Commemorating a historic season

The Bruins have a lot to celebrate.

Two recent athletic achievements ““ UCLA’s 100th NCAA Team Championship and a Lexus Gauntlet victory over USC ““ were highlighted Tuesday in a rally at Spaulding Field. The celebration of Bruin spirit drew a crowd that represented every aspect of the university: current athletes, students, alumni and administrators.

Praise was showered on UCLA during the hour-long event, from water polo coach Adam Krikorian’s announcement that “Today we are the best university in the world,” to Interim Chancellor Norman Abrams saying, “No other school compares.”

Ed Kezirian, assistant athletic director for academic services, was the master of ceremonies for the rally honoring the modern-day legacies of UCLA athletics. This was exemplified by Krikorian, who led the men’s and women’s water polo teams to a combined eight titles, Al Scates and his 19 men’s volleyball championships, and softball coach Sue Enquist, who captured six titles.

“We expect to win, that’s our environment,” Scates said. “Our goal is to win a championship every year.”

Enquist put it best.

“Many can get to a championship, but few can maintain the championship status,” she said.

From the bottom up, UCLA athletics has developed a system to do just that ““ stay at the top.

The 100 titles span nine men’s teams and seven women’s teams, with four sports taking home double-digit victories. Since the inception of a women’s NCAA league 26 years ago, both men’s and women’s teams have won 30 titles.

Even with this widespread success, the team that will be remembered in the history books is women’s water polo, which captured No. 100 on Sunday with a defeat over Stanford. The Cardinal has the second-highest number of titles at 93.

In the weeks leading up to the finals, winning the historic 100th title was far from the minds of water polo team members.

“All we could focus on was preparing ourselves to be the best team in the nation,” sophomore Tanya Gandy said.

Sophomore Kim Nelson agreed.

“I never thought about the 100 until after we won. I was just excited,” she said.

It might not have been on players’ minds, but since women’s water polo won the 99th title last year, fans have been waiting for this moment to come. Howard Katzman, a 1961 alumnus who attended Tuesday’s rally, is one such fan.

“I’ve been a UCLA fan since the third grade,” he said.

Although Katzman is reveling in the achievement, he was quick to put it in perspective.

“If the academics aren’t there, 100 championships are meaningless,” he said. “It’s what we do in the classroom that’s important ““ the rest is nonsense. But I enjoy (that nonsense). It’s great fun.”

Abrams, spiritedly clad in a Bruin baseball cap, re-emphasized this point to the crowd. “We have the premier program of combining athletic excellence and academic excellence.”

The rally’s original intention, to award the Lexus Gauntlet to Athletic Director Dan Guerrero, began the event. The 150-pound statue was presented by Lexus representative Deborah Senior. After pointing out this year’s UCLA victories, Senior elicited friendly boos from the crowd for thanking USC “for their continued excellence in competition.”

The Trojan’s excellence won them 37.5 points in the Lexus Gauntlet competition, compared to the Bruins’ 72.5. As Guerrero accepted the award, he couldn’t help but mention a crucial 10 of those points ““ football’s 13-9 win on Dec. 2.

“I’m still singing 13-9,” Guerrero said after telling the story of a man he met who sets his alarm each day for 8:47 a.m. ““ 13 minutes to 9 a.m.

This year’s almost landslide victory in overall athletic competition against USC was highlighted by other landmark wins. Women’s track coach Jeanette Bolden led her team to its 14th straight win over USC. For the first time in UCLA history, men’s basketball, baseball and football all trumped their rival.

The 2007-2008 athletic season has a big act to follow. Reminders of this year will be omnipresent: The Gauntlet, which rests in the J.D. Morgan Center, will be a constant reminder of which school rules the City of Angels. A new logo has already been created to commemorate the “First to 100,” and at sporting events throughout the year, members of teams who helped win titles will be announced to the crowd.

In the meantime, the 2006-2007 season is far from over. Men’s and women’s tennis are in Georgia competing in the NCAA Tournament, and they may return to Westwood with No. 101 and No. 102.

“They’ll be more championships coming,” Scates said. “But we might as well dwell on this until we get the next one.”

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