Track polishes act at Meet of Champions
By Scott Yamaguchi
and Tim Costner
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
While most members of the UCLA track and field teams took the
weekend off to prepare for next week’s more important Penn Relays
and California/Nevada state championship, a handful of athletes
used Saturday’s Meet of Champions in Azusa as an opportunity to
hone their skills under the pressure of competition.
And once again, it was sophomore Amy Acuff who led the charge
for the Bruins with a record-breaking performance in the high
jump.
Acuff cleared the bar at 6 feet, 3 1/4 inches, breaking the meet
record and matching the school record she set last week at the Mt.
San Antonio College Relays.
She was joined in the high jump competition by senior Shelia
Burrell and sophomore Darlene Malco, both of whom competed in
several events to prepare for the Pac-10 heptathlon
championship.
Burrell gave a solid effort in the javelin with a throw of more
than 139 feet, and then joined forces with Malco, junior Camille
Noel and sophomore Cicely Scott for an NCAA provisional
qualification in the 1,600-meter relay.
The Bruins also ran a 400 relay team, though it consisted of
Malco, Burrell, Noel and Mame Twamasi. It finished in 46.68, a fair
time considering this was the first competition of the season for
both Twamasi and Noel.
Twamasi, in her first season at UCLA, missed the early part of
the season with an ankle injury, while the All-American Noel was
recovering from hip surgery.
Both competed in the individual 200 with Scott, who led all
three with a sub-24.00 performance.
For the men, UCLA sprinter Ato Boldon earned an automatic NCAA
qualification in the 200. Last week, Boldon ran an automatic NCAA
qualification in the 100 meters.
Whether he will actually run in the 200 at the NCAA
championships could still be up in the air, since the UCLA 4×100
relay team also earned an automatic bid. That would put Boldon in
three races at the NCAAs, which might have to make the 200
expendable.