By AJ Cadman
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
Prior to their arrival in Eugene, Ore. for the Pac-10 Track and
Field Championships last weekend, the UCLA men’s squad knew
this meet was the foundation for the NCAA championships that take
place in two weeks.
Winners of nine out of the last 13 conference titles, the Bruins
also knew that precedent alone would not help them win the title
again.
Trailing five conference teams in the TrackWire Top 25, UCLA
surprised the other eight teams competing at the University of
Oregon’s Hayward Field en route to a fourth-place finish with
83 points (tied with Washington). USC claimed the conference title
with 154 team points, well ahead of Stanford (122.5) and Arizona
State (101).
“The team competed well. We weren’t expecting first,
second or third,” UCLA head coach Art Venegas said in a
statement. “But fourth is pretty good.”
“My team came to win and we didn’t have any letdowns
and we did a great job,” USC head coach Ron Allice said.
“A few weeks ago, we were on the ropes at the UCLA dual meet.
Even though we lost there, we turned a negative into a
positive.”
At the end of day one, UCLA seemed to have found its way to the
back of the pack. Sitting in the No. 7 spot after eight events with
26 points, the Bruins saw Sunday as the day when they would begin
their ascent.
Without seniors Malachi Davis (hamstring) and Terrence Williams
(foot stress fracture), the Bruins lost two of their top 400 meter
runners and half of their 4×100 meter relay team. Despite those
setbacks, though, only 10 points separated UCLA from third place
Arizona and 32 from pre-meet favorite Stanford.
On Saturday, senior Jack Clamon threw a mark of 58-6 1/2 in the
shot put to place fourth. That mark was
1-4 short of his personal best set against crosstown rival
Southern Cal two weeks ago.
Sophomore Scott Moser helped the Bruins’ cause on the
field with a throw of 185-8 to capture third place in the discus.
Moser also finished ninth in the shot put with a mark of 55.
On the track, junior Mason Moore clocked an 8:59.89 in the 3000
meter steeplechase to notch third place behind Arizona State
freshman Jeremy Rasmussen’s winning time of 8:49.23 in the
event. The barefooted Moore set a personal record by more than 15
seconds, eclipsing a 9:14.54 previous best set at the UCLA-USC dual
meet.
In the pole vault, senior Brian McLaughlin and freshman Jared
Drake posted impressive marks. McLaughlin cleared 17-1 1/2 for a
fourth place finish behind eventual winner Toby Stevenson of
Stanford, who now holds the conference’s top mark on the
season with an 18-9 1/4 mark set on Saturday.
“It’s one of those things. It takes the right day,
the right conditions and the right people, and it was right today,
it was a good day,” Stevenson said. “I was having a
good time. Pole vaulters have a kind of fraternity. I cheer for
them and they cheer for me. We feed off the energy from each
other.”
Meanwhile, Drake set a personal best with at 16-9 1/2, bettering
his previous best by 8 inches.
In the 100 meter trials on Saturday, senior Damian Allen and
junior Bryan Harrison’s 10.45 marks qualified both for
Sunday’s final. There they had to battle it out with
Washington’s Ja’Warren Hooker (10.20), and the Pac-10
leader entering the championships with a 10.11 showing in early
April ““ Arizona State’s Dwight Phillips (10.29).
In Sunday’s final, Hooker easily won the race in 10.19,
.11 seconds ahead of Phillips. Harrison finished sixth in 10.39,
while Allen pulled up with a hamstring injury midway through the
race to finish eighth in 11.39.
Allen had done double duty on Saturday, qualifying for the 200
meter final with a 20.93 showing behind Hooker’s 20.68
performance in the first heat. Harrison, likewise, made it to
Sunday with a 21.11 clocking in the event.
But Allen’s injury would leave UCLA with only one chance
to garner points in Bryan Harrison. The junior sprinter stepped up
huge for the Bruins, finishing as the runner-up with 20.75 to
Hooker’s 20.39.
“There was very strong competition from the
sprinters,” Venegas said. “Harrison had a very good
meet.”
“In the 100 I didn’t get a good start, but in the
200 I was in control until the end when I got tired,” Hooker
said. “Somebody said it looked like I made it look easy.
That’s what I am supposed to do. It was nice to get the
double after missing last year with the injuries.”
Senior Jess Strutzel won his heat on Saturday in the 800 meter
trials with a mark of 1:50.57, after putting up the Pac-10’s
top mark of 1:46.03 in Modesto the weekend before. On Sunday
Strutzel eyed Stanford’s Michael Stember, who also won his
preliminary heat in 1:50.39.
Both ended up watching Arizona’s Patrick Nduwimana steal
the show, however, winning with a time of 1:49.52. That edged out
Strutzel’s 1:49.59 second-place time. Stember finished fourth
with 1:51.25.
In the 400 meter hurdle trials, Bruin junior John Hall won his
heat on Saturday with a 50.50, edging out teammate Kyle Erickson,
who also qualified for Sunday’s final with a 53.09.
Hall would duplicate his performance in the finals, posting a
50.48 for second place to Southern Cal’s Felix Sanchez
(49.26). Erickson placed sixth with a time of 52.68.
“Hall did very well in the hurdles,” Venegas said.
“He performed strong, which helped because the throwers did
not have a great meet.”
The Bruins’ biggest surprise, though, would come Sunday in
the 400 meters. With Arizona’s Mike Kenyon and ASU’s
Michael Campbell both having posted sub-46 seconds times in the
event, UCLA’s Michael Granville had his work cut out for him.
With a mark of 46.49, he shocked the field to win the Pac-10 400
title, edging out Campbell’s 46.69 and Kenyon’s
46.81.
“I just wanted to go out and run the way my coach told me
to,” Granville said afterward. “He said that the turn
was going to be heavy because of the wind and he was right. It
feels good to be a Pac-10 Champion. It’s a
confidence-builder.
“It’s a blessing to get a solo Pac-10 Championship
in my senior season,’ he continued. “This is going to
help in my future track endeavors.”
But Granville’s work was not done. In the meet’s
final event, the 4×400 meter relay, Granville, Hall, Strutzel and
senior Tom Jonnson grabbed an NCAA provisional qualifying time. The
Bruins’ season-best 3:06.89 was good enough for second behind
USC’s 3:05.47.
With all the pieces hopefully in place with the impressive
performances at the Pac-10s, UCLA’s dreams for success in
Durham, N.C. in two weeks got a little more real. But they know
that the competition will too.