MARY CIECEK/Daily Bruin Freshman pole vaulter Yoo
Kim tied his personal best at the NCAA track championships
in Eugene, Ore.
By Glen Worthington
Daily Bruin Contributor
EUGENE, Ore. “”mdash; On a perfect day in a stadium built
exclusively for track and field, the best athletes in the NCAA did
not disappoint. The three Bruins competing Wednesday were not
expected to place, and they didn’t, but they still put on a
great show.
The first day of the NCAA championships at the University of
Oregon’s Hayward Field gave UCLA freshman Yoo Kim and
sophomores Nate Marum and Kyle Erickson their last opportunity of
the season to prove their ability.
The highlight of the day, however, came from a Tennessee
Volunteer. Freshman Justin Gatlin ran a 19.86-second 200-meter
dash. Not only was that a huge personal best over his entry time of
20.29, but his time is the fastest in the world this year.
The Bruins did not steal the spotlight in that fashion, but they
put on a good showing for themselves.
Kim soared to tie his lifetime best of 17-feet-4 1/2 inches,
only the second time he has ever cleared that height.
A strong tailwind aided Kim, but he also faced challenges. The
wind forced him to use a bigger, stiffer pole than ever before. The
opening height of the competition was 16-10 3/4. Kim usually opens
at 16-1. He may be a freshman, but he rose to the occasion ““
literally.
But Kim got off to a slow start. He faced an early exit after
missing his first two jumps. On the brink of elimination, Kim
buckled down and made his opening-height vault on his final attempt
look easy. He scared Bruin fans again by waiting until his third
and final attempt at 17-4 1/2 before clearing that bar. Kim placed
11th overall ““ not too bad for a guy who entered the meet
seeded last of the 24 competitors.
On his second attempt at 17-10 1/2, Kim barely missed moving
himself into a scoring spot.
“I just came down on the bar,” he said. “It
was my first time on the biggest pole of my life. If I had one more
chance at it, I think I would have had it.”
Erickson also came just short of scoring points for UCLA. In the
semifinals of the 400m hurdles, he placed ninth, about two-tenths
of a second from advancing to the finals in the eighth spot.
Erickson came out strong at the gun. He pushed the lead on the
first straightaway even before the stagger evened out. Coming off
the turn into the final straightaway, Erickson simply ran out of
gas. He managed to hold on for a third-place finish in his heat.
His time of 50.97 disappointed him.
“I had a good race technically, but my time was still
slow,” Erickson said. “I felt bad in the last 50
meters. I shouldn’t be that tired in this race. I should be
in better shape than that.”
Although the result was disheartening, Erickson can hold his
head up high. He came to Oregon seeded 18th; he’s leaving
ninth in the NCAA.
Marum, UCLA’s top javelin thrower, also felt he had more
in him. He, too, failed to advance to the finals. His javelin toss
of 211-5 earned him 13th overall after three throws, but only the
top nine went on.
Marum really wanted this one. His warm-up was focused, his face
determined. While everyone else took one javelin onto the practice
field, he took two. Marum even showed a little team spirit during
his preparation, giving Kim a wave and a word of encouragement as
Kim readied himself for another vault.
“I would have liked to have done better,” Marum said
afterwards. “I came in a little too tight and a little too
nervous. I didn’t perform to my ability. I wasn’t
focused enough mentally on what I needed to do.”
UCLA doesn’t have any points to show for Wednesday’s
events, but it has three athletes returning next year who now have
NCAA championship experience. The Bruins fought hard, but the best
in the NCAA proved themselves to be just that.