Without full team, men’s track dominates field in Davis
By Daily Bruin Staff
April 28, 1996 9:00 p.m.
Monday, April 29, 1996
Using shuffled lineup, UCLA takes state championshipBy
Emmanuelle Ejercito
Daily Bruin Staff
Imagine what would have happened if the UCLA men’s track team
had really tried.
Despite not entering all of their athletes in their best events,
the Bruins still dominated the California-Nevada Championships in
Davis last weekend. Schools competing at the meet included
California and Stanford, proving that UCLA will be the team to beat
in the upcoming Pacific 10 Championships.
Not wanting to risk injury so close to the conference and
national championships, the Bruins played it conservatively. For
example, the fastest collegiate 100-meter runner, Ato Boldon, did
not compete in that event. Instead, he ran the opening leg of the
400-meter relay and the anchor leg of the 1600-meter relay, both of
which UCLA won.
Mebrahtom Keflezighi also did not compete in the his best event,
the 5000-meters. Keflezighi ran in the 1500 meter race where he
finished second (3:52.47).
The Bruins were also without the services of two of their top
athletes. Both shot putter Jonathan Ogden and high hurdler Avery
Anderson had appointments with pro football teams last weekend.
Ogden went to Baltimore while Anderson visited Indianapolis.
Nevertheless, UCLA won the championship with a score of 185,
distantly followed by Fresno State with 114 points.
"The team was very competitive, we won pretty easily," UCLA head
coach Bob Larsen said. "It was a great team effort."
Of course the were some outstanding individual efforts as well,
especially in the field events.
Scott Slover jumped over the 18 feet mark for the first time in
this outdoor season. Setting a personal best, Slover vaulted for
18-1 1/4 , the automatic qualifying height for the NCAA
championships. The mark is also the third best in UCLA history.
Slover, however, finished second in the event as Fresno State’s
David Cox took first by winning the jump-off.
In the triple jump, Mel Moultry, who spent all of last year
recovering from back surgery, showed that he was back to form.
Improving with each meet, Moultry flirted with the 50 foot mark
throughout the season. Sunday, he finally surpassed 50 feet with a
new personal record of 50-6 1/4.
In his first competition of the season, Josh Johnson, who had
suffered from an injured elbow, won the javelin with a throw of
211-3.
David Dumble doubled his pleasure, placing first in both the
hammer and the discus. The Bruins swept the top four spots in the
discus. Finishing behind Dumble were Luke Sullivan, Scott McPherren
and Travis Haynes.
Meanwhile, on the track, strong winds turned the distance races
into tactical races rather than races against the watch. Devin
Elizondo ran with the pack in the 5000-meters until the last four
laps of the race, where he took command and broke away from the
competitors, finishing in 14:45.8.
