A notoriously slow starter in the past, UCLA’s Yoo Kim is
out of the blocks quickly this season. The senior pole vaulter
cleared the bar at 18 feet, 1 inch in his second meet of the indoor
season to take first place at the Husky Invitational in Seattle on
Saturday. The performance was an indoor career best for Kim, who
had never cleared higher than 17-4 indoors before.
“He’s very confident right now,” UCLA pole
vaulting coach Anthony Curran said. “Usually he starts off
slow and is tough by the end of the season, but not this year. This
is big for him.” Such a strong start for Kim was not a
surprise to Curran, who said Kim has been routinely clearing 17-6
in practice. Kim, a member of the Korean Olympic team in Athens,
took second place overall at the NCAA Outdoor Championships this
past June and seems to be picking up where he left off. “The
difference is that this year he is opening up at 18 feet,”
Curran said. “It’s a sign of his maturity. He’s
reached the next level.” It was almost a very disappointing
meet for Kim, who missed his first two attempts at his opening
height of 17-1. But he cleared the bar on his final vault, and then
easily cleared the next two bars on his first attempts. BYU’s
Trent Powell failed on all three of his attempts at 18-1 to give
Kim the victory. The UCLA senior took three attempts at a
personal-best mark of 18-5, but missed all of them, ending the
competition.
TAKING IT SLOW: Sophomore Brandon Johnson, one of the
nation’s top young hurdlers, is still recovering from an
offseason stress fracture in his fibula and will only participate
minimally during the indoor season. Johnson, the Pac-10 400-meter
hurdles champion a year ago, will not compete individually indoors,
but plans to run a leg on UCLA’s 4x400m relay team at the
NCAA Indoor Championships in March.
SHORT SPRINTS: Senior Anthony Golston matched his indoor season
best in the 60m hurdles from a year ago on Saturday with a mark of
7.86 seconds. …. Senior Nick Thornton ran a personal-best 1:48.72
in the 800m on Saturday. … Sophomore thrower David Shortenhaus
competed in the heptathlon for the first time in his career,
finishing fourth with 4,665 points.