Track squads
focus on NCAA
qualfications
Men, women already have
several qualifiers, looking
for more down the stretch
By Tim Costner and
Scott Yamaguchi
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
Almost all of the pieces have fallen into place for the UCLA
men’s track team, which currently has automatic NCAA qualifiers in
seven events.
UCLA sprinter Ato Boldon picked up two of those qualifications
last weekend at the Meet of Champions, running the 200-meters in a
wind-aided 20.43 seconds and running the 4x100m relay — along with
Gentry Bradley, Ibrahim Hassan and Thomas Ganda — in 39.31
seconds.
"I’m surprised that I qualified that early in the 200," Boldon
said. "I guess the training’s paying off. The question now is
deciding which races to run. It’s pretty obvious that it will be
the 100 and the 4×100. Doing three events would be a little too
hard."
* * *
The women’s squad has posted qualifying marks in just three
events, though they have more than one qualifier in two of
those.
Junior Valeyta Althouse (59-feet, 8 1/2 inches) and 1995 NCAA
indoor shot put champion Dawn Dumble (58-4 1/2) are ranked first
and second, respectively, in the NCAA in the shot put, while Dumble
(195-9) and freshman Suzy Powell (190-2) currently top the nation
in the discus.
Sophomore Amy Acuff, a two-time NCAA indoor champion in the high
jump, has already qualified in that event with the nation’s second
best mark (6-3 1/4).
The Bruins have several provisional qualifiers as well,
including Powell, who is at the top of the provisional list for the
javelin with a season-best throw of 169-1, just eight inches short
of an automatic qualification.
Althouse is also provisionally qualified in the discus, as is
freshman Nada Kawar in the shot put, sophomore Cicely Scott in both
the 400 and the 800, senior Karen Hecox in the 1,500 and the 3,000,
and senior Shelia Burrell in the heptathlon with a 5456-point
performance.
Hecox is the defending national champion in the 3,000.
"I think you’ll start to see us post qualifying times this
weekend at the California/Nevada State Championships," women’s head
coach Jeanette Bolden said. "And each week, from now until the
Pac-10 Championships, and even at Pac-10’s, we’ll start to post the
times that can get us qualified – both automatically and
provisionally."
* * *
UCLA shot putter John Godina has been throwing so well lately
that he has been second-guessing whether or not the medication he
has been taking could be performance enhancing.
Godina had already verified that the medication was legal, but
he double-checked it earlier this week to make absolutely sure. The
senior has been drug-tested repeatedly this year, and has never
tested positive for banned substances.
"I had to call a second time to make sure," said Godina, who has
approached 70 feet in practice. "It’s just been happening too
easily — the good throws are just coming. I haven’t changed
anything."
One thing that has changed is Godina’s ranking in among NCAA
shot putters. The senior fell to second in the nation after
Georgia’s Brent Noon threw 68 feet, one inch last week.
Godina — who had previously led the nation with a throw of 67-2
1/4 — is not worried.
"He threw 68-1 and probably feels pretty good about that,"
Godina said of Noon. "There’s more to life than 68 feet — that’s
for sure. There’s a 70-foot line out there that he hasn’t ever come
close to. It’ll happen this year for me, and it better happen for
him. If it doesn’t he’s in trouble."
* * *
The UCLA track program will travel to USC next weekend for the
61st dual meet with the Trojans.
In event-by-event rankings, the UCLA men’s team currently leads
the Trojans in 13 of the 18 events, including the 100m, 200m and
the 4x100m relay.
"It’ll be a good chance for us to show our wares," said UCLA
sprinting coach John Smith. "We’ll show everyone that we come to
use Trojans — we don’t come to just play with them."
The Bruins have won the last 16 meetings against the
Trojans.