The UCLA women’s track team’s big guns have carried
most of the load all season, but if the Bruins hope to bring
another conference title home to Westwood this weekend, the team
will need all the firepower it can get.
The Bruins are scheduled to travel to Eugene, Ore., to compete
in the Pac-10 Championships meet this weekend in search of their
17th Pac-10 title since 1987. While UCLA has a number of stars who
will undoubtedly score major points, the team will have to rely
mostly on its depth in order to reclaim the conference crown.
“We definitely look to our seniors first and our field
events have been doing quite well,” UCLA coach Jeanette
Bolden said. “But I expect much better performances on the
track from the 100m on to the 10,000m.”
Seniors Chelsea Johnson and Dawn Harper, as well as redshirt
junior Kamaiya Warren, figure to score the bulk of UCLA’s
points this weekend. But Bolden knows she will need a strong
all-around performance from her entire team to compete with Arizona
State and last year’s conference champion, Stanford, which
broke the Bruins’ eight-year stranglehold on the Pac-10.
“It’s going to be a really heated battle between us
and Arizona State and Stanford because of all the balance,”
Bolden said. “Stanford is still the favorite to win, but it
should be a really tight race for first, second and
third.”
“My sprint group has done really well in practice these
last couple of weeks,” Bolden said. “I have seen a big
improvement from them since the USC meet, and so I am looking for
some big gains in that area.”
Some Bruins plan to compete in multiple events to maximize the
team’s potential point total. Freshman standout Nicole Leach
will be having a busy weekend, as she attempts to score big points
in the 400 meters and the 400-meter hurdles as well as the relays.
Redshirt junior Ashley Caldwell plans to triple in the 800 meters,
1,500 meters and 5,000 meters.