For the UCLA women’s track and field team, this weekend was all about the youngsters.
At the Bronco Invitational in Nampa, Idaho, the Bruins took home six first places, including four captured by freshman.
“Overall, I accomplished exactly what I wanted to,” coach Jeanette Bolden said. “I wanted to get in and allow my underclassmen to take away the jitters and have their first UCLA meet without a lot of pressure on them.”
Freshman Brittany Borman took the shot put competition with a mark of 45 feet, 3 inches.
In the 60 meters, three UCLA freshman swept the podium. RoNecia Nash finished first with a time of 7.61 seconds, followed by Yasmin Woodruff with a 7.65 finish and Nijah Nelms came in third a time of 7.86.
Woodruff also competed in the 200 meter and took first in a time of 24.98 to give the Bruins another freshman victory.
Rounding out the first-year, first-place finishes was Camilla Dencer who ran the 400 meter in a time of 55.61 to give her the top spot. Sophomore Ashlea McLaughlin finished just .03 seconds behind Dencer for a second-place finish.
Also putting up a win for UCLA was junior Krishna Curry in the 800-meter.
“She was really, really good,” Bolden said. “She was probably the biggest standout.”
Curry’s 2:09.66 finish put her just off the NCAA provisional mark of 2:09. However, Bolden is optimistic that Curry will be able to hit this mark in the future.
“She was out in the lead for a very long time, so I didn’t think she had anyone to challenge her,” Bolden said.
Junior Rosa Magana finished second to Curry with a lifetime-best time of 2:12.96.
Capping the Bruin victories was the 4×400-meter relay team that took first in 3:43.02. The team was made up of McLaughlin, sophomore Joy Eaton, Curry and Dencer.
The 60-meter hurdles also proved to be a strong UCLA showing with freshman Ryann Krais taking second, sophomore Lindsay Rowe third and Nash fourth.
While the Bruins had a successful weekend, the New Balance Collegiate Invitational next week looks to provide much more difficult competition, and the team will take this week to get ready.
“We are going to work on some things that I saw that need to change ““ some mechanical things,” Bolden said “We need to start tuning it up and stepping it up.”
With the indoor season being so short, every meet is important to prepare for the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Championships, which take place at the end of February.
The next meet will feature the first showing this season of a few highly touted Bruin seniors and will also give the team a chance to evaluate themselves.
“We will go to New York, where the competition will be a lot different, and see how we fare against the other people,” Bolden said.