The injury bug that has struck the UCLA middle-distance corps
the past few years claimed another victim this week. Ashley
Caldwell, the UCLA women’s track and field team’s most
accomplished middle-distance runner, will redshirt the outdoor
season due to the effects of a stress fracture in her left tibia.
That leaves the Bruins without a single distance runner who
qualified for the NCAA Championships last season, aside from the
inactive Alejandra Barrientos. “I feel so badly for
her,” UCLA distance coach Eric Peterson said. “She was
very upset at first, but eventually she realized the wisdom of the
decision. In the interest of her future development and the
long-term development of our team, it’s going to be best to
have her sit it out.” This isn’t the first time UCLA
has lost a talented middle-distance runner to injury. Two years
ago, it was All-American Tiffany Burgess who broke her toe. Last
season, former NCAA champion Lena Nilsson suffered a stress
fracture in her foot. And now it’s Caldwell, the defending
Pac-10 champion in the 1500 meters, who will sit out the remainder
of the season. “There is now a precedent and reference point
to know that these things can happen to anybody,” Peterson
said. “It’s something we don’t discuss openly,
but it seems to work itself out nicely. When we do have kids go
down we seem to have kids step up and do the job for us.”
Much of that responsibility this time, Peterson said, will fall on
the shoulders of redshirt sophomore Jenna Timinsky, perhaps
UCLA’s top threat in the 800 meters. Timinsky, a former top
recruit, has also struggled with a foot injury recently, but is
healthy now and will run the 800 meters on Friday night at the
Rafer Johnson/Jackie Joyner Kersee Invitational. “She has had
moments of brilliance and also some moments of vulnerability in her
career,” Peterson said. “I think she’s ready to
step up for us.”
DOUBLING UP: Monique Henderson, the NCAA runner-up in the 400
meters last season, said Wednesday that she intended to also focus
on the 200 meters this year ““ a statement that caught UCLA
coach Jeanette Bolden off guard. “That surprised me,”
Bolden said. “We’ll have to look at the impact on our
relays, and how her season goes in the 200. Hopefully she’ll
run faster than she did last year because in order to be
competitive at the NCAAs, she’s going to have to.”
Henderson, who won a gold medal last summer in Athens as a member
of the U.S. 4×400-meter relay team, has a personal best of 22.71
seconds in the 200 meters. The senior will compete in the 100 and
200 meters on Saturday, and anchor both of UCLA’s relays.
ODDS AND ENDS: UCLA’s Jackie Nguyen, who took fifth place
in the pole vault at the NCAA Championships last year, will
redshirt the outdoor season to give herself another year to
develop. … All-American Candice Baucham will not jump this
weekend, choosing to instead run the 100 and 200 meters to improve
her speed … UCLA was ranked sixth in the first Trackwire Top-25
poll of the season.