NICOLE MILLER/Daily Bruin Senior Shakedia
Jones (left) and junior Eboni Grayson
(right) compete in the UCLA-USC dual meet earlier this season.
By Will Whitehorn
Daily Bruin Contributor
All things considered, the best team in town will eventually
prove to be the best team in the nation.
The No. 1 ranked UCLA women can complete a trifecta this weekend
with a victory at the NCAA Track & Field Championships in
Eugene, Ore., having already claimed the 2001 NCAA Indoor title and
the Pac-10 championship.
UCLA can also make it three in a row this season over No. 2 USC,
who figure to be their prime competition in Eugene. The Bruins
narrowly defeated the Trojans at their annual dual meet and again
at the Pac-10 meet.
However, the Bruins’ biggest opponent this weekend may be
history. For the past four years, the Bruins have put themselves in
position to bring NCAA hardware back to Westwood at the end of the
outdoor season, only to falter at meet’s end.
The Bruins can compensate for a half-decade’s worth of
second and third place finishes with victory in the Pacific
Northwest this weekend.
But neither history nor the competition will make things
easy.
USC, the runner-up at last year’s NCAA Championships to
Louisiana State, will be well equipped to challenge for this
year’s crown. The Trojans boast sprinter Angela Williams, the
two-time defending NCAA Champion in the 100-meter dash, and fellow
No. 1 seeds Tatyana Obuhova (triple jump), Kinshasha Davis (200m)
and Brigita Langerholc (800m). USC’s 4 x 100-meter relay
squad is also tops in the Pac-10.
Despite the rankings and prerequisite bad blood, the Bruins are
aware that this meet is not merely an L.A. thing.
“We’re going to line up against South Carolina and
LSU and Texas,” said UCLA Head Coach Jeanette Bolden.
“It’s not just ‘SC on this island, it’s
everyone on this island, so we’re not focusing on them.
They’re just a group of people.”
The Bruins will retaliate with their own who’s-who list of
No. 1 seeds with freshman Sheena Johson in the 400m hurdles and
junior Tracy O’Hara in the pole vault. O’Hara holds the
NCAA Championship record in the pole vault (14-feet-5 1/4 inches,
set last year).
UCLA’s 4 x 400m relay squad enters competition as the
cream of the Pac-10’s crop. Michelle Perry will attempt to be
the first Bruin to win the heptathlon since Jackie Joyner in
1982-1983, incidentally the last time the Bruins won the NCAA
Championship.
The Bruins must also ward off the best teams in meet history,
No. 5 Louisiana State and No. 11 Texas, if they are to claim their
first crown since the Reagan Administration.
LSU has won the NCAA Championship 12 times in the 19-year
history of the event, including 11 in a row from 1987 to 1997. LSU
reclaimed the crown last year after a two-year loan to the
University of Texas, who is the only other school since 1985 to win
the NCAAs.
The Bruins have finished as runner-up six times overall during
LSU and Texas’ reign, but are optimistic about finally making
it over this rather large hump.
“We know what has happened in the past, and we know how
we’ve finished,” Bolden said. “We also know that
we’re the No. 1-ranked team in the country going into this
one, and we know we haven’t displayed our best yet.
We’re ready to do that.
“We’re in a position now where we have the personnel
to do it,” Bolden continued. “I’m not saying
we’re going to win, but we have the personnel, and
experienced personnel. Without the experience, we’re always
the bridesmaid and never the bride.”
UCLA’s impressive resume notwithstanding, it remains to be
seen whether the bouquet has finally been tossed the Bruins’
way.
With contributions from Christina Teller, Daily Bruin Senior
Staff.