To a chorus of laughter from the cardinal and gold crowd and an
array of bewildered smiles from the Bruins in the room, USC track
and field coach Ron Allice ushered in the 70th crosstown dual meet
in a manner only he could.
UCLA women’s coach Jeanette Bolden was explaining to a
group of reporters gathered at a pre-meet luncheon why it will be
difficult for the Bruins to extend their 12-year winning streak
against the Trojans, when Allice interjected.
“Can you hold on a second?” Allice said, getting out
of his seat and climbing up onto a table.
“I don’t want to interrupt,” he continued,
“but when she starts talking like that, come on.”
That was the scene at USC’s Heritage Hall four days before
the fifth-ranked Bruins and ninth-ranked Trojans will renew their
tradition-rich rivalry on Saturday in a dual meet that almost
everyone ““ except perhaps Allice ““ expects to be hotly
contested on the women’s side.
Bolden, who has won all 11 of her previous match-ups with the
Trojans, said that streak could be in serious jeopardy this
year.
“Ron Allice knows that on paper he has a lot more depth
than I do,” Bolden said. “I was trying to be frank and
honest saying they were the favorite, but obviously he’s not
buying it. Or at least not publicly anyway.”
This isn’t the first time that Allice has caused a ruckus
prior to the dual meet.
Two years ago he told reporters that UCLA would win by so much
it would look like his team got run over by a train. And last year
he apologized in front of several members of his team for not doing
a good enough job recruiting to make the meet closer.
“It’s just gamesmanship,” UCLA sprinter
Monique Henderson said.
Chuckled Bolden, “I tend to bring something out of him
every year.”
But that Allice would launch into his usual antics again on
Tuesday surprised Bolden a little bit, particularly since
Saturday’s meet doesn’t figure to be another UCLA
rout.
The Trojans, perennially strong in the short sprints and
hurdles, will bring a more well-rounded team into the dual meet
this year, boasting some of the top throwers and middle-distance
runners in the nation.
That could spell trouble for the defending national champion
Bruins, whose depth has been depleted this season in the sprints
and middle-distance events due to a slew of injuries and a pair of
underwhelming recruiting classes.
“Things are definitely more even this year,” said
Henderson, one of two senior co-captains along with thrower Jessica
Cosby.
“There’s a lot at stake. We haven’t lost to
USC before, and I don’t want to this year. That
wouldn’t be a good way for me to go out.”
To extend their unbeaten streak against USC to 13 and keep
Bolden’s career dual meet record unblemished, the Bruins will
likely have to rely on a core group of athletes to score the bulk
of their points.
Henderson, the NCAA runner-up in the 400 meters last year, is
scheduled to compete in three sprinting events and both of the
relays. Cosby and senior Lara Saye are entered in a pair of
throwing events apiece. Candice Baucham and Renee Williams will
each compete in both the horizontal jumps. And Dawn Harper,
UCLA’s top hurdler, will run in the 100-meter hurdles and on
the 4×400-meter relay.
“All of those athletes (except Saye) were at NCAAs last
year,” Bolden said. “If they could handle that
pressure, they can handle the USC meet.”
Bolden, who grew up in Compton, has been a part of the crosstown
rivalry for more than two decades, first as a five-time
All-American at UCLA, then as a coach.
Though she’s never lost to the Trojans, she has had her
share of close calls, most notably a narrow eight-point victory in
2001 during which she spent the last 15 minutes in the tunnel at
USC instead of watching UCLA’s decisive victory in the
4×400-meter relay.
This year, for the first time since that season, the dual meet
figures to be competitive again, and Bolden said she is already
losing sleep ““ no matter what Allice says.
“It’s going to be a very tough meet,” Bolden
said.
“Ron Allice knows his team is better than it has been in
the past, but he also knows that we will be ready.”