This weekend the UCLA women’s track team will travel to two different meets for two very different reasons. The squad will be split between the University of Washington Last Chance Qualifier in Seattle and the Ben Brown Invitational in Fullerton.
For some athletes, the Last Chance Qualifier will give them one more opportunity to improve their mark or time to make it to the indoor nationals in two weeks. The athletes going to the Ben Brown Invitational will use this meet to open their outdoor season and begin qualifying for the outdoor regionals.
“Even thought it’s called a last chance meet, it was one of my scheduled track meets,” coach Jeanette Bolden said. “Athletes were going to go regardless of qualifying for nationals.”
While the Bruins will be sending a squad of 14 to Seattle, there will be three ladies who are on the cusp of making it to nationals that will try to use this weekend to qualify.
Junior Krishna Curry in the 800 meters, junior Katy Viuf in the pole vault, and junior Danielle Watson in the long jump have all provisionally qualified for indoor nationals but as they stand on the list might not make it.
Curry currently ranks 24th in the nation with a time of 2 minutes, 7.51 seconds. If she can improve her time to 2:05, she would make the automatic qualifier and ensure a bid to nationals.
“I think what set her (Curry) back was that she was sick and sidelined for five days,” Bolden said. “That took away from her training; if she hadn’t been sidelined I think without a doubt she would have qualified.”
Similarly, Viuf sits 20th on the national list in the pole vault. Her height of 13 feet, 5 1/4 inches, needs to be improved to 13-7 3/4 this weekend if she wants to automatically qualify.
Watson is presently 21st on the long jump list, but was only 3 inches away from the automatic mark when the team competed in New York last month. Last weekend she won the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation with a 20-2 1/4 jump.
“I don’t want to settle for just winning and not getting the mark that I need, so it’s motivation,” Watson said.
Despite the win, Watson is still looking for that 20-10 mark to make it to nationals since only the top 16 jumpers go. If she can hit that mark she will join senior Rhonda Watkins in the long jump. Watkins is the only Bruin to have automatically qualified in any event.
“It’s a mark that’s been in my head,” Watson said. “It’s just a matter of going out there and doing it.”
While these three will battle to keep their indoor seasons alive, 20 of their teammates will compete in Fullerton for the first outdoor meet of the season. With the seasons shifting, the goals also change, and in the outdoor season it’s all about qualifying for regionals.
“We are just trying to see where we are and if we can get qualified for regionals,” Bolden said.