With a sprint, skip and a toss, two Bruins generated some surprise at the NCAA Indoor Championships in College Station, Tex.
The UCLA women’s indoor track and field season may be all wrapped up, but the Bruins sure aren’t, as they now look forward to the outdoor season.
Senior hurdler Lindsay Rowe and freshman thrower Ida Storm were in Texas on Friday, with Rowe finishing in a noteworthy 12th place in the 60m hurdles and Storm ““ in her championship debut ““ placing 11th in the weight throw.
“It’s a huge boost for our team that these two young ladies, one a freshman, qualified for nationals, especially considering the fact that we are not a big indoor school,” coach Jeanette Bolden said. “And it helps us when we look for a national championship that we have two young ladies there, although they both just missed making it to the finals, I think that it helps the team knowing we can get there.”
Rowe ran a time of 8.28 seconds ““ a reasonably fast time and less than a second slower than the lifetime best she established last week, when she hit 8.16 seconds at the UW Final Qualifier in Seattle ““ a time that easily qualified her for a lane at the NCAAs.
Storm recorded a toss of 63-2 in the weight throw ““ a promising way to cap off the young Bruin’s mere third competition.
Both Rowe and Storm just missed qualifying for Saturday’s finals.
“Just the experience of going and being there as a team is going to be valuable for us in the outdoor season,” Bolden said.
The rest of the Bruins competed at the Northridge Invitational on Saturday, their second outdoor meet of the season.
Among UCLA’s top performers were senior distance runner Shannon Murakami, who finished first overall in the 3000m with a time of 9:47.14, and sophomore pole vaulter Allison Koressel, who tied for first place in her event with a clearance of 12-7.50.
Compiled by Michael Dafter, Bruin Sports contributor.