Wednesday, April 29, 1998
Weekend dry run for upcoming tri-meet
RECAP: Cal-Nevada Championship gives Bruins many wins, personal
bests
By Donald Morrison
Daily Bruin Contributor
Most members of the UCLA men’s track and field team want to save
their seasonal and personal best marks for the upcoming tri-meet
against USC and Brigham Young University.
However, some of the athletes competing at the Cal-Nevada
Championships Saturday and Sunday couldn’t wait until this weekend
for victories and seasonal bests.
Eight Bruins captured victory up north in Fresno, Calif., while
nine set seasonal and personal bests.
"We had some pretty good marks," UCLA head coach Bob Larsen
said. "The people we did take did well."
The Bruins that did go placed second as a team with 139.5 points
while, as Larsen predicted, the home team, Fresno State, won the
meet with 183 points.
Brian Fell defended his 400-meter hurdles title from last year,
winning the race in 50.95 seconds, a seasonal best. Michael
Granville, running the 800 hurdles for the first time this season
after being bothered by hamstring problems, defended his title with
a time of 1 minute, 50.31 seconds.
Other winners on the track included Jess Strutzel and Gerimi
Burleigh. Strutzel won a tactical 1,500 meters in a time of
3:50.02.
"(Strutzel) is still learning how to run the 1,500 meters,"
Larsen said. "It was a good race for him. He out-sprinted everyone
the last 100 meters."
Burleigh set a personal best time of 14.18 seconds in the
qualifying round in the 110-meter hurdles on Saturday.
In the 110-meter hurdles final on Sunday, a very determined
Burleigh won in a time of 14.58 seconds.
"It was a breakthrough (race) for Burleigh," Larsen said. "He
wanted to win a Cal-Nevada Championship and did. It was a good
race."
Scott Slover won the pole vault title with a mark of 17 feet, 4
1/2 inches and Wade Tift wrapped up the shot put title with a heave
of 59 feet, 8 1/2 inches. Josh Johnson claimed victory in the
javelin with a throw of 230 feet. Luke Sullivan set a personal
record in the discus throw in the qualifying round with a throw of
197 feet before winning the event on Sunday.
However, those eight athletes are not the only ones that came
through with solid performances. Distance runners Devin Elizondo
and Matt Olin both set personal records.
Olin finished second in the 3,000 meter steeplechase with a time
of 9:12.12. He managed to beat his personal record by two
seconds.
Elizondo placed second in the 5,000 meter run. His time of
14:35.22 shattered his former best by 10 seconds.
"(Elizondo) looked good," Larsen said. "It was a hot day and a
good race for him. He’s been looking good at practice."
Freshman Paul Muite set a personal record in the qualifying
round of the 1,500 meters. His time of 3:58.45 was good enough for
a personal best, but did not put him in the finals.
Mel Moultry placed second in the triple jump with a leap of 49
feet, and Joe Franklin finished third in the javelin with a throw
of 199-4 feet.
DERRICK KUDO/Daily Bruin
Despite not sending all of their athletes, the Bruins were still
able to leap into second place.