After she ran her preliminary race, junior Lena Nilsson
didn’t even think she would make the finals.
But at the NCAA Indoors, she left as a national champion.
With her win in the 800-meter run, Nilsson helped the UCLA
women’s track and field team tie for eighth place in the NCAA
Indoor championships held in Arkansas last weekend.
Nilsson, who also competed in the 1500m, normally focuses on the
longer distance events and has been known not particularly to care
for the 800m.
“We weren’t necessarily expecting a win because we
gear her training towards the 3000m and 1500m, but it’s
definitely foolish to bet against her,” distance coach Eric
Peterson said. “The older she gets and the more accomplished
Lena becomes, the less she surprises me.”
With a trying preliminary race where she faced heavy traffic,
Nilsson managed to take the last qualifying spot; the race helped
her to prepare more thoroughly for the final.
“The 800 is a tricky one,” Nilsson said.
“Everything that could have happened did in the prelim
““ which scared me afterwards, especially if I didn’t
make a change. So I just decided I was going to take a chance and
really go for it in the final.”
Nilsson’s win accounted for over one-third of the Bruins
overall 24 points, which tied with Indiana.
“It gave us a chance to compete against teams we
don’t normally see like LSU (who won the team title), Texas
and South Carolina,” said women’s head coach Jeanette
Bolden. “That’s why we compete ““ to see how we
stack up and to show us what we need to work on heading into the
outdoor season.”
The low team score reflected the relatively low UCLA athlete
participation due to the qualifying standards set by the NCAA that
the majority of athletes did not meet throughout the season.
But the UCLA athletes that were there included junior Tiffany
Burgess, who also ran the 800m and finished eighth with a time of
2:05:56 and added to her now three All-American awards. Shot putter
junior Cari Soong also earned All-America honors with her third
place, personal best throw of 67-4.75.
The 4×400-meter relay squad of juniors Adia McKinno, Sheena
Johnson, and Hasani Roseby and sophomore Monique Henderson took
fourth with a time of 3:33:24, while pole vaulters freshman Chelsea
Johnson and sophomore Jamie Kolar placed 11th (13-3.50 ft.) and
17th (12-5.50) respectively.
“They did a great job,” Bolden said.
“We’re not considered an indoor school, so to perform
the way we did was great.”
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The men’s team also sent three athletes to compete this
weekend. Junior Dan Ames scored All-American honors with his fourth
place finish in the shot-put (64-7) and senior Scott Wiegand
finished 14th with a throw of 60-9.25.
The team scored eight points and finished 29th.