W. track sprints past Trojans in last event

Sunday, May 5, 1996

Bruins edge out USC, 74-70, with 1,600 relay victoryBy Scott
Yamaguchi

Daily Bruin Staff

The UCLA women’s track and field team knew quite well that USC
would provide its toughest competition of the year, and sure
enough, the Trojans gave the Bruins all they could handle in
Saturday’s dual-meet season finale at Drake Stadium.

For the first time this season, UCLA found itself trailing an
opponent as it headed into the meet’s last event, the 1,600-meter
relay.

But the Bruin foursome of Mame Twumasi, Camille Noel, Andrea
Anderson and Darlene Malco finished the race in a season-best time
of 3:36.56, beating the Trojans by almost six full seconds, giving
UCLA a 74-70 dual-meet victory over its cross-town rival. In the
process, the Bruins beat Brigham Young, 96-49, and also emerged
victoriously in the triangular competition with 75 points to USC’s
71 and BYU’s 35.

The dual-meet wins were the 24th and 25th in a row for UCLA,
including four consecutive over USC, and were a nice way for
seniors Noel, Valeyta Althouse, Anna Delgado, Jessica Graham, Githa
Hampson, Jeanene Harlick and Cathy Lee to end their dual careers as
Bruins.

"I’m happy that my team pulled it off and found the points,"
UCLA head coach Jeanette Bolden said. "I’m not satisfied, and I
think we can do better, especially in the area that I coach."

It seems Bolden, who coaches the sprinters and hurdlers, should
have been ecstatic with the way her athletes competed.

Before the meet began, the winners of certain events were
foregone conclusions. On the field, UCLA’s Althouse, Suzy Powell
and Amy Acuff were practically guaranteed winners in the shot put,
discus and high jump, respectively, while USC’s Leslie Coons was
sure to win the hammer throw, and the Trojan trio of Nicole Haynes,
Glory Dolphin and Pam Simpson were expected to sweep the long
jump.

The Trojans were also heavy favorites in the distance events,
and so Bolden guessed that the meet would be decided in the sprint
events, where, on paper, USC had posted better marks this
season.

"Some of the points were solid," Bolden said. "You weren’t going
to change the points in the shot put, discus and the high jump, and
you weren’t going to change the points in the distance events
because the girls that USC has are national leaders.

"The points were going to change in the sprints."

In the end, the meet played out exactly as Bolden had
anticipated. Althouse, the collegiate record holder in the shot
put, threw 59-feet for the fourth consecutive week to earn the win
with a new meet record, while Powell won the discus with a meet
record 189-feet, 7-inches and Acuff jumped 6-2 3/4 to win her
event.

Haynes, Dolphin and Simpson did in fact sweep the long jump, and
Coons shattered the American record in the hammer throw with a mark
of 198-7, easily winning that event.

As expected, the Trojans dominated the distance events, where
Emebet Shiferaw won the 3,000 in 9:47.4 and Graznya Penc won the
1,500 in 4:20.57 and the 800 in 2:07.82.

But, not as expected, UCLA won every sprint event except the
400-meter relay, where Twumasi, Anderson, Malco and Joanna Hayes
finished second with a season-best 44.82.

Hayes and Anderson were up to their usual standards, each
earning double wins in their individual events. Hayes won the
100-meter hurdles in 13.31 and the 400-hurdles in a season best
58.71, while Anderson won the 100 and 200 in 11.51 and 23.32,
respectively, both season bests.

However, the most important performances of the day might have
come from Zoe Shaw and Malco. With Bisa Grant, one of UCLA’s top
100-meter hurdlers, out with a hamstring injury, Shaw came through
with a second-place finish in that event.

Then, with the meet on the line, Malco ­ winner of the 400
in 53.85 ­ kept the Bruins alive with a second-place finish in
the 200-meters, the second-to-last event of the day.

At the time, the Trojans were leading 68-61, and anything worse
than a 1-3 UCLA finish would have clinched the meet for USC.

"I said, ‘Darlene, we have to take 1-2 in this event, because if
we don’t, we’re going to lose this meet,’" Bolden said. "That’s all
I told her. I just said, ‘You’ve got to get out and run because
you’re the strongest 200-meter runner in the field. Don’t hold
anything back. They’re going to come at you because of their speed,
but you’ve got to go with your strength.’"

Indeed, Malco went with speed and strength and ran the race in a
lifetime-best 23.57, edging USC’s Torri Edwards (23.81), and
keeping the Bruins’ hopes alive into the 1,600 relay, which she
anchored to victory fifteen minutes later.

Coons wasn’t the only athlete to break an American record in
Saturday’s meet, as former Bruin Tiffany Smith, now competing for
No Limit Track Club, cleared the bar at 12-7 to set a new record in
the pole vault. UCLA’s Jocelyn Chase jumped 12-4, setting a meet
and personal record.

SUSIE CHU/Daily Bruin

Darlene Malco ran her lifetime best in the 200-meters.