Monique Henderson did not lose a single race in her senior year
at UCLA. Only a matter of days after her college career officially
ended, Henderson crossed the finish line in third place in the 400
meters at the U.S. Track and Field Championships Saturday in
Carson. She could not have been happier. Henderson, the NCAA
champion in the 400m, ran a personal-best 49.96 seconds, breaking
the 50-second mark for the first time and qualifying for next
month’s World Championships in Helsinki, Finland. “This
is the happiest I’ll ever be with a third-place
performance,” Henderson said. And with good reason. During
this past collegiate season, Henderson ran unchallenged in most of
her races, capturing the Pac-10, West Regional and NCAA titles.
Saturday’s race, which featured Henderson and the other three
members of the gold-medallist 2004 U.S. Olympic 4x400m relay team,
proved to be a much different story. All three qualifiers for the
World Championships clocked in at under 50 seconds, marking the
first time three U.S. women have accomplished that feat in the same
race. “I said I’d run 49 all season,” Henderson
said. “I ran a pretty easy 50.10 at NCAAs and with the
competition, I knew the time would come.” Former Texas star
Sanya Richards, who had narrowly lost to Henderson in last
year’s NCAA Championships, finished first, setting a new
personal best with a world-leading time of 49.28 seconds this year.
Meanwhile, Dee Dee Trotter, the NCAA champion in 2004, barely edged
out Henderson at the finish line in 49.88 seconds. With the trio
all in their early 20s, those impressive marks are likely to creep
lower and lower. “Every time one of us runs fast, it makes us
step it up even harder,” Richards said. “Who knows how
far we’ll take it?” All three runners were in close
competition in this race throughout, as nobody was able to pull
away from the rest of a competitive field and clearly define the
superior performance. It was not until the tail end of the home
stretch that Richards distanced herself from the field. Henderson
got off to a quick start, but Richards and Trotter, both
notoriously strong finishers, said they made a concentrated effort
to keep pace. “I knew that if she got out in front, she would
never come back to the field.” Richards said. For Henderson,
it wasn’t too big a disappointment that Richards kept up and
eventually won. Hugging her family afterwards and accepting
congratulations from fellow athletes and spectators, she enjoyed a
scene that will likely become quite familiar in the future.
“The three of us are going to be around for a number of
years,” Henderson said. If this past weekend’s race was
any indication, this threesome will be pushing each other to new
heights in the coming years.
REDEEMING THROW: The NCAA Championships left a bittersweet after
taste in Jessica Cosby’s mouth, one that she promptly
eliminated on Saturday. The graduated senior, who was still
recovering from a bout with pneumonia, placed third in the hammer
throw at Sacramento two weeks ago, but was far happier with her
fifth-place effort in Carson. “It was probably one of my best
meets of the year,” Cosby said. “It was redemption from
the NCAA championships.” After a strong first throw, Cosby
proceeded to foul on three of her next four attempts before
throwing a season-best 219 feet, 2 inches on her last effort. But
it was Erin Gilreath’s last attempt that drew the most
cheers. The defending champion, who had led throughout the event,
set an American record with a toss of 242 feet, 4 inches.
SHORT SPRINTS: Dawn Harper finished eighth in the finals of the
100m hurdles with a time of 13.23 seconds. … Nicole Leach,
UCLA’s top recruit, won the U.S. Junior 400m hurdles title
for the second consecutive year in 57.25 seconds on Friday. …
Henderson signed a sponsorship deal with Reebok shortly before her
first prelim in the 400m on Thursday.
NO LETDOWN: Picking up right where she left off at the end of
the collegiate season, Candice Baucham secured a spot on the
national team Sunday with her very first effort in the triple jump.
The recent graduate, who became the first Bruin to capture a
national championship in the event this past season, cleared 45
feet, 11.25 inches on her first jump. Though the mark was a couple
inches shy of her recent jump in Sacramento, it was still plenty
long enough to send her to Helsinki to compete in the World
Championships. Through two rounds, Baucham held the lead until
Stanford’s Erica McLean edged her out by half an inch on her
third try. Baucham’s initial mark was still comfortably nine
inches longer than third place finisher Nicole Whitman and over a
foot longer than fourth place finisher Brittany Daniels.