USC’s Ron Allice isn’t smoking anything ““
although now he might wish he were.
Allice, who last week conceded that anyone who thought his
women’s track and field team had a chance to win
Saturday’s dual meet, “was smoking something,”
saw his doomsday prophecy come true Saturday as No. 4 UCLA lit up
the host Trojans 104-59.
Lena Nilsson, Sheena Johnson and Monique Henderson each secured
multiple victories on the track for the Bruins as the squad won its
11th dual meet in a row against USC in convincing fashion.
“To not only win by so much, but to do it on their home
field was a pleasure,” Henderson said. “Once we had our
momentum going, it was impossible to stop us.”
The Bruins snuffed the No. 5 Trojans’ hopes early in the
day, building an insurmountable lead halfway through the meet and
then coasting to victory from there. Henderson led the UCLA
domination on the track, posting a pair of season bests in the 200
meters (23.62) and the 400m (52.23), and running the second leg for
the Bruins’ victorious 4×100-meter relay team.
The victory in the relay was somewhat startling. The Bruin
quartet of Johnson, Henderson, Sani Roseby and Adia McKinnon faced
a Trojan team that is among the best in the nation, even without
injured All-American Natasha Mayers, who was unable to compete.
UCLA’s foursome rose to the challenge, running a
season-best time of 44.52 seconds (NCAA Regional Qualifier), and
nipping their opponents by just over half a second.
“It was a bit of a surprise,” Henderson said.
“But all four of us put our minds together and got
determined. We had a feeling we could do it.”
With the victory in the relay secured, Johnson later won both
the 100m and 400m hurdles for UCLA, securing 10 crucial team
points. Her mark of 13.34 seconds (NCAA Regional Qualifier) in the
100m hurdles was a personal best and the seventh fastest time in
school history.
Nilsson had an even easier time of it in both the 800m and
1500m. Competing without teammate Tiffany Burgess, who broke her
toe in last weekend’s Mt. Sac Relays, Nilsson won both races
by a wide margin, and treated the meet as an extended training
session.
“USC’s not very strong in the distance events, so I
just wanted to go out here and get some practice,” said
Nilsson, who had not competed since March. “I trained hard
all week, and I hit my times that I wanted. It was a good day for
me overall.”
Like Nilsson, pole vaulter Chelsea Johnson was never challenged,
as she led a group of four Bruins who secured first place in their
respective field events. Johnson won rather easily with a personal
record mark of 13-feet, 6.25 inches, more than 18 inches higher
than second place Melissa Astete of USC.
“It was definitely time (to break my personal
record),” said Johnson, who had struggled with her technique
earlier in the season before hitting her stride recently.
“Everything has been coming together these last few weeks,
and it felt really good today. I’m peaking at the right
time.”
So is the entire squad.
With the Pac-10 Championships just three weeks away, the Bruins
appear to be on track to win their eighth straight conference
title.
“We’re starting to wake up, and we just have to
start getting our momentum going,” UCLA coach Jeanette Bolden
said.
Sifting through the cardinal and gold residue the Bruins left up
in smoke at USC, it looks like they’ve already done
that.
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