And yet, while acknowledging that the end does make this last month a bit emotional, senior pole vaulter Allison Koressel is keeping the potential tears at bay by training hard and ending on a good note. What lies ahead for the Bruins are the NCAA National Championships.
“It’s a little bit sad, but mostly I’m just trying to do everything well while still being a Bruin and making my school proud,” Koressel said. “I plan to just do my best and to have the best meets that I can in the next few weeks.”
But the reminsicing side still sneaks past the wall of focus each senior tries to put up. Koressel remembers competing in this year’s indoor National Championships as the best moment, and certainly most emotional, of her UCLA career. After not setting a personal record in a year, she had to set one to make it into nationals. She then went on to break that record at nationals.
For other seniors, their best moments come from the recent past.
The women’s team had not beaten USC’s team for five years, which means the senior women had only known defeat at the hands of the crosstown rivals.
After finally beating the Trojans two weeks ago in one of the last meets of her career, senior pole vaulter Liz Goodrich will forever remember the victory lap.
“Everyone was so happy, and running it as a team was awesome,” Goodrich said. “It definitely felt good after losing to them for three years, it was about time.”
The seniors credited each athlete’s dedication as the driving force behind finally beating the Trojans. For four years, these seniors trained and fought side by side, building a sense of camaraderie that senior distance runner Alec Govi has come to lean on.
“It’s the best experience I could have asked for in college,” Govi said. “I’ve learned with being in an environment with a bunch of guys all working towards the same goals and working together, we all kind of understand each other.”
The Bruin seniors have only fond memories to share of their four years as a member of UCLA track and field. Goodrich even insists that she will wistfully miss the hard practices that left everyone on the verge of throwing up. “It’s pretty surreal, it doesn’t feel like something that has been such a big part of my life for the last four years is going to be over in a couple of months,” Goodrich said.
“But I’m just trying to enjoy it the best that I can and make the most of it.”