As he lay in his bed, about to fall asleep last Friday night,
Craig Everhart stared at a poster that to him said it all.
“Impossible is Nothing.” For the sophomore sprinter,
the Adidas slogan said what he wanted to shout to the world the
following morning when he awoke. And he did just that. Everhart set
a new personal record with his 20.76-second finish in the
200-meter dash at the Rafer Johnson/Jackie Joyner-Kersee
Invitational on Saturday. The mark proved to be the second-fastest
time this year in the event. “Nobody believed I could do it,
maybe only three people thought I could run under 21
seconds,” Everhart said after the meet, giddy with
excitement. “Today I got to prove them all wrong.”
Everhart placed third in the event, behind professional sprinters
Micky Grimes of HSInternational and Rubin Williams of Heritage
Track, but he viewed the experience against expert athletes as
beneficial. “It’s always good to run against
high-caliber athletes like them,” Everhart said. “Not
only am I competing with them, which is great by itself, but they
also are always encouraging and motivating me.” This
weekend’s performance by Everhart was only the latest in a
series of impressive accomplishments. Last week at the Texas
Relays, Everhart led the 4×400-meter relay squad, which ran
3:04.25, the ninth-fastest time in UCLA history. There he ran a
blistering 45.3-second first leg that helped the Bruins to win the
event. “We’re just beginning to scratch away at his
talent,” first-year Bruin sprints coach Tony Veney said.
“I told him to go out there and run a 20.8 and instead he
runs a 20.7. It’s hard to say what he can’t
do.”
AMES EXCELS: Competing against one of top
throwers in the world appeared to bring out the best in senior Dan
Ames on Saturday. Ames was runner-up to Olympic medalist and Bruin
alumnus John Godina, throwing a personal best and
regional-qualifying 66 feet, 1 inch in the shot put, a mark that is
the best collegiate throw outdoors so far this season. “I
knew he could do it,” throwing coach Art Venegas said.
“I knew he could get that far or even better. He was solid in
his technical performance, and now this sets him where he needs to
be for the national championships.” Ames beat out other
professional throwers and came within 18 inches of Godina’s
winning throw. His impressive throw now puts him fifth in school
history. Ames also competed in the discus, where he finished fifth,
and his mark of 189-10 was the best collegiate mark of the day.
Nonetheless, both he and Venegas agree that there is more work to
be done in that event.
ARMON SITS: Jumper Juaune Armon was held out of
the long jump Saturday due to minor back spasms. For training
purposes, the Bruin co-captain had already competed in both the
triple jump and the 100-meter dash the previous day. While warming
up Saturday for his primary event, the long jump, he felt enough
discomfort to sit out. “The spasms were probably a result of
doing more events than he’s used to,” jumps coach
Robert Johnson said. “We’re trying to get him to the
end of the season and we used those extra events as extra
conditioning. Juaune is going to need it, since we plan on him
competing longer than normal with nationals and maybe even the
Olympic trials.” Johnson said Armon’s spasms
shouldn’t affect him in any of the upcoming meets, and his
absence was merely a precaution.
SHORT SPRINTS: In the 400-meters, Junior Denye
Versher set a new personal record with a regional-qualifying time
of 46.59 seconds … Jonathan Williams and Matt Willis both ran
seasonal bests and qualified for regionals with times of 51.20 and
52.29, respectively, in the 400-meter hurdles … Junior Tony
Golston ran 13.87 seconds in the 110-meter hurdles … The
4×100-meter relay team finished as the top collegiate team in a
regional-qualifying time of 40.22 seconds … Sophomore pole
vaulter Mike Landers cleared a personal best of 17-0.75, which put
him in a tie for fourth with fellow Bruin Pat Luke … Shot putters
Jake Knight and Jeremy Silverman also threw qualifying marks, with
58-11.5 and 57-7, respectively.