For the women’s track and field team, this weekend was all about qualifying for the NCAA Indoor Championships next week in College Station, Texas. While three Bruins were able to qualify for outdoor regionals at the Ben Brown Invitational, three more faltered at the University of Washington Last Chance Qualifier, possibly ending their indoor season.
A group of athletes traveled to Seattle in hopes of improving their provisional qualifiers for nationals and making the jump onto the automatic qualifying list. Juniors Krishna Curry, Katy Viuf and Danielle Watson all had this goal in mind, and all fell short of the automatic marks.
Curry took second in the 800 meter with a 2:09.10 finish, four seconds off the automatic time of 2:05 that the Bruins were looking for her to achieve.
Similarly Viuf took second in the pole vault with a 13-2.25 vault, but not the 13-9.25 she needed.
Watson posted a 20-00.50 mark in the long jump to take third, once again short the automatic qualifier, 20-10.
Official bids will go out today to see who qualifies from the provisional list, so these three Bruins on the bubble will have to wait to learn their fate.
As it stands, the team only has one automatic qualifier, senior Rhonda Watkins in the long jump. If her teammates do not make the cut she will be traveling to Texas for the nationals as the sole Bruin representing her school.
While part of the team made a vie for one last opportunity to make it to nationals, others went to Fullerton for the Ben Brown Invitational to open up the outdoor season.
Here, the Bruins fared much better, with three athletes coming away with regional qualifiers for the outdoor season.
Leading the Bruins were senior Megan Jamerson, junior Tara Ross and freshman Brittany Borman who all found a way to hit that magical regional mark, relieving any pressure for themselves in the season. Jamerson vaulted to a lifetime best in the pole vault going 13-1.50 to win the event. Ross also took first in the javelin with a 160-0 throw. Borman finished second to Ross in the javelin with 148-8.
With the indoor season coming to an official close this weekend, the Bruins will now shift their focus to the outdoor season, which will resume for UCLA at the end of March.