Wednesday, May 22, 1996
Bruins shooting for personal bests at world class meetBy
Emmanuelle Ejercito
and Scott Yamaguchi
Daily Bruin Staff
Although it is too late to qualify for the NCAA Championships, a
handful of discus throwers and shot putters from the UCLA men’s and
women’s track teams will compete in a world class meet at Salinas
today.
With the possibility of very favorable winds and the tough
competition that will include John Godina, Dawn Dumble and Lacy
Barnes, the Bruins hope to set new personal records.
Representing the men in the discus will be David Dumble, Travis
Haynes and Luke Sullivan. The lone shot putter will be Wade
Tift.
Scott McPherren will not travel with the team due to a pulled
pectoral muscle that has hampered him in recent weeks. The injury
had an adverse affect on his performance in last week’s Pacific 10
championships in the discus.
The Pac-10 championships were the last chance for freshmen
McPherren, Sullivan and Haynes to improve their position on the
provisional qualifying list. The NCAA takes the top 16 throwers in
each event. But the throwers were unable to improve their
season-best marks on Sunday.
"I am never disappointed in freshmen," UCLA throwing coach Art
Venegas said of the Pac-10 meet. "I am extremely forgiving with
freshmen. I expected them to have their problems this late in the
season."
So far, the only Bruin in the discus to be ranked in the top 16
is Dumble, who is 13th in the nation with the second best
provisional mark. Meanwhile, McPherren and Sullivan are on the
bubble, ranked 18th and 20th respectively.
There is still a chance that Sullivan may compete in the NCAA
championships, depending on injuries and withdrawals that will be
settled by next week. McPherren, however, will not be able to throw
even if he moves up in the rankings, due to his injury.
For the women, Valeyta Althouse will compete in the shot put,
Suzy Powell will throw the discus, and Nada Kawar will do both.
All three have already booked tickets to Eugene for next week’s
national meet, so the Salinas Invitational, with it’s top-notch
competition, is nothing more than a mid-week tune-up for the
Bruins.
Even so, Powell, who was upset in the Pac-10 championships last
weekend, will be looking to reassert her position atop the NCAA.
Her best mark this season is a 196-5, only eight inches better than
the throw with which Washington’s Aretha Hill won the Pac-10
title.
"Traditionally, Salinas has a pretty good wind, so hopefully, if
you can catch the wind right, you can add a bunch of feet to your
throw," Powell said. "I’m looking for something over 190 Â
that’s the lower end of my spectrum. Of course, I’d like to break
200-feet, but I’m not going to worry about it."
SUSIE CHU/Daily Bruin
Freshman David Dumble is the only Bruin discus thrower that has
automatically qualified for the NCAA championships.