UCLA Bruins past and present represented the United States in
this year’s Track and Field World Championships held in
Helsinki, Finland, with what turned out to be mixed results. While
the United States fared considerably well overall, garnering 24
medals through Saturday, just two medals short of the team record
set in 1991 with one day of competition left, only one medal
belongs to a UCLA alumnus. Michelle Perry came away with gold on
Wednesday in the 100-meter hurdles, running a time of 12.66
seconds, a full tenth of a second faster than the next competitor.
Fellow UCLA alumna Joanna Hayes, who won gold in Athens in the same
event, was disqualified after hitting the ninth hurdle and
colliding with the 10th, but was still able to finish the race.
Like many other competitions throughout the World Championships,
the race was held under cold and windy conditions, which no doubt
affected many of the athletes’ race strategies. Perry, who
leads all competitors this year with a time of 12.43 seconds, has
run four of the world’s fastest five times since January.
Other than Perry’s victory, there wasn’t much positive
UCLA representation overseas. Monique Henderson, who won the NCAA
Outdoor Championships in June with a meet record time of 50.10,
finished seventh in Helsinki, Finland, after running a 51.77. Amy
Acuff also came in with a top-9 finish, with a best jump of 6-2.25,
good enough for eighth place overall. The results were much bleaker
for the rest of the UCLA athletes. Monique Henderson’s 4x400m
relay team was disqualified for multiple lane infractions after
teammate Suziann Reid ran out of her lane and Moushaumi Robinson
lined up in the wrong position. The disqualification came just a
day after the men’s 4x100m relay team was disqualified after
dropping the baton during a botched exchange. Tracy O’Hara
was also unable to come away with a mark after no-heighting in the
women’s pole vault finals on Friday. Three-time world
champion John Godina also had a poor showing, failing to make it
out the qualifying round with hand and elbow injuries. Meb
Keflezighi had to leave the 10,000m race with tightness in his
hamstring. UCLA volunteer assistant coach Bob Kersee had an impact
on this year’s championships, helping Eunice Barber of France
in her quest for gold in the heptathlon competition. Barber, who
led the competition by two points after four events, credited her
success to the four months of training she did in Los Angeles with
Kersee.
COACH INTERVIEWS: Eric Peterson went to
Stanford to interview for a position within the last week. It is
widely believed that Stanford has the top track and field program
in the nation. He is still preparing the Bruins’ cross
country team for the upcoming season. Peterson gained national
recognition for the metamorphoses of recent graduate Jon Rankin,
who wasn’t a natural long distance runner, yet went on to
break national records in long distance running with the help of
Peterson. Peterson was on vacation and could not be reached for
comment.