NICOLE MILLER/Daily Bruin Senior Will
Bernaldo
competes at the USC meet.
By Glen Worthington
Daily Bruin Contributor
The weekend may not have been a victory for the Bruins, but it
was a win for the Pac-10 as a conference and for track and field as
a sport.
UCLA finished third (115.5) behind Stanford (142) and USC (136)
in a closely contested meet, with scores of athletes setting NCAA
provisional qualifying times and distances.
“I thought the only way we could have won was for other
teams to falter and for us to have a perfect meet,” said
men’s Head Coach Art Venegas. “But I would have been
disappointed if we placed any lower.”
The Pac-10 proved itself a national track and field powerhouse
while the meet was an example of track and field at its best, full
of excitement and feats of athleticism.
Stanford dominated the distance events on way to claiming the
Pac-10 crown for the first time since 1927.
The Cardinal had four athletes place in the top six in the
800-meters, 1500m and 5000m. Overall, distance events counted for
nearly 100 Stanford team points.
But the Bruins have no reason to be ashamed.
Although UCLA did not win the championship, they were the most
balanced team at the meet. Out of 21 total events, the Bruins were
the only ones to place in 17. Three of the four they didn’t
place in, they didn’t even enter: the 1500m, high jump and
decathlon. In fact, UCLA placed in every event it entered with the
sole exception of the 100m dash.
No other Pac-10 team can claim that.
Led by the stellar performance of the throwers, the Bruins truly
dominated the field. Junior Scott Moser, redshirt freshman Dan Ames
and sophomore Scott Wiegand went 1-2-4 in the discus (199 feet-4
inches, 190-2, 184-9, respectively) and 2-4-6 in the shot put (62-0
1/4, 61-3 1/2, 59-5 1/2).
“For our team the distances were pretty good, but the
outcome was not as good as we hoped,” said Moser. “Some
guys at other schools really stepped up on their throws and had
some big (personal records).”
“I did okay,” he continued. “I’m just
glad I got my first Pac-10 title. I’m hoping there’s
going to be more.”
Except for Stanford’s first-through-fourth supremacy in
the 1500m, Moser and Ames’ discus 1-2 punch was the only
first-second team combo at the Pac-10 championships. Wiegand nearly
completed the sweep with a lifetime-best toss.
The field dominance did not end there. Sophomore pole vaulter
Jared Drake had a lifetime best for the second week in a row. He
vaulted 17-3 to take third, followed by Bruin freshman Yoo Kim in
fifth at 16-11.
The highlight of the jumps for UCLA was freshman Juaune Armon,
who came in sixth in the long jump at 23-2 and third in the triple
jump at 49-8 1/4, a personal best by nearly a foot.
The Bruins sweated it out on the track as well.
In the 400m hurdles senior John Hall had a big third-place
performance of 51.61 seconds. Sophomore John Barbieri came in
seventh at 52.43. Unfortunately for the Bruins and for him, Pac-10
leader sophomore Kyle Erickson was disqualified in his preliminary
heat for a trail leg violation.
The distance runners faced the Cardinal curtain but managed to
eke out some points.
Despite stiff competition in the 800m, Senior Paul Muite battled
to win a spot in the finals and then came through with a
seventh-place 1 minute, 52.07 seconds.
“Paul was in good position,” said Distance Coach
Eric Peterson. “He had a good feel for what speed they were
running. With 200 to go he had as good a chance as any, but there
were a lot of good kickers in that field.”
Senior Will Bernaldo rose to the difficult task of doubling in
the 10,000m on Saturday and the 5000m on Sunday. He earned an
eighth-place finish on Saturday, running 30:03.64, then came back
to fight for another eighth in the 5000m at 14:25.38.
Fellow Bruin junior Bryan Green took third in the 10,000m with a
time of 29:45.30. Green made a surge for second with a couple laps
to go, but sunk back into third when he realized he couldn’t
make up the ground.
“Both went with their primary responsibility being the
10,000m,” Peterson said. “Bryan did a good job about
getting himself together for the race. He executed his race plan as
well as possible.”
Peterson was also impressed with Bernaldo’s ability to
stick with the race after leading the first two and half miles. He
was in the difficult position of hanging on after the stronger
athletes started to pass.
The Bruins have a good future to look forward to, as evidenced
by strong freshman performances. On top of freshman standouts in
the field, three freshman sprinters placed.
In the 400m, Denye Versher and Rodney Diggs came in sixth and
seventh (47.54, 47.59) while Chucky Ryan took fifth in the 110m
hurdles at 14.09.
The final results were the best, but nevertheless proved the
Bruins as a force to be reckoned with. The scary thought for the
Pac-10 competition: with few exceptions all these guys will be back
next year, bigger and better than before.
“We are a young team,” Venegas said. “We had a
lot of thirds, fourths and fifths and you’re not going to win
a meet like this without firsts and seconds.
“But we have a lot of our athletes returning,” he
continued. “Not so with the other schools. That’s
really encouraging for us.”
For those who are done, the season was a battle well fought. For
those moving on to the NCAA championships, they hope the best is
yet to come.
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On Monday four throwers took off for San Jose to compete in
today’s Salinas Throwers Invitational.
Sophomores Scott Wiegand and Jack Clamon will accompany Pac-10
discus champion junior Scott Moser, junior and runner-up redshirt
freshman Dan Ames to the meet.
“This meet is mostly for fun,” said Moser.
“It’s a little hectic, but there’s no pressure
and there’ll be great competition. It should be a lot of
fun.”
For Moser and Ames, this is the final tune-up before the
NCAAs.