This weekend’s Pac-10 heptathlon competition provided UCLA
with an early opportunity to put some distance between itself and
its major competitors for the conference title. But the Bruins
settled for just five points, as neither sophomore Nastassja Hall
nor freshman Georgea Richards were able to distinguish themselves
from the rest of the field. Hall finished fifth with 4,975 points
and Richards took eighth with 4,734 points, but both were well
behind eventual champion Jackie Johnson of Arizona State. The
silver lining for UCLA was that neither of the two teams expected
to challenge the Bruins for the Pac-10 Championship ““ USC or
Stanford ““ entered anyone in the heptathlon. That means UCLA
will essentially have a five-point head start when the teams
reconvene in Tucson, Ariz. for the individual portion of the Pac-10
Championships next weekend. That’s little consolation for
Hall, who had hoped to make a late bid to qualify for next
month’s NCAA Championships. Hall, the sixth-ranked
heptathlete in the conference coming into the meet, had estimated
she would need at least 5,100 points to get to the NCAA meet
““ a total she fell well short of.
McKINNON RETURNS: Senior sprinter Adia McKinnon
competed for the first time this season, running the 400m in 54.97
seconds at Occidental College on Saturday. McKinnon, who suffered a
foot injury during the fall training period, had hoped to return
for the USC dual meet on May 1.
SAYE EXCELS: UCLA’s Lara Saye, competing
unattached, threw a lifetime best 184 feet, 7 inches at the Modesto
Relays on Friday. Saye, who is redshirting her senior season, hopes
to come back next season as a legitimate national contender in the
discus.