Monday, April 13, 1998
Bruins sprint to victory at Drake
WOMEN’S TRACK: Minnesota, CS Northridge, Houston no match for
UCLA’s stars
By Alvin Cadman
Daily Bruin Contributor
Through the cloudy skies that loomed over the campus on Saturday
afternoon came a ray of light foreshadowing another successful day
on the track for the UCLA women.
After a victorious showing at the Texas Relays last weekend, the
Bruins hosted a quadrangular meet this weekend at Drake Stadium.
The Bruin women won all three head-to-head dual match-ups, as well
as the overall meet against Minnesota, Houston and Cal State
Northridge. The Bruins compiled 87 points throughout the course of
the afternoon, almost 50 more than runner-up Houston (38), followed
by 28.5 points from CS Northridge and 23.5 points from
Minnesota.
In the throwing events held early in the day, UCLA’s Rachelle
Noble won the women’s hammer throw with a mark of 186-6. Seilala
Sua placed fourth with a throw of 159-9. Both women fared well
against the heavy challenges from CS Northridge and the elements
from Mother Nature.
The women’s javelin saw Suzy Powell stand victorious with a
throw of 173-11. After an impressive showing by Minnesota’s Nicole
Chimko, UCLA women took the next four spots in the event. Noble and
Sua took third and fourth with throws of 155-1 and 153-6,
respectively. Marie Phelman took fifth with a mark of 126-6,
followed by Kristin Ayers’ throw of 110-11.
The women’s shot put showcased the nation’s top thrower in the
event, Nada Kawar. Kawar took the victory with a throw of 56-1.
Sua, competing in her third event of the day, took second with a
mark of 53-4, while Noble competed in her third event of the day to
complete a track and field hat trick of sorts, with a sixth-place
throw of 48-5.
In the women’s long jump, Michelle Perry took first with a mark
of 19-3.
Perry also took second in the women’s 400-meter hurdles with a
time of 64.47 seconds and helped the 4 by 100-meter relay team to
victory on Saturday afternoon with a combined team time of 45.5
seconds. Fellow teammate Kelly O’Connor took third with a jump of
18-4. O’Connor went on to take second in the women’s triple jump
with a mark of 38-0 behind first place winner Minnesota’s Christina
Gilbransen’s jump of 38-11.
The rest of the winning 4 by 100-meter relay team did not stop
there. Freshman Shakedia Jones won the women’s 400 meters with a
time of 55.39 seconds. Junior Andrea Anderson won the women’s 100
meter sprint in 11.6 seconds by over half of a second over any
other competitor. Fellow junior Joanna Hayes took first in the
women’s 100 meter hurdles with a time of 13.37 seconds, followed by
senior Bisa Grant’s time of 13.75 seconds.
In the women’s 3,000 meter run, freshman Katie Nuanes narrowly
edged out Houston’s Jackie Rzepecki to win the event with a time of
10:06.08. Fellow freshman Gaea Schwaebe took fifth with a time of
10:40.41 for the Bruin women.
Next weekend, the UCLA women’s track and field team will travel
down the Los Angeles freeways to Walnut for the Mount San Antonio
College Relays, held Friday through Sunday. The following weekend
the team will split squads, sending members to the prestigious Penn
Relays in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and the Cal-Nevada Collegiate
Championships in Fresno.DERRICK KUDO/Daily Bruin
Junior Zalika Davis competes in a meet earlier this year.