we have only two people competing tomorrow. USC and LSU should now be the favorites. They will have more people on the track tomorrow."
UCLA Women
Field Events:
Shot Put (final) - senior Seilala Sua, the defending champion, won with a mark of 56-11 _ (season best). For Sua, it's her sixth NCAA Outdoor title (she won the discus here on Thursday, 1999 discus/shot put, 1999 discus, 1997 discus) and she becomes the winningest women's athlete in NCAA Outdoor history (after Thursday's discus win, Sua was tied with Wisconsin's Suzy Favor, who had won five NCAA Outdoor titles - 1987-90 1500m, 1990 800m).
In all, Sua has seven NCAA championships, also winning the indoor shot put last March (Favor is the all-time combined leader with nine women's individual indoor/outdoor championships). Also during her four-year NCAA Outdoor/Indoor career, Sua has scored 107 points, including 20 in this meet for defending her titles in the discus and shot put, for UCLA. Bruin junior Christina Tolson, who came into the event with the nation's top collegiate mark (56-10 _), placed fifth, with a mark of (52-9 _). On Wednesday, Tolson placed fifth in the hammer, earning All-America honors in both events and scoring 10 points for the Bruins.
"That's pretty cool, I'm glad I have that," said Sua, when told of her all-time NCAA women's outdoor individual championship record. "I'm glad I can finish off my UCLA career with this shot put title. I kept waiting for my teammate (Christina), because I knew at any time she could have won this, too. This will be my last shot event for this year, but I hope to keep throwing it during my career." Sua will now concentrate on the discus at the U. S. Trials (July 14-23 in Sacramento). Sua is the two-time defending U. S. women's discus champion.
Pole Vault (final) - sophomore Tracy O'Hara, the collegiate outdoor record holder who also won this event at the NCAA Indoor last March, won with a vault of 14-5 _ (a meet and stadium record).
Sophomore Heather Sickler was 12th (12-9 _) and junior Erica Hoernig, who was sick this morning with a fever and hives and came into the event with the sixth best mark (13-7), only managed to place 15th (12-3 _).
"It went really well out there, it went as planned," said O'Hara. "I didn't get a personal-best, but I got 10 points for my team. It felt really good out there."
Track Events:
400m Hurdles (final) - junior Michelle Perry, placed fourth in the final, with a time of 56.50 (personal best, No. 4 in school history). Perry earns All-America outdoor honors for the fourth time (first time in an individual event) and earns five points for the Bruin women in their quest for the team title.
100m Hurdles (semis, final Saturday) - Perry, who just an hour before placed fourth in the 400m hurdles, ran in the first heat and placed seventh (13.27) and did not qualify for Saturday's final.
100m (semis, final Saturday) - junior Shakedia Jones placed fourth in heat two (11.33, season legal best) and advanced to Saturday's final.
200m (semis, final Saturday) - Jones, who just an hour earlier ran in the 100m semis and aggravated a hamstring injury, ran in the first heat and placed eighth (23.67). She did not advance to Saturday's final.
Looking Ahead To Saturday
The Bruins will only have two competitors, senior Deana Simmons in the triple jump final and junior Shakedia Jones in the 100m final.
UCLA Men
800m (final) - senior Jess Strutzel, who came into this meet with the top collegiate mark (1:46.03) and who won the 800m at the 2000 NCAA Indoor, placed fifth, with a time of 1:46.39. It was his second outdoor All-American honor and he also earned the only points for the Bruin men's team (four) at this meet.
"I'm not terribly pleased," said Strutzel, who during his UCLA career earned two NCAA championships (2000 NCAA Indoor 800m and 1999 NCAA Indoor DMR). "I didn't feel real good. I got sick (allergies) at the Pac-10. I feel better, I just didn't have the gas. The pace was like I expected, but I got lost out there and didn't recover well. It's my own fault. It was one of those off days for me."