This weekend the Bruins were in Eugene, Ore. competing in the NCAA Preliminary Round. For some record-holding UCLA athletes, this competition was the last time they would proudly don their wearied sneakers as Bruins, while for others it was but a launchpad to the NCAA Championships and with it, UCLA history.
Senior sprinter and surprising late-season sensation Ashlea McLaughlin punched her ticket this weekend with an extraordinary flurry in the 400-meter dash.
She ended competition Friday with a time of 53.43 seconds, the ninth-fastest time of the day. It marks McLaughlin’s first trip to the NCAA Championships ““ a vehement goal she quickly set her sights on at the outset of the year.
But the senior admitted after enduring some early season woes that she had almost cast off her goal just as quickly as she had decided upon it.
This weekend was more than just the NCAA preliminary meet for McLaughlin; as if that weren’t momentous enough to jolt an athlete out of bed in the morning, it was a chance for pure unsweetened vindication. Somewhere, someone’s lips are smacking at just the thought.
“I ran 55 seconds (early in the season) in the 400m dash, and I remember thinking maybe I should change my goal of making it to the NCAA Championships because it just wasn’t realistic anymore,” McLaughlin said. “But my coach kept saying that my heat was going to come.”
McLaughlin had transitioned from the 800m to the 400m dash, and when she ran a time of 55 seconds, she was almost ready to scrap her previous dreams of the NCAA Championships with a torrent of tears. But McLaughlin trusted her training, worked hard and her heat did come ““ at the right time, too.
Perhaps the most exciting story for the Bruins from the three-day meet was sophomore hurdler Turquoise Thompson’s thrilling exploits. Coming into the preliminaries as a Pac-10 champion and ranked No. 2 in the country, Thompson had ambitious expectations to absolve and easily delivered. She stole the show in riveting fashion, winning her heat by .81 second with a time of 56.06 seconds.
That was good enough to nab her the fastest time on Friday, the second day of competition. Thompson has battled back from a hindering hamstring injury that slowed her last season.
“Turquoise Thompson is just a fierce, fierce competitor,” coach Jeanette Bolden said. “She was 13th at this meet last year, so it’s good to see that she’s healthy, and she just really took command of her performance and really did well. She wanted to win NCAAs because of the disappointments from last year.”
Also establishing her footing for the Bruins is freshman thrower Ida Storm, who has been dealing hearty surprises all season, and this weekend was no different. Storm qualified for nationals in the hammer throw with a comfortable seventh-place finish, though it was far from easy.
“I fouled my first throw, and having to be in the top 16 after three throws, I was kind of nervous,” Storm said. “So, I took it a little bit easier my second throw, and I shouldn’t have done that, because I didn’t throw well at all. Not well enough to get into the top 16 at least. Going into my final throw then was very nerve-racking, and I had to wait a long time.
“I was just very nervous, but I just managed to pull it together, and I threw well enough for sixth or seventh. I actually don’t even remember my last two throws, I was so tired and just happy to be qualified.”
In addition to McLaughlin, Thompson and Storm, the women’s 4×400m relay team also qualified for nationals in Des Moines, Iowa. Consisting of Thompson, McLaughlin, senior Joy Eaton and redshirt sophomore Briana Barlow, the team finished sixth with a time of 3:35.07 on Saturday.
One star-crossed athlete who did not qualify was senior hurdler and co-captain Lindsay Rowe, who had her storied career come to an end this weekend. She goes down in the UCLA record books as the ninth fastest Bruin in the 100m hurdles, with a time of 13.24 seconds.
Perhaps asking a track to talk is just asking too much. But on the other hand, after what’s building to be a thrilling NCAA Championships, the track might not be able to stay quiet.