Heading into the weekend, senior Chelsea Johnson wanted to put
some space between her and the rest of the elite pole vaulters in
the nation and on Friday, she did just that. Johnson leaped to an
impressive 14-5.25 feet at the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation
Indoor Championships in Seattle, Wash., though as a team, the No.
14 women’s track and field squad finished in seventh place.
“I felt for the first weekend this year that I really found
my rhythm,” said Johnson, whose first-place performance ranks
as the best collegiate mark in the nation thus far. UCLA’s
overall finish, though seemingly poor, comes as no surprise as the
Bruins went into the weekend viewing the meet as a tune-up for the
team’s elite athletes and as a last chance for certain
individuals to post qualifying marks for nationals. Capturing a
league title was purely secondary, according to Johnson.
“It’s always about working as a team,” Johnson
said. “But this weekend was more about building our
individual confidence and trying to improve upon our indoor
performances.” With that in mind, coach Jeanette Bolden
decided to rest All-American hurdler Dawn Harper, who is
essentially a lock for the NCAA Indoor Championships. All-American
middle distance runner Ashley Caldwell also did not compete. Though
there were a couple top notch athletes absent from the MPSF League
Championships, the Bruins still received many quality performances
in addition to Johnson’s. Junior Kamaiya Warren, who is also
nearly guaranteed a spot at the NCAA Indoor Championships, placed
fourth in the shot put with a throw of 52-11. Also, in the high
jump, sophomore Allie Miller jumped a season best 5-7.25 to finish
fourth as well.
MEN’S TRACK AND FIELD: Coach Art Venegas
had hoped to continue UCLA’s recent dominance of the MPSF
Championships, but the Bruins lacked the firepower to do so. For
the first time in four years, the men’s track team came up
short over the weekend at the MPSF Championships, finishing in
third place behind host Washington and Stanford. “We
didn’t have enough bodies to compete with Washington,”
Venegas said. “They had people in pretty much every event and
we figured that mathematically we couldn’t win the
meet.” While the Bruins lacked in numbers, they certainly did
not lack in quality as junior Brandon Johnson and senior Craig
Everhart finished one-two in the 400-meter dash. Johnson ran the
fourth-fastest time in the nation this year with a 46.40. “My
first half of my race was very conservative,” Johnson said.
“I had a lot left for the end of the race.” In the
mile, senior Erik Emilsson, who specializes in the steeplechase,
ran a time of 4:04.83 to cross the line in fifth. In the field,
sophomore John Caulfield placed third in the shot put and was
followed closely by teammate Jake Knight, who finished fifth. Also
picking up key points for the Bruins were juniors Mike Landers and
David Shortenhaus who finished third and fourth in the pole vault
as each cleared 17-1. Both UCLA squads will be heading out into the
sunshine this Saturday at the UCLA Invitational at Drake Stadium in
preparation for the NCAA Indoor Championships on March 10-11 in
Fayetteville, Ark.