NICOLE MILLER/Daily Bruin Elaine
Canchola placed 7th in the 3000m steeplechase at the
Pac-10s.
By Christina Teller
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
After two full days of competition, it all came down to the last
three minutes.
Going into the 4 x 400-meter relay, USC led the conference race
with 149 points, and UCLA had 147.
Down the home-stretch of the third leg of the relay, UCLA
freshman Adia McKinnon ran alongside USC junior Kinsasha Davis in
the midst of an aggressive race. Davis’ baton fell to the
ground of Edwards Stadium, awarding the Bruins the opportunity to
gain some ground ““ and eventually the title.
“Nobody expects that to happen,” said UCLA Distance
Coach Eric Peterson. “Because of the way (Davis) ran in after
picking up the baton, it seemed as though their hopes went away,
but in reality if she had run in as fast as she could, it could
have been a tie.”
Davis finished out her leg, and the Trojans were anchored by
senior Brigita Langerholc, who had a strong finish, bringing USC in
at fifth for four points. The Bruin team of senior Michelle Perry,
junior Ysanne Williams, and freshmen McKinnon and Sheena Johnson
won in 3 minutes, 32.82 seconds.
With the No. 1 and No. 2 teams in the nation ““ UCLA and
USC, respectively ““ competing in the same conference,
everyone knew it would be close.
“We got beat, plain and simple,” said USC Head Coach
Ron Allice. “People bump into people and it’s a matter
of whether it’s intentional. We felt we had a good order and
a chance to win and it didn’t happen, and that’s
nothing to take away from UCLA.”
Though the Bruins had beaten the Trojans in the annual dual
meet, the Trojans had the edge in the conference championship
because of their depth. In dual meet scoring, only the top three
finishes garner points, but at the conference and national levels,
the top eight finishers score for their team.
“At the team meeting, we focused on ways to get this done,
not on where we were. Good teams find a way to win and we found a
way to get it done,” said UCLA Head Coach Jeanette
Bolden.
“I think the momentum from our dual win over USC carried
over for us into this meet,” she added. “Winning the
Pac-10 is very important to us. In some ways, the win here is
sweeter than the dual victory. Hopefully, the momentum from this
win will carry over for us into the NCAA.”
With the winning margin of two points, every finish on Sunday
was crucial. The Bruins finished with 155 points and USC with
153.
This weekend is another example that wins aren’t
determined on paper. USC junior Angela Williams, who is the
two-time NCAA 100m champion, false-started in that event. In the
400m, Stanford senior Jayna Smith, who had won her heat in a
lifetime best Saturday, fell during the finals and McKinnon took
first for the Bruins.
But UCLA had its share of unexpected results. Junior thrower
Chaniqua Ross entered the shot put competition with the No. 2 mark
but did not score for UCLA. Pole vaulters senior Erika Hoernig and
junior Heather Sickler entered at No. 5 and No. 6 but finished
eighth and 13th respectively.
But those unexpected finishes evened out for the 10 competing
teams, and UCLA came out on top.
Three Bruins defended their Pac-10 titles: senior Michelle Perry
in the 100m hurdles (13.50), junior Tracy O’Hara in the pole
vault (14 feet-1 1/4 inches) and senior Christina Tolson in the
hammer throw (214-7).
Perry and O’Hara won their events for the third year in a
row. Tolson’s mark in the hammer throw is a new Pac-10 and
UCLA record and the second-best mark in the nation. Tolson also won
in the shot put, notching the top collegiate mark in the nation of
58-3. Tolson now sits at No. 4 on the all-time Pac-10 and UCLA
lists in the shot.
Also taking home titles were freshmen McKinnon in the 400m and
Johnson in the 400m hurdles. McKinnon turned in a personal best
time of 52.69, 10th in UCLA history. Johnson won in an NCAA
automatically qualifying time of 56.02, No. 4 in UCLA history.
And Ross came through with a clutch performance in the
discus.
Ross, who had the No. 1 mark going into the meet, sat in third
by the time of her last throw. But when it counted, Ross came
through with a throw of 177-3 to claim the crown.
“I was really technical today, just trying to focus on my
technique,” Ross said. “It had to come down to the last
throw, but I came here and did what I wanted to do, and that was to
win the Pac-10. It’s the first (title) for me and that just
feels really good.”
The 800m was a highly contested race. With three heats narrowed
to one final race of eight runners, four Bruins made it to the
finals. The quartet of freshman Lena Nilsson, junior Ysanne
Williams, and sophomores Tiffany Burgess and Jessica Marr placed
third through sixth, all finishing in the 2:06s.
Also placing in the top three for the Bruins were the 4 x 100m
relay team of freshman Sani Roseby, Johnson, McKinnon and senior
Shakedia Jones (second, 43.64); high jumper junior Darnesha
Griffith (second, 5-10 3/4); triple jumper junior Kristee Porter
(third, 40-11 3/4) and 400m hurdles Perry (second 57.21).
With the national championship starting in eight days, coaches
had to calculate not only who would score for the team at Pac-10s
but also the cost those points could come at when it was time to
compete at NCAAs.
During the meet, the UCLA coaches decided to hold Jones out of
the 100m and Nilsson out of the 1500m to rest them for
nationals.
With the pole vaulters not finishing as high as projected and
junior thrower Ross not scoring in the shot put, the Bruins could
have been left with a lot of “what ifs.”
But instead, UCLA went home with its fifth consecutive
conference championship in tow and can now look ahead to
competition in Eugene, Ore., where the next title may also come
down to the last event.
“¢bull; “¢bull; “¢bull;
Throwers Tolson and Ross travel to compete in the Salinas
Throwers Invitational today. The meet gives the duo one last
competitive chance to gear up for nationals.