Friday, May 22, 1998
UCLA races for conference crown
Bruins expect close match with USC, Arizona strong in meet
By Donald Morrison
Daily Bruin Contributor
The quest begins for the UCLA men’s track and field team. On
Saturday and Sunday, the Bruins will aim to repeat the success of
past Bruin teams and earn UCLA another track and field Pac-10
Championship at Stanford in Palo Alto, Calif.
The Bruins are looking to win their sixth conference title in
seven years and the team’s ninth in 12 years. However, while the
Bruins are in contention for the conference crown, so are Arizona
and the defending conference champion from across town, USC.
"Right now, three teams (UCLA, USC and Arizona) look like
they’re almost exactly the same," said UCLA head coach Bob Larsen.
"We are as good a team as any in the country in dual meets, but I
think as far as the conference matchups are concerned, I think it’s
about even (between UCLA, USC and Arizona)."
UCLA, along with trying to unseat USC as conference champion,
will be pushed by the Wildcats and the two Washington schools.
Stanford also factors into the mix, as do Oregon and Arizona State.
This makes the Pac-10 Championships, arguably, the toughest
conference meet in the nation.
Trackwire has eight Pac-10 teams ranked in the Men’s Top 25,
including four among the top 10. Arizona is ranked second in the
nation, USC is fifth and Stanford is tied for ninth with UCLA.
Washington comes in at No. 11 and Washington State is tied for No.
13. Arizona State and Oregon are tied for 24th, along with five
other teams.
"The Pac-10 Championship is a great meet," Larsen said. "The
tradition of the meet is second to none. Most people consider it
the second best meet to the NCAA Championships. From a team
perspective, it’s more exciting than the NCAA Championships,
because each team has 24 athletes. There’s so many chances of
scoring. Every person counts."
UCLA will need a lot of scoring from every athlete participating
in the meet. Larsen predicts that the winner will score at least
120 points. USC won the meet last year with 145 points, followed by
UCLA with 138.
The top eight finishes will earn points, with 10 points being
rewarded for a first place finish, and 8, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1
points being awarded to the next finishes.
"It’s very similar to last year’s meet except three teams
(instead of two) are in serious contention," Larsen said.
USC and UCLA were the only teams to score over 100 points at
last year’s meet in Seattle.
Larsen sees Arizona joining the two Los Angeles schools at the
conference this year, provided each team has a good meet.
The Bruins boast a slew of dangerous athletes that have the
potential to win conference crowns. UCLA has at least one athlete
ranked among the top eight marks in the Pac-10 in 17 of 19
individual events.
The sprint corps will be in for a challenging weekend. Damian
Allen, Jacob Glickman, Jim McElroy and Brandon Thomas are all ready
to pull off upsets in key sprint events.
Allen, Glickman and Thomas will run the 100-meter dash. Allen is
fourth in the conference, with a personal best time of 10.43
seconds. He will be in for a tough time against Charles Lee and
Marques Holiwell from USC and freshman football player Ja’Warren
Hooker from Washington.
Hooker leads the conference with a time of 10.18 seconds. Lee
has run 10.33 seconds, and Holiwell was clocked at 10.38 when USC
lost to UCLA in their dual meet.
Allen and Glickman will return to run the 200 meters along with
McElroy.
McElroy is fifth in the conference at 21.04 seconds, while Allen
is fourth at 20.96 seconds. Jeromo Davis of USC is the favorite in
the event, with a personal best time of 20.51 seconds.
The four sprinters will also run the 4 by 100 meter relay. The
team ran 39.80 seconds earlier in the year but are second behind
the Trojans, who ran 39.78. Washington should also factor in, as
the Huskies have been clocked at 40.14 seconds.
The middle and distance runners will be key contributors.
Mebrahtom Keflezighi will look for his second conference title in
the 10,000 meters in three years.
Keflezighi is second in the nation to Brad Hauser of Stanford,
who ran 28 minutes, 16.60 seconds in the same race that Keflezighi
ran 28:16.79 to break the school record.
Keflezighi could also run the 5,000-meter race if he is feeling
healthy. He leads the nation in that event at 13:30.22, and would
be the heavy favorite to win his third straight 5,000-meter
crown.
Mark Hauser, who is having a great year, will run the 1,500 and
5,000 meters. Hauser is 12th in the nation in the 5,000 meters and
is sixth in the conference. Hauser is second in the conference in
the 1,500 meters at 3:41.97. He is only about one second off of
Washington State’s Bernard Lagat’s seasonal best time of
3:40.79.
"They’re both coming along well," said Larsen of Hauser and
Keflezighi. "They’re in great shape and should both should do
really well this weekend."
Jess Strutzel and Michael Granville have the potential to finish
first and second, in no particular order. Strutzel is third in the
conference with a time of 1:47.29 and Granville, who was injured
for the first half of the season, is sixth at 1:48.37.
However, the favorite of the race will be Patrick Nduwimana of
Arizona. He’s been timed at a conference-leading 1:47.01. Devin
Elizondo and Matt Olin will run the 3,000-meter steeplechase, and
both have the potential to score.
Hurdlers Gerimi Burleigh and Brian Fell are likely to score
points. Fell, the 1997 conference champion in the 400-meter
hurdles, will look to defend his title. He leads the conference
with a time of 50.97 seconds.
Fell will hope to break his personal record of 50.33 seconds
which he set at last year’s conference meet. That mark put him at
No.7 all-time in school history.
"Consider Fell the favorite," Larsen said. "His workouts have
been good, and he looks really strong."
Burleigh is fifth in the conference in the 110-meter high
hurdles with a personal best time of 14.18 seconds. Burleigh has
scored at the meet for three years straight, and should score this
year.
The Bruins also look to score big in the field events. Scott
Slover will receive stiff competition in the pole vault. Slover is
tied for the second best mark in the nation with Arizona’s Dominic
Johnson at 18 feet, 6.25 inches.
Slover was upset at last year’s Pac-10 meet by Oregon’s Piotr
Buciarski. Slover is looking to capture the conference crown this
year.
"The pole vault is a really good Pac-10 event," Larsen said.
"Slover is looking and feeling good."
High jumper Rich Pitchford is coming back from illness and
injury, and is one of the favorites to win the Pac-10 title.
Pitchford won the title in 1995 and currently leads the
conference.
Mel Moultry is second in the conference in the triple jump. He
is ready to perform well and could set a personal record. Moultry
has jumped 53-1 3/4 this year.
Javelin thrower Josh Johnson will try to earn his second
straight Pac-10 title, but is not the favorite in the event.
Johnson’s personal best mark of 236-10 is a distant second to Esko
Mikkola’s throw of 250-1. Joe Franklin will also compete, and is
seventh in the conference with a personal best mark of 215-10.
Travis Haynes and Wade Tift are fourth and sixth, respectively,
in the shot put. Haynes has a mark of 62-3 1/4 and Tift has a mark
this season of 61-3 1/2.
Luke Sullivan will try to earn points for UCLA in the hammer and
discus throws. Sullivan is fifth in the nation and conference in
the discus with a mark of 197 feet. His hammer throw mark of 203-3
ranks seventh in the Pac-10.
"I think the team realizes it’ll be a close meet," Larsen said.
"They’ll want to go out there and give it their all."