With two points under its belt from last week’s Pac-10 Heptathlon Championships, the No. 7 UCLA women’s track and field team heads into the Pac-10 Championships in Tempe, Ariz., looking to increase its score and hopefully come out in the top four.
One thing that could hold the Bruins back is the absence of some of their top athletes.
Missing from the lineup will be returning Pac-10 champions, juniors Nicole Leach and Rhonda Watkins.
Neither is injured, but coach Jeanette Bolden wants to maintain their health and ensure they are at full strength going into regionals, nationals and Olympic trials.
Also missing will be freshman Tori Anthony in the pole vault, who is sidelined due to mononucleosis. There is no word yet on her status for the rest of her season.
In two weeks, the West Region Championship takes place, and if a competitor does not compete then, she will be unable to go to nationals.
Though UCLA will be missing those competitors, there will still be 27 Bruins traveling to Tempe. With the team holding 20 top-10 spots in various events in the conference overall, Bolden is still optimistic that the team can finish well.
“Even though those young ladies aren’t there, we’re looking for some good things,” Bolden said. “I think we can be in the top four.”
The Bruins are in a strong position to do so. The main focus for the team will be scoring points and making individual regional qualifying times for the competitors who have not yet done so.
“I want to put up as many points as possible for my team, to contribute to the final score,” sophomore 800-meter runner Krishna Curry said. “I want to improve upon my own times but really score points.”
Leading the way for the Bruins will be the pole vaulters and the high jumpers; each group has three athletes in the top-10 in the conference.
In the pole vault, senior Ingrid Kantola (sixth), freshman Tori Pena (seventh) and junior Katy Viuf (ninth) will look to score big for the Bruins, while the high jump event will have seniors Keneisha Creary (fifth), Allie Miller (sixth) and Maryann Wee (eighth).
The pole vaulters have consistently performed well for the Bruins this season, and Kantola credits most of this success to coach Anthony Curran.
Kantola is optimistic not only about the pole vaulters, but also about the team’s potential as a whole, even with the missing competitors.
“It does deplete our chances for a team title. However, we’ve gone to meets before without the full team and made a big showing,” Kantola said.
Also in line to do well for the Bruins are redshirt senior Renee Williams and sophomore Danielle Watson, ranked sixth and eighth, respectively, in the long jump. Williams also comes in ranked second in the triple jump.
“I think Renee is going to have that fire and anger that she had at ‘SC ““ she is really going to do well in both the long jump and the triple jump,” Bolden said.
Rounding out the field for the Bruins will be sophomore Tara Ross, ranked fourth in the javelin, and senior Jolanda Diego, ranked fourth in the 100m and second in the 200m.
With so many Bruins ranked in the top-10 and “peaking all at the right time,” according to Bolden, the team is hopeful it can have success this weekend and carry that success over into regionals and nationals.
“When you go to the end of the year and do your seasonal best, or you (set a personal record), when you get around this time of year and see kids doing that, that’s what you want to have,” Bolden said. “We want to be in a good position for regionals and do much better at nationals.”