A surprising fifth-place finish at the NCAA Indoor Championships
saw the UCLA women’s track and field team run the gamut of
emotions.
Some were elated. A few frustrated. But after unexpectedly
cracking the top five this weekend with a depleted roster, all of
the Bruins left Fayetteville, Ark. feeling like legitimate
contenders heading into outdoor season.
“The girls feel very confident,” UCLA coach Jeanette
Bolden said. “We left a lot of opportunities to score at
home. Everyone else had everyone out there, and still we managed to
finish fifth.”
The sixth-ranked Bruins had no entrants in the short sprints,
the high jump, or the 4X400-meter relay, yet still finished just 12
points shy of eventual champion LSU. A strong performance from
senior Sheena Johnson and sophomore Dawn Harper propelled UCLA into
a first-place tie at the end of competition Friday, while
surprising top-four finishes from juniors Candice Baucham and
Jessica Cosby helped to secure its fifth-place finish.
Bolden, who places less emphasis on the indoor season than
outdoor competition, was pleased with her team’s performance,
especially after the Bruins’ disastrous eighth-place finish
at the NCAA Outdoor Championships last June.
“I’m really impressed with how the team
competed,” Bolden said. “It was good to see the girls
who had long faces after last year come in and perform
well.”
Among those who struggled last June was Candice Baucham, a
borderline national-level performer prior to this weekend.
Saturday, however, may have marked a turning point for her as she
eclipsed her personal best by nearly one foot in the triple jump,
placing third with a mark of 44 feet, 2.75 inches.
UCLA’s distance medley relay also turned in a top-notch
performance, placing third behind Tennessee and Stanford. They
might have even had a chance to take first place, but senior
Melissa McBain, who ran the 1200-meter leg of the race, could not
break free of traffic on her opening lap.
“She spent a lot of time boxed in and had to work very
hard to clear the box,” UCLA distance coach Eric Peterson
said. “But winning is hard to do. We’re very happy with
the six points they got for the team.”
Johnson and Harper snared 11 points for the team, placing third
and fourth respectively in the 60-meter hurdles. Cosby placed
fourth in the shot put with a personal best 56-foot, 6.5-inch
throw.
Perhaps the greatest irony for UCLA was that its top finisher,
pole vaulter Chelsea Johnson, had maybe the most disappointing
weekend of any Bruin. Johnson, who came into the weekend with by
far the nation’s top mark (14-8), finished second to
Georgia’s Fanni Juhasz.
Both Johnson and Juhasz cleared 13 feet, 11.25 inches but failed
at 14-4. Since Juhasz had one fewer miss, she was awarded first
place.
“When you know you are so much better than someone and you
don’t beat them, it’s really frustrating,”
Johnson said. “I was just a little bit unlucky today.
Johnson’s struggles and a disappointing fifth-place finish
from freshman Renee Williams in the long jump did not detract from
the Bruins’ enthusiasm about their performance. With thrower
Kamaiya Warren and jumper Sheena Gordon recovering from injuries
and All-American sprinters Monique Henderson and Adia McKinnon also
returning to the lineup, UCLA appears to be in good position
heading into the outdoor season.
“We know we didn’t put all our cards on the
table,” Bolden said. “To do this well gives us a lot of
confidence.”