W. track impressive in final dual meets

W. track impressive in final dual meets

Undefeated Bruins

cruise to easy wins

over USC, BYU

By Scott Yamaguchi

Daily Bruin Senior Staff

Different stadium, same result.

Competing on the USC campus for the first time in the 12-year
history of their dual meet series, the UCLA and Southern Cal
women’s track and field teams learned Saturday that not even a
home-track advantage was enough to compensate for the Trojans’
inferiority.

The Bruins captured first-place finishes in nine out of the 16
scored events, while USC had five first-place finishers. Brigham
Young, the third team in the competition, had winners in just two
events.

"I’m happy with the way my team competed, they rose to the
occasion," UCLA head coach Jeanette Bolden said. "I’m very, very
pleased with the team, and they did very, very well."

With an 84-52 victory over Southern Cal and a 94-38 win over
BYU, the Bruins ended their dual meet season with a perfect 8-0
record. It was their third consecutive victory over the Trojans,
and their eighth overall in the series. BYU and USC, in their dual
competition, finished in a 67-67 tie.

UCLA was led by senior Dawn Dumble and sophomore Amy Acuff, both
of whom broke meet records in their respective events.

Dumble, a senior competing in her last dual meet, won the shot
put and discus with meet-records in both events. Her 57-foot, 1
1/2-inch mark in the shot put was a seven-and-a-half inch
improvement on the record she set in 1992, and her 182-7 discus
throw eclipsed former Bruin Kris Larson’s 1988 record by nine
inches.

"It’s a nice double for Dawn Dumble," UCLA throwing coach Art
Venegas said. "It’s nice to see seniors finish their careers in the
dual meet season with a double-win."

UCLA freshman Suzy Powell followed Dumble in the discus with a
throw of 175-11, while junior Valeyta Althouse, the Pac-10
Conference shot put record holder, was second in that event with a
56-11 1/2 throw.

Despite his squad’s 1-2 sweeps in the two throwing events,
Venegas was disappointed the marks.

"We’re dominant in the shot and discus, but just because you’re
dominant doesn’t mean you can’t stay focused, get your form down
and perform at a very high level," Venegas said. "The wind
conditions were bad for long discus throws, but they should have
been longer than what we threw."

Acuff, the two-time NCAA indoor high jump champion, set school
and meet records when she cleared the bar at 6-4 1/4. It was a
quarter-inch improvement on the school record she set last week at
the Cal-Nevada Championships and a four-and-a-quarter inch
improvement on the height she cleared in last year’s USC meet.

Freshman Bisa Grant won the 100-meters in a personal-record
11.67, while senior Karen Hecox was first in the 1,500 with a
personal-best 4:19.68. Sophomore Cicely Scott won the 800 in 2:07.9
and senior Danielle Brown was first in the triple jump with a
season best, wind-aided leap of 41-6.

Senior Shelia Burrell finished third in the javelin with a throw
of 141-0, a lifetime best by almost eight feet. Erin Blunt, a
redshirt sophomore, ran the 400 hurdles for the first time in
almost two years and finished third in 1:02.27.