As the season has worn on, UCLA jumpers have been improving by
leaps and bounds. Under first-year jumps coach Mike Powell, the
horizontal jumpers have shown great progress heading toward the
postseason, which was evident in the team’s performance over
the weekend during Saturday’s dual meet against USC. The
team’s long jumpers and triple jumpers had a number of
breakout performances which were pivotal to the Bruins’
victory. As both teams fought for every point, some athletes found
themselves in unfamiliar events. One of those athletes turned out
to be USC’s Jesse Williams, the reigning NCAA Champion in the
high jump, who found himself battling for first place in the long
jump with a bevy of Bruins. Going into the last round, Williams
held the best jump at 23-11. However, UCLA sophomore Dominique
Easterling was not about to let the All-American get the best of
him. “I just told myself I wasn’t going to lose,”
Easterling said. “I’m a competitor, and there was no
way I was going to let a high jumper beat us in the long
jump.” Easterling did not disappoint as he uncorked a
lifetime-best leap of 24-1 in his last attempt to claim first
place. In the triple jump, Easterling took third as senior teammate
Demetre Howard captured first with a career-best jump of 51-5.50.
“I was at third place and we already knew we were going to
win,” Howard said. “But this was my last jump at my
home pit so I had to put it all out there.”
KOCSOR PULLS UPSET: On Friday, the dual meet
got under way with the hammer throw. While USC’s Adam Midles
was expected to win easily, redshirt freshman Boldizsar Kocsor came
through with a lifetime-best throw of 212-11 to win by two feet.
Kocsor, who now stands as the 14th-best collegiate hammer thrower
in the nation, broke his own UCLA freshman record for the fourth
time this season.
MORE THROWS: Junior Jason Rider threw a
lifetime best in the discus with a toss of 186-10 to win the event.
… In addition to David Shortenhaus’ career day in the pole
vault, he nearly pulled off a huge upset in the javelin, coming in
second to USC’s Dennis Rice. His throw of 204-5 was a career
best and just over a foot behind Rice.