PATIL ARMENIAN/Daily Bruin Senior Staff Sophomore
Bridget Pearson launches the javelin in Saturday’s
meet at Drake Stadium.
By Will Whitehorn
Daily Bruin Contributor
The No. 2 UCLA women’s track and field squad closed out
its final home meet of the season in impressive fashion, notching
several victories over Nebraska and Cal State Northridge Saturday
at Drake Stadium. The Bruins won the tri-meet with a score of 157,
Nebraska taking second with 135 and Northridge third with 87.
The performances follow last week’s good showing at the
Clyde Littlefield Relays in Austin, Texas, where the Bruins
produced three key individual victories.
UCLA’s Christina Tolson set the tone for the rest of the
home meet with an opening victory in the hammer throw.
Tolson’s throw of 202-8 easily bested Northridge’s
Carol Stevenson, who finished second with a toss of 186-7.
Nebraska’s Erin Wibbels and Amanda Morely occupied the final
two spots, recording throws of 172-8 and 164, respectively.
Tolson, however, said her victory was bittersweet.
“I know I should be doing a lot better than that,”
said Tolson, who collected Pac-10 Player of the Week honors last
week after placing second in the hammer throw and first in the shot
put in Austin. “I liked my performance in Texas
(better).”
Her throw of 207-1 in Texas tied her best throw of the
season.
In the 3,000-meter steeplechase, Nebraska’s Ann Gaffigan
set a Drake Stadium record with a time of 10 minutes, 35.36
seconds, easily distancing UCLA’s Gina Donnelly. Donnelly and
Gaffigan stayed dead even through the first two legs of the race,
but Gaffigan broke away in the third lap in pursuit of the record.
Donelly garnered a second place finish with a time of 11:17.59.
 MARY CIECEK/Daily Bruin Senior Staff UCLA junior
Christine Chan placed fifth in the long jump on
Saturday. UCLA beat Nebraska and CS Northridge in tri and dual meet
scoring.
UCLA’s Adia McKinnon notched a victory in the 200-meter
dash, clocking in with a time of 23.72 seconds. Her time was
three-tenths of a second faster then Nebraska’s Shelly-Ann
Brown, who timed in at 24.07. Georgia Wilkins of Northridge and
Carol-Ann McBean from Nebraska secured the third and fourth
spots.
Nebraska, however, dominated both the javelin and discus events.
Nebraska’s only three competitors came in first, second, and
third in the javelin, led by Katie McClellan’s 147-8.
UCLA’s Karina Powell obtained the only other spot with a
throw of 120-8.
Nebraska took two of the three spots in the discus event, as the
Cornhuskers’ Emily Duran seized first place with a throw of
165-3, and Jennifer Cowher took second place by throwing 158-3.
UCLA’s Lara Saye found the bronze position with a throw of
152-7.
In the 100-meter hurdles, freshman Sheena Johnson won with a
time of 13.52.
UCLA was phenomenal in their relays, particularly in the 4 x
400m. The Bruin relay team of Adia McKinnon, Sheena Johnson, Ysanne
Williams and Michelle Perry’s time of 3:41.03 edged
Northridge, whose runners lagged two seconds behind at 3:43.58.
Nebraska took a distant third with a time of 3:43.03.
McKinnon also qualified for the NCAA Championships in the 400m
with her time of 52.88.
Overall, the Bruins were satisfied with Saturday’s
results.
“There were some great personal performances,” said
Head Coach Jeanette Bolden. “My young freshman (McKinnon)
qualified for the NCAAs in the 400m. My hurdlers qualified for the
NCAAs. They’re coming around.”
With both the Pac-10 and NCAA championships on the horizon, the
Bruins hope to build on Saturday’s performances.
“The Pac-10 and NCAAs are going to be dogfights,”
Bolden said. “We can’t fall asleep at any angle. We
have to stay up and alert, ready and on fire.”
Assistant Coach Eric Peterson compared this week’s meet
with last week’s relays in Texas.
“We definitely made some improvements,” he said.
“We didn’t have the sprinters and hurdlers and
jumpers with us last weekend. We’re very hopeful that
we’ve developed some momentum from this meet and that
we’re able to keep it going,” he continued.