Chelsea Johnson experimented with a nine-stride approach to pole
vaulting Saturday. And, in the UCLA sophomore’s own words,
“It was a miserable failure.” Johnson, the NCAA
record-holder in the pole vault, never cleared the bar once against
USC, failing on all three attempts at her opening height of 12
feet, 10 inches. For an athlete who rarely enters the competition
until 13 feet or higher, it was a shocking setback, one that
Johnson hopes is no more than an anomaly amid a record-setting
season. “If it’s going to happen, this was the time to
do it,” she said. “I wanted to get the points for the
team, but we didn’t really need them.” Johnson said she
felt fine in warm-ups, but from the start of the competition it was
clear she was not in sync. She blew through the pole on her first
attempt, tried a bigger pole, and then an even bigger one, but the
subtle change in her stride and the unfamiliar height were too much
to overcome. After missing her third attempt, she glanced at the
bar in disbelief before retreating to the solitude of the infield
to collect her thoughts. Just as surprised as anyone was USC pole
vaulting coach Craig Cooper, who walked over to his pole vaulters
to deliver a quick pep-talk. “Girls, you’ve just been
promoted,” he said. Actually it was UCLA’s Jackie
Nguyen who picked up the slack for Johnson, clearing 12-4 to
capture first place. Johnson was disappointed in herself, but
optimistic about the remainder of the season. “I had a
feeling I was going to have a setback,” she said. “But
with every setback comes a time to refocus, and that only leads to
positive things. “If I would have made that last bar, I might
have gone to 15 feet and had a great day.”
SEEING RED: USC coach Ron Allice angrily filed
a protest after judges disqualified the Trojans’ Iryna
Vashchuk, who seemingly had held off UCLA’s Ashley Caldwell
to win the 800 meters. Officials ruled that Vashchuk had impeded
Caldwell’s progress by ebbing out from the innermost lane on
the track, making it impossible for the Bruin sophomore to pass her
down the stretch. Allice apparently was upset because he felt the
same thing had happened to his team a year ago when UCLA’s
Ben Aragon bumped the Trojans’ Thomasz Babiskiewiecz in the
1500m. “The USC coaches were upset because they felt like
there wasn’t consistency,” judge Robert Marcus said.
“But this was an easy call. I had four other officials that
agreed with me.”
TWICE AS NICE: Not only is Candice Baucham an
elite triple jumper, but apparently she can hold her own in the
long jump as well. Baucham, who won the triple jump with a
regional-qualifying mark of 43 feet, 10 inches, demonstrated her
versatility, jumping 20 feet, 9.75 inches in the long jump to
secure second place. She cleared 20 feet on all four jumps she
landed, setting a new personal best and qualifying for regionals in
a second event. Baucham, who plans to double at nationals, did not
start practicing in the long jump until two weeks ago, and was
making her outdoor debut. “Confidence is everything, and
right now her confidence is bubbling over,” first-year jumps
coach Robert Johnson said. “She’s night and day
different from when I first met her.”
SHORT SPRINTS: The Bruins huddled around
men’s sprints coach Tony Veney, who performed a UCLA-USC
themed rap after the meet “¦ Julie Stevenson set a new
personal best in the high jump, taking second place with a mark of
5 feet, 11 inches “¦ Kamaiya Warren surprised USC’s
L’Orangerie Crawford in the shot put, taking second place
with a personal best 55 feet, 2.75 inches “¦ Heptathletes
Nastassja Hall and Georgea Richards each set new personal records
in the long jump.