Photos from The Associated Press Jessica Cosby
won the women’s shot put title on Saturday with a 57-1/4 throw. The
Bruins
finished second at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field
Championships in Baton Rouge, La.
By Jeff Eisenberg
DAILY BRUIN CONTRIBUTOR
[email protected]
Just a few days before flying to Baton Rouge, La., for the NCAA
Outdoor Track and Field Championships, South Carolina head coach
Curtis Frye said that he would love for the meet to come down to
the 1,600-meter relay.
Unfortunate for UCLA, Frye got his wish.
Needing just five points to clinch the school’s first-ever
national title in any sport, South Carolina’s team of Tiffany
Ross, Demetria Washington, Tacita Bass and Lashinda Demus delivered
a national title. The quartet sprinted to victory in the mile relay
on Saturday night in a collegiate record of 3:26.46.
The Gamecocks finished with 82 points, 10 more than second-place
UCLA.
“We wanted to control our own destiny,” Frye said in
a statement. “We wanted to run our best race of the season in
the 4x400m relay, and we did. I am just thrilled.”
The runner-up spot was all too familiar for the Bruins who have
finished second at the outdoor nationals four out of the past five
years.
Nonetheless, UCLA performed brilliantly, winning five individual
titles, including a NCAA-record four field events.
The Bruins led the meet by a wide margin after two days of
competition behind the performances of seniors Tracy O’Hara
and Darnesha Griffith.
South Carolina began to make a move on Friday, winning the
400-meter relay and taking first, second and sixth place in the
400-meter hurdles. Entering the last day of the meet, the Gamecocks
trailed by just four points.
UCLA’s O’Hara competes in the women’s pole vault at the NCAA
championships. FINAL WOMEN’S TEAM SCORES: 1. South Carolina
82 2. UCLA 72 3. USC 57 4. Lousiana State 43 5. Kansas State
30
UCLA immediately lengthened their lead Saturday as Jessica Cosby
shocked the field in the shot put, picking up 10 first place points
with a personal best throw of 57-0.25. The redshirt freshman only
had the nation’s 10th best mark coming into nationals.
“I have trained hard all year,” Cosby said in a
statement. “The Pac-10 meet (she placed second in the shot
put, 54-1) didn’t turn out like I wanted. I wanted to do
something pretty big to contribute to our team.”
“She had worked hard the last week after the hammer throw
(Wednesday) to get her technique and rhythm,” assistant coach
Eric Peterson said.
“Those 10 points were really valuable. It really charged
the team.”
The Bruin lead did not last long, however, as South Carolina
dominated the 400-meter.
The Gamecocks finished second, third and fourth, taking 19
points in the event, while UCLA’s Monique Henderson, one of
the pre-race favorites, managed just a disappointing seventh
place.
Less than an hour later, Lena Nilsson revived the Bruins’
national title hopes, picking up the squad’s first victory of
the meet on the track. The sophomore won the 1500m in 4:12.60, the
top collegiate time of the season.
“I was just planning on trying to kick the last 60,”
Nilsson said in a statement. “Coming into the last
straightaway, I felt and I heard the crowd. I was like
“˜It’s time to go.’ When I went for the finish
line, that was my focus.”
In the meet’s waning stages, South Carolina rallied again
behind its collection of world class sprinters. The
Gamecocks’ Aleen Bailey and Melisa Barber earned 12 crucial
points in the 200m, vaulting them into first place for good.
Those tallies set the stage for decisive 1600m relay where South
Carolina again proved victorious. UCLA’s team of Bunmi
Ogunleye, Adia McKinnon, Sheena Johnson and Henderson took third in
3:28.79, just .21 seconds off their school record pace in the
qualifying heats.
“We could have won the event, and without South Carolina
really faltering, we were not going to win the meet,”
Peterson said.
The Gamecocks scored all 82 of their points in the sprints and
the hurdles.
“There’s a little bit of a bitter taste,” head
coach Jeannette Bolden said. “It’s different than last
year; we felt last year that we lost, this year we felt that we got
beat.”
With just three seniors competing this week, the Bruins can take
solace in the fact that they should be in position to contend for a
championship again next season.
“Three athletes that had individual titles are coming
back. That right there is a big boost for us when we know South
Carolina graduates a couple of key people as well,” Bolden
said.