MARY CIECEK/Daily Bruin Senior Staff Freshman
Adia McKinnon competes in the 400m at the NCAA
Championship.
By Christina Teller
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
The UCLA women’s track and field team entered the 2001
outdoor campaign with confidence from their second indoor
championship earlier in the year.
The change from last year to this year lay mainly in the loss of
the team’s rock, thrower Seilala Sua (“˜00), and the
addition of the national No. 1 recruiting class that included
Sheena Johnson, Nicole Gaskins, Sani Roseby and Adia McKinnon.
Senior Christina Tolson stepped up in the indoor season and
assumed her role as a leader on the team through her indoor shot
and weight throw successes. The Bruins also received strong
leadership from their other star seniors, multi-eventer Michelle
Perry and sprinter Shakedia Jones. The trio proved to be the
team’s foundation at the NCAA Championships.
With trips to such high profile meets as the Penn and Texas
Relays, the Bruins were able to gauge where they stacked up against
many of the top teams of the country.
“It’s one of those (meets) that has the feel of a
national meet with pretty high expectations,” Distance Coach
Eric Peterson said. “Our kids stepped up to that level
well.”
Winning the 4 x 800-meter relay at the Texas Relays, April 5-7,
was an early sign to Peterson and the rest of the coaching staff
that the 800m runners were going to go further than they ever
had.
“It was the first time competing in that event, and it
looks as though we have as strong a team in that area as any other
school,” Peterson said after the meet.
Three of the five Bruin 800m runners, junior Ysanne Williams,
freshman Lena Nilsson and sophomore Tiffany Burgess, ended up
qualifying for nationals, while sophomore Jessica Marr barely
missed the qualifying time.
“Never as a coach have I had more than one person qualify
in one event,” Peterson said, “and it’s an
indication as to how strong our team has been in the
800m.”
The Bruins held tight to their No. 1 ranking for all but a few
weeks of the season and entered the NCAA championships with that
No. 1 mark in tow.
Taking 15 athletes in 13 events to Eugene, Ore., the Bruins were
favored for the title along with rival USC and South Carolina.
The Bruins and Trojans had faced off two times during the
season: at the dual meet on May 5 and at the Pac-10 Championships,
May 19-20. Both times, UCLA secured bragging rights after they
prevailed in the 4 x 400m relay, the last event of both
competitions.
“Good teams find a way to win, and we found a way to get
it done,” UCLA Head Coach Jeanette Bolden said after the
Pac-10s.
“I think the momentum from our dual win over USC carried
over for us into (Pac-10s),” she continued. “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.”
But it wasn’t just about the relay at those two meetings.
At the dual meet Jones edged out USC junior Angela Williams in the
100m to garner the second-fastest time going into nationals. And at
the Pac-10 Championships, Bolden decided to rest Jones in light of
the shin problems she had been suffering from since the indoor
season. But it turned out not to hurt UCLA, as Williams
false-started in the 100m.
Just two weeks later, the two Southern California squads brought
well-balanced teams to Oregon’s Hayward Field, where the
title would be decided. And at the NCAA Championships, Williams
just edged Jones out in the 100m finals, and the more experienced
women of Troy took home the crown.
But the three seniors shone during the week in Eugene. Tolson
took home the shot title and second in the hammer. Perry wrapped up
second place in only her second heptathlon and competed in 11
events in all. Jones turned in a gutsy performance in the 100m to
close out her career with the highest finish in the event during
her college years.
Now with a strong freshman presence on the team, the Bruins look
good for the next few years.