In a tunnel underneath the bleachers at USC’s Katherine B.
Loker Stadium, an anxious Monique Henderson paced back and
forth.
The favorite in both the 200- and 400-meters, Henderson had to
withdraw from both races when her hamstring tightened up, and she
was worried that her injury could cost the Bruins the conference
title.
It didn’t.
Sheena Johnson and Lena Nilsson picked up the slack for their
fallen teammate as the No. 4 UCLA women’s track and field
team coasted to its seventh straight Pac-10 Championship on
Sunday.
“I was worried at first, but my teammates were fine
without me,” Henderson said. “We rebounded, and
I’m really glad about that.”
The Bruins were in third place after the first day of
competition on Saturday, but charged to the top of the standings
with a flurry of victories on the track. Nilsson led the Bruin
revival as she posted a pair of emphatic victories in the middle
distance events, giving UCLA a lead they would never
relinquish.
The defending NCAA champion in the 1500-meters, Nilsson was not
challenged in the race on Sunday, breezing to victory in a
season-best 4:13.21. She toyed with her opponents for the first
three laps on Sunday before surging to front in the final lap to
win by a comfortable margin. Nilsson followed that up with another
masterful performance in the 800m, winning the race in 2:03.86, the
fourth-fastest collegiate time of the year.
“I felt really good in both races,” Nilsson said. I
had a lot left in the 1500m and it showed in the 800m as well. I
didn’t feel as tired after the 1500m and I knew it was not going to
affect me going into the 800m”
Nilsson’s heroics paved the way for Johnson to clinch the
conference championship for the Bruins.
Johnson ““ who won the 100m hurdles earlier in the day with
a personal best mark of 13.10 seconds ““ was back in the
starter’s block for the 400m hurdles barely an hour
later.
After a quick start, Johnson surged to the lead in the latter
stages of the race, completing her sweep of the hurdles in a
season-best 56.45 seconds.
“It’s a really good mark for me,” Johnson
said. “Usually I can see where everybody else is on the
track, but by about half way through the race, I didn’t see
anybody.”
Johnson’s victory coupled with senior Ysanne
Williams’ second-place finish in the event secured 18 points
for UCLA and gave the squad a virtually insurmountable 50-point
lead. More importantly, it served notice that the Bruins ““
even without Henderson ““ were still the most complete team in
the Pac-10, for the seventh straight year.
“Even though we’ve won so many in a row, we
couldn’t come out here and think that it was expected,”
Johnson said. We had to work harder because the other teams are
coming after us even more now.”
After another conference championship, it is clear the hard work
is paying off.