By Christina Teller
Daily Bruin Contributor
DURHAM, N.C. ““ Having put on a great show through the 2000
outdoor season, it was time for the UCLA women’s track team
to take their bow at the NCAA Championships in Durham, N.C.
In a tough race for the gold, the Bruins came up a little short
through the meet, and ultimately finished third overall with 47
points, behind USC with 54 and national champion LSU with 58.
“We win as a team, and unfortunately we come in third as a
team,” head coach Jeanette Bolden said. “I can’t
really say that it was this thing or that thing. It was a team
effort. The team got third.”
While the fans cheered for each and every Bruin, the spotlight
was fixed on senior thrower Seilala Sua. It was her final
performance in a UCLA uniform, and she went out with a bang.
Sua swept through the field with an unprecedented fourth
straight discus title and became only the fourth woman to double in
the discus and the shot put.
“I was confident that I could come out here and do
it,” Sua said. “It could have been a little better in
the discus throw. I didn’t throw as far as I wanted to.
I’ve kind of been stagnant for awhile, but now I’m
looking forward to bigger and better things.”
For Bolden, Sua was the highlight of a meet she hadn’t
prepared fully for with Olympic trials coming up next month.
“The biggest standout in this track and field
championships was Seilala Sua,” Bolden said. “It just
shows the greatness of her as a competitor. It’s just good to
see her do so well. She was a little sad before the shot put
competition because it would be her last meet for UCLA, and I told
her that she will always be a Bruin.”
But on the team front, the Bruins did not come home as the
overall champions, and for UCLA this meet was about winning the
distinction of the nation’s best.
“The nature of nationals is that it’s an incredible
meet. You’ve got the best collegiate athletes in the
nation,” jump coach Monte Rucker said. “It’s one
of those things where over the course of the four days,
there’s a lot of great competition.”
“We got in and competed very hard,” Rucker
added.
On a humid second day, the Bruins may have appeared to be
struggling.
They were unable to pick up crucial points in either the high
jump or the long jump due largely due to the surface of the runway,
which provides a faster approach to the jump. The jumpers struggled
to adapt to the new conditions.
“It makes your step a lot farther here, adds three to four
feet to your approach,” Rucker said. “Because you have
so much speed, the transitioning is a little more
challenging.”
With that struggle, UCLA needed everyone to come through.
“As a team, they had to go out there and do their best
individually in order for the team to succeed,” Bolden
said.
Up against a field with seniority, UCLA junior Michelle Perry
battled it out in the 400 meter hurdles. In her first year
competing in the event, Perry entered the competition ranked 16th,
placed fifth in the semifinals and took fourth place in the final
race.
“I’m really proud of Michelle Perry,” Bolden
said. “All the girls ahead of her were seniors with
experience.”
“I just started that race this year, so it’s a
little hard to run against people who have been running for awhile.
It’s just a matter of executing and competing at the same
time,” Perry said. “It takes time. I’m young and
I’ve got time. NCAAs is not my ultimate goal. Olympic gold
is.”
The Bruins’ chances as a team could have been over,
though, if it hadn’t been for the courageous performance of
sprinter Shakedia Jones. In the last stint of the 100-meter
semifinals, Jones’ right hamstring locked up, yet she pulled
through and qualified for the final.
“I got out well, but somewhere with 10 meters to go, my
hamstring locked up on me,” Jones said. “I was just
trying to make it to the finish line. Luckily I made it into the
100 finals, but I knew that the 200 was going to be
hard.”
Unable to qualify for the 200 meters, Jones placed sixth in the
100 with a time of 11.55 seconds.
“I’m happy that I got out there and ran. By the way
I was feeling, I was just happy to get out there and run,”
Jones said. “I’m not disappointed.”
Far from disappointing was sophomore Tracy O’Hara, who
swept the indoor and outdoor pole vaulting crowns on the year,
winning the outdoor title with a vault of 14-5, a meet record and a
whole foot higher than the vault that won last year’s title
in Boise, Idaho.
“She was just on fire, she made everything on her first
attempt,” Curran said. “She did everything right. What
our plan was to get out there and make everything on the first
attempt.”
“I was feeling really good out there tonight. My warm-up
wasn’t that great, but once the meet got going I got myself
pumped up,” O’Hara said.
The conclusion of the 2000 outdoor season may have left the
Bruins feeling that same way.
“Being on the awards stand and being among the top four
teams is a great honor, but there’s always those mixed
feelings,” distance coach Eric Peterson said.
A favorite for the title, the Bruins failed to avenge last
year’s narrow loss to Texas at NCAA Championships.
Having achieved history in 2000 with their first indoor national
team title, the Bruins have learned from this year’s outdoor
experience and should be ready to succeed in 2001.
After all, the show much go on.