Two-game penalty relief to Walcott
UCLA sophomore point guard Ryan Walcott will be sitting out the
first two regular-season games of the 2002-03 season.
Somehow he managed to put a positive spin on it.
“I’m happy I got the year back,” Walcott said
from his home in Arizona. “That’s what
counts.”
Walcott decided to redshirt his freshman season after he had
already played nine minutes during an exhibition game Nov. 1,
2001.
His petition to redshirt was approved the next month by the
NCAA, with the caveat that he would have to miss two regular season
games in the future. Walcott waited to serve the suspension until
now because of a pending proposal to change the NCAA rules
concerning redshirt violations.
The legislation wasn’t resolved until April 2002, and the
approved rules change did not affect the suspension Walcott would
have to serve.
Walcott will play in the exhibition season, but chose to
“get the suspension over with” by serving it at the
beginning of this season. He will miss games against San Diego
University on Nov. 26 and perennial NCAA powerhouse Duke on Nov.
30.
“It’s very tough,” Walcott said about missing
the Duke game, “but I’ll be there rooting for the
team.”
Nilsson breaks school record in 1500-meter
run
Running in the opposite corner of the country, at tiny Bowdoin
College in Brunswick, Me., Lena Nilsson found her way atop the UCLA
record books.
The junior ran the 1500-meter in a school-record 4:09.89 seconds
at the New Balance Maine Distance Festival.
Nilsson’s victory against a field of professional runners
at the open meet in Maine qualified her for the European
Championships in Munich, Aug. 6-11.
“I wasn’t expecting anything because I’ve been
injured constantly for four, five years,” Nilsson said about
her success this off-season.
Although Nilsson was one of the finest collegiate runners in
2002, winning the 1500 at the NCAA finals in May and chosen as
Pac-10 women’s track and field athlete of the year, the
European Championships are the most significant event in her
career.
“The European Championships can be harder than the big
(American) meets just because track is so big in Europe. All the
great runners are from there,” she said.
“I’m a little nervous but at the same time, I
don’t have anything to lose.”
The previous school record of 4:10.3 was set by Francie Larrieu
(Smith) in 1974.
In other track and field news, Monique Henderson (400-meter),
Briona Reynolds (shot put), and Jeremy Silverman (shot put) will be
in Kingston, Jamaica this week to compete at the 2002 World Junior
Track and Field Championships. The meet features the top 14- to
19-year-old athletes in the world.
Compiled by J.P. Hoornstra, Daily Bruin Senior Staff