Two weeks ago at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, the women’s track and field team’s season came to a crashing halt at the NCAA Championship meet. With high expectations coming in the year, this was not what the team was looking for to end its season.
Coming into the meet ranked No. 9, the Bruins finished tied for 29th with only nine points. Two events earned points for a team that lacked depth all year. LSU took home the national title, followed by Arizona State and Texas A&M.
However, with a few injuries and some bad luck in the postseason, the setbacks mounted and culminated in the championships.
“We just didn’t have the bodies this year coming into championships,” coach Jeanette Bolden said. “I’m disappointed with the low point total. It’s not what you want as a coach going into a meet like this. Devastating injuries and bad luck hurt us.”
Two of those injuries came in key events for the Bruins. Junior Rhonda Watkins, the defending champion in the long jump, aggravated a hamstring injury and fouled out. Senior Merice Wisdom also aggravated a leg injury and was hampered while running the first leg of the 4×400-meter relay.
“We left the track meet with mixed emotions,” Bolden said. “We wanted to do better. My heart goes to Rhonda and Merice for not being able to run a strong first leg. They were both inspirational trying to do the best for the team.”
Freshman pole vaulter Tori Anthony was overcoming mononucleosis that kept her inactive for three weeks, and senior pole vaulter Ingrid Kantola did not make nationals after having a bad day at regionals.
Without these two athletes in top form, the Bruins struggled to amass points at NCAAs.
The highlight for the Bruins came from junior Nicole Leach in the 400m hurdles, which was one of the most exciting races of the meet.
Leach (54.62) battled LSU’s Nickiesha Wilson (54.45) all the way down to the finish line after going neck and neck from the eighth to 10th hurdle. Leach beat Wilson in last year’s final, and this time Wilson came out on top.
“I ran a good race,” Leach said. “I didn’t execute my strategy. There were a few things I should have done differently. I lost the race. I didn’t get beat.”
Leach, now a three-time All-American, said she took an extra step on the last hurdle, and that probably cost her the race.
Bouncing back from the race on Friday, Leach anchored the 4×400 relay to earn an eighth-place finish Saturday with a time of 3:34.47. The team of Wisdom, Krystin Lacy, sophomore Krishna Curry, and Leach earned All-American honors with their performance.
Also earning All-American honors was senior Renee Williams, who finished 14th in the triple jump at 42-7.50. Williams ends her UCLA career a three-time All-American and in the school top 10 in the long and triple jump.
Junior Katy Viuf finished 11th in the pole vault at 12-9.50 in her first NCAA Championship appearance.
With the end of the 2008 season, the team will focus on what they need to do for next year. Expectations will once again be high and the outlook appears promising.
Although they are losing a few quality seniors, the Bruins will return a strong core group as well as a phenomenal recruiting class under Bolden.
“We have an excellent recruiting class coming,” said Bolden. “Summer is time to regroup and get ready for next year. We have things to work on.”
POWELL STEPS DOWN: Jumps coach Mike Powell, UCLA class of 1990, will step down from his position as announced by Bolden and men’s coach Art Venegas. Powell was on coaching the staff for three years.
“I had a great experience the past few years and it was a hard decision for me to step down,” Powell told uclabruins.com. “I made a lot of new friendships and renewed friendships from when I was a student athlete at UCLA. I had a great group of kids to coach and I will always follow them and support them.”
Powell, the current world-record holder in the long jump, will continue his work as ambassador to track and field as a part of the International Association of Athletics Federations.
OLYMPIC TRIALS AND JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIPS: Although the NCAA season is over, there is still a lot more track this year. Several current and future Bruins will compete for a spot to represent the United States and other native countries.
Nicole Leach will run next week in Eugene, Ore. to earn a spot on coach Bolden’s U.S. Olympic squad. The trials will be televised on NBC’s network of stations June 27 through July 6.
Rhonda Watkins will not jump at the Trinidad and Tobago National Championships because of her injury. However, she still holds an “A” qualifying mark for the Olympics.
Senior Keneisha Creary will compete in the high jump to be on Jamaica’s Olympic team.
Incoming freshmen Camilla Dencer and Ryan Krais will be going to Poland for the World Junior Championships in July.
This past weekend at the USATF Junior National Championships in Columbus, Ohio, Dencer came in third in the 800m at 2:07.88 and Krais wond the heptathlon with 5217 points.
Krais will also run the 400m hurdles at the Olympic Trials.