A few weeks before the track and field season began, UCLA
men’s coach Art Venegas declared that his goal for the year
was a top-five finish at the NCAA Championships.
For the Bruins to accomplish that goal this weekend in
Sacramento, they will need to exceed even their own
expectations.
UCLA, ranked No. 15 in the nation heading into the meet,
doesn’t seem to have the firepower necessary to break into
the top five. Of the 14 Bruins heading to Sacramento, only
middle-distance runner Jon Rankin is ranked among the top three in
his event before the meet.
If UCLA is going to do better than expected, it will probably
have to get the bulk of its points on the track.
Rankin, who will run only the 1500 meters at the NCAAs, may be
the favorite to win that event. Hurdlers Brandon Johnson and
Jonathan Williams, who boast the nation’s fourth and
fifth-fastest times in the 400m hurdles, are hoping to challenge
All-American Kerren Clement of Florida. And sprinter Craig Everhart
(400m), distance runner Erik Emilsson (steeple chase) and the
members of UCLA’s 4x400m relay team are also hoping to score
some points.
The most significant contribution is figured to come from
Rankin, who has blossomed during his senior season. Never a factor
at the national level before this spring, Rankin won the 1500m at
the Pac-10 Championships and West Regionals and became the first
Bruin in 25 years to run a sub-four-minute mile in April at Drake
Stadium.
On Saturday, assuming he makes it through the qualifying rounds
unscathed, Rankin will have a chance to add an NCAA title to his
accolades. The fifth-year senior has the nation’s second-best
time heading into the meet, but he defeated most of his top
challengers at the West Regionals in Oregon two weeks ago.
The Bruin contingent in the field events doesn’t figure to
make nearly as much of an impact.
Since senior Yoo Kim, the runner-up in the pole vault at the
NCAA Championships a year ago, failed to qualify for this meet,
leaving UCLA without its most accomplished athlete in the field.
Instead the Bruins will have to rely on a contingent of throwers,
who have never experienced success at the national level.
But the throwers didn’t get off to the best start
Wednesday. Jeremy Silverman and John Caulfield failed to qualify
for the finals in the shot put, and Ely Dial also didn’t
qualify in the javelin.