Friday, March 13, 1998
Bruins gear up for championships
W-TRACK: UCLA’s best hope strong performance will top last
year’s finish
By Alvin Cadman
Daily Bruin Contributor
As warm weather returns to Southern California, the UCLA women’s
track and field team will finish the indoor season by sending six
athletes to the 1998 NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships,
held in Indianapolis, Ind. The Bruins hope to improve on last
year’s seventh-place finish.
On Friday, the UCLA squad will showcase freshman standout
Shakedia Jones. The 5-4 sprinter from Illinois will return to the
Midwest as a double entry. She will compete in the 55-meter and
200-meter sprints.
She is currently ranked fourth in the nation in the 55-meter
sprints with a time of 6.73 seconds. Jones’ 200-meter time of 23.77
places her 16th on the NCAA qualifying list. She is also the
defending back-to-back Junior Olympics women’s 200-meter
champion.
Rachelle Noble will compete in the 20-pound weight throw. She is
ranked 12th on the collegiate charts with a distance of 61-9. She
won All-American honors in this event last season and is considered
UCLA’s most versatile thrower.
She is also double entered at the Indoor, competing in the
weight throw and shot put. Noble is ranked 18th in the nation in
the shot put, with a throw of 51-2.
On Saturday, redshirt freshman Erica Hoernig will compete in the
pole vault final.
Her top vault of the season, 11-11, places her 13th on the NCAA
qualifying list.
She competed at the 1996 U.S. Olympic Trials and is prepared to
face a challenge at the 1998 NCAA Indoors.
Sophomore Deana Simmons, ranked seventh in the nation with a
43-5 mark, which was third best in Bruin history. She will compete
in the triple jump. Last summer she won the gold medal in the
triple jump at the U.S. Junior and Pan American meets.
Finally, senior Nada Kawar and sophomore Seilala Sua will
compete in the shot put, along with Noble. Kawar is No. 3 in the
nation with a mark of 57-0 and is a two-time indoor
All-American.
Meanwhile, Sua earned All-American honors last year in the
indoor shot put as a true freshman. She also won the 1997 NCAA
outdoor shot put title.
"I am really looking forward to competing this weekend. Practice
has been going well for Nada, Rachelle and me.
"We are all ready to hit a big throw," said Sua.
The rest of the UCLA squad will compete at the Cal State
Fullerton Invitational. Led by 1997 All-American juniors Andrea
Anderson and Joanna Hayes, the Bruins hope to tune up for the
Stanford Invitational in two weeks.
Anderson will compete in the 100 and 200-meter sprints, while
Hayes will be entered in the 100 and 400-meter hurdles.
"The outlook for the outdoor season looks extremely good.
Everyone is healthy and training very well. I think we all have a
shot at going to nationals," said sophomore long and triple jumper
Kelly O’Connor.