Thursday, 6/5/97 UCLA looks to unseat NCAA champion Louisiana
State W. TRACK: Bruins No. 1, Pac-10 champs, have high hopes for
bringing another title home
By Donald Morrison Daily Bruin Contributor A focused women’s
track team is on a mission this week at the NCAA championships in
Bloomington, Ind. Their mission is to end Louisiana State’s 10-year
reign as the NCAA champion and bring another title home to
Westwood. The No. 1 ranked Bruins, coming off their eighth Pac-10
championship in 11 years, are confident and looking forward to
competing. "We’re really focusing on doing well individually," UCLA
head coach Jeanette Bolden said. "I think each individual is going
to nationals to do their best and focus on their individual
events." Eleven Bruins will compete at the championships and try to
bring home a fifth national title and their first since 1983.
UCLA’s national title run will be helped tremendously by the field
athletes, who are all expected to score in their respective events.
Amy Acuff will try to win her third straight NCAA high jump title.
Acuff has jumped 6-6 and is the collegiate record holder but is
third in the nation this year with a seasonal best jump of 6-3 1/4
inches. However, Acuff is the favorite to win the event. Deana
Simmons will need to have a great performance this week in order to
place in the top eight in the triple jump. Simmons is ranked 19th
in the nation and has jumped 44-1 1/4 feet. Suzy Powell will try to
capture her first NCAA championship in the javelin throw after she
finished second Wednesday afternoon in the discus to teammate
Seilala Sua with a mark of 198-7. Powell is second in the nation in
the javelin with a mark of 179-2. Sua won her first NCAA title in
the discus with a throw of 200-6. Sua will also be in the shot put
and ranks fifth in the nation with an outdoor mark of 55-5. Nada
Kawar and Rachelle Noble will also compete in the shot put. Kawar
is the Pac-10 champion in the event and is third in the nation with
a put of 57-0 3/4. Joanna Hayes will run in both the 100- and
400-meter hurdles. Hayes, the Pac-10 champion in both events, is
eighth in the nation in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 13.04
and third in the nation in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of
56.38. Bisa Grant will also run the 100-meter hurdles; thus far her
seasonal best is 13.26. Darlene Malco, the Pac-10 400-meter
champion, comes in to that event ranked fifth with a personal and
seasonal best time of 51.92, only .47 of a second off of the
national leader. The 4 x 100 relay team of Hayes, Malco, Grant and
Andrea Anderson will run in one of the toughest events of the
competition. The Pac-10 champions ran 44.14 in Seattle but will
need to run under 44 if they want to upset LSU, the national leader
in the event at 43.51. "The hurdles, 400 meters, 4 x 100 relay and
triple jump are the events (in which) we are going to have heads up
competition with LSU," Bolden said. Katherina Kechris will make her
first appearance at the NCAA championships on Friday when she runs
in the 3,000 meters. Kechris, ranked ninth in the nation, finished
third at the Pac-10 championships with a time of 9:24 and has run a
personal best time of 9:23.18 this year. Kechris is expected to
break her personal best and place in the top eight. "It’s going to
be tough," Bolden said. "It’s going to be a race between UCLA,
Texas, North and South Carolina and LSU. Everyone has a great shot
at making it to the finals as well as placing in the top three."
Daily Bruin File Photo Suzy Powell finished second in discus.
Previous Daily Bruin stories: Bruins rack up personal bests in Palo
Alto, San Diego meets, Apr 1, 1997