Wednesday, April 10, 1996
Relay team plagued by injuries; Althouse earns weekend win
By Scott Yamaguchi
Daily Bruin Staff
The UCLA women’s track and field team has enjoyed quite a bit of
success in the 1,600-meter relay over the past few years with the
likes of Camille Noel, Erin Blunt, Cicely Scott and the
now-graduated Shelia Burrell carrying the baton to All-American
finishes at the NCAA meets in 1993 and 1995.
This season, with Noel, Blunt and Scott all on her roster, head
coach Jeanette Bolden foresaw no reversal to the recent trend.
Unfortunately for Bolden, however, the trio has been riddled with
injuries throughout the early season, and the effects were apparent
last weekend, when the Bruins ran their first 1,600 relay of the
outdoor season.
Although Noel  who had hip surgery in the off-season and
has been battling a sore hamstring  ran the opening leg, her
team of Andrea Anderson, Mame Twumasi and Joanna Hayes finished in
3:43.57 Â almost 10 seconds slower than the NCAA automatic
qualification standard of 3:34.00, which UCLA has met in each of
the past three seasons.
Still, Bolden remains confident, and with good reason. She has a
slew of talented sprinters, which translates into a number of
different relay combinations, and the competition at Saturday’s
meet was weak, to say the least. Houston, which finished second in
3:48.89, did little to push the Bruins.
"I’m not panicking at all about the time," Bolden said. "I’m
more encouraged that I can continue to run and run well with
different combinations.
"It’s just a matter of finding the right combination and keeping
everyone healthy."
* * *
A lot of Bolden’s encouragement stems from the fact that her
400-meter relay team earned a provisional qualification to the NCAA
meet. The Bruins haven’t had a scoring 400 relay team at the NCAA’s
since 1990.
Saturday, the team of Bisa Grant, Anderson, Darlene Malco, and
Twumasi won the event in 45.12 Â 28-hundredths of a second
under the provisional standard and the ninth fastest time in the
NCAA this season.
"That’s fast for us," Bolden said. "And that includes a little
boggle with the baton passing."
* * *
As for Blunt and Scott, Bolden hopes to have them back in
competition by the end of the month, although Scott may end up
sitting out the entire season to preserve her eligibility.
"We’re still trying to calm down the pain in their foot injuries
and trying to get them to practice just enough so they can be
competitive in a track meet," Bolden said. "Within the next couple
of weeks, we’ll decide whether we’re going to redshirt Cicely or
run her."
Blunt, who used her redshirt season last year, will probably
open up in the Cal-Nevada Collegiate Championships, April 27-28 in
Davis.
* * *
Senior shot put specialist Valeyta Althouse continued her
season-long romp of collegiate competition over the weekend,
earning a victory in the shot with an outdoor-season best of
59-feet, 81Ž2-inches.
"Valeyta looks real comfortable out there now," throwing coach
Art Venegas said. "She threw a controlled 59-8 over the weekend,
which is better than she was doing at this point last season."
Last season, Althouse peaked in May with an American collegiate
record-setting 61-101Ž4 heave at the Pacific 10
championships.
Also performing well on the field is sophomore Suzy Powell, who
overcame fatigue last weekend and hurled the discus 189-11.
"Powell was a little beat up from the weight room, so her form
was a little bit shaky and she couldn’t drive her legs," Venegas
said. "But she still almost hit 190, and that says a lot about how
much she’s developed from her freshman to her sophomore
season."
* * *
Amy Acuff, the defending NCAA high jump champion with a lifetime
best mark of 6-6, improved her outdoor season best to 6-2, which
ties her with Purdue’s Corissa Yassen for the highest mark in the
NCAA this season.
"Amy’s coming along nicely," Bolden said. "Everybody expects Amy
and everybody else to pick up where they left off, but sometimes
you just have to take everything into consideration.
"Amy had a very, very long season last year, and she’s just now
waking up."
PATRICK LAM/Daily Bruin
Valeyta Althouse has shown improvement since last year.