With three laps to go in the 5000-meters, USC senior Justin
Neems led a pack of Bruins, the weight of his entire team resting
on this one performance ““ and he was just where the Bruins
wanted him.
In the second-to-last event of the day of Saturday’s
UCLA-USC dual meet at USC’s Katherine B. Loker Stadium, Neems
needed only to finish third to keep the Bruins from clinching the
meet.
The three UCLA distance runners, Ben Aragon, Erik Emilsson and
Justin Patananan, had all competed in other events during the day,
while Neems had fresh legs.
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Nonetheless all three Bruins overcame Neems in the final two
laps to sweep the event and clinch No. 21 UCLA’s 82-81 upset
victory over the No. 3 Trojans.
“Coming into it, we wanted to hang back because Neems was
fresh,” said Aragon, who won the race with a time of
14:46.53.
“We really needed the points and so the coach told us we
had stay in the back, behind Neems, and that’s what we
did.”
With the sweep in the 5000m, the Bruins took an 82-76 lead in
the overall team score and rendered the five points USC secured the
outcome of the final 4x400m relay essentially meaningless.
“The guys knew what was at stake, and our goal was to at
least get to the relay,” UCLA distance coach Eric Peterson
said. “I’m just so pleased we had the opportunity to
make this kind of contribution at the level that we did, at the end
of the meet.”
The distance team had several significant contributions
throughout the day, as Aragon also won the 1500m and made a last
minute kick in the 800m to take first place in that race as well.
Emilsson won the 3000m steeplechase in another Bruin sweep, with
Patananan finishing second and freshman Chad Galbreath third.
“This is probably the most rewarding meet I’ve been
a part of because I just knew we could keep it close, but I just
couldn’t see on paper where we could get our win,”
men’s head coach Art Venegas said.
“But we saw something special in the 5000m, and it was a
complete team effort. The distance runners had a masterful
performance.”
The Bruin team also found unexpected points in the long jump as
junior Juane Armon captured first place with a season-best 25 feet,
8.75 inches. Armon beat two of the nation’s best jumpers,
Julian Kapek and Allen Simms, and provided the Bruins with five
surprising points.
“Coming into the meet I was supposed to take second, but I
knew I was capable of winning today,” Armon said. “It
felt really good to win. I would have hated to lose, but I hate
people doubting me even more.”
Other major contributions came from the throwing corps, led by
junior Dan Ames who won both the shot put (54-1.75) and the discus
(192-05). The Bruins swept both events, as senior Scott Wiegand and
freshman Jeremy Silverman took second and third in each event
respectively.
The points accumulated by the throwers helped to outweigh
USC’s dominance in the sprints, where they piled up a 31-6
advantage. One of the few bright spots was senior Kyle Erickson,
whose second-place finish in the 400m hurdles (50.05) provided the
team with three much-needed points.
With the Trojans and Bruins trading the lead back and forth all
afternoon, a crucial factor in the UCLA victory was the
controversial 110m hurdles. After USC’s Ryan Wilson won the
event, the points were distributed 8-1 to USC in a computer error,
even though UCLA sophomore Jonathan Williams took second, which
earned him three points.
After several changes to the score, the official ruling finally
gave the Bruins the crucial points, ultimately securing their
one-point margin of victory.
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