Althouse sets record in women’s track blowout
No. 1 UCLA a rude host to Cal Poly SLO, CSUN in final meet
By Scott Yamaguchi
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
In a season full of record-breaking performances by the UCLA
women’s track and field team, Valeyta Althouse made sure that
Saturday was no different.
Althouse, a junior thrower, broke her school and Pac-10
conference record in the shot put, leading the Bruins to an easy
triangular meet victory over Cal State Northridge and Cal Poly San
Luis Obispo at Drake Stadium. UCLA won 14 out of the 16 scored
events, including all ten running events, to tally 105 points.
Northridge, which claimed the two remaining first-place finishes,
scored 35 points, while Cal Poly had 29. In dual scoring, UCLA beat
Northridge 103-32 and Cal Poly 103-28.
Althouse’s record throw, a 59-foot, 8 1/2-inch whopper, came in
the fifth position of a consistent series of six. It eclipsed the
old record by three inches, but satisfied neither the
record-breaker or her coach.
"It’s a tribute to her talent that I’m going to tell you that
I’m very disappointed with this meet," UCLA throwing coach Art
Venegas said. "That’s how good her potential is. And I mean
immediate potential – I’m not talking three months from now."
Said Althouse: "I was close, but I just couldn’t quite hit it.
I’ve got to get the big 60-foot barrier  it’s like a brick
wall, and I’ve just got to knock it down."
Althouse was followed in the shot put by teammate Dawn Dumble,
whose best effort of the day hit the ground at the 58-4 1/2 mark.
Dumble, however, had an outstanding day in the discus ring, where
she hurled the disc 195-2, just seven inches short of the school
record she set two weeks ago in San Diego.
"On paper, that mark is phenomenal," Venegas said. "The wind was
bad, so it’s a great mark. But, it’s the same as with Valeyta – her
training and her potential is so much greater that I thought she
should have thrown a little further today."
Elsewhere on the field, Amy Acuff won the high jump with a solid
leap of 6-2, while Danielle Brown was victorious in the triple jump
(39-6), and Lisa Domico was second in both the triple jump (36-2
3/4) and the long jump (18-5 1/4). Domico was beaten in the long
jump by Northridge’s Cherice Ellison (19-0 1/2), and the Matadors’
other victory came in the javelin, where Kristin Dunn threw
176-4.
On the track, the Bruins were led by sophomore Charlene Baldwin,
who won the 400-meters (55.1) and the 200 (24.4) and was a member
of both winning relays.
Freshman Bisa Grant turned in a stellar performance as well,
winning the 100-meters (12.12), the 100-meter hurdles, and
anchoring the winning 400 relay. Grant led a 1-2-3 UCLA sweep in
the 100 hurdles, with freshman Zoe Shaw finishing second and
sophomore Darlene Malco third. Shaw was a winner in the 400 hurdles
(1:04.67).
UCLA also swept the 800, with sophomore Cicely Scott winning in
2:07.69, senior Karen Hecox second in 2:07.83, and senior Jeanine
Crain third in 2:13.02.
Freshman Jamie Artzner set a lifetime-best and qualified for the
Pac-10 Championships with her winning time of 9:51.7 in the 3,000,
and sophomore Shelley Taylor ran away from the field in the 1,500
with a 4:34.38.