Huge weekend for UCLA promises more to come

What a weekend. This has to be among the best weekends in UCLA
sports history.

Unless there was a weekend when two championships were won, how
could a weekend top this one?

Keep in mind, weekends like this could be commonplace at UCLA.
These teams just seem to keep getting better.

Consider the following:

“¢bull; The UCLA women’s golf team won the NCAA
Championship on Saturday.

This wasn’t entirely unpredictable, as the Bruins went
into the championships ranked second in the country.

But this title is weird in a way. Women’s golf isn’t
the first program at UCLA that comes to mind when you think
championships.

You think gymnastics, softball, water polo, volleyball
““ not golf, usually, as men’s and women’s
golf have only won one championship each (in 1988 and 1989,
respectively).

But women’s golf coach Carrie Forsyth is trying to change
that.

The present is pretty bright, and this team may have an even
brighter future.

Charlotte Mayorkas, who won four tournaments this year, still
has one more year left.

Hannah Jun, who won the NCAA West Regional individual title and
finished second only to Mayorkas in the Pac-10 Championships, is
just a freshman.

Susie Mathews, who led the Bruins at the NCAA Championships, is
only a sophomore.

The top three UCLA women’s golfers will all return next
year, with championship experience.

Granted, Krystal Shearer and Gina Umeck, the other starters in
the lineup, have finished their college careers.

But if any of the Bruins on the roster step it up next year, or
if star recruit Amie Cochrane does well, watch out.

“¢bull; The UCLA women’s tennis team made an amazing run
into the NCAA Championship final match, where the Bruins gave
Stanford all it could handle. A doubles game here, a tiebreaker
there, and the match is completely different.

This could be the step coach Stella Sampras Webster needs to get
her team to the next level ““ from annual tournament
qualifiers to serious tournament contenders.

All of this team’s starters are returning ““ all of
them.

“¢bull; Oh, yeah, the other sports this weekend. Men’s
tennis only qualified for the NCAA semifinals, softball only earned
a berth to the World Series, men’s golf only won the NCAA
Regionals, and baseball only nearly assured itself a postseason bid
by winning a series against first-place Washington.

Like I said, what a weekend.

Quiñonez still claims he’s not a homer.

E-mail him at gquinonez@media.ucla.edu.