At this time last season, the UCLA men’s 4x400m relay team
established itself as a force with a strong performance at the
Texas Relays. The quartet’s easy victory on Saturday at the
Rafer Johnson/Jackie Joyner-Kersee Invitational was one second
slower than the time they ran in Texas last year. But, after taking
into account a fierce cross wind and the lack of any serious
competition, UCLA sprints coach Tony Veney said Saturday’s
race was even more encouraging. “Overall a 3:05, winning by
five seconds is a very nice run,” Veney said. “We ran
3:04 the same weekend at the Texas Relays last year, but we had all
the Texas teams to compete with, so it was far more competitive.
This was almost a solo run, so I was really pleased.” The
Bruins were led by anchor Craig Everhart who ran his split in an
impressive 45 seconds. His effort, combined with strong legs from
Mario Bassani, Denye Versher and Brandon Johnson produced the
sixth-fastest collegiate time this year and eclipsed their previous
season-best time of 3:10.30 by almost five seconds. “(My
anchor leg) just shows that I’m just so much better than I
was last year,” said Everhart, who also won the 400m dash in
46.28. “The 4×400 guys all around just show how hard we have
been training.” “I think it has a lot to do with
maturity and letting Coach Veney guide us on and off the
track,” he added. “We have been working on our
confidence this year, and we have been working on letting our
competitors know we’re out here and who we are.” This
improvement in the relay team will certainly help the Bruins next
week when they travel to the Sun Angel Classic, where defending
Pac-10 4×400-meter champions Arizona State and perennial powerhouse
LSU will also compete. “Next week is going to be a real
strong test,” Veney said. “If there are any cracks, you
will find them, and then you just sew them up before Pac-10’s
and Nationals.”
THE NEXT GENERATION: Besides the strong results from
UCLA’s regular quartet in the 4×400 relay, the B-squad put
together a relatively impressive performance. The team, consisting
of sophomores Mike Elbogen and Jeff Jacobs and freshmen James
Rhoades and David Shipp finished in a regional-qualifying 3:10.51,
coming from behind to finish ahead all the visiting teams.
“Those guys really showed up today. I couldn’t have
been happier for them,” Veney said. “I was surprised,
but I knew they were capable,” Everhart said. “Over
spring break, Coach Veney was killing us and a lot of them wanted
to give up, but I talked to them and told them this isn’t a
point where we’re going to have breakdown, but we’re
going to have breakthrough. Everyone stayed committed and got rests
and the results speak for themselves.”
ODDS AND ENDS: Former Bruin Juaune Armon, who is currently
finishing his degree at UCLA, took first place in the long jump
with a mark of 25 feet, 6.75 inches, the second-longest jump in the
world this year. Johnson won the 400-meter hurdles in a
regional-qualifying 49.65 seconds. Pole vaulter Yoo Kim, who is
nursing an injured right hand, competed in the long jump for the
first time in his collegiate career on Friday, jumping 22 feet, 4
inches.