For months, the Bruins really did not have much to worry about.
A bad race here or there didn’t mean too much; there would
always be more meets to work on bringing a time down or improving
on a mark.
Starting today, this will no longer be the case.
This weekend, the UCLA women’s track and field team will
be in Provo, Utah, to compete in the Western Regional
Championships. Athletes must finish within the top five in their
events to automatically move onto the NCAA Championships in less
than two weeks.
For all Bruins, a poor performance this weekend will bring their
season to an end.
“It adds a little more pressure,” senior Chelsea
Johnson said. “The team dynamic really changes after Pac-10s.
Everyone is a lot more serious.”
If UCLA hopes to have a high finish at the championships in
Sacramento, the team will have little room for error this
weekend.
Several key athletes who have competed in multiple events all
year long will now focus solely on individual events. In
particular, freshman phenom Nicole Leach, who was the runner-up in
the 400 meters at the Pac-10 Championships and owns one of the top
times in the region, will compete only in the 400m hurdles to make
sure that she will qualify for her primary event.
Also, versatile junior Ashley Caldwell, who has run everything
from the 800m to the 5000m this season, will stick to the 1500m for
the regional championships.
“It comes down to putting all of your eggs in one
basket,” Caldwell said. “Once you get to this point,
you have to do great at one race. Athletes who are very talented
have to focus all of their energy on just one event.”
While all athletes will be aiming for a top-five finish, there
is some room for advancement should they fall just short of that
goal. If an athlete places sixth through eighth in their
competition, they will be eligible for an at-large bid based on
their national ranking in the event.
But the Bruins will not be content with leaving their fate up in
the air and are looking to control their own destiny over the
weekend.
“We have a really tough region in distance,”
Caldwell said. “Hopefully I can grab one of those top spots
and leave no doubts.”
In all, the Bruins hope to advance all of their elite components
to the NCAA Championships, where the team has accomplished a myriad
of successes in recent years ““ placing second last season and
winning a national championship the year before.
“You come to UCLA to win national titles,” Johnson
said. “That’s what you train for, and this is when it
happens. If you’re not willing to rise to that pressure,
maybe you shouldn’t be at UCLA.”