Prestigious Penn Relays beckon m. track

Prestigious Penn Relays beckon m. track

By Tim Costner

Daily Bruin Senior Staff

With the NCAA Championships just over one month away, the UCLA
men’s track and field team will compete in the Penn Relays this
weekend, giving the Bruins an early idea of what to expect in
June.

UCLA has automatically qualified in seven events for the NCAAs,
but the trip to Philadelphia could give the team a chance to earn
the nation’s top ranking in some individual events.

For Bruin shotputter John Godina, the meet is an opportunity to
regain the lead from Georgia’s Brent Noon, who had passed Godina
last week with a throw of 68 feet, one inch.

Depending on the early morning conditions, Godina expects to
approach 69 feet ­ a distance well within Godina’s range right
now.

"He is throwing extremely well right now in the shot," Venegas
said. "The only problem with the Penn Relays is that the throws are
early in the morning, and the weather can be 40 degrees. The
training has been outrageous this week. He’s about as good as
anyone I’ve ever seen in the shot at any level, at any place. I’m
not seeing those distances yet, but the technique and the power is
phenomenal."

Joining Godina in the shot will be fellow Bruins Mark Parlin and
Jonathan Ogden, who have also been training well this week.

"I’m very optimistic in the shotput," Venegas said. "Everything
is starting to come together. They’re really starting to throw
well."

In the sprints, the Bruins will focus on the 4×100 relay, an
event that has already started to come together for UCLA despite
heavy training. The team of Gentry Bradley, Ato Boldon, Ibrahim
Hassan and Thomas Ganda circled the track in 39.31 seconds ­
the sixth best time in school history.

"We worked our tails off last week, and they still went out and
ran fast," said UCLA sprinting coach John Smith. "I see some things
that we can build on. Anyone can run fast when they’re prepared to
run fast ­ I didn’t prepare them to run fast. It was just time
for them to do that. I think all school records are in jeopardy
right now."

Aside from the 4×100, Boldon is also entered in the 100, but
will probably not compete this weekend, while Ganda will compete in
the long jump.

In other events, UCLA’s Greg Johnson and Josh Johnson will throw
the javelin, Greg Hodel will throw the hammer and Avery Anderson
and Rich Pitchford will compete in the high jump. Anderson will
also run the 100m high hurdles.