A depleted indoor roster has left UCLA women’s track coach
Jeanette Bolden with slightly diminished expectations as she
prepares for next month’s NCAA Indoor Championships. Several
of the Bruins’ top performers will sit out the entire indoor
season, or compete in a limited role, leaving the squad shorthanded
when it squares off with the nation’s best.
“We’re probably not going to win (a championship), but
we certainly can be in the top five,” Bolden said. “We
just have to get a couple more people qualified.” Among those
who will not compete until outdoor season are Monique Henderson and
Adia McKinnon, two of the Bruins’ top sprinters last season.
McKinnon, a senior, is resting after a prolonged fall training
period during which she was recovering from a foot injury, while
Henderson, a junior, will concentrate on outdoors, where she has
been more successful in the past. Both sprinters could use the
extra time off since they each plan to compete this summer in
Olympic qualifying, Henderson for the United States and McKinnon
for Trinidad and Tobago. Defending 800-meter champion Lena Nilsson
will also not compete individually, but will run the third-leg of
the distance medley relay. Though she doesn’t have a full
squad at her fingertips, Bolden is pleased with the results thus
far, especially the performances of pole-vaulter Chelsea Johnson,
jumper Renee Williams, and hurdler Sheena Johnson. “I feel
good that we have so many people in the top five right now,”
Bolden said.
HARPER HEALTHY: Sophomore Dawn Harper, who
underwent off-season knee surgery over the summer, has looked
strong thus far in her return. Harper provisionally qualified for
the Indoor Nationals in Boise on Feb. 7 and, according to Bolden,
has run well in practice. “Sometimes the injury bothers her a
little bit,” Bolden said. “But she’s done fairly
well.”
SHORT SPRINTS: UCLA will compete at the MPSF
Indoor Championships in Seattle this weekend … Bolden has stepped
up the sprinters training regiments early in the season in hopes
they will run closer to their personal records.