By Christina Teller
Daily Bruin Contributor
The win was a team effort. They competed in 21 different events,
and the UCLA women’s track and field team came home
victorious. With five Bruins crowned individual champions Sunday
evening at Oregon’s Hayward Field, UCLA defended its Pac-10
title and shut down USC for the second time this year.
“I’m very happy with their performance as a team. We
work together as a unit,” UCLA head coach Jeanette Bolden
said. “We didn’t win this championship on just one
event, we won it as a team. It was a total team
performance.”
With USC leading the pack and competition all but complete, the
title came down to the pole vault competition. Behind strong
performances from Tracy O’Hara, Erica Hoernig and Heather
Sickler, the Bruins took the top three spots to grab hold of the
championship reigns.
“We had been paying attention to the team race all day, so
we knew the pressures. The team outcome is the only thing I can
care about,” O’Hara said. “Finishing 1-2-3 in the
pole vault was big. We really push each other and encourage each
other as a team.”
O’Hara, the national leader in the pole vault, tied for
first with Hoernig at 13-7, while Sickler notched third place with
her jump of 13-3.
UCLA’s throwing duo of Seilala Sua and Christina Tollson
also dominated each event in which they participated.
“They were phenomenal. We dominated with 51 points, and
you can’t ask for more,” throwing coach Art Venegas
said.
Sua, in her final Pac-10 conference meet, won the discus with
her 205-1 launch and the shot put with a mark of 56-9 1/2. She also
placed second in the javelin with her 148-1 mark. With those marks,
Sua swept the Pac-10 competition discus competition for her entire
collegiate career and added a third shot put triumph.
Tollson came home a champion in her first Pac-10 meet, after
redshirting last year. She won the hammer throw by launching a
208-5 throw and clinched second in the shot put with a throw of
51-6 1/4.
“Tollson has just been unbeatable this year,”
Venegas said. “She’s had a phenomenal year.”
“Winning the Pac-10 championship means everything to me
because I wasn’t able to compete last year, so this was very
special,” Tollson said. “When I learned the Pac-10s
were going to be at Hayward Field, I was very excited. After
competing here last year at the USA Trials, I knew it was going to
going to do well.
“I was pleased with 208 feet, but I wanted to throw 210
today,” she added.
Rounding out UCLA’s champions in the field was Darnesha
Griffith, whose
5-10 jump won the high jump competition. The Bruins showed their
depth in the field when Heather Newlin placed fifth in the event
with a 5-6 jump.
“On my first jump, I was just trying to figure the track
out, because it’s different,” Griffith said. “On
my six-foot jump, my goal was just to power over the bar. I
didn’t really have a strategy; my only thought was to get
over six feet. I get nervous, but I like pressure; when it’s
on, I can pull it off.”
Up against rival USC, the Bruins competed steadily raking in a
slew of second and third places, and a first place triumph for
Michelle Perry in the 100 meter hurdles.
Perry dominated the race with her time of 13.03, finishing .24
seconds ahead of USC’s Natasha Danvers’ 13.27. Perry
had previously defeated Danvers at the UCLA-USC dual meet, by the
slimmest of margins, .01 seconds. Perry missed beating the 13
second mark by a similar margin this time around.
“It was close ““ very close,” Perry said.
“But I’m not done for the year. I will be competing in
the NCAAs and the trials, so I still have a chance to improve upon
my time.
“I am very proud of the way I executed, but I will
continue to work on my time,” she added. “I just wanted
to do whatever I could to get some extra points for the
team.”
The Bruins attacked their competition by clinching every
possible point in their events. Similar to the UCLA-USC meet, the
plan of attack was strategized. The runners needed to finish in the
top few places in order to defend their title.
Notching second place finishes in the 100 and 10,000 meters, and
both the 4 x400 and 4 x100 relays.
The only UCLA competitor in the tough 10,000 meter race, Jessica
Matthews finished strong with a time of 35:06.44.
Shakedia Jones notched a quick 11.26 time in the 100 meters
behind reigning Pac-10 champion Angela Williams of USC. Williams
won both 100 and 200 meter events.
“I like this track, it’s always been good to
me,” Williams said. “I already know this track so it
helped. It’s the fastest I’ve been in my life! When
I’m tired, it pushes me to work harder.”
Coming into the meet, Bolden looked forward to her relay
team’s competition. Entering the race second to USC in both
relays, the Bruins maintained that position while shaving seconds
off of their times. The 4×400 relay team made their second outdoor
appearance with a time of 3:37.10, an improvement from their
previous time of 3:37.78. The 4×100 relay finished in 44.79
seconds.
The meet gave the Bruins another opportunity to prepare for the
NCAA championships to be held next weekend in Durham, N.C., an
event they have been looking forward to all year and especially
since the emotion-filled USC dual meet earlier this month.
“I think when we got to the USC meet, we started gelling
as a unit,” Bolden said. “People started showing
concern for each other, working together. It’s a good
feeling.”
The Bruins finished second in last year’s NCAA outdoor
finals, though they already won the national indoor championship
earlier this year.