By J.P. Hoornstra
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
Their Thursday flight to Champaign, Ill. landed in Indianapolis,
Ind. Their two-hour bus ride back to Champaign pushed their bedtime
up to 3 a.m. Friday. And yet the UCLA women’s track team
turned in a respectable performance in the opening team meet of the
indoor season.
Competing against three ranked teams ““ No. 7 Illinois, No.
19 BYU and No. 15 Miami (Fla.) ““ No. 5 UCLA finished third
out of four teams at the Illinois Women’s Invitational, won
by the host on Saturday.
“It’s so early in the season right now,” Bruin
assistant coach Eric Peterson said, “that our team competed
very well.”
The Bruins took five events at the two-day meet: Sheena Johnson
in the 400-meter dash, Darnesha Griffith in the high jump, Tracy
O’Hara in the pole vault, and the 4×400-meter relay and
distance medley relay teams.
The victory by the Bruins’ distance medley team ““
Tiffany Burgess, Monique Henderson, Jessica Marr and Lena Nilsson
““ overcame a BYU team that won the NCAA cross-country title.
“It’s pretty nice to put a beating on them,”
Peterson said.
The international scoring format used in the meet worked against
the Bruins’ chances for a title.
“It really favored teams that had two competitors in every
event,” Peterson said. “We just didn’t feel that
at this time of the year we were able to … scrap for points to
try to win the meet.
“What we’re really trying to do is position our
athletes to prepare for the national meet at the end of the
year,” he added.
Although the Bruins enter this season with two consecutive
indoor championships under their belt, both Peterson and head coach
Jeanette Bolden intend to use the indoor season as training for
outdoor meets.
Outdoor competitions will begin March 16 against UC Berkeley and
Washington State.
The Bruins’ next competition will be at the Washington
Invitational Saturday in Seattle.