M. track striding toward top at upcoming NCAAs

Thursday, May 2, 1996

Bruins predicted to finish second in championshipBy Emmanuelle
Ejercito

Daily Bruin Staff

Ho-hum. Another week, another UCLA men’s track athlete winning
Pacific 10 Athlete of the Week honors.

For the third week in a row, a Bruin sprinter was bestowed the
distinction from the conference. The only difference this time is
that the athlete was not Ato Boldon. After owning the accolade for
two straight weeks, Boldon relinquishes his title to fellow
sprinter Gentry Bradley.

Bradley received the award for his efforts last weekend at the
California-Nevada Championships. At Davis, Bradley turned in a
season-best legal time of 10.49 in the 100-meter final and also had
a wind-aided 10.36 in the prelims. Bradley also anchored the
400-meter relay team that set a stadium record of 40.17.

"It was a big week for him, where he had to run five races and
they were all quality," UCLA head coach Bob Larsen said. "I felt
that he deserved that award."

* * *

Track and Field News released its prediction for next month’s
NCAA championships, and the publication foresees a tight race
between the teams which finished one and two at last year’s
championships.

UCLA is ranked second with a projected point total of 51, four
points behind four-time defending national champion Arkansas.

Last year, the Bruins finished second on a controversial false
start called on Ato Boldon in the 100-meters.

Rounding out the predicted top five are NCAA Indoor champions
George Mason (39), Tennessee (32) and Louisiana State University
(31).

However, in the Dual Meet Power Rating, UCLA was ranked first.
This season the Bruins own a perfect 8-0 dual-meet record.

* * *

UCLA has seven athletes ranked in the top-eight in their
respective events.

Surprisingly, Boldon’s 9.93 in the 100-meters does not earn him
the No. 1 collegiate ranking. Obadele Thompson of the University of
Texas, El Paso, ran a 9.69. However, the time was wind-aided, so
Boldon still owns the best legal time in the world this year.

In the shot put, Mark Parlin is ranked second with a throw of
63-9 3/4. Less than a foot ahead of Parlin is Arizona’s Chima Ugwu.
Meanwhile, Jonathan Ogden’s 61-4 1/4 ranks him sixth.

Sprinter Ibrahim Hassan is in the top-six in two events. His
best time of 45.13 ranks him third nationally in the 400-meters,
while in the 200-meters Hassan is sixth with a time of 20.59.

Mebrahtom Keflezighi, who finished ninth in the NCAAs last year
in the 5,000 is ranked fifth with his 13:37.24 effort at Mt. SAC
two weeks ago.

Mt. SAC was also the site for another nationally-ranked run. The
UCLA 400-meter relay team ran a 39.38, good enough for third in the
nation.

UCLA is ranked second with a projected point total of 51, four
points behind four-time defending national champion Arkansas.